Essendon midfielder Dylan Shiel tipped as Brownlow Medal contender after hot start
He powered Essendon to victory against Collingwood on Friday night and one expert believes Dylan Shiel’s red-hot start to the season will make him a Brownlow Medal contender.
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Dylan Shiel’s red-hot start to the season has caught the attention of at least one expert, who believes the Essendon midfielder can contend for the Brownlow Medal.
St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna said Shiel would be among the leading vote-getters from the opening five rounds after he led the Bombers to victory over Collingwood on Friday night.
The 27-year-old, who is rated a $34 Brownlow Medal chance by TAB, has averaged 26 disposals, 2.5 marks and three tackles.
“He’s a bit of a smoky for the Brownlow this year,” Montagna said on Triple M.
“He was clearly best on ground Round 1, all the way back against Fremantle.
“He played pretty well at the SCG. Votes again (on Friday night). He was enormous.”
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Shiel polled a career-high 14 Brownlow Medal votes last season.
Coach John Worsfold praised Shiel’s performance against the Magpies after he stepped up in the absence of suspended on-baller Zach Merrett.
“He’s been just a great acquisition since we got him,” Worsfold said.
“He’s in our leadership group now and a professional in the way he wants to perform.
“He’s got a role to play and we just expect him to continue to do his best.
“There’s going to be games when he may be seen as best on ground, there’s going to be other games where he’s just playing his role and supporting the guys around him.”
AFL CONCEDES DANGEROUS TACKLE WAS WRONG CALL
The AFL has ruled a “dangerous tackle” by Essendon’s Will Snelling on Collingwood youngster Callum Brown was the wrong call.
Snelling, and the rest of the Essendon team, was left bemused when he was pinged by the umpire for his tackle on Brown in the final quarter of the Bomber’s win over the Magpies on Friday night.
Snelling took care to make sure Brown’s head did not slam into the MCG turf, but to the dismay of many on social media and on the Essendon bench he was judged to have committed a dangerous tackle against the Magpies’ youngster.
“People on the bench seemed a bit dismayed (at the call)” Bombers coach John Worsfold said after the match.
On Saturday the AFL confirmed the free kick against Snelling was an error.
“The AFL confirmed the dangerous tackle free kick was unwarranted,” an AFL spokesperson said.
“In the umpire’s view, he thought one arm was pinned and the tackle was excessive which left the head in a vulnerable position.”
It wasn’t the only call that needed explaining from the match.
The AFL also deemed the controversial behind awarded to Magpie Jordan De Goey “the correct decision” after a score review concluded “if the ball did not hit the goal umpire, it would have hit the goal post.”
During the third quarter on Friday night, De Goey evaded two Bombers and snapped across his body from just inside 50, the ball landing on the goal line and hitting the umpire, who was leaning against the goalpost.
The goal umpire said he believed it was a goal, stating he just wanted to “check the ball wouldn’t have hit the goalpost after it hit me”.
On review, the decision was made to award a point to the Pies, leaving the Bombers with a 16-point buffer, 38-22, in the third term.
The AFL immediately gave the decision the green light, pointing to rule 16.1.3 (a) of the 2020 Laws of Australian Football which states “if the football touches an umpire or official, and in the opinion of the field umpire it has affected a score, play will be stopped and the umpires will determine if the score should be recorded.”
De Goey’s kick was ruled a point 😳#AFLPiesDons pic.twitter.com/X61QJEGZOs
— 7AFL (@7AFL) July 3, 2020
North Melbourne legend Wayne Carey immediately said “goal” on the Seven telecast, but, on review, the decision was made to award a point to the Pies, leaving the Bombers with a 16-point buffer, 38-22.
Would it have been a goal?
— 7AFL (@7AFL) July 3, 2020
pic.twitter.com/8zPUaWLj56
Collingwood great Brian Taylor said “we will never really really know, but what a crucial decision, while Carey doubled down: “I’m not so positive that it would have hit the post”.
MICK’S MESSAGE FOR SHIEL AND DONS
ESSENDON coach John Worsfold is not normally one to make big statements and didn’t bite when asked post-game if Dylan Shiel had just played one of his better games for the club.
“Look, he’s been just a great acquisition since we got him,” Worsfold said.
“He’s in our leadership group now. Yeah, he’s a professional in the way he wants to perform, but he’s got a role to play and we sort of just expect him to continue to do his best. There’s going to be games when he may be seen as best on ground. There is going to be other games he is just playing his role and supporting the guys around him.”
In Friday’s Herald Sun, leading football analyst Mick McGuane said Shiel needed to have more scoreboard impact after going goalless from his first three games.
“Dylan Shiel has played 160 games, but kicked only 73 goals,” McGuane wrote.
“That figure shocks me, and it’s not good enough for an experienced midfielder.”
Shiel must have got the memo.
Not only did he rack up 29 disposals and seven clearances in a best-on-ground performance, the second-year Bomber also kicked a final-quarter goal that sealed the win for the Bombers.
McGuane, too, urged the Bombers to rediscover that forward pressure that has been missing from their game in recent weeks.
They responded with 20 forward 50m tackles, 10 more than their opponents, a massive improvement on the Blues’ game.
Worsfold said: “Last week was more of a one-off as opposed to a pattern that we’ve seen from our forwards so we worked through why we thought that might have been the case last week and there’s always a balance with what you’re trying to achieve overall.”
“They were outstanding (on Friday night).”
JAKE’S MOON BOOT
He was one of the Bombers’ matchwinners, but all eyes will be on Jake Stringer this week after he left the MCG rooms on Friday night in a moon boot.
Stringer, who kicked three goals on the night, hobbled from the ground with three minutes to play after landing awkwardly on his ankle following a marking contest.
He was on crutches and in a moon boot, but his coach John Worsfold was hopeful it wasn’t going to be an issue going forward.
Worsfold said: “I haven’t really had a chance to look (at how Stringer had pulled up) yet other than knowing he’s got a sore ankle.”
“He was walking on it just then so that’s a good sign but we have to now get it fully assessed.”
The Bombers may consider bringing back Conor McKenna for his first AFL game after he got through a “scratch match” earlier at the MCG.
McKenna and James Stewart will join the Bombers in their Queensland hub, with Worsfold saying the Irishman went “really well” in the earlier match.
“He (McKenna) was really sharp, he used the ball really well. Hopefully he has pulled up well. But he looked quick and powerful, it was a perfect preparation.
DONS DEBUTANT UP FOR CONTEST
Essendon’s birthday boy Andrew Phillips didn’t quite take the cake in his ruck battle with Brodie Grundy.
But the football journeyman — at his third club after stints at Greater Western Sydney and Carlton — did provide a strong contest in his Bombers’ debut.
Phillips, who turned 29 on Friday, was the No. 1 ranked player on the ground at quarter-time and, while Grundy had his measure after that, the Bomber never stopped gut-running and giving his all.
Sweet sounds of victory for @essendonfc 🛫#AFLPiesDons pic.twitter.com/FvbsNvv7un
— 7AFL (@7AFL) July 3, 2020
He was included in the team after regular No. 1 ruckman Tom Bellchambers was ‘managed’, having been towelled up by Grundy in Round 23 last year.
Phillips finished with only 13 hitouts to Grundy’s 37, but also contributed 11 disposals, six clearances and five tackles.
WHAT TOP BOMBER SAID
Speaking after is side’s win, Essendon coach John Worsfold said the most pleasing part of the game for his side was the improvement around stoppages and ball movement.
Essendon won the clearance count 38-28 and were more direct in the wet weather.
“What we were more excited about was how he set up our stoppages and how we started to see us move the ball more like the way we’ve been planning to move it,” Worsfold said.
“We were a bit stagnant last week, but the players responded really well. We didn’t try to change too much and panic when we got down early. We stuck to what we’ve been talking about and working on.”
Worsfold lauded “professional” Dylan Shiel, who shone brightly and kicked the sealing goal in the final quarter, as well as ruckman Andrew Phillips who competed strongly in his club debut.
Worsfold said Essendon would work on plans on Friday for a move to a Queensland hub next Monday, including whether it would take its full list including injured key forward Joe Daniher.
“Playing tonight meant we didn’t want to spend too much time and energy planning for that while we had this game ahead,” Worsfold said.
“So it gives us the opportunity tomorrow as a club to work through what’s going to be best for the team and best for the whole squad in terms of their preparation for the next period of time.”
WHEN WILL MCKENNA, SIDEBOTTOM BE BACK?
Essendon defender Conor McKenna will this week push for re-inclusion into the club’s AFL side for the first time since last year’s elimination final after getting through a scratch match with Collingwood on Friday afternoon.
It comes as the Magpies have detailed how suspended star Steele Sidebottom will rejoin the group after as soon as he produces a second negative coronavirus test, which will allow him to go into the club’s hub in New South Wales and Western Australia.
McKenna became the first AFL player to test positive to COVID-19 on June 20. He was suspended for one match for breaching AFL protocols and rejoined training this week after being released from quarantine.
In cold and wet conditions in a scratch match where the Magpies had to share some players with the Bombers, McKenna got through the game.
He could be under consideration for the club’s AFL clash against North Melbourne at Metricon Stadium on Saturday week.
Collingwood football boss Geoff Walsh said Sidebottom, who was slapped with a four-game ban for three separate breaches of protocol this week, had already tested negative to coronavirus this week.
He will be tested again soon before rejoining his teammates in training.
The 29-year-old will take part in the Magpies’ two-state hub, starting next week in Sydney, but he will only be eligible to play in the final game in Perth,
“As soon as he gets his second test, which is required to get another negative – he has already had one – he would be eligible to rejoin the training squad,” Walsh said on Triple M.
“Because of the quarantine restrictions, he won’t be able to join part way in, (so) he will have to come right from the jump.”
Walsh said the Magpies considered challenging the severity of Sidebottom’s ban, but the vice-captain immediately ruled that out.
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“We think the four weeks was excessive,” Walsh said. “The main reason it wasn’t appealed was because of Steele himself.
“He insisted he had already caused enough embarrassment to his footy club, his teammates, to himself and to the competition.
“He realises the knife’s edge that this competition is on, and he wanted to acknowledge the debt he needed to pay.”
ESSENDON 3.0 5.0 8.2 10.3 (63)
COLLINGWOOD 3.0 3.1 3.5 7.6 (48)
GOALS
Essendon: Stringer 3, McDonald-Tipungwuti 2, Parish, McKernan, Zaharakis, Townsend, Shiel
Collingwood: Stephenson 3, Daicos, C. Brown, Varcoe, Mihocek
BEST
Essendon: Shiel, Saad, Stringer, Hurley, Ridley, Hooker, Phillips
Collingwood: Grundy, Maynard, Adams, Daicos, Stephenson
VOTES
3 – Dylan Shiel (Ess)
2 – Brodie Grundy (Coll)
1 – Adam Saad (Ess)
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