The Tackle: Jon Ralph’s likes and dislikes following the 2021 AFL grand final
Make Docklands Marvel-lous again. That should be the AFL’s mantra in the wake of Perth Stadium’s stunning grand final display, Jon Ralph writes.
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The 6-6-6 centre square rule which prevents teams from stacking the backline became the weapon that allowed the Demons to break apart the Western Bulldogs in the most intoxicating 16 minutes of football in recent grand final history.
This week’s Tackle is dominated by the Dees and the Dogs.
See Jon Ralph’s likes and dislikes below.
LIKES
1. Rule change that supercharged Dees
It turns out the AFL’s greatest gift to Melbourne wasn’t the $2 million handout that allowed new CEO Peter Jackson to keep the club afloat.
It was a contentious 2019 rule that supercharged their most dominant players.
The 6-6-6 centre square rule which prevents teams from stacking the backline became the weapon that allowed the Demons to break apart the Western Bulldogs in the most intoxicating 16 minutes of football in recent grand final history.
The shock was that it was Luke Jackson leading the ruck charge alongside the onball posse of Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca and Jack Viney.
With the third term of the grand final exactly halfway done, the Demons were cooked.
You could feel it through the TV screen and the players knew it too.
Marcus Bontempelli’s rousing goal put the Dogs 19 points up and, within the space of 10 seconds, Alex Keath had hauled in a huge contested mark against Ben Brown and Aaron Naughton had soared high to take a pack mark of similar quality.
“They are on the ropes,” said Channel 7’s James Brayshaw of the Demons.
The standing count was about to be applied.
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What followed were the seven goals in 16 minutes that could define an era, as an entire list build assembled around midfield stars – Oliver, Gawn, Jackson, Petracca, Brayshaw, Viney – was realised.
Bailey Smith’s fumble cleared a path for James Harmes to hit up Bayley Fritsch deep in the pocket, and the momentum was arrested.
Then came from a series of exquisite centre square clearances that won the Demons a flag.
■ 8.42m on the clock: Jackson misses the tap against Stef Martin but Oliver scrounges the ball who handballs to Petracca, with his long clearance allowing Bayley Fritsch to leap high and crumb a goal.
■ 8.21m on the clock: Jackson dodges Martin and gets a hand on the ball, before Petracca blind-turns Tom Liberatore and kicks long where Ben Brown marks from close range and goals.
■ 5.10m on the clock: Jake Bowey’s dinky kick inside 50 is bravely marked back with the flight by Angus Brayshaw who despite 2.7 for the season slots a perfectly executed set shot.
All of it occurred with Marcus Bontempelli on the bench (from the 15.09m mark to the 19.44m mark) and with Jackson on fire.
“Maxy came to the bench and said, “Jacko is really hot. Just leave him there,” said Goodwin yesterday.
“Maxy was the best player in the prelim but for him to say, “Leave Jacko in the ruck” says so much about him.”
Yet with 90 seconds left in the third term Melbourne led by only six points.
■ 47 seconds on the clock: Ben Brown bombs long to a pack where Christian Petracca suctions up the ball with those clean hands and dribbles through one of the great goals in grand final history.
■ 30 seconds on the clock: Viney grabs the ball from the centre square and handballs to Petracca, who handballs to Oliver, who releases Tom Sparrow to goal from 50m.
■ 17 seconds on the clock: Viney toe-pokes the ball from the centre bounce to the hard-charging Jackson, whose assist to Oliver running through 50 allows him to kick the sealing goal.
Bang, crash, wallop.
Three goals in 22 seconds of game time.
Melbourne 24 points up, game over.
Petracca’s third term?
Eight disposals and five score involvements, with Oliver close behind on six touches and three score involvements.
2. Welcome to the dawn of a new AFL superpower
Every AFL premier ends the grand final believing back-to-back flags are within reach, but Melbourne should set itself up for yet another AFL dynasty.
How remarkable to think that in this era of unparalleled equalisation, all of Brisbane, Hawthorn, Geelong and Richmond have won three or more flags in the past 20 years.
But consider the sustainable Melbourne brand, the glorious line-up of talent, the list demographic of this premiership side.
Luke Jackson and Jake Bowey are 19, Kysaiah Pickett and Trent Rivers are 20, Tom Sparrow, Harry Petty and Charlie Spargo 21.
Clayton Oliver and Bailey Fritsch are 24, Angus Brayshaw, Jake Lever, Ed Langdon and Christian Petracca are 25, and even Max Gawn is only 29.
It is a team without a 200-gamer, with hunger to burn, with the mistakes of clubs to endure hangovers like the Dogs in 2017 ringing in their ears.
The average age of the Demons premiership side was just 24.8 years, compared to Richmond in 2017 (25.1) and Hawthorn in 2013 (26.8).
It would be a disappointment if they didn’t extract at least one more flag from this campaign.
3. The vulnerability that turned into triumph
Simon Goodwin was open about the anxieties and stresses of the job and the toll they had taken on him, post-match.
In some quarters in the lead-in on Saturday, those issues were seen as weaknesses, rather than a natural by-product of footy’s most demanding job, but he has emerged triumphant.
As Demons chief executive Gary Pert told the Herald Sun on Saturday, the club’s turbulent lead-in hasn’t left time for talks on a new deal.
But he confirmed the club would sit down over summer to talk turkey on a deal that, at a minimum, would have two more years attached to a contract expiring.
Pert said a club tracking for a $4 million profit was then on track only to break even when Covid exploded again to strip crowds in the back half of the year.
But, having made $500,000 in merchandise in the finals, the premiership will deliver $1.5 million — or more — of pure profit.
A club that had nearly 55,000 members this year has 22,000 MCC supporters who are Melbourne supporters, but only half tick the box that makes them official members.
You get the feeling those fans won’t be ashamed to say they are Demons fans next season as the membership races to close to 70,000.
4. Mystery of the missing possession
Christian Petracca’s 40 possessions were a grand final record until Champion Data took a possession off him post-siren, which means he only equalled Simon Black’s 2003 tally?
WTF?
Champion Data is interested in accuracy, more than history, so its live caller – who relays kicks and handballs to fellow staffers who log them – collates a list of possessions he wants to double-check to ensure they were warranted.
Included in his list before he signed off on the game was a Petracca handball in the last quarter which, as it turned in slow mo, he clearly fumbled, rather than disposed of correctly.
The Champion Data stats-man was aware it would cost him the record but there was no dispute about the possession, so Petracca will have to placate himself with a Norm Smith Medal, premiership and reputation as footy’s most dynamic player.
5. Can AFL make Docklands Marvel-lous again?
OK, Marvel Stadium, what have you got?
Perth Stadium showcased a grand final in Western Australia with all the splendour and spectacle that you get when you spend $1.8 billion on a stadium.
The state nailed the game and it’s lead-in and should be proud of its contribution.
Now that Victoria no longer has bragging rights on the most modern stadiums in the country, what will Marvel Stadium look like when the $225 million redevelopment is finished in 2023?
The MCG holds a special place in Victorian hearts given its size and history and its place as the home of the grand final but, after 20 years of life, the AFL’s challenge is to make Marvel into a place where crowds flock willingly rather than begrudgingly.
6. Do GF ratings mean time change here to stay?
The 4.11 million viewers who tuned into the grand final — up 64 per cent on the 2019 day version — will be a powerful lobbying tool for those who believe we should never go back to a day grand final.
Gillon McLachlan has already stated the league will retain some tradition next year,
He said early this month the league wanted to return to a day game next year.
“When we were playing at the MCG this year, we weren’t (going to be) playing twilight. We were playing during the day.
“What we have shown is you can play (the grand final) in any slot. (The) MCG feels (like) 2.30(pm)-ish, and that’s where we have been going. But everything is possible.”
A twilight game has the best of both worlds – a 4pm start, a halftime in near-dark, enough time to anticipate the contest, enough time to celebrate afterwards.
7. The cool kid with a bright future
Jake Bowey. At pick 21 in the 2020 national draft, another astute selection and a premiership player after seven games who never got close to handing over his spot.
He and Michael Hibberd – who will win a new contract in coming weeks – totally shut out Cody Weightman.
And Bowey, who is yet to lose a game in seven attempts, is some kind of cool customer.
He has six consecutive games (including three finals) with 15 possessions or more, he kicks the ball beautifully (78 per cent effective or more in four of those games) and he has 200 games ahead of him.
Like Jack Graham (five games for a flag) and Marlion Pickett (one game for a flag) before him, he not only held his spot, he was spectacular on grand final day.
DISLIKES
1. Biggest missed opportunity of the grand final
How in God’s name did Simon Goodwin not get the chance to give his victory speech given those moments have given the game some of its greatest lines?
He said on Channel 9 on Sunday his final line would have been this: “I would have said to the supporters, “This is us. This is who we are”.”
He has stayed true to himself this campaign and the end result is a premiership.
Mistakes happen, but surely we have to be better than to cut off a speech 57 years in the making.
2. Moment the Dogs fell apart
The Dogs fell apart from the moment Bailey Fritsch kicked THAT goal at the 16.34min mark of the third term.
It was a 100 point to seven mauling as the Demons outscored the Dogs 51 points to zero from stoppages, had 25 more contested possessions, had 15 more inside 50s.
And yet the nature of grand finals is when one team drops its bundle aware it cannot win, the scoreboard damage is savage.
After such a stunning year Tom Liberatore went ball-hunting and was schooled in those decisive stoppages by Petracca, and Naughton just couldn’t take advantage of an opponent in Steven May with a 6cm hamstring tear.
The Dogs will enter Round 1 next year with Josh Bruce ready by mid-year, with a hungry Jamarra Ugle-Hagan better for the run, with Josh Dunkley re-signed past 2022, with 204cm ruck-forward Sam Darcy on their books.
The nature of the margin won’t define them – if they can address some key weaknesses.
3. Why Dogs must look at Ladhams
If Stef Martin were 26, the Dogs could afford to go into 2022 with the Tim English-Martin ruck set-up once more.
But Martin’s body cannot be trusted given he turns 35 in November and English went backwards this year.
Port Adelaide’s Peter Ladhams has to be a consideration for the Dogs given they are keen for ruck cover and at only 23 he has significant upside as a ruck-forward.
4. Bring on Round 1 GF rematch
Richmond and Carlton’s pulling power will guarantee the season opener next season but it has lost much of its lustre, given the Blues can never get it done in Round 1.
What can the AFL do to reward those fans who have spent hundreds of millions on memberships these past two years only to sit at home watching on TV.
The AFL should consider Richmond-Carlton on Thursday night into the grand final rematch on Friday night at the MCG as the double-header in some kind of festival of football.
Fans might have bought memberships out of loyalty in the past two years, but will they come back to the footy in their droves?
What better way to kickstart the season with a carnival celebrating everything great about this game as life returns to something approximating normal?
5. Time to take grand final on the road
Sports minister Martin Pakula shut down the possibility of the AFL rotating the grand final interstate every five years on Sunday.
“We’ve got an agreement with the AFL to hold the grand final at the MCG until 2059, and that’s what will happen.”
That’s what governments do – they back self interest – but there must be a way to extend that contract to allow the grand final to travel every five years.
Tony Cochrane mocks the AFL as the “VFL” and he is justified when so many fans are close-minded about growing the code and introducing a modicum of fairness to the season decider.
6. The goal that wasn’t
It took a punter in the crowd videoing Max Gawn’s goal-but-not-a-goal to nail the angle that made clear it should at least have been sent to a video review.
Gawn’s eyes told the story, with the goal umpire perfectly positioned but the ball seemingly drifting back within the goals by the time it crossed the line.
Eddie McGuire’s company operates the league’s arc and revealed on Fox Footy post-match they are working on technology to help those lineball calls that go over the post.
One more on the list for new footy boss Brad Scott – by Round 1 next year we need clarity on the hands-in-the-back rule given Jason Johannisen used both hands to boost himself over Jake Bowey for his goal-line mark.
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