AFL round 3: Glenn McFarlane and Chris Cavanagh name their likes and dislikes in the Early Tackle
After another difficult week, Melbourne’s gutsy seven-point win over Port Adelaide was their most impressive victory for some time, writes GLENN McFARLANE. See the early round 3 likes and dislikes.
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After a week of drama centred on the AFL’s drug policies, Easter footy reminded us of everything good about the game. GLENN MCFARLANE wraps up all the biggest talking points from round 3 in the Early Tackle.
LIKES
DEES SHUT OUT THE NOISE AND MAKE A STATEMENT
This 2024 Melbourne outfit appears to be made of stern stuff to shut out the collective noise of a series of past “off the book” illicit drug test allegations from a former club doctor as well as the raucous roar of a packed Port Adelaide crowd on Saturday night.
With every negative headline and story – and there have been plenty since last year’s straight sets exit – Simon Goodwin’s men have faced the challenges and chatter head on.
Leaving aside the loss to Sydney in Opening Round, the Demons have responded with clinical wins over Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn.
But this gutsy seven-point win over Port Adelaide in front of a hostile Adelaide Oval crowd was their most impressive victory for some time – it was a statement of intent.
Minus Steven May, and trailing by almost three goals just before three-quarter-time, the determined Demons willed themselves over the line in a finals-type atmosphere.
In doing so, they honoured 200-gamer Jack Viney by playing with the same tenacious streak as their gritty midfielder.
Five goals to three in the final term proved the difference, and the Demons kicked seven of the last 10 majors.
This was Melbourne’s 11th victory at Adelaide Oval – a record for a non-South Australian side – and they can make it a dozen on Thursday night against the Crows.
“We don’t have a return flight … so I told the boys to soak it up and stay out on the ground,” Max Gawn said on Fox Footy with the Dees set to spend the week ahead in the City of Churches.
WHY THE KANGAROOS MUST KEEP GOOD FRIDAY
Anyone who saw the youthful enthusiasm of Imogen Mulgrew at the coin toss and the pre-game banner run-through of the real heroes – the kids from the Royal Children’s Hospital – will understand the importance of Good Friday football.
This isn’t solely about footy; it is about something even more important.
Hope and support.
And the work that the North Melbourne Football Club and their neighbourhood rivals Carlton put into making this year’s Good Friday game a success should be lauded.
More than 47,000 turned up to Marvel Stadium and while the game and the result wasn’t what the Kangaroos would have wanted, the AFL must lock these two clubs into this important fixture for at least the next five years.
The Kangaroos have put so much work into this fixture, and the wheel will turn for them. And the Blues have also played a key role.
Keep building it, and this fixture will grow.
HARRY AND CHARLIE IN SYNC
Be afraid, opposition defences. Be very afraid.
Carlton may have had three consecutive Coleman Medal winners – the past two to Charlie Curnow and the one before that to Harry McKay.
But the Blues have never really had the twin towers firing at the same time for various reasons … until now.
It was either Harry dominant when Charlie was injured, or Charlie commanding the scene when Harry was misfiring.
Not any more.
Harry has found his radar again, and is looking as imposing as he was back in 2021, and Charlie looks as unstoppable as ever.
Sure the Blues shared the goals around in the Good Friday flogging they dished out to North Melbourne, but McKay’s five goals and Curnow’s four majors served an ominous warning.
The two good mates have never kicked 50 goals or more each in a season. Barring injury, that looks a formality this season.
And the Blues’ potent scoring power is something that is going to take them deep into September.
GEORGE AND THE BLUES BROTHERS
Kane Cornes gave the Blues a list-management slap back in late 2021 when they offered Swan George Hewett a four-year deal to coax him south. He said it had “made no sense”.
Two and a bit seasons on, Hewett’s recruitment looks like another canny decision from the Blues list management team, led by Nick Austin.
Hewett has been an important player for the Blues across he past two seasons and his performance against the Kangaroos on Friday highlighted his importance to the midfield group.
He adds the grunt to the Carlton midfield, evidenced by his 26 disposals (at 85%), 12 contested possessions, nine clearances and 12 scoring involvements.
The Blues also look to have scored a tick with the acquisition of Elijah Hollands, the brother of Ollie, who shone in his first game for the club.
Hollands knew he had a bit to prove to his new teammates after an off-field court appearance late last year. He got to work over summer and was rewarded with senior selection as soon as his two-game AFL ban ended … and he didn’t let the Blues down.
FLY’S ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’ MOMENT
The sign of a really good coach is one who isn’t afraid to make changes on the run … as opposed to one who stubbornly stands still.
Craig McRae has done that in recent weeks and it might just have kickstarted Collingwood’s premiership defence after three shaky early losses.
The man whose ‘Fly’ nickname comes from the Back To The Future franchise moved Nick Daicos to halfback again for the most part against the Lions to elicit some run and slick ball movement from an area sorely lacking in it so far this season.
It worked.
He also recalled John Noble from the VFL, and gave him a licence to run from the back half, getting back his spot that he lost to Oleg Markov last year.
Importantly, a few weeks back, he had the courage to ditch the Billy Frampton forward move and put him back where he best suited, in defence.
Frampton has been one of the Pies’ best players in the past few weeks, cutting Joe Daniher out of Thursday’s game.
When matched against Daniher, he conceded only one goal, but had 15 touches, three intercept marks, nine intercept possessions and 14 spoils.
EDGE, EFFORT AND A TOUCH OF EASTER MAGIC
This match was always going to be an early audit of the much-talked about ‘Essendon Edge’ and on that front the Bombers passed with flying colours.
In a match that could have been closed out if the Saints had been more accurate earlier in the game, Brad Scott’s team kept coming and coming, even after slipping 22 points down in the second term.
It wasn’t just the edge that was on show; it was also the effort as the Bombers took control of the clearances in the second half and produced a mature performance.
Nic Martin equalled Darcy Parish’s 44-disposal record for the Bombers, Zach Merrett and Andrew McGrath gave great leadership throughout the game and Kyle Langford was again a star in attack.
But in the end it was that man Jake Stringer who put the Bombers in front for the first time in the game with a monster 55-metre goal at the 20-minute-mark of the last term.
It was his third goal and the last of the match.
In doing so, he broke a Langford team rule, which no one was complaining about on Saturday night.
“I was pretty confident outside 50, I backed my ability in there,” Stringer said on Fox Footy. “Langers said the other week that only Peter Wright has a licence (to go for it outside 50m).”
“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in. Sorry Langers, you’ve got to do what you have to do.”
Stringer loves putting on an Easter show. Last year it was an Easter barrel; this time it was something even more important - putting the finishing touches on a crucial Bombers’ win.
THE WALL OF PEARCE
By his own admission, Alex Pearce’s first year as Fremantle captain in 2023 had “its challenges” with plenty of “ups and downs”.
However, the mainstay of the Dockers defence looks far more settled this season and is a key reason why his side has produced an unbeaten 3-0 start.
Fox Footy commentator Gerard Healy said during the call on Friday night that Adelaide could not get past “The Wall of Pearce” as the skipper completely controlled the back half.
Pearce finished with 13 disposals, five intercept marks and five tackles, all while keeping the Crows’ No. 1 forward – Taylor Walker – to seven disposals, three marks and one behind.
It was Pearce’s second scalp in as many weeks, after holding North Melbourne spearhead Nick Larkey to six disposals and one goal in round 2.
The Dockers have conceded an average of just 60 points a game across the first three weeks – a stretch which has seen them face off with the two highest-scoring teams from last year in Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions.
DISLIKES
WASTEFUL SAINTS WILL RUE MISSED CHANCES
Ross Lyon hates waste almost as much as anything, and this one might yet play a role in determining St Kilda’s finals hopes
The Saints could have — and perhaps should have — put this game away in a first half where they constantly missed opportunities in attack and squandered getting shots at goal.
Lyon’s team led the contest with the Bombers for 104 minutes and 35 seconds. Essendon had the edge for just a tick over nine minutes … but they were the nine minutes that mattered.
The Saints’ 51 inside 50s produced a scoreline of 9.13 (67), and that doesn’t include the out of bounds shots or the one that fell short or wide.
Both sides were missing key forwards due to suspension, with Peter Wright and Max King out, but the Saints had enough chances to make this game their own.
In the end, the Saints were out on their feet and couldn’t keep up with the relentless Essendon clearance machine that rolled into overdrive, particularly in the final term,
There were plenty of offenders who missed shots they should have kicked, and the coach will give them a none-too-subtle reminder this week.
ROO-ING A LOP-SIDED LIST
North Melbourne knew as early as this time last season that key defensive pillar Ben McKay was almost certainly not going to be around in 2024.
McKay resisted the temptation to re-sign, delayed talks, and the sharks were circling for him.
The warning signs for the Kangaroos to launch ‘Operation: Get a Big Defender’ were there, especially with Griffin Logue set to miss a large slice of the season.
While Essendon secured McKay, and Port Adelaide added Esava Ratugolea and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, the Kangaroos’ return amounted to little.
They brought in one-game Tiger Bigoa Nyuon and delisted free agent Toby Pink, and drafted teenage key backman Will Dawson.
The Roos overlooked the highest-rated defender Daniel Curtin in last year’s draft pool in favour of forward Zane Duursma, a decision coach Alastair Clarkson strongly defended on Friday.
However, the big name defender eluded them. Again.
In fairness, high-end, big-bodied defenders don’t grow on trees, and free agents and trade targets have proven reluctant to go to teams sitting near the bottom of the ladder.
But the Kangaroos must now do everything in their power to secure a key defender as a priority in this year’s trade period. Or they run the risk that this list rebuild – so impressive from a midfield point of view – is worryingly lopsided in terms of the back half.
Watching Carlton have a Good Friday feast on an undersized, undermanned North Melbourne defence – kicking 21 goals – makes you worry about the months ahead.
Pink (194cm), Kallan Dawson (196cm) and Aidan Corr (195cm) simply could not match it with the height and power of Carlton’s twin towers Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow.
The return of injury-prone big man Charlie Comben can’t come quick enough.
The scary thing is a winless Brisbane, with forwards who have previously had an appetite to beat up on smaller defenders, will be looking to fill their boots in Adelaide next week.
WHAT WAS ESAVA THINKING AS THE PORT COME UP SHORT?
It wasn’t the difference between winning and losing in the end, but a goal-line mistake from Port Adelaide defender Esava Ratugolea in the first half threatened to come back to haunt the home side.
The former Cat was home alone in the goal-square early in the second term as Kozzie Pickett launched from 40m out.
Ratugolea looked certain to stop the low-flying ball, but inexplicably stayed behind the line when spilling a mark.
The goal review system judged that the ball had passed over the line before contact as the defender’s moment of hesitation gifted the opposition a goal that shouldn’t have been.
Esava Ratugolea may have misjudged the goal line here!
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) March 30, 2024
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Port Adelaide looked ready to claim a serious scalp when a Todd Marshall goal put the home side 16 points up late in the third term.
But as good as this contest was, and it had a finals-like intensity, Ken Hinkley would be frustrated with the way the Demons finished off the game better than their opponents.
Port had a chance to make a real statement after regulation wins over West Coast and Richmond.
Instead, it was the Dees who made the real statement.
Now, the Power have to take on the Essendon ‘edge’ next Friday, realising they let a real opportunity slip on Saturday night.
‘BRIS-VEGAS’, MISFIRING ATTACK AND A TACKLING DROUGHT
Good Friday is meant to be a time of relaxing and reflection … but for the winless Brisbane Lions, it brought a conversation between club leaders to address revelations of rifts that allegedly occurred following the club’s end of season trip to the United States.
The question is how much of Brisbane’s uncharacteristically sub-standard start to 2024 relate back to that trip to the US late last year.
Perhaps we will never know.
Brisbane CEO Greg Swann insists that what happened in the US has had no bearing on three poor losses to Carlton, Fremantle and Collingwood this year.
This masthead revealed aspects of the trip late on Friday, detailing how one of the members of the travelling party accidentally uploaded a WhatsApp group chat to iCloud on his smartphone.
It is understood those messages were shared with other partners, who were unhappy with some of the behaviours on the trip.
Swann was emphatic that there was no “split in the group” as a result of the trip.
But, for whatever reason, the Lions are a shadow of themselves on the field, and have to address this immediately or slip out of premiership contention after their heartbreaking grand final near-miss last year.
How does a team with the firepower that Brisbane has kick only 10 goals against the Magpies from 56 entries?
And how does a team on a home ground that used to be impregnable have a tackle differential of minus 32 against Collingwood?
North Melbourne next week might be the sugar hit the Lions need, but the following three weeks - against Melbourne, Geelong and the Giants - will reveal much, much more.
CROWS LOOK COOKED
Adelaide was widely tipped to leap into the top-eight this season, after missing September by a whisker in 2023.
But three games into the season and less than two weeks after handing coach Matthew Nicks a two-year contract extension, the Crows look cooked.
Nicks’ side managed a paltry four goals in a 35-point loss to Fremantle on Friday night, a result which left them with a 0-3 record to start the year.
Since 2012, there have been 34 teams who have made 0-3 starts to a season.
Only two of those – Sydney in 2017 and GWS in 2021 – have bounced back to play finals.
There are problems everywhere, but most notably in the forward line.
Adelaide was the highest scoring team in the competition last year, but is averaging just 55 points a game this season.
Taylor Walker was badly beaten by Alex Pearce in his second game back, while Darcy Fogarty, Izak Rankine and Josh Rachele all had little impact.
Fresh injuries to Wayne Milera and Lachlan Murphy compounded the woes for the Crows, who now face games against Melbourne and Carlton over the next two weeks.
A season which started with much promise is quickly becoming a nightmare.
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
It is unfathomable that footy great and indigenous role model Eddie Betts and his kids can’t feel safe in their own home.
Betts’ kids were subjected to shocking racist abuse while playing outside their home this week, which the former Carlton and Adelaide star revealed on social media.
It led to a wave of support from the AFL community and the general public, which is great.
But how the hell this cowardly behaviour continues to happen is beyond ridiculous.
Enough!
OUT OF BOUNDS, UMP
What’s wrong with the boundary umpires this season?
Mistakes happen in any form of sports officiating, as AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon conceded recently.
But four weeks of footy have produced more than a few howlers with Willie Rioli juggling a mark that was over the boundary line in Port Adelaide’s Saturday clash with Melbourne.
Are the boundary umpires gun-shy to make a close call, and in turn, a non-decision ends up being the wrong one?
“That’s a long way out,” Fox Footy’s Brad Johnson said of the decision to not call out of bounds in the Rioli instance.
“The boundary umpires have had a poor start to this season.”
Dermott Brereton urged the boundary umpires to “be brave enough to blow the whistle.”
St Kilda’s Jack Higgins was awarded a goal after clearly being out of bounds when kicking from an angle against Collingwood in round 3.
And West Coast’s Jake Waterman was “in the hot dog stand” when he gave the ball off to teammate Jack Petruccelle in the round 1 clash with Port Adelaide.
Let’s hope one of those errors doesn’t prove costly in a game this year.
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