Early Tackle: All the likes and dislikes from round 19 of the AFL season
By the end of round 22 Essendon will have played four games against North Melbourne and West Coast compared to one top eight rival’s one. Can this be allowed to continue?
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Round 19 of the AFL is in full swing.
Bailey bounced back, there are more integrity issues and an obvious answer to tiring the Dons has emerged.
Sam Landsberger names his early likes and dislikes.
LIKES
Brutal Bailey
Players fall out of form. Carlton coach Michael Voss accepted that when discussing Brownlow Medallist Patrick Cripps last month. When that happens all you can do is be desperate, and that is exactly what Bailey Smith was on Friday night. Smith recorded six tackles, well short of his record of 14, but not sure he has tackled with such vigour before. He certainly hasn’t in a long time and they were all impactful in either drawing free kicks or blunting the Bombers’ ball movement. It was a big tick for Baz after a tough stretch.
Batman and Robin
Being the consummate professional he is, Marcus Bontempelli sipped non-alcoholic beers when he caught up with teammates in Fitzroy last week. If Bontempelli’s form was booze it would be on the top shelf or sold under lock and key at Dan’s. Suspect he will get the three votes on Friday night, which could prove important on Brownlow Medal night, but not sure his brilliance was better than ‘Libba’. They schooled Essendon’s tiring midfield with the class of Bontempelli complemented by the contest crunch of Tom Liberatore. Last year All-Australian selectors somehow left Libba out of the 44-player squad and he has somehow never received a blazer. It does not seem right. Libba is bash-and-crash but his skills are supremely underrated. The Bulldogs might need to cash in on this midfield with a second flag in the next 50 games. Libba is 31, Adam Treloar is 30 and Jack Macrae turns 29 next month. It has to be go time at Whitten Oval.
Boots and all
Libba forgot his boots on grand final day in 2016 (a mate brought them to the MCG in an Uber). On Saturday Jack Riewoldt wore Dustin Martin’s boots after forgetting his. Jack kicked 1.3 in an enthralling duel with James Sicily, who took the points. Not sure there is a player more important to his side than Sicily to Hawthorn. The Hawks have won four out of their past five games when their skipper has played, with Saturday’s one-point loss denying them a perfect run of five victories. He is such a weapon behind the ball.
Calm Tigers
Richmond went winless in the final nine games decided by six points or less under Damien Hardwick. They are 2-0 under Andrew McQualter, not to mention come-from-behind wins against St Kilda (trailed by 23 points) and Sydney (trailed by 26 points). On Saturday they trailed Hawthorn by 36 points and won by one. Debutant Matthew Coulthard, taken in the mid-season draft, recorded seven disposals, three score involvements, one clearance and 169m gained from just 30 per cent game time as the substitute. His energy was infectious while Dustin Martin has somehow gone under the radar this season but is having a blinder. Dion Prestia took charge last week with some scenario-based training that paid immediate dividends as Liam Baker put the Tigers in front while having two teammates in space who also could have broken Hawthorn’s hearts. The Hawks admittedly have barely trained for such scenarios because their focus has been staying in matches rather than closing them out. But the September dream remains alive for McQualter’s Tigers courtesy of their finishing form in tight tussles.
Yellow jersey Pies
Craig McRae has used a Tour de France theme internally for the past four weeks. Games against Gold Coast and Western Bulldogs were the sprints and the trip to Adelaide to face Port was the hill climb. That hill was more of a mountain when the Magpies trailed by 17 points in the third quarter. But they kicked seven goals in three quarters and then six in the last. Jamie Elliott – called Mr Clutch by some teammates – kicked the winner from 45m out on the boundary. Of course he did, and of course the Magpies did. That is 12 wins from their past 16 games trailing at three quarter-time. If Elliott is Mr Clutch then Nick Daicos is Mr Smooth. Darcy Moore spoke at a function on Wednesday on genetics in sport. Are super athletes born or made? Whatever the answer, in Moore and Daicos x2 the Magpies have three greats. Funny game, football. This year’s clear top three – Port, Pies and Lions – were the top three on the ladder 20 years ago (when McRae was a Lion about to play in his third-straight premiership). And the bottom four on the ladder – Fremantle, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and West Coast – were the top four in 2015. The Magpies are set to finish first but the battle between the Power and Lions for second – and a home qualifying final – is now on.
Cairns Hawks?
Hawthorn would not be drawn on the club pursuing Cairns as its second home in the event its Launceston deal lapses should Tasmania enter the AFL. It was understandable, given the Hawks are under a $13.5 million contract with the Tasmanian government until 2025. But this time last week Cairns hosted the club’s AFLW players for a pre-season camp and the women will host Richmond on a Friday night in Cairns during AFLW Indigenous Round. There is little doubt Cairns would roll out the red carpet for Hawthorn (or North Melbourne) if they wanted to swap thermals for tropical attire and play in Far North Queensland instead of Tasmania later this decade. The Hawks are 56-1-20 from 77 games in Launceston, where they play the conditions beautifully, and if they could create a similar fortress north then pursuing Cairns would certainly make commercial sense.
DISLIKES
Fixture integrity
By the end of round 22 Essendon will have played four games against North Melbourne and West Coast compared to the Western Bulldogs’ one. In a season where 10 clubs are still scrambling for a place in the bottom half of the top eight, and two uncompetitive clubs are holding up the ladder, fixture integrity – or lack thereof – is likely to decide who plays finals. Combined the Eagles and Roos are on a 31-game losing streak and so double-up games against both clubs is the equivalent of 16 premiership points and a big bite of percentage. On a week where club bosses met to discuss radical ways to spice up the season, surely the priority should be equalizing the fixture so the best teams – and not those with the best draws – qualify for September.
… and Coleman Medal integrity
Charlie Curnow and Taylor Walker – who are one and two in the Coleman Medal – have now kicked 29 goals from their three games against woeful West Coast. Curnow’s 19 goals have him primed to win a second Coleman Medal although Walker will get another crack at the Eagles – and Curnow – in the final round of the season. The Eagles had to throw their best player, centre half-forward Oscar Allen, on to Curnow on Saturday. Poor Allen is 24 and entering his prime years as a footballer and being forced to play on Coleman Medallists instead of becoming one himself.
Why Cats need DP3
Essendon remains confident free agents Darcy Parish and Mason Redman will both re-sign. But entering round 20 and there has been no contract announcement, and Brisbane’s obliteration of Geelong at the contest on Saturday highlighted how handy Parish would be. The Cats lost clearances 49-22 and contested ball 140-104. Lachie Neale and Josh Dunkley won 17 clearances, almost matching Geelong’s tally. Patrick Dangerfield won four in the final quarter and none in the first three. If the Cats found a way to poach Parish then they would have their future midfield locked in, given Parish is 25, Tanner Bruhn is 21, Max Holmes is 20, Jhye Clark is 18 and 30-year-old Cameron Guthrie will return late in the season. Parish, a Winchelsea boy, won nine out of Essendon’s 26 clearances on Friday night and would be a perfect addition if he does decide to look around.
Docker draft pick Dee-light
Melbourne’s bid for Harley Reid is firming by the week on the back of Fremantle’s freefall. The Demons currently hold draft picks No.4, 15, 22 and 33, having acquired No.4 and 22 from the Dockers for Luke Jackson. The Demons obviously also hold a future first-round draft pick and if they can manipulate their hand to secure a second top-10 selection then they will be in a position to propose a trade that would make West Coast seriously think about parting with the No.1 pick. Imagine turning Luke Jackson – who was a key player in breaking the club’s 57-year premiership drought – into Harley Reid … all thanks to the Dockers’ unexpected demise.
Agony for Ashcroft
Brisbane Lions will wait for the results of scans on Will Ashcroft’s knee, but it feels like the father-son gun has ruptured his ACL. It would be a heartbreaking end to a debut season that was humming. Ashcroft was a short-priced favourite to win the Rising Star and his miraculous boundary line snap will be a contender for goal of the year. The Lions can turn to Deven Robertson or Jarryd Lyons, but losing Ashcroft – who was readymade for AFL long before his round 1 debut – would be a blow to their premiership hopes because he was impacting games. If Ashcroft is out for the season then the question is whether 17 games, a dozen of which were high quality, is enough to win the Rising Star. Judges are told to vote on production – not potential – and so you suspect in an even race it will not be. On Sunday the next two favourites, halfback Harry Sheezel (North Melbourne) and key forward Mitch Owens (St Kilda), go head-to-head. Suspect that could be where the winner now comes from.
Lack of SA respect
The AFL’s snub of South Australian football was no April Fools’ joke. Not a single member of AFL Chairman Richard Goyder’s commission attended the April 1 Showdown between Port Adelaide, wearing its prison bars jumper, and Adelaide. The clubs felt disrespected, even if league heavyweights descended on the city for Gather Round later that month. So here is an early reminder – next Saturday night the return Showdown will be staged at Adelaide Oval. Surely this time there will be representation from the AFL Commission at what is the pinnacle of SA football.
Differing draft classes
The 2022 super draft is bounding ahead of the 2020 draft and next Saturday at Marvel Stadium shapes as the perfect time for Essendon to unveil Elijah Tsatas. The No.5 draft pick has averaged 26 disposals and a goal from five VFL matches after recovering from knee surgery. Tsatas won Oakleigh Chargers’ best-and-fairest from six games last year and is a powerful inside-outside midfielder in the mould of Ryan Griffen. The Bombers need a spark and the form of Will Ashcroft, Harry Sheezel, George Wardlaw, Bailey Humphrey, Rueben Ginbey and co should seriously excite their fans that they have an unseen player from that talent bracket. But they might be starting to wonder about the 2020 haul. Zach Reid is always injured, Archie Perkins was fumbly at crucial moments on Friday while the return of Nik Cox was underwhelming. They are not alone. The No.6 pick that year was Denver Grainger-Barras, who was substituted out by Hawthorn without registering a disposal on Saturday. Plenty of that draft class – picked after a year largely without exposed form due to Covid – is starting to look more miss than hit.
Luxury tax for VFL pokies clubs
There is a logical fix to the pokies riches separating VFL stand-alone clubs that was blown open in last week’s Sunday Herald Sun expose. A luxury tax where the non-pokies clubs – Coburg, Northern Bullants and Frankston – could share in the gaming revenue from rich rivals Werribee, Williamstown, Port Melbourne and Southport would surely help equalise a competition and potentially save those clubs. Coburg, Frankston and the Bullants are now 3-38 against the other 18 VFL clubs. The Bullants did not kick a goal on Saturday, losing to Footscray 24.17 (161) to four behinds. Who is that helping? The lopsided scorelines are a by-product of under-resourced clubs who cannot hire staff or even pay the $250,000 salary cap. It is a mess – but redistributing the pokies rivers of gold is one model already employed in some leagues across Australia.
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