Early tackle: Scott Gullan’s likes and dislikes from Gather Round
North Melbourne might as well have set up a rug, chairs and a basket of goodies for the Brisbane forwards as AWOL Roos defenders gave them a picnic.
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Gather Round is delivering in spades so far, with plenty of talking points to come out of the weekend of footy.
There’s been close finishes, big crowds and lots of highlights.
Scott Gullan takes a look at some of the good and some of the bad in the early tackle.
DISLIKES
DOCKER MARKETING SHOCKER
Sometimes marketing departments need to stay away.
Fremantle’s special jumper for Gather Round had clearly been dreamt up during a think tank at some rural retreat where team bonding was the focus.
The pitch black jumper with a tinge of neon purple on the chevrons looked ridiculous when the Dockers normal jumper wouldn’t have clashed with their opponents the Gold Coast Suns.
According to the Dockers website they wanted to “do something different” for the Adelaide based round and while we understand it is a money-raising venture as fans will no doubt buy the one-off jumpers, it still doesn’t make a lot of sense.
The whole messaging about being “stealth” was also odd with the Dockers banner before the game saying: ‘Our Time Has Come To Stand Our Ground While Wearing Stealth At Gather Round’.
So are we supposed to think the Dockers slipped into Adelaide under the cover of darkness in their stealth jumpers and stole the victory.
Please. Time for the marketers to go back to singing kumbaya around the fire pit.
LIONS OUT BACK SPECTACULAR
We know North Melbourne has its L-plates on under Alastair Clarkson but still there was no excuse for the defensive breakdowns which kept happening against the Lions.
The Roos might have well set up a rug, chairs and a basket of goodies for the Brisbane forwards given the picnic they were given.
Charlie Cameron, Joe Daniher and Eric Hipwood kicked 13 goals between them and a number of them were handed to them because their opponents were AWOL.
Hipwood in particular had a field day getting behind the Roos defence and into open space by himself in the forward 50 as Clarkson’s troops strangely kept pressing up the ground.
To the Lions credit their pressure around the ball was high which created 76 turnovers by the Roos. The ball was then slingshot Brisbane’s way into the waiting arms of their three big guns.
Coming into the game the Lions had averaged 11 marks per game in their forward 50 this season, at Mount Barker they had 33 for the afternoon.
So while it was a nice confidence booster for the Lions forwards who have copped some heat this year, they won’t ever get many easier days at the office.
BAD ADVERTISEMENT
There is a lot of serious cash getting invested into Gather Round but the league seems to have cut costs with its sticky tape.
Sydney’s Jake Lloyd had a goal denied by the Score Review bunker because the Sherrin flicked some advertising wrapping on the goal post which had come loose.
Technically it was part of the goalpost which meant it had to be called a behind but morally it was a bad look.
The incident happened in the second quarter and at half-time the grounds staff at Adelaide Oval rushed out to the shops and found some sticky tape to repair the flapping plastic.
Thankfully the blunder didn’t impact on the result and was allowed to go through to the keeper although it was stiff for Lloyd who has only kicked 34 goals in his 205-game career.
NOT TIME FOR COTCH CALL
Life as a veteran on his last legs in the AFL is a tough gig.
Trent Cotchin and Richmond are about to find themselves in a week focussed on whether the premiership captain has done the wrong thing by playing on one extra year.
The sight of Cotchin being subbed off on Friday night was hard for Tigers fans to watch although given his poor output it was clearly the right decision by coach Damien Hardwick.
Turning Cotchin into a pressure forward hasn’t worked and the Brownlow Medallist hasn’t been able to find a way to be influential in the new midfield set-up playing alongside recruits Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper.
Most will be quick to write him off but the fact is Richmond’s injury list is so long that Cotchin will have to play next week against Melbourne.
Geelong and Joel Selwood set the bar high on how to deal with an ageing superstar coming to the end. That is the template the Tigers need to tap into because there is no hiding in this game particularly when the rest of the team are only paddling as well.
LIKES
JORDAN THE GREAT
Brownlow alert. Get on Jordan Dawson immediately because the $21 isn’t going to last long.
You could have written your own ticket about the new Adelaide captain before the start of the season but he’s the hottest player in the competition over the past three weeks thanks to an inspired move by his coach Matthew Nicks.
On Thursday night he was the Crows midfield general taking responsibility for Brownlow Medallist Patrick Cripps at stoppages throughout the evening.
The result was another three-vote game with 32 disposals, 10 contested possessions, seven clearances and nine tackles.
Dawson came to the Crows from Sydney as a rebounding defender and spent most of his time in the back half during a stellar first year in Adelaide which saw him come second in the best and fairest.
But when Nicks identified he needed a bigger body in the midfield, he turned to his 191cm skipper who has delivered in spades.
The stat which will hurt Swans fans is that during his career in the Harbour City he spent just three per cent game time as a centre bounce midfielder. In the past three weeks Dawson has spent 75 per cent of game time in the guts and as a consequence is a Brownlow Medal smokey.
LIFE OF BRIAN
He’s like the old uncle who always has a bad joke ready at his disposal and Brian Taylor was enjoying himself on Friday night.
Channel 7's main man threw in a couple of classically bad - but good - one-liners to keep himself amused as Sydney put the sword to Richmond.
One of the stories of the night was the Warner brothers, Chad and Corey, playing together for the first time.
There was lots of excitement in the commentary box when first-gamer Corey kicked a goal in the second quarter and the camera panned to the Warner family in the stands.
But the big moment for them came later when Taylor was again waxing lyrical about the Warner’s: “If ever they make a movie about this family it will be made by Warner Brothers.”
Boom. Pure gold.
BT wasn’t finished and brought out another gem when discussing Swans defender Robbie Fox doing a good job on Tigers superstar Dustin Martin: “He’s almost out-foxing him.”
BROTHERS IN ARMS
There was a lot going on at Mount Barker for its AFL debut.
Gillon McLachlan was in the makeshift stands with his new best mate, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, while Sydney CEO Tom Harley, who is regarded as a future league boss, was also on hand and was interestingly caught having a deep one-on-one conversation with the outgoing chief.
Before the game there was a poignant moment when North Melbourne coach Alistair Clarkson crept up behind Brisbane coach Chris Fagan and tackled him.
Clarko pinned his good mate’s arms and squeezed tight before eventually letting go with the pair then embracing.
They have a lot of history with Fagan being Clarkson’s right-hand man throughout his premiership success at Hawthorn and they are currently both embroiled in the club’s racism investigation.
But that was the furthest thing from their minds at Gather Round where it was all cuddles and thumbs up between the opposing coaches.
NORTH’S FRESH COMBO
IT’S hard to find too many positives in a 12-goal loss but to borrow a line from former Carlton coach Brendon Bolton there are green shoots in the Kangaroos spine.
The best thing about North’s spanking by the Lions was the performance of young centre half-forward Charlie Comben.
Playing just his seventh game the Roos first pick in the 2019 draft (at No. 31) kicked 2.3 goals and showed he has the tools to be a long-time key position player.
Injuries haunted his first couple of seasons but the 199cm Comben has already shown his versatility this season including a stint in the ruck in round 1.
With Nick Larkey (one goal against the Lions) a proven spearhead the development of Comben gives them a forward structure to build around while at the other end the tall defensive stocks look sorted with Ben McKay and ex-Docker Griffin Logue.
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