The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from Round 15 of the 2021 AFL season
Mason Cox missed his chance to impress new Pies coach Robert Harvey. Mark Robinson says a new club is needed to rescue the American Pie’s career.
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The Blues are back … sort of.
This week’s The Tackle, Chief Football Writer Mark Robinson gives some love to embattled Carlton, anoints a Western Bulldogs’ high-flyer as the best key forward in the game and admires a Kangaroo who everyone would want at their club.
The Eagles are overrated and Robbo’s all but written off the Tigers. Can they find vintage form when the whips are cracking?
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Robbo’s Round 15 likes and dislikes below.
LIKES
1. THEY NEEDED THIS ONE, THE BLUES
They didn’t, even though it got very tight at the end.
A loss would’ve left Teague vulnerable, seeing the review is into all aspects of the football department, including the position of the senior coach.
Skipper Patrick Cripps told Fox Footy it had a been high pressure week and that he was pleased the team played Blues footy, which he said was based on defence.
Still, only 45 tackles from the Blues, the best being a run down by Adam Saad on Sam Berry early in the final quarter when the Crows were surging.
A win was the only accepted result for Carlton because the alternative could’ve been fatal for some in the footy department.
They live for another day.
2. ASTRO-NAUGHT
By the end of this season — if he isn’t already — Aaron Naughton could be the best key forward in the game.
It would make a nice double because his captain Marcus Bontempelli is the best player in the game.
Both of them lit up Optus Stadium on Sunday night.
Bont will shorten again for the Brownlow, while Naughton is a huge problem for opposition defenders with his contesting marking.
His kicking for goal needs refining — he kicked 4.2 against the Eagles — but he took another five contested marks, taking his tally to 40 for the year, which is equal No. 1 in the league with Max Gawn.
There’s not a key forward who launches at the ball like Naughton does and right now.
He and the Bont are the two most important players at the club.
3. MAY AND LEVER
Colleague Sam Landsberger labelled them the $1.5 million pillars of the defence.
Demons coach Simon Goodwin described their games as “amazing’’.
No doubt, Steven May and Jake Lever will be in the same All-Australian back six and, no doubt, the Bombers coaches box could not nullify them on Saturday night.
Is that interesting, Ben Rutten could not nullify two defenders. But to beat Melbourne, May and Lever must be denied access to the ball.
That’s easier written than done.
Harrison Petty took Harrison Jones, which allowed Lever to float — as he always does — and May backs himself in all marking contests.
He was enormous in the first half, helped somewhat by some tardy inside-50s from the Bombers.
Clearly, whoever plans on beating Melbourne this year must do something about the pillars.
It will be fascinating watching rival coaches come up with a plan.
4. BUDDY IN ADELAIDE
He still bedazzles aged 34 and in his 310th game.
His last quarter in what was one of the great contests this season was herculean and his run-down tackle on Port skipper Tom Jonas was as thrilling as any of his three goals.
That’s greatness without the ball. With the ball, he was a one-man rescue mission that narrowly failed.
His last quarter returned 77 ranking points, seven disposals, four score involvements and 3.1.
Franklin finished the match as Sydney’s No. 1 ranked player and also logged a game-high 10 score involvements.
The commentary about Franklin this season is that he’s not the player he was, and he’s probably not, but Saturday night was vintage Bud.
5. WILLEM IN ADELAIDE
Fox Footy’s Jonathan Brown praised Willem Drew during the last week and that was understandable, and even more so when Brown playfully admitted the two of them from the western districts were related.
Still, Brown wasn’t wrong with his assessment.
Drew played 10 games in 2019 and missed all of 2020 with a foot injury but has played all 14 games this year.
In doing so he has reminded the footy world that Port’s youth brigade goes beyond Zak Butters, Connor Rozee and Xavier Duursma.
Drew is a classic role player, in that he’s there to apply pressure and hunt the contested ball.
Against the Swans, he had a game-high 101 pressure points — the fifth player this season to exceed more than 100 pressure points in a game.
He was also ranked No. 1 at the club for clearances (eight) alongside Ollie Wines.
6. YEAH, YEAH, BEN CUNNINGTON
What a soldier he has been for North Melbourne.
Too often, observers like to point out Cunnington’s weaknesses as a player — such as his spread from stoppages — but his good is great and, because he’s so consistent, it can be taken for granted.
He had 28 disposals and eight clearances against the Suns, which is just another regular game for the man with the clean hands.
Others might vote higher in the coaches votes — such as Cameron Zurhaar and Luke Davies-Uniacke — but Cunnington will be there somewhere, like he very often is.
7. THE TOAST OF QUEENSLAND
As we write, the Lions are the most successful sporting team in the Sunshine State, which is incredible in a rugby league heartland.
And demolishing the Cats did their popularity no harm.
They are a tougher unit, the Lions, as shown on Thursday night, and their mantra is not “we have to tackle”, it’s “we want to tackle”.
They are a strong premiership threat.
From rounds 5-14, they are No. 2 for points scored, No. 3 for points on turnover and No. 2 for points from stoppages.
To any query about their toughness, they are No. 2 for contested ball in the same period.
Geelong coach Chris Scott said it was a bad night, and it was, but clearly the Cats did not deal with Brisbane’s intensity and pressure.
A top-two position beckons for Queensland’s best.
8. LOBB LOVE
This guy always seems to play with a smile on his face.
That, or he’s always sucking in the air, which makes his enormous mouthguard protrude even greater.
Whatever the case, Lobb has stood up in Matt Taberner’s absence.
Not sure I had the same confidence as coach Justin Longmuir, but Lobb proved the doubters wrong.
On Saturday, he was a centre piece in Fremantle’s win over Collingwood, kicking 3.2 and having nine sore involvements.
He also took four contested marks against a defence without Darcy Moore.
9. LONG ON SONG
Has found himself back on the forward line and although he isn’t a huge ball winner, his enthusiasm for the contest can’t be denied.
Love how he cracks in at the contest, which was a hallmark of St Kilda’s win over the Tigers.
He was played at halfback in 2020, lost his spot twice this year and on Friday played 100 per cent of game time as a forward — his highest percentage since round 21, 2019.
His fierce attitude was complemented by five score involvements on Friday night — the third most by a player.
Have the Saints found their mid-sized forwards in Long and Mason Wood, who played his best game for the club and perhaps his career?
DISLIKES
1. OVERRATED EAGLES
As Western Australia tumbles into Covid strife, the Eagles could end up in a hub in Melbourne with a half-broken team.
Whenever they win, people say they’re dangerous and they’re contenders.
And when they lose, they look as pedestrian as any other team outside looking in. It happens too often.
They were belted in first and the fourth quarters on Sunday night — combined scores were 8.13 to 2.2 — and you’re hardly a flag contender when that happens on your home ground. ‘’Forget what it looks like on paper, the Western Bulldogs midfield has destroyed West Coast today,’’ Cameron Ling said on Channel 7.
No, the Eagles aren’t making the top four despite them playing Sydney at Geelong and then North Melbourne, Adelaide and St Kilda in the next month.
It loom as another failed season by a group which is too often overrated.
2. THANKS TIGERS, IT’S BEEN A HOOT
Yes, Richmond can still win it, but won’t.
Those end-of-an-era feels have been enveloping the Tigers for some time.
There have been excuses after every horrible loss – and after the Saints loss on Friday night, even some Tigers fans were death-riding their team.
The shock was seeing the Tigers, for so long the might of the competition, play such sloppy footy.
Their style of high pressure and then speed on the ball is now too inconsistent to take them to a hat-trick.
The grunt and hunger is not there, and now there are more injuries.
The Tigers have also lost their game. In the five games they have scored fewer than 50 points from turnovers, they are 0-5.
Against the Saints, they scored just 14 points from a turnover – their worst result in a match since 2015.
This has been their No. 1 strength and it’s miles from where it should be.
3. THEY BLEW IT, THE GIANTS
The Giants are consistently inconsistent and they were thoroughly disappointing after quarter-time at the MCG on Sunday.
They got belted around the footy in the last three quarters, losing contested ball by 15 and losing the inside-50 count by14.
They lacked leaders, other than Lachie Whitfield, to change the game. The Hawks dominated them. They too 91 marks in three quarters and the Giants were inadequate in response.
A golden opportunity was missed by the Giants and clearly they’re not earning the right to play finals.
A draw against North Melbourne last week and a loss to the Hawks puts them back with the could-bes and maybes.
4. MULLIGAN FOR THE CATS?
We’ve had multiple disappointments from the Tigers this year, but rarely do we see such ineptitude from Geelong.
Yes, they’ll get a mulligan – live to fight another day in the finals – though they do have issues.
The form of Shaun Higgins is one concern.
His commentating friends describe him as silky smooth, and he was for 240 of his 246 games, but that quality with ball in hands has deserted him.
Does Chris Scott back him in, or send him to the VFL to find whatever’s missing and resurrect him for a finals campaign?
Almost every player failed in their endeavours at the Gabba on Thursday night, but what’s the point naming them all?
Let’s reassess after they meet the Bombers on Friday night. Then it’s Carlton, Fremantle and Richmond, and by then we’ll know if Thursday night was an aberration or something more concerning.
5. BEN KING’S IN A RUT
Like his brother at St Kilda, Gold Coast’s Ben King needs aerial support in the F50.
But there’s no Rowan Marshall or Tim Membrey at the Suns.
King looks to have hit a wall after a slashing first half of the season.
In his past three matches, he has delivered a combined 15 disposals, six marks, one contested mark and two goals.
He needs help, but the problem the Suns have, as do North Melbourne, Essendon, Collingwood and Hawthorn, is finding a key forward.
Richmond’s Mabior Chol and Callum Coleman-Jones are hot property because there’s not a lot of them elsewhere.
6. BYE, BYE, AMERICAN PIE?
His opportunities have been limited, so when Mason Cox received the call-up from caretaker Magpies coach Robert Harvey, he had to make the most of it.
Maybe he is a type for the Suns because his opportunities at the Pies might run dry.
On Saturday, he was out of sorts and, to be honest, he has been out of sorts for some time.
He finished with a game-low 32 ranking points (excluding the injured Matt Taberner) and only six disposals.
When the Pies were yearning for a matchwinner in the second half, Cox had one disposal and one mark.
They are not the numbers to have clubs clamouring, but playing alongside King at the Suns could help the young man immensely.
7. LEAN PICKINGS FOR HEENEY
The Swans could be on the road for a month, or longer, depending on the worsening Covid situation in Sydney, and will need their senior players at their best.
Isaac Heeney is far from that.
Twelve touches in round 12, 10 touches and two goals in round 13, and 14 touches and three behinds against Port Adelaide on Saturday is only average for a player of his immense talent.
The early-season pomp about the Swans has disappeared after successive losses, and with West Coast and the Bulldogs next, it’s not getting easier.
An in-form Heeney would change that.
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Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from Round 15 of the 2021 AFL season
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