The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 3 of the 2022 AFL season
Jeff Kennett can be a goose and has a track record for being loose with his mouth. But this is a club issue, not a Kennett issue. Read The Tackle.
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Round three has thrown up plenty of AFL curveballs.
From a club in crisis in North Melbourne, to Richmond’s capitulation against St Kilda and the controversy at Hawthorn, here’s a look at Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes.
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DISLIKES
1. The pain game
When does footy flip from it being “they’re very young’’ to it being totally unacceptable? Who knows, but it has flipped at the Kangaroos. Saturday was a painful day after North lost the AFL and the VFL by more than 200 points combined. This is a club crisis. Clearly, there’s not enough talent, responsibility and desire in the footy squad. If the players say any different, they’d be lying. There’s talk and then there’s actions. Against the Lions, their pressure rating was 164 which is the third-lowest of any team this year. That’s a total disdain for one of the key ingredients of competing. Coach David Noble was disgusted with the performance. He used words such as embarrassed, accountability, intent, energy and exposed in his press conference. After three rounds, the spotlight is squarely on the players and the coach, for 100-point losses is indicative of a breakdown in buy-in, direction and leadership. What a horrible day for the club and for the fans who are trying to remain patient.
2. What’s their brand?
The Hawks are young, the Crows are young and, at the weekend, Adelaide knocked over Port and Hawthorn ran Carlton to a point when it was 41 points down in the second quarter. They’re having a dip, the Hawks, and the Crows are batting two out of three in terms of competitiveness. We can see a brand. North is what exactly? Tough? Young? Run? Chaos? Control? Ball movement? When you look at the Kangaroos, you see pain and you see very little to hang your hat on. This week, it’s Sydney in Sydney and the football program is on notice.
3. When the going gets tough
The Tigers used to answer that ditty with ‘the tough get going’. Not any more. Against Carlton in round one, they gave up 47-7 in the final quarter. On Sunday afternoon against St Kilda, it was 64-6 from halfway through the third quarter. What happened in both games? They gave up the fight for the contested ball. And not just a minor loss, but a pounding. This midfield group, which we’ve talked about for so long is done. And if your midfield is done, your game is in big strife. St Kilda lifted as a collective in the second half and the Tigers didn’t have a response. Dustin Martin would help if he was available, and if he watched last night, he’d know the team is crying out for him to assist in stopping this slide. Still, not sure Dusty alone can turn it around.
4. Can we get more from Chad?
Former North Melbourne coach Dani Laidley once said something like this of a Brent Harvey 32-possession game: ‘That’s three minutes of the game, what’s he doing for the other 97 minutes?’ The same can be asked of Chad Wingard and he’s not getting anywhere near Harvey’s brilliant 30. Wingard is a freaky player, but he’s a floater, and he’s not doing enough in what is becoming a permanent forward role under coach Sam Mitchell. In round one, he kicked two goals in three minutes in the fourth quarter and was quiet for the rest of the game. In round two, he kicked two goals from three touches and was subbed out in the second quarter with an injury. On Sunday, he had 12 disposals and only two score involvements and his one goal was a Joe the Goose kick from Luke Bruest. His pressure was solid, but he’s too talented not to have a greater influence on the scoreboard.
4. Sam Mayes and Travis Boak
A million mistakes were made by Port Adelaide on Friday night. Two of the most telling were Travis Boak’s missed shot for goal with 90 seconds to play and Sam Mayes’ hit on Lachlan Murphy. Boak will be hurting, no doubt, but his positives outweigh his negatives. Mayes’ hit, however, was plain idiocy in the moment. Why did he have to be so aggressive? Why the swinging arm? Surely the message was sent about there being only a minute remaining. Don’t they train for this scenario? Like, keep composed, play the percentages, play safe, get it to the line, no stupid free kicks. Mayes made a mistake, but it was costly. It was a game loser.
5. Jeff Kennett tear down
The Hawks president can fight his own battles, but the fallout over his joke about the ripped jeans, which led to Cyril Rioli’s retirement, is extreme. The story read like a hit job on Kennett because the racism allegedly directed at Rioli from teammates was — from this position — far worse than a quip at an airport from a 70-year-old man who thought it would be funny. Is it a Kennett problem or an all-club problem? Because if the racism from teammates was swept under the carpet, there’s the issue. I’m not beginning to think this 55-year-old male white man can say how Indigenous people should act or behave, but ripped jeans? We are all trying to learn and understand the different layers of racism and intergenerational trauma towards our First Nation people and this situation has me confused. And the group demanding Kennett step down immediately is nothing more than political point scoring. Kennett can be a goose and he has a track record for being loose with his mouth, but this is a club issue, not a Kennett issue.
LIKES
1. Jade the blade
We’re taking that nickname from former Richmond stand-in coach Jade Rawlings and giving it to St Kilda’s midfield dynamo Jade Gresham. Max King dominated in the final quarter yesterday, and he has emerged as a real matchwinner, but King was the recipient of some powerful and collective work from St Kilda higher up the ground, led by Gresham. He had 32 disposals, 18 contested possessions and 10 score involvements which is a truly influential game in the middle. The Saints have some pluck. That’s twice in two weeks they’ve swam against the tide late in the game and claimed victories and just maybe that mid-year summit in Sydney last year while in lockdown might prove to be the turning point for this playing group. The Saints certainly think so.
1. A fitter Zac
Prized recruit Zac Williams arrived at Carlton for the 2021 season below the preferred fitness requirements and it didn’t go unnoticed. If you take the cash then you have to make a splash. His 2022 season has started much better. Clearly fitter, Williams is playing the kind of footy which helped put the orange in the orange tsunami at the Giants. In round one, he took Dustin Martin when Martin played forward and more than held his own. In round two, he had 27 disposals against the Bulldogs. On Sunday, he had Dylan Moore and Luke Breust mainly, and, although those two were threats — Moore kicked two goals on him — Williams caught them out with his rebound. He had the most metres gained (623) and another 27 possessions against the Hawks. He’s making a splash.
3. The intoxicating Pies
OK, who picked this from the Magpies? And ‘this’ is intoxicating ball movement, young spunk and an adventurous attitude. You have to wonder if former coach Nathan Buckley — who admitted on Saturday night he was sacked — had earmarked an overhaul in game style if, indeed, he had kept his job. The Pies are playing like they played under Buckley in 2018. Somehow along the line it became too stagnant under Buckley with what probably was an over emphasis on careful. Buckley set foundations, however. He invested in Isaac Quaynor, for example, and, one week (round four, 2021) was criticised for playing his young defender on Toby Greene, who kicked five goals. It was live and learn for Quaynor who is a sensational young defender and symbolic of the 2022 Pies.
4. Mr Relentless
An all encompassing Saturday night for Joel Selwood. Was booed all night by Pies fans but that’s OK, it’s part of the tribal theatre. Twice he was caught with the ball from behind, which is rare. When you’re almost 34, you think: Is he too slow? Is he losing awareness and periphery? Then he plays out the final couple of minutes with a will power so few players possess. The golden oldies turned it on in the final quarter when it was needed with a little help, mind you, from a player named Brad Close who has tricks as a mid-sized forward.
5. The Green machine
He hasn’t got the fast-twitch reflexes of Clayton Oliver, or the explosive power of Christian Petracca, or rhythm of Dustin Martin or Marcus Bontempelli, or even the build of Patrick Cripps (191cm v 195cm), but the point is, there is no player like Tom Green. A unique and burgeoning young midfielder at the Giants, it’s not breaking news to say Green is going to be a great player. For those footy people who casually look at the Giants, next time you do look, keep an eye on the 21-year-old. He had 29 touches, kicked two goals, extracted double-figure contested ball (16) and had 10 score involvements against a pretty good Suns’ midfield. He’s a budding star.
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Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 3 of the 2022 AFL season
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