The Tackle: Jon Ralph’s likes and dislikes from the first week of the 2021 AFL finals series
After yet another self-inflicted setback to his promising career, Jon Ralph ponders whether Jaidyn Stephenson will ever grow up and realise his potential.
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The finals are only one week old, but it’s already the silly season, with Toby Greene and Jaidyn Stephenson producing a couple of shocking brain fades.
Geelong’s Friday night disaster has put Jon Ralph’s microscope on Patrick Dangerfield, while another Cat’s finals performances are under scrutiny.
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A gun Demon gets the Dusty comparison, and recent comments about Ross Lyon might just make him the perfect man for the Blues’ job.
All that and more in The Tackle.
SCROLL DOWN TO READ ALL RALPHY’S LIKES AND DISLIKES FROM WEEK ONE OF THE FINALS
DISLIKES
1. Dons’ public enemy No. 1
At least Essendon fans had a scapegoat at three quarter time.
Cody Weightman has an acrobatic way of maximising all contact that means AFL umpires cannot help but pay him free kicks.
Of the four free kicks he was awarded on a sodden Tasmanian day which he converted into goals, one was probably there.
But two should have been called play on and the Zach Merrett free kick on the boundary line when he bumped him as he got rid of the ball — was an out-and-out howler.
Weightman trapped Jayden Laverde’s arm as he fell to ground to milk his first goal, he simply slipped under Sam Draper’s arm and was awarded a free kick for borderline contact for his second.
Marty Gleeson held him as he attempted to mark for his third goal (fair call) and then the Merrett free kick was plucked from mid-air.
But when you can’t kick a goal after half time, the rub of the umpiring green is irrelevant.
Now comes the hard part after a sixth straight elimination final loss _ finding the key position forward to turn them into a premiership side given available stars are so scarce this year.
Gold Coast’s Malcolm Rosas Jnr will likely join the Dons as an electric small forward and Michael Hurley will return after off-season hip surgery.
Off the field, football boss Josh Mahoney is being strongly considered by the AFL for its vacant football operations position and might even be the favourite.
But Ben Rutten now gets a perfect reminder for the potential fatheads that for all the positives this year the premiership was a long way out of reach.
The sober reality is that after 18 years barren there will be Essendon fans driving to the club’s next final who weren’t born when they won their last one.
2. Toby Greene never learns
His status as footy’s most watchable player isn’t mutually exclusive to the reality that he only has himself to blame for his latest predicament.
He will head to the tribunal because his conduct in walking through Matt Stevic was clearly disrespectful and he clearly made some contact.
It doesn’t mean he won’t get off at the tribunal, but Michael Christian’s job was particularly easy.
Was there any contact made?
Was it disrespectful, or aggressive, or forceful or demonstrative?
It only needs to be one of those and it was clearly disrespectful.
Greene walked straight at Stevic when he had room to skirt him and made clear contact.
He can’t play in the semi-final against Geelong and he probably shouldn’t play the following week either if GWS progress.
The tribunal or the appeals board might eventually decide the incident was so minor he plays against Geelong.
And Matt Stevic might testify that the contact was so minor to be incidental.
But for the third final in five since 2019 Greene again goes through a week of major drama when we should be lauding his blinding football talent.
3. Time to grow up, Jaidyn
It is a rite of passage to do idiotic things in your childhood you later regret.
But Stephenson is 22 and he’s too old to be doing backyard tricks on a mountain bike of the kind that would land him in hospital with a fractured hip.
He strongly denies that he asked his doctors not to allow the Roos to see his medical reports.
But take that out of the equation and you ask yourself – why in god’s name would he be riding a bike down his back steps in the first place anyway?
The Magpies traded the 2018 Rising Star not only because they had cap issues, but also because they were concerned about a litany of worrying issues in hublife and because of own-goals, including betting on AFL games.
The Pies’ hierarchy would have exchanged knowing glances because they didn’t believe he would maximise his talent because of issues like these.
There are lots of players who figure they are going to keep doing stupid things like all their mates and don’t want to sacrifice, but most of them get spat out on footy’s scrap heap.
4. Patty grave Danger no more?
As Jack Nicholson’s Colonel Jessup and Tom Cruise’s Daniel Kaffee sparred in the courtroom in A Few Good Men, they quibbled over the definition of grave danger.
“I said grave danger. You said, ‘Is there any other kind …’ ”
Right now Patrick Dangerfield isn’t a “Grave Danger” to rival sides in September.
He is more nuisance value than grave danger.
By the end of Friday night he still had eight clearances, nine inside-50s and 603 metres gained.
Few players are perfect but nine turnovers were jarring against a clean, precise Port Adelaide.
He will bounce back hard, as he did after the 2017 qualifying final against Richmond where he went at 31 per cent effectiveness with key turnovers that helped the Tigers’ march.
But without a pre-finals bye, what shape will the Cats be in if they can eventually get through to a preliminary final against Melbourne after another bruising contest against GWS?
5. Can Rohan stand up in finals?
Chris Scott has spent a year with Gary Rohan on the counselling couch, nurturing and reassuring him at every opportunity after his 30.16 season.
Just as the Cats’ methodical ball movement from defence has been so effective in home-and-away games yet broken down in finals, Rohan’s game hasn’t been suited to deep into September.
Last year he had five goalless possessions in the grand final loss. He had five touches in the 2016 grand final loss for Sydney (one goal) after seven goalless touches in the 2014 season decider for the Swans.
Against Port Adelaide he was redeployed into defence after two first-half disposals, and won 10 touches, three of them after playing on from kick-outs.
So Scott and Rohan will pick themselves up off the canvas as they have done so often before. Remember, they lost a qualifying final to Port Adelaide last year and were almost four goals up against Richmond in the decider.
6. Swans’ great regret
Sydney split two grand finals with West Coast, aware sometimes the other mob is just too good on the day.
Sydney will spend a long summer believing it might have been good enough to win the flag but totally butchered that chance.
The Giants’ last-quarter stand was reminiscent of its 2019 preliminary final resistance against Collingwood, with Shane Mumford standing tall, the Giants out on their legs and their rival failing to take their chances
Justin McInerney should have made better contact on the snap that would have won it for Sydney as the ball was spoiled on the goal line.
But James Bell had a set shot from 20m out five metres off centre and hit the post.
Tom Hickey’s routine set shot from 40m out was pulled left.
Will Hayward hit the post on the run.
Sam Wicks streamed into goal from 30m on the run and then hit the post.
No wonder John Longmire described the loss as “gut-wrenching”.
LIKES
1. Clarry’s explosive — just like Dusty
Clayton Oliver isn’t Dustin Martin, but those withering first five steps of explosive speed are allowing him to do Martin-style things this year.
Like Martin, he exploded from the blocks with a scintillating first season, spent time racking up huge possessions with minimal effect and then cracked the impact v accumulation code.
Luke Jackson isn’t Nic Naitanui, but his catlike reflexes are allowing him a mean impersonation.
That superb package of height, athleticism and speed is allowing him the same kind of Nic Nat moments as he rises high for a hit out then moments later busts from a stoppage with ball in hand.
Teams win premierships based on team defence, on fit and injury-free lists, on quality coaching.
But they also win on sheer freak talent.
Has a recent list ever had such a ruck package as Max Gawn and Jackson, with the 28-gamer’s decade of football ahead something to behold.
2. Time to lay off Leon?
No recent coach with such a successful winning record has been as mocked or pilloried or underestimated as Giants mentor Leon Cameron.
Say what you want about how much talent the Giants have possessed in the past, but Cameron just keeps winning.
He now has five seasons with a finals victory in his eight years in charge – and wins in five of the past six.
During parts of the club’s rollercoaster of a season, we wondered why he wasted stoppage beasts Tim Taranto or Stephen Coniglio in attacking roles as he attempted to juggle his long list of inside mids.
Then that team kicked three stoppage goals in the first half against Sydney through Toby Greene, Taranto and Harry Himmelberg and then held up the dam wall against Sydney’s late advances.
In decades to come, his true legacy might only be defined by a premiership, but with flags harder to win than ever in an 18-team equalised competition he has been a true coaching success story.
3. Ed’s comments should be music to Blues’ ears
Ed Langdon gave Ross Lyon a little clip on Saturday night with his comments on post-match radio.
Langdon said it was a nice change at Melbourne under a “cool, calm and collected” Simon Goodwin, compared to being at Fremantle where Ross Lyon yelled at players if they didn’t look at him in the eye in meetings.
But, as identified in the review, this would be the perfect skill set for Carlton.
The review called for more rigour in feedback across the club, more defensive intent, for a club that drove higher standards, for a need to erase the disconnect between game plan and execution.
It’s hard to see how contenders wouldn’t see the process as a boat race.
But with Al Clarkson and Nathan Buckley out of the race, the great challenge is how the Blues attempt to orchestrate a process when most believe the job is there for the taking for Lyon.
4. Weather blesses Bevo
Luke Beveridge couldn’t have dialled up a better set of conditions to get his side out of its late-season funk.
For all of the silky ball movement the side coined the ‘handball club’ is still built for the street fight.
As the rain came down they held a Darcy Parish-inspired Essendon to half time.
Then they went whack in a manner which will give them hope they can do it to Brisbane next week.
After half time, they brutalised Essendon with plus 34 in contested ball, plus 10 in clearances and 10 more inside 50s.
Jackson Macrae’s All Australian doubters had new respect after 21 second-half touches alongside Tom Liberatore and Marcus Bontempelli.
But Adam Treloar’s 18 second half possessions (345 metres gained in the half) added to Josh Schache’s two goals and a direct assist and Aaron Naughton’s two last-term goals as he broke even with Jordan Ridley.
Even supporters starting to question Luke Beveridge’s selection saw late inclusion Ryan Gardner hold up strongly.
And the Schache-Lewis Young-Tim English ruck-forward trio worked well enough to give Aaron Naughton enough one-on-one looks.
All of a sudden, a Lions side without the concussed Dan McStay is very gettable.
5. Value of Buddy deal put to bed
The similarities were uncanny.
Fourteen seasons after the 2007 finals goal against Adelaide that established him as a bona fide AFL star, Lance Franklin took another lead-up mark in an elimination final with the game up for grabs.
This time his set shot started right and didn’t cut back, a key miss in a 2.7 last term that let GWS off the hook.
But it was his 12th season with 50 goals – plus a truncated 17-game, 47-goal 2015 season – and a final vindication of his nine-year, $10 million deal at the Swans.
Now we get a summer of anticipation as he closes in on 1000 goals with a legitimate expectation he will play on until 2023.
6. The real teal
The narrative goes that Port Adelaide was not good enough or mature enough to win a preliminary final on its home track last year against Richmond.
Yet consider this for a second: they were beaten single-handedly last year by Dustin Martin in that contest, with Martin kicking three goals, setting up two direct score assists and a part of six score involvements in a contest where the Tigers won with only six goals.
Zak Butters’ ball-and-all tackle on Jeremy Cameron as the Cats star attempted to run over him Jonah Lomu style was symbolic of a Port Adelaide side which would not be denied.
The Power has won 10 of 11, it is the only club that gets a true home-ground preliminary advantage, it has a coach at the peak of his powers, it has almost no injuries.
If Hinkley’s mob is to win the multiple premierships he believes it can with this list, there cannot be any excuses not to get it done on preliminary final night.
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Originally published as The Tackle: Jon Ralph’s likes and dislikes from the first week of the 2021 AFL finals series
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