The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 5 of the 2022 AFL season
Carlton went out and targeted a shutdown half-back flanker and have turned him into a full time midfielder – and it is working wonders. Read this week’s The Tackle.
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Oh, the Bombers.
It’s another bad day for the men in the sash as the Herald Sun Chief Football Writer Mark Robinson lists his dislikes for round 5.
Robbo also reckons the decision to penalise Brisbane’s Harris Andrews last Thursday night for putting his “arms out” was a joke — and the umpires have backed him up by letting a number of similar instances go unpunished throughout the Easter weekend.
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Robbo fears for the Power — and Rory Sloane after his shock injury — but believes a new Blue might just be the recruit of the season.
Here are all Robbo’s likes and dislikes in this week’s edition of The Tackle.
DISLIKES
1. The 50m scourge
Has there been a sillier comment made by an umpire than the one directed at Harris Andrews on Easter Thursday? “Arms out’s 50, mate’’. We’re all for dissent, but “arms out’’ is not dissent, it’s a ridiculous over-reaction and an over officious response to a crackdown on umpire abuse. And it is not policed consistently, anyway. Twice on Friday night Sydney’s Isaac Heeney lifted his arms to protest an umpire decision, the second time accompanied by a mouthful of protest directed towards the umpire. There was no 50m penalty. There were countless other incidents of arms waving across the weekend’s games, including Carlton’s George Hewett near the end of Sunday’s match at the MCG. Simply, in a noble bid to correct an issue which the AFL helped create, the AFL has overreached in fixing it. “Arms out is 50m, mate” is a joke.
2. Compare the pair
Harris Andrews gets a 50m penalty for waving his arms and teammate Darcy Gardiner gets a 50m penalty and a $2000 fine for a pathetic and potentially dangerous crunch into the back of Josh Daicos. The difference between these two acts was a lousy $2000. One could have inflicted serious injury on a player and the other was innocuous in a campaign to stamp about abuse towards umpires. If this is where footy has got to, then a part of footy is in crisis because the punishments don’t fit the crime.
3. Who are the Bombers?
They are 1-4 after five and finals aspirations are in the gutter. That’s not what’s supposed to have happened so early in 2022 after playing finals in 2021. What do they stand for? What brand is Essendon known for? They aren’t tough. They don’t defend turnover well. They struggle defending full stop. Yesterday in the third quarter at home against a visiting Fremantle, Essendon — after leading by two goals in the second quarter — gave it up in the middle. Fremantle’s pressure in the quarter was 213, resulting in Essendon being -14 in contested ball and -7 in clearance. We ask: Who are the Bombers? The Pure Footy boys told us last week — they are the easybeats. And it’s performances like this one which pours scrutiny on the coach and the game plan, let alone the players. Not for the first time in the past 15 years, the underperforming Bombers have to stand up and be counted on Anzac Day.
4. Port Adelaide’s start
The reality is Port is 0-5. The positives are two-fold. 1) Coach Ken Hinkley has got the players because if there’s subconscious doubts from the players, there’s no coming back from 50 points down. 2) The players are in for the fight. The negative is how can a team deliver that sort of soft first half in a heavyweight encounter against Vossy and the Blues at the MCG? The Blues were +24 in contested possession in the first half, before Port broke even in the second half. Ticks to Connor Rozee and Zak Butters who combined for 31 disposals and two goals in the second half, and the fact Port scored 17 times from 27 entries in the same period. But soft first halves will always mostly kill you.
5. Career over?
When Chris Judd buckled his knee in June, 2015, he was 31 and 271 days old. He retired in the same month. Rory Sloane is 32 and 30 days old and now his ACL injury has been confirmed, Sloane will have a decision to make. He’s indicated he’d like to return in 2023, but if it is over the footy world applauds the Adelaide captain. He should be held in the same regard as Lenny Hayes, Joel Selwood and Paul Kelly, players who were relentless in their desire to win the ball. The depth of concern at Adelaide was evident when victorious coach Matthew Nicks walked onto the field after the game and bypassed several players to get to his warrior skipper. A solemn face and a gentle grab of the shoulder told the story. Sloane is a two-time best and fairest winner and All-Australian and fittingly one of his final acts on the field was a ferocious tackle on Shai Bolton which helped turn momentum towards a Crows win.
6. Lachie Whitfield
The two-time best-and-fairest winner is plodding. His numbers stack up OK, although they are slightly down on last year, but the slicing and dicing in Whitfield’s game has been subdued. So much so, that teammate Isaac Cumming has gone past Whitfield as a rebounding defender. He has more disposals, metres gained and intercepts than his big-name comrade. Whitfield played halfback, wing and half-forward against Melbourne and was hardly a threat.
7. What to do with Noah Balta?
He started forward against the Crows which is supposedly his new position, but ended the game having a spell in the ruck and back in defence. The Tiger were mauled by the Tex Walkers and Elliott Himmelberg — they kicked nine goals between them — after the Tigers were mauled at stoppage. The famed Tigers defence struggled. The Tigers will have to consider returning Balta to defence while skipper Dylan Grimes is out injured because Robbie Tarrant, Jayden Short, Nick Vlastuin, Daniel Rioli, Nathan Broad and Hugo Ralphsmith couldn’t cope with the Crows on Saturday. ‘’You give up 10 goals from stoppages … that’s really, really poor,’’ coach Damien Hardwick said. “We should be able to defend those better especially when we’ve got a plus-one at most stages down there. We’ve got to get better.”
8. It’s a tackling game
Gold Coast’s wonder small forward Izak Rankine plays the game too much on his own terms. He’s laid one tackle in three games in an area of the ground which requires tackling pressure as much as dazzling goals. Is he a tease or a legit high draft pick? This year, he played Round 1 and then missed two weeks with a corky and has played the past two matches, where he’s had seven disposals in each game. If he’s not tackling, he has to be offensively strong and he’s neither at the moment.
LIKES
1. The find of the season
George Hewett’s game on Sunday was the best of his career and credit goes to him and credit goes to the Blues who targeted the shutdown half-back flanker to play a full-time midfield role. In a hot-bed climate against Port Adelaide at the MCG, he had 33 possessions, 19 contested possessions, 13 clearances and 10 score involvements. Please, don’t skip through those numbers. He is tough and is helping give the Blues their new DNA. Hewett accepted greater responsibility against the Power with Patrick Cripps out and his job to play inside mid allowed Sam Walsh to create more on the outside. Walsh doesn’t get his numbers — 38 and 25 uncontested — if not for Hewett’s role.
2. Dockers on the march
Coach Justin Longmuir emphasised defence first when put in as coach and developed their complete game after that. They are young, hard, have several game changers led by Matt Taberner (seven goals) and Sean Darcy and Michael Frederick in the F50 is an exciting prospect. In the off-season, they added Nathan O’Driscoll, Jordan Clark and Will Brodie, the latter challenging Hewitt as the recruit of the year. We called the Dockers the sleepers last week and after Sunday’s effort, they are the big movers. A win over Carlton next week at home would be a hell of a statement.
3. Demons’ weapons
Let’s do the checklist. Defence: tick. Contest: tick. Midfield: tick. Superstars: tick. Key defenders: tick. Small forwards: tick. Selfless: tick. And now Melbourne may have unearthed another weapon. In their strangulation of the pedestrian Giantson Saturday night, the Demons scored 45 points from the defensive half, which effectively is moving the ball from coast-to-coast and scoring. The 45 points was their most points scored from the back half in a game since 2010. OK, the Giants were poor in transitional defence, but the fact is the Demons were devastating from the back half. They can kill you in multiple ways, the Demons, and it’s going to take a mighty team to deliver a mighty game to deny Melbourne on the given day.
4. Ed Langdon gets respect
Time will tell if the All-Australian selectors recognise Ed Langdon — or any wingman for that matter — but be assured opposition teams are aware of his influence. It’s why Giants coach Leon Cameron deployed Lachie Ash to Langdon on Saturday night. Ashhad Touk Miller in Round 3 and Andrew Brayshaw in Round 4 and on Saturday night kept Langdon to 417m gained which was his second-lowest return of his year. Langdon ran himself and Ash into the ground and collected 25 disposals, although he would be disappointed with his efficiency. The point is, the Giants went after Langdon which might make him the first wingman tagged this year.
5. The McAdams
When Shane McAdam plays for the Crows, a so-so small forward set-up is transposed into a thrillseeker unit, and with Josh Rachele emerging as a breathtaking goalkicker, the Crows are menacing at ground level. It was McAdam’s first game of the season after injuring himself in the pre-season and playing the past two games in the SANFL. On Saturday, he kicked two goals and with Rachele they combined for 4.3. Rachele might be real special and McAdam has tricks, as all the McAdams have had, so Crows fans are in a for real treat.
6. A nice problem at the Saints
St Kilda’s is rich in tall options which is not good news for Jack Hayes, the late-age recruit who has helped stiffen the Saints around the ground. With Patrick Ryder suspended, Rowan Marshall took over the ruck role with Hayes on Saturday and both of them flourished. Marshall had 125 raking points, his best for the season, and Hayes 105. The problem is, when Ryder returns this week Hayes will probably lose his spot and Marshall, who is a far better roaming ruckman than a stay-at-home forward, will return to the F50. Marshall won’t complain. The Saints are tough and selfless and Marshall, Max King and Tim Membrey are forming a formidable tall forward group.
7. Good umpiring
While mostly everyone else was riding home Christian Petracca’s outrageous across-the-body snap from near the 50m line, umpire Eleni Glouftsis had her focus on the rules and not the fact Petracca’s goal — which was similar to a Gary Ablett Jnr snap against Collingwood — might have been one of the all-time greats. Glouftsis paid in the back against Ed Langdon in the goalsquare which was the correct decision. So, don’t blame the umpire, blame Langdon.
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Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 5 of the 2022 AFL season
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