Early Tackle: Sam Landsberger names his likes and dislikes from round 2 of the AFL season
There is a line that some of the Bombers’ players have crossed, but SAM LANDSBERGER believes Essendon fans would welcome a streak of nastiness.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Chris Scott, again, made his case as the best coach in the game, a night after Craig McRae’s Pies went 0-3. Can they turn it around? It’s been a big weekend of footy already and the game’s next generation of stars continue to make their mark.
Sam Landsberger names his likes and dislikes from round 2.
DISLIKES
FALLING STARS
Footy has already lost Bailey Smith, Sam Docherty, Jack Silvagni, Dan McStay, Keidean Coleman, Josh Gibcus and James Blanck to ACL injuries for the year. Will Ashcroft, Jake Melksham, Griffin Logue and Lachie Weller will miss plenty of this season after suffering the same setback in 2023. Now Oscar Allen and Riley Thilthorpe are out for many months with different knee injuries and Liam Henry, Dion Prestia, Zach Reid, Darcy Parish, Brennan Cox, Liam Henry and Patrick Dangerfield have been hamstrung. Suspect Prestia will miss closer to 15 weeks than the advised 8-10 and Allen will miss much more than the reported eight weeks. It’s a crazy number of stars to be sidelined midway through round 2. The good news is Carlton’s Sam Walsh (back) trained strongly on Friday and could return on Good Friday. Essendon coach Brad Scott said injury data was always high early in the season and that is presumably because grounds are harder and players explode harder and faster when they are stronger. Then again, when one club suffered five ACLs in one season it spent $40,000 on an independent report to investigate factors including training loads, venues and conditions. The conclusion was words to the effect of “shit happens”. Maybe it is just one of those years.
MACRAE MYSTERY NOTHING NEW
Those outraged at Jack Macrae’s non-selection and Caleb Daniel being squeezed into the substitute role have overlooked that this is not exactly a new trick at The Kennel. In 2021 the Dogs dumped Norm Smith Medallist Jason Johannisen before round 1 and vice-captain Mitch Wallis after round 2. In 2022 Lachie Hunter was set to be overlooked in round 1 until an injury in the pre-game warm-up saved him. Tom Liberatore started that season at half-forward when he had been the AFL’s No.1 clearance player the previous season. In 2023 Macrae and Bailey Smith were often pushed out of the midfield and now Macrae and Daniel have been pushed out of the best 22, and Macrae also out of the leadership group. Daniel the defender had 26 disposals in the first half of the 2021 grand final and is an All-Australian half-back. But last year his gametime was a 20-40-40 split between defence-midfield-forward and so he lost a positional grip. None of this is a criticism of Beveridge — it is just how he has managed his senior players. But the backlash will bite harder if they go 0-2.
WRIGHT IN THE WRONG
Patrick Cripps won the 2022 Brownlow Medal after concussing Callum Ah Chee with a bump and Brayden Maynard won the 2023 premiership after ironing out Angus Brayshaw in the finals. In 2024 Peter Wright is set to be suspended for a collision with Harry Cunningham that had zero malice in it. What was a commendable action a couple of years ago will now leave Wright culpable for at least three games on the sidelines. It wouldn’t surprise if Wright’s action was graded as severe because he elected to bump and cannoned in with force. The game has changed.
HAWKS GUNSHY ON JACK
The Hawks did not want to lose Jack Gunston to Brisbane in 2022. But why did they feel the need to honour his trade request back last year? Sometimes footy clubs can be too loyal and I suspect this was one of those cases. Gunston was the substitute on Saturday and activated after Steven May and Jake Lever were out of the game. He couldn’t take any of the chances that presented and finished with one kick and no marks from 37 per cent gametime. When the trade was done recruiting boss Mark McKenzie said: “Gunners is a high calibre person and player, and for him to walk back through our doors at Hawthorn is a terrific outcome. Whilst still contributing strongly on the field, he’ll also play an important role in helping foster the emerging talent on our list”. Gunston will go down as a triple-premiership great of the club and a much-loved clubman. But a strong contributor on the field? At 32 that might be a tough ask.
NOT PARTY PIES, BUT SKIPPING THE STEPS
Last year, Collingwood took the steps. This year they are playing with a mindset that suggests they would prefer to take the escalator and are wearing concrete boots. TAB has wound them out from $5 to $11 for the flag. They are seventh in line and at their longest quote since 2022. The last club to win a flag from 0-3 was North Melbourne in 1975 and it is human nature to lose that dog-hungriness despite doing all the work over summer. Hawthorn found out in 2009 that you can’t win a premiership in November, but you can lose one. Suspect that is not the case at Collingwood and the stars in McRae’s sights – Moore, Crisp, Mitchell, Sidebottom and De Goey – can recapture that manic mantra.
WASTED TECHNOLOGY
The boundary line has become more of a boundary guideline. Kyle Langford took a ‘mark’ that should have been out on the full and played on to set up a goal for Jade Gresham. Jack Higgins joked he was in the Monash Uni car park when he kicked the sealer against Collingwood. North Melbourne was denied a shot at goal in the last quarter, despite a miscued Fremantle kick hitting the behind post on the full. Instead confused umpires called for a boundary throw-in as it became obvious that the AFL’s use of technology is akin to buying a smartwatch only to use the pedometer function. The list of fixable errors rolled on. Tom Hawkins’ kick inside 50m landed out on the full and opponent Josh Worrell knew it, but a boundary throw-in was called. Shaun Mannagh cleverly kicked the ball on to Mark Keane’s boot and it ricocheted out on the full. It was clearly Geelong’s free kick, but, again, the umpires were uncertain and so they threw it in. The AFL is exploring ball chip technology, but stubbornly won’t maximise use of the video technology it already has. Surely the purpose should be to minimise mistakes that are impacting people’s lives and careers right now, particularly on the back of a goal umpire costing Adelaide a finals berth last season.
LOOSE TACTICS
Matthew Nicks said the Crows had “multiple plans” to stop Tom Stewart. Nicks would’ve forgotten more about football than most would know, but what exactly was Plan B) after the match-up of Luke Pedlar – a 21-year-old playing game 28 – failed in the first quarter? Stewart joked to his teammates that he dropped a car – referencing the old prize for winning mark of the year– but he held on to 10 match-defining intercept marks. The Crows kept on blindly blazing away to the loose man when they could’ve tagged him, changed their kicking angles or attempted to run the ball around him. Stewart is a five-time All-Australian and is a future AFL Hall of Famer, and sometimes the most decorated champions are simply impossible to stop. But surely the Crows could’ve at least made life harder for him on Friday night. Just as defensive forwards Robbie Fox and Matt Guelfi did to Jake Lever and James Sicily respectively in the first fortnight of the season.
LIKES
NASTY BOMBERS
Essendon has been a nice football club for far too long. The last time the Bombers played at the SCG – in 2022 – they laid a pitiful 30 tackles and were branded soft after a 58-point drubbing. Last week they roughed up James Sicily and last night they were unsociable against the Swans. Tom Papley didn’t like it. At halftime he said: “They’re trying to get after us, it’s all off the ball”. There is clearly a line – Mason Redman (suspended) and Sam Draper (50m penalty that cost a goal) have crossed it – but I reckon supporters would welcome a streak of nastiness. Zach Merrett’s ferocious tackle on Chad Warner in the third quarter and rundown chase on Tom McCartin in the last were inspirational. That’s the leadership this club needs. Even substitute Alwyn Davey dragged Justin McInerney to the ground. The Bombers were also super slick by hand, but the problem was they could not maintain the rage for full quarters. They were outscored 12.9 (81) to 5.3 (33) in red time as the edge they played on started to soften. They also peculiarly opted to gift Sydney territory by often not manning the mark. Still, the physicality and passion they played with against a premiership heavyweight was a tick. There was certainly no love lost between these clubs.
TOP-CLASS COACHES
It’s hard to argue against Chris Scott being the best coach in the game. On Friday night he was missing midfielders Cam Guthrie, Tom Atkins, Mitch Duncan and Tanner Bruhn and still the Cats outclassed the Crows. The Cats can contend this year and that would make it 12 finals campaigns from 14 seasons under Scott.. I asked Tom Stewart about the pre-season doubters and he retorted: “16 months ago teams were saying we’re the greatest premiership team of all time in the way we dismantled Sydney and the (16-match winning) run we went on”. Ross Lyon and Craig McRae aren’t far behind and their press conferences on Friday night were brilliant. ‘Fly’ and Ross the Boss are compulsory listening because they educate footy fans with refreshing honesty.
DEE-PTH
Steven May and Jake Lever injured on the same day sounds like a nightmare. But reckon the Demons can cover their defensive pillars. Coach Simon Goodwin should elevate Marty Hore into the 22, could swing Harrison Petty back and have Adam Tomlinson in reserve. Petty finished Saturday’s match in the backline as the Demons conceded their lowest score in 73 games. Last year’s dysfunctional forward line has found its mojo again. Sharpshooter Kade Chandler looks like one of the most improved players while the Demons outscored 9.2 (56) to 0.3 (3) from clearances on Saturday. That scoring source almost mirrored the 55-point margin.
DOGGA’S DOMINATION
Laidback Luke Jackson bullied North Melbourne. At times it felt like watching a man play junior football. Jackson’s five clearances in the third quarter equaled the Kangaroos’ tally. He finished with a career-best 24 disposals, seven clearances, two contested marks, 10 score involvements and 2.0. It was a monster performance both aerially and at ground level as Jackson followed up his own work to bulldoze his way around Marvel Stadium. One thought came to mind as Jackson energised the Dockers … would the Demons have won last year’s flag if ‘Dogga’ had stayed? With Harrison Petty and Jake Melksham injured and Brodie Grundy out of favour, they rolled out an underdone Tom McDonald and unused substitute Josh Schache in the finals. Boy, they missed ‘Jacko’.
SAINTS’ BOLD TRIFECTA
St Kilda president Andrew Bassat’s bold decision to sign and then sack Brett Ratten was the right one. The club’s bold decision to pay the AFL $100,000 to take Spud’s Game from Marvel Stadium to the MCG was the right one. Coach Ross Lyon’s bold decision to axe Brad Crouch – he had not played state-league football since a run in the SANFL on return from a hamstring tear in 2017 – was the right one. Marcus Windhager attended four centre bounces in round 1 and, with Crouch gone, attended 25 in round 2. Wearing Spud’s old No.2 jumper, Windhager went head-to-head with Tom Mitchell and Nick Daicos and went whoosh past Crouch with 24 disposals, 16 contested possessions, seven clearances, seven score involvements and six tackles. Former Saints football boss Geoff Walsh said in 2022: “This might sound abrasive and the Saints fans might get upset but … I think the competition would say there’s been a degree of irrelevance”. In just 18 months the Saints have redeemed their relevance, and a home win in front of 70,000 against the reigning premier proves that.
STAT OF THE SEASON
Did some digging on Jack Higgins after he kicked 4.1 against Collingwood. Higgins’ first three goals were all unmissable and then – with his confidence sky high – he slotted the sealer from beyond the boundary. Admittedly it wasn’t a set-shot from 45m that required deep breaths to not overthink the situation, but if this stat does not prove that football is largely played between the ears then nothing will. Higgins has kicked 126.93 in his career. When his first score in a match has been a goal, he has kicked 92.27 (77.3 per cent). When his first score has been a behind, he has kicked 34.66 (34 per cent). Last year’s AFL average was 48.1 per cent and nobody kicked it straighter than Nick Larkey (77 per cent). What a wild swing for the loveable little Saint.
ALL-AUSTRALIAN VIRGINS
Is it too early to rattle off a list of possible All-Australian debutants? There’s no reason young guns Gryan Miers, Luke Jackson, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Tom Green, Matt Rowell, Chad Warner, Tom McCartin and – to throw in a golden oldie as a roughie – Liam Jones could not have their first blazers tailored this year. Miers was Mr Everywhere on Friday night. He ran 16km, kicked 3.0, had two goal assists, 26 disposals and 12 score involvements. You can only truly appreciate Miers – and Bradley Close and Tyson Stengle for that matter – when you watch the Cats live. Their work rate to run up and back and up and back is extraordinary. Geelong has the hardest working half-forward who push up the ground to be an outlet and the envy of the competition. As for ‘Naz’, chief football writer Mark Robinson wrote two pages last week on how special he was and what a great kick he was. For anyone who missed it, it is worth a read.
More Coverage
Originally published as Early Tackle: Sam Landsberger names his likes and dislikes from round 2 of the AFL season
Join the conversation
NRL pull late schedule change because of AFL
The NRL has reportedly pulled a late finals scheduling switch to avoid a clash with the AFL, leaving two clubs hard done by.
Read more
Six reasons why Hokball is ‘made for September’
There’s no better show in footy than the ‘Hollywood Hawks’. And after dispatching the Bulldogs on Friday night, Hawthorn is now the third favourite for the flag. Here’s six reasons why.
Read more