All the likes and dislikes from round 22 of the AFL season in the Early Tackle
Brisbane’s premiership defence has taken another twist, and now it’s not just the top four at risk, it’s finals altogether. And there’s two premiership heroes firmly at the centre of their issues.
The round isn’t over yet — but there’s already plenty of talking points to dissect.
Is there too much attention on Jeremy Cameron kicking the ton? Should St Kilda take their focus away from Tom De Koning?
See the early likes and dislikes here.
DISLIKES
WHAT ABOUT ME?
C’mon Saints, look after your own backyard before you go pillaging elsewhere.
And we’re not just talking about Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera.
The Saints pursuit of Carlton ruckman Tom De Koning with a $1.7 million cheque has clearly been their focus in recent months.
And now they’re scrambling desperately to keep Wanganeen-Milera who hasn’t just progressed to being their best player, he now comfortably sits in the top five in the competition.
But it’s one of his best mates who is set to become a problem for the Saints hierarchy.
Marcus Windhager channelled his best Shannon Noll against Richmond screaming ‘What about me?’ all over the MCG as he owned his own ball in the first half collecting 22 possessions.
His progression from tagger to legitimate midfielder has been impressive. A month ago he had 36 possessions against Sydney, against the Tigers he finished with 32 touches.
Understandably Windhager has hesitated in taking up the Saints offer of a two-year contract on money which his management has described as “unders”.
Only a two year deal has a we’re-not-sure-about-you vibe given the current AFL climate where long contracts have become in vogue.
Windhager is a local Beaumaris boy, he’s just turned 22 and is now a key part of the midfield mix so it seems strange why the Saints would run the risk of another club getting a sniff.
CHARLES NOT IN CHARGE
Is it time to talk about Charlie?
The Brisbane Lions premiership defence took another turn on Saturday night with a disappointing slip-up against Sydney which suddenly puts their top four hopes in serious danger.
After looking like world beaters against Collingwood a week earlier - although that form didn’t exactly stand up given what the Pies dished up on Thursday night - the Lions were lazy and sloppy against a Swans outfit that is making up for a lost first half of the season.
Brisbane’s inaccuracy has been a problem all year and they again missed shots at crucial times which you’d expect them to make, particularly on their home deck of the Gabba.
Take Logan Morris out of the equation and the Lions forward line is not operating anywhere near capacity with the main culprit their favourite son Charlie Cameron.
For the third week in a row Cameron didn’t kick a goal. His return was one behind from just six disposals.
The 30-year-old now hasn’t kicked a goal in nine games this season with his return from 19 games, just 21.24 goals.
Last year Cameron kicked 44 goals which was the first time he’d dipped under 50 since 2020.
The problem for Lions coach Chris Fagan is he’s already dealing with another key forward not exactly lighting things up.
Eric Hipwood has been a constant point of discussion given his erratic output and his stats aren’t much better than Cameron’s with 25 goals from 21 games.
Last year Joe Daniher was the one who carried the load for the forward half, delivering in huge moments in September.
He’s on a beach in Europe this time around so Fagan desperately needs at least one of Cameron and Hipwood to put their hand up in the coming weeks.
SENIOR MOMENTS
Given where Richmond is at, finding a way to lose a game late would normally be put down to their inexperience.
But it wasn’t the young Tigers who slipped up in the key moments against the Saints, rather a trio of veterans.
Nick Vlastuin, Tim Taranto and Kamdyn McIntosh all had some moments they’d like to take back.
There aren’t many things the warrior Vlastuin has done wrong over the journey but he overcooked a switch into the middle late at a crucial time in the final term with his horrible kick landing in the lap of a St Kilda opponent.
Taranto’s kicking has been a topic of conversation throughout his career and on a fast-break with just a couple of minutes left, he had a number of teammates free in the forward 50 but instead tried to thread the needle through three Saints to Rhyan Mansell which was easily cut-off.
That was one of the few scoring opportunities the Tigers had to get back in front at the death. They did have one last chance with less than a minute remaining when McIntosh received the ball at half-back.
He played on and had teammate Tom Brown alongside him. Rather than give the handball the premiership wingman went forward himself but all he could see were St Kilda players flooding back in front of him.
And then it kept going. And going. And going before the umpire correctly deemed he’d gone too far without bouncing the ball.
ON NOTICE
One of Greg Swann’s first influences in his new job has been an umpire crackdown on hands in the back in marking contests.
He clearly felt players were getting away with too much in ushering their opponents under the ball.
In recent weeks whistles have been blowing all over the place in marking contests as the players cottoned on to Swann’s directive.
But the umpires need to be careful now because while players play dumb a lot on the field, they’re actually super smart and can sniff out a trend.
While it’s too early to say the crackdown has caused a loophole, the umpires need to be on notice that forwards are starting to suddenly be eased out of contests very easily.
Richmond veteran Tom Lynch got two free-kicks against Anthony Caminiti for illegal pushing in the marking contest during a tense final quarter.
It’s fair to say the young Saint probably didn’t think his slight bump was going to send the premiership star sprawling but that’s the space we’re currently operating in.
It was smart by Lynch but Swann needs to make sure his men in lycra get the right balance before we have an epidemic.
LIKES
LORDY BE
Cooper Lord is exactly why clubs should never throw the towel in despite the season appearing to be lost.
Carlton might not be playing finals this year but Michael Voss has unearthed a player who has shown he can be a factor in the Blues rebuild.
For the second week in a row Lord went head-to-head with one of the game’s best midfielders and took the honours.
Last week the 20-year-old took Fremantle star Caleb Serong to the cleaners, keeping the Dockers matchwinner to 19 touches while having 22 himself.
Against the Suns, Voss sent his new run-with weapon to Gold Coast captain Noah Anderson who was being talked up as a Brownlow Medal contender before the game.
At half-time Lord had put him to sleep as well, keeping Anderson to just nine disposals and no clearances while picking up 12 possessions and three clearances himself.
While the Suns got rolling in the second half and life became a lot easier for Anderson it didn’t detract from the efforts of Lord.
The former North Melbourne VFL midfielder is also a glowing endorsement for the mid-season rookie draft given that’s how he made his way to Ikon Park last year.
THE LONG GAME
Richmond has been down this road before with great success.
Showing patience in tall defenders who don’t exactly set the world on fire early has the perfect template at Punt Rd.
Alex Rance was almost punted by Damien Hardwick when he first arrived at Richmond, his kicking was terrible and his first 60 games were scratchy at best.
But the Tigers persisted and Rance ended up becoming a five-time All-Australian and premiership full-back.
Ben Miller and Tylar Young aren’t going to do anything like that but the Rance comparison on how long it took to find his feet is appropriate.
Miller, 25, has remarkably been on the list since 2017. He didn’t play his first game until 2021 (in Round 23) and was playing No.67 against the Saints.
Young, 26, was the Tigers best first-year player in 2023 but blew out his knee in the VFL last year and was playing just his fifth game of the season on Saturday.
The beauty of these two for Adem Yze is that while he builds a team around his plethora of high-end draft picks, the coach doesn’t have to worry too much about his two key defensive posts.
Miller and Young combined for 32 possessions and 17 marks against the Saints to showcase their impressive, dare we say Rance-like, improvement in recent times.
CENTURY ON HOLD
Secretly Chris Scott would probably be happy about Jeremy Cameron’s radar going a bit wonky late on Friday night.
While the Cats coach rightly enjoys individual glory and promotes it to his team, the focus on his full-forward getting to the magical 100 goals was in overdrive against Essendon and ended up being a distraction.
Everyone wants to see another century goalkicker because in recent times many have been convinced with the defensive nature the game was heading, we wouldn’t see another ton.
Cameron kicking 4.5 goals and missing a couple of gettable shots which would normally be regulation for him means his pursuit can be put on the backburner for a few weeks.
Sydney at the SCG is the Cats biggest test in the run home next week and worrying about Cameron getting a bag won’t be a focus.
An improving Richmond in the final round is an opportunity but the reality now is if it’s going to happen it will be in September which some think will be a problem during whatever finals game it happens.
Geelong is going to finish in the top four so that gives them at the very least two finals games which means Cameron has potentially four games to kick 21 goals.
Imagine if the Cats do get him a fifth game on the final Saturday in September to get it done. While that’s a nightmare for the AFL with the regulation crowd invasion celebration, it would be one hell of a memorable moment.
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