Early Tackle: Glenn McFarlane’s likes and dislikes from Gather Round
Melbourne came hard at Essendon in the second half – but a moment early in the final term changed things. And it proved a lot about both sides, writes GLENN McFARLANE.
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Gather Round is in full swing, and Glenn McFarlane is on the ground and across everything – on and off the field – in Adelaide.
What now for the Crows? Where are the Swans really at? Carlton win, but at what cost?
See the likes and dislikes as the round unfolds.
DISLIKES
TIME TO GET ANGRY, GOODY!
Melbourne’s “summer of love” has morphed into a season of misery and it’s high time Simon Goodwin put the acid on some of his senior players.
Too many are picking and choosing their moments.
And unless Goodwin can change that soon, he might find himself out of the job.
The love and cohesion that the coach talks about ad nauseum looks to be just that – words.
Melbourne is 0-5 and in the midst of the club’s worst start to a season since the bad old Mark Neeld days of 2012.
That’s not good enough for a team that still had 15 premiership players in Saturday night’s frustrating loss to Essendon.
For other than a 15-minute period in the third term when they kicked five of their eight goals, they were outworked by the more desperate Bombers.
The season is done; the premiership window looks slammed shut, with Dermott Brereton saying on SEN: “If you are talking about them playing in grand finals, yeah, it’s over.”
Where is the inner motivation? Where is the fight? Where is the drive of the senior players?
And which of the current core of premiership players can be moved on for draft picks, because Essendon fans must be rejoicing now that the Bombers have the Demons’ first round selection this November, which will be a juicy selection.
HOW DID THE BULLDOGS BLOW THAT?
The Western Bulldogs have done a lot right so far this year – even without Marcus Bontempelli, Adam Treloar and Cody Weightman – but Luke Beveridge was left rueing a second half fadeout at Norwood Oval on a steamy Saturday twilight.
After an almost seamless first half where they dominated the contest – and the scoreboard – it all fell apart in the last hour of play as the Brisbane Lions reeled them in a see-sawing game.
Their second quarter was almost off the charts, kicking 7.4 to the Lions’ 1.2, and at one stage the margin bloated out to 39 points.
You shouldn’t lose from there, even if they lost James Harmes early, and Bevo will be ramping that point home to his team this week, which has left them 2-3 heading into a big Easter Sunday clash with St Kilda.
The Dogs dominated contested possessions and clearances in the first half, but that strength collapsed under the relentless Lions’ pressure.
They went -16 in contested possessions and -10 in clearances in the last two quarters, giving up a string of goals in the third term.
This was the first time in 15 occasions since 2024 that the Bulldogs have led at three-quarter-time and not gone onto win, and Bevo will want to get to the bottom of why.
HARRY’S SHINER AS THE BLUES COUNT THE INJURY COST
Blues fans were desperately looking forward to seeing Harry McKay back in the colours after he missed three games due to personal issues, but they didn’t get much of a chance to see him in action.
On a day in which Carlton and West Coast sweated up a storm in the heat, McKay was subbed out of the game early after a sickening head clash with Eagle Tom Gross.
Gross continued on, but McKay was immediately taken from the field and it was no surprise that he was subbed out of the game swiftly with concussion.
It means he can’t play in the Good Friday clash with North Melbourne and his ‘shiner’ underneath his eye is going to look even more impressive in the next day or two.
The other concerning issue is the Achilles injury suffered by Brodie Kemp, which left him on crutches in the rooms after the game.
Scans will confirm just how serious Kemp’s injury is, but it looks to be a serious one.
SAPPED OUT ROOS
Two forms of heat took the oxygen out of North Melbourne as Alastair Clarkson’s side ran out of legs at Barossa Park.
The first form was the weather … a searing afternoon made it tough for all players but it seemed to take more out of the Kangaroos the longer the game went on than it did their opposition.
The second was a relentless Gold Coast outfit – have we ever said that about the Suns before? – who smelt blood in the water late after the Kangaroos twice led in the third term.
Fresh from his new seven-year deal, Luke Davies-Uniacke was outstanding, but he had too few who were prepared to go with him late.
In the end, the Roos were steamrolled and once more they coughed out too many goals from an opposition willing to feast on a lack of team defence.
The Suns kicked 21 goals from their 65 inside 50s; the Roos went into their forward half on only 47 occasions for 13 goals.
It’s a familiar and frustrating tale for Clarkson.
The Roos have coughed up 17, nine, 17, 18 and now 21 goals in their five games to date, with the low figure coming in their sole win of the season against Melbourne.
The floodgates need to be slammed shut … and fast.
EAGLES’ ‘WORST’ CONTESTED RECORD
West Coast created an unwanted record on Saturday, providing the lowest contested possession count since Champion Data started keeping records.
Andrew McQualter’s Eagles had only 77 contested possessions – one fewer than the previous record low – to the Blues’ 136, and you can’t blame the heat or Carlton’s dominance for that.
It simply wasn’t good enough.
The Eagles could muster only six goals for the game, their lowest tally of the season.
But there were other stats every bit as damning.
West Coast was -140 in disposals, -40 inside 50s, -22 clearances, -12 centre clearances, – 49 marks and -11 marks inside 50.
Yes, the Eagles are trying to bed down a new system under a new coach, but once again the effort and execution was a million miles away from the AFL standard required.
COULD ‘MARRA’ END SWANS’ BUDDY HANGOVER?
Sydney has a serious key forward problem and unless it does something about it, Dean Cox’s headache at that end of the ground is going to throb for a lot longer than this season.
It’s time for the Swans to get busy!
They should be doing their due diligence in finding out whether sidelined Bulldog Jamarra Ugle-Hagan wants to play AFL football again after dealing with personal issues … and at another club.
Replacing the greatest goalkicker of the modern era was always going to be a massive wrench.
And while the Swans were able to get through most of last year sans the retired Buddy Franklin, the cracks in attack are starting to resemble the San Andreas Fault.
Friday night’s five-goal loss to Collingwood – the Swans’ third defeat from five games under Cox – further solidified that.
In five games this year, the Swans have averaged 83.8 points per game, but if you take out the ‘fill your boots’ victory over the Kangaroos last week, it drops back to an unacceptable 75.8.
That’s partly a personnel issue, with a host of injuries – to both talls and smalls – biting deep.
Yes, Hayden McLean tried hard for three goals in Friday night’s loss, Joel Amartey’s hamstring injury only compounded the pain, and Logan McDonald is pushing for a return against Port Adelaide.
But Cox needs more as he looks beyond 2025.
The Swans have a rich and successful history in offering a welcome respite from star forwards looking for a change after trying to keep their head above water in Melbourne’s AFL fishbowl.
Think Franklin.
Think Tony Lockett.
Think Barry Hall.
Could Ugle-Hagan resurrect his career and his love of the game in red and white, outside of Victoria?
He hasn’t played since that four-disposal, no-goal effort against Hawthorn in last year’s elimination final, a game in which the Dogs mulled over whether to play him or not.
The Bulldogs are no closer to finding out whether Ugle-Hagan wants to play AFL football again. He remains a long-shot to be still at the Whitten Oval next year – even though he is contracted.
Sydney’s season isn’t over yet. The cavalry will start returning from injury and suspension in the coming weeks. But if the club wants to give Cox the best chance of playing off for that elusive next flag again, it needs to find a dynamic, charismatic key forward … and fast.
Ugle-Hagan could be that player. It’s time the Swans found out if he wants to be!
FIVE WEEKS THAT COULD DETERMINE THE CROWS’ FATE
Adelaide looked to have made a down payment on a 2025 finals berth when they led Geelong by five goals in the first half of Gather Round’s opener.
By game’s end, the old question marks on the Crows were as valid as ever as they were steamrolled by Paddy Dangerfield and the Cats.
Only four teams have failed to make a finals series since 2018 – and it’s bizarre to think a club as well resourced and well supported as Adelaide is one of them.
This year was meant to be the season that changed all that, and it still could be.
But this could be decided in the next five weeks as Matthew Nicks’ team face a critical stretch of games against GWS (home), Fremantle (away), Carlton (home), a Showdown with Port Adelaide and Collingwood (away).
The Crows have done a lot right this season and have an appetising array of talent at their disposal, but after six seasons at the helm, Nicks needs to play finals to guarantee himself a new deal.
The manner in which the Crows coughed up crucial red-time goals hurt big time on Friday and they clearly ran out of gas off a short break after a sapping loss to Gold Coast last week.
Over to you, Crows!
NORWOOD’S GREAT BUT REIGNING PREMIERS DESERVED PRIME TIME
By and large the AFL got the fixture right at Gather Round 3.0 – apart from one glaring gripe.
What do the Lions need to do to score a prime-time game at Adelaide Oval?
Mount Barker one year; Norwood the next two … for a team that has won a premiership, finished an unlucky runner-up and played off in a preliminary final across the last three years.
The Lions wouldn’t whinge. They see themselves as a ‘play anywhere, play anytime’ team, but it just seems strange that the reigning premiers’ clash with the Bulldogs – who finished seventh last season – was at Norwood when Carlton and West Coast clashed at Adelaide Oval.
That’s not a slight on Norwood. That wonderful venue has played a massive part in the success of Gather Round, but the Lions would feel every right to feel a little slighted by the AFL’s scheduling.
We know the AFL is trying to maximise crowds – and we get that – but the Lions deserve to get a break in 2026 with an Adelaide Oval clash.
LIKES
DURHAM’S DESPERATE CHASE
Melbourne appeared to be coming in the early stages of the final term when Christian Petracca stormed into what looked like being an important goal.
From nowhere Sam Durham launched himself into the chase and while he didn’t quite run Petracca down, he did enough to put the Melbourne star off his kick.
Petracca missed and it summed up the difference between these two teams.
Essendon wanted it; Melbourne wasn’t prepared to work for it.
Jye Menzie kicked four goals in a great display, Zach Merrett and Dylan Shiel combined for 68 disposals, Sam Draper stood tall on a night in which the Bombers lost Nick Bryan, and collectively Brad Scott’s team worked smartly and with good cohesion.
After a poor start, the Bombers have clawed their way back to a 2-2 ledger, and should take care of a woeful West Coast next week before an Anzac Day showdown with the Pies.
THE CIRCUIT BREAKER CARLTON NEEDED
It wasn’t necessarily pretty but Carlton is finally on the winner’s list after a month of misery after a dominant Sam Walsh display lit the Gather Round spark around the Blues.
Walsh had been one of the senior players under the microscope in recent weeks but he was electric against the Eagles, helping to turn a first half slog into a seamless but crucial victory.
He had 39 disposals and kicked three second-term goals as the Blues smashed a disappointing Eagles’ outfit, scoring by 71 points to keep their season alive at 1-4 ahead of a Good Friday contest against North Melbourne.
Walsh’s skipper Patrick Cripps also got amongst the goals late when he was sent forward, booting three of his own.
Coach Michael Voss had called this an “urgency game” and after a slow and hesitant start from the Blues, you could see the pressure that the players were feeling early in the game.
Then, the shackles opened up, and it became a procession, with George Hewett helping himself to 39 disposals, Corey Durdin putting his hand up for more game time with four goals and with Will White and Cooper Lord scoring their first goals in AFL footy.
As Cripps said on Fox Footy after the game: “We’re really bullish on where we can go … we wanted to attack this game and put out some flair, and I think we were able to do that.”
It’s a long way back for the Blues, but at least they found some confidence again, booting 17 goals and restricting the Eagles to only six.
‘HE LOOKED LIKE CAREY OUT THERE’ AS COMEBACK LIONS DO IT AGAIN
Hugh McCluggage says no one responds better to a half-time spray than Eric Hipwood, and you suspect Chris Fagan made a beeline for the Brisbane forward in the Norwood rooms at half-time when his team trailed by 33 points.
Hipwood had one disposals for no goals. And the Lions had been outhunted and outworked by the Bulldogs.
“When you put the heat on Hippy, he always responds,” McCluggage said on Fox Footy after the game.
“That was some sort of second half … he (Hipwood) looked like Wayne Carey.”
Hipwood and the comeback Lions flipped the script on this game, and it further enhanced the reigning premiers’ reputation as a side that can come back from almost any situation.
They kicked 14 goals in the second half – and Hipwood nailed five himself – to bring a 60-point scoreboard turnaround from the highest deficit of the game to a telling Lions’ 21-point win.
It’s the eighth time in a row that the Lions have come back from a half-time margin and it’s yet another statement to the rest of the competition.
DARCY V ANDREWS DUEL
Norwood Oval has been the scene of so many old-time one-on-one duels in footy history, but those head-to-head key position showdowns are rare in modern footy.
So when we get something like what we saw on Saturday between Lions skipper Harris Andrews and Bulldogs young gun Sam Darcy, you have to sit back and savour it.
Chris Fagan judged the contest a “nil-all draw” and it made for compelling viewing.
“It was a good battle I reckon,” Fagan said. “Harris took a lot of intercept marks for us and he (Darcy) did a lot of good things for them.”
“So I reckon it was a bit of a nil-all draw and I didn’t feel like Darcy dominated the game which was what we didn’t want him to do.
“And given the amount of supply in the first half it was a bit surprising he didn’t get a bit more.”
Darcy kicked 2.3 from his 16 disposals and eight marks. Andrews had 14 disposals and 11 marks.
THE ITALIAN RIVIERA TRIP THAT CHANGE A FOOTY CLUB
Of the estimated quarter of a billion dollars spent on the Gold Coast Suns over their decade and a half existence, their best investment might well have been two flights to Italy, a few dinners, a nip of Chianti – and an offer to Damien Hardwick to take over as coach.
It’s hard to believe it is only 20 months since Suns chairman Bob East and CEO Mark Evans courted Hardwick on the other side of the world.
We’re not getting away with a win over a still developing North Melbourne, but this 2025 Suns version finally looks to be more sustainable in Hardwick’s second season.
History was made in the picturesque Barossa as the VFL-AFL’s 51st venue came to life, with the Suns opening a season for the first time with a 4-0 ledger.
If, and when they beat Richmond next week, they will equal their longest winning streak in the club’s history, from 2014.
There should be no excuses for the Suns in qualifying for their maiden finals berth from here … surely they can’t fade away in the second half of the year, even with some tough assignments to come in the next month.
There might be some more history in store as well, with Ben King kicking another five goals to take his season tally to 17 in four games.
No Sun has ever kicked more than 66 goals in a season (Tom Lynch in 2016), and King is on track to push beyond that tally.
And Matt Rowell could add a second Brownlow Medal to the Suns’ honour board after yet another outstanding individual performance.
IF THE TAGS FIT, THE PIES CAN COLLECTIVELY BEAT IT
When Nick Daicos “blew up” and was tagged out of the game by Toby Bedford in the Pies’ Opening Round aberration, some wondered if the Giants had found the kryptonite to stop him.
Think again!
Daicos, and the Magpies, have got to work in changing that narrative across the past month, as Friday night’s victory over the Swans showed.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae – in his weekly press conference – challenged one of the game’s best stoppers James Jordon to “bring his runners” as he was going to have to work ... and work in trying to keep up with Daicos.
Jordan restricted Daicos early in the game before the floodgates opened, and while it had a lot to do with the Magpies’ gun’s extraordinary running capacity and work-rate, it had just as much to do with the support he had from his teammates.
He ended up with a game-high 34 disposals (15 contested), nine clearances, nine tackles and five inside 50s – and he got stronger and stronger as the game went on.
Daicos said on Triple M after the game: “I just wanted to keep running and get to as many contests as I could … he (Jordon) is a really good tagger, (he) can run really well.”
The addition of Ned Long has assisted Daicos in that he has had to do so much of the bullocking work, but the way his teammates are getting him into the contest has helped.
When the tag is at its tightest, Daicos’ teammates look to give it to him even in difficult positions to get him involved in the play.
Such behaviour on Friday night brought Daicos back into the game – and in the end he demoralised the Swans.
MATURING LIKE AN OLD WINE
In a Gather Round that introduced Barossa to the long list of VFL-AFL venues, it seems fitting that the footy veterans who are maturing like fine wine have shaped so much of the narrative, at least on the first two nights of this year’s travelling roadshow.
It wasn’t lost on Dane Swan, who tweeted a classic meme of an old man dancing while throwing away his crutches, with the message ‘Pendles and the rest of the Pies celebrating down Hindley St tonight’ just moments after Collingwood’s 31-point win over Sydney.
He probably wasn’t expecting a response from 37-year-old Scott Pendlebury, who went back to Swanny with a laughing emoji an hour later.
Pendlebury had 26 disposals in a match in which he moved past Shaun Burgoyne as No.3 in AFL history, with his 408th game leaving him only 24 behind Brent Harvey.
Steele Sidebottom, 34, was one of the Magpies’ best players, having 28 disposals and 557 metres gained, with the odds of both of them playing on next year shortening by the minute.
This oldest team in VFL-AFL history is defying the odds and their birth certificates, just as the Cats set the scene for this to kick-start Gather Round.
Patrick Dangerfield turned 35 last week but he also turned last Thursday’s clash with Adelaide on its head with a mix of class and brute force.
He spent 82% of his time in the forward line – his highest return since 2020 – and his four goals takes him to 11 so far in five games of 2025.
His highest goalkicker return was 45 in 2017 – his second season at the Cats – and if the Geelong midfield hums as well as it did in the second half against the Crows, expect Chris Scott to bed the skipper down on a more permanent basis in attack.
THE LONG GAME
Two years ago Ned Long kicked a goal when playing his second AFL game at Norwood in the first Gather Round incarnation.
He was a Hawthorn player back then ... but (pardon the pun) not for long.
At the end of that 2023 season, the Hawks delisted him and that could have so easily been the end of Long’s footy story.
Thankfully, for the now 22-year-old, and also for Collingwood, it wasn’t.
He backed himself to play with the Magpies’ VFL side and won his chance through the mid-season draft to don the black and white jumper.
He played seven games last season but his inside strength, work rate and bullocking manner has gone to a new level in five games this season.
Long might have been the sub at stages earlier this season, but his body of work in recent weeks has ensured that won’t be happening any time soon.
His 29 disposals (17 contested) against the Swans was a career-best, but his value is so much more than possessions. He creates a pathway for the likes of Nick Daicos and co, and his form means the Magpies might not have to rush back Jordan De Goey until he is 100% ready.
His coach loves what he brings and his form is a fitting reward for a never-say-die approach and a refusal to give up on a dream that looked in danger of being unfulfilled.
TOM CAT
If Geelong’s midfield wrecking ball Tom Atkins wandered down Rundle Mall during Adelaide’s Gather Round, he wouldn’t get too many second looks.
And that’s precisely how the unassuming 29-year-old wants it.
He loves the fact he flies under the radar in a team with stars on every line – from Dangerfield in attack/midfield, to Bailey Smith in the engine room and Tom Stewart in defence.
But those who watch football closely – and Geelong fans as much as the inner sanctum – know just how important he is to the Cats’ ambitions.
He isn’t unheralded to them.
His coach Chris Scott was in no doubt of Atkins’ importance in orchestrating the Cats’ come-from-behind victory over Adelaide on Thursday night.
He was tireless when it mattered.
Atkins was second best and fairest to Tom Stewart in 2023, and has won two best clubman awards, so he gets the credit internally.
Externally, he deserves more. He’s not flashy but when he dons the blue overalls his team-first philosophy is impossible to miss.
Incredibly, Atkins doesn’t yet have a contract for 2026.
Given his performance on Thursday night, that should change very quickly.
Originally published as Early Tackle: Glenn McFarlane’s likes and dislikes from Gather Round
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