Early Tackle: Glenn McFarlane names his likes and dislikes from round one
Gryan Miers may find himself in hot water over a cheeky action with a Saint’s shoe on Saturday, writes GLENN MCFARLANE. See his round 1 likes and dislikes in the Early Tackle.
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Last year’s premiers are 0-2 but no panicking, while the Blues pulled off another clutch win. And there are still eight teams to have not even played.
Glenn McFarlane names his likes and dislikes from round one, the first full round for the 2024 season.
DISLIKES
SAINTS’ HEARTBREAK AS THE HOODOO HIGHWAY ROLLS ON
The Saints were brave, even breathtaking at times, but they ultimately left GMHBA Stadium late on Saturday with their losing streak at the venue stretching out to 9052 days.
After engineering not one but two comebacks, Ross Lyon’s team was so close to busting the hoodoo apart they could almost touch it when first-gamer Darcy Wilson cut the margin back to a solitary point as the clock ticked down.
But it wasn’t to be. The Cats responded with a late goal to make it 12 consecutive losses for the Saints at the oval formerly known as Kardinia Park since their last win in round 10, 1999.
To put it into context, Tim Watson was the Saints’ coach back then.
St Kilda threw everything at the home side, but couldn’t land the knockout blow.
In his first game since withdrawing from last year’s elimination final for personal reasons, forward Tim Membrey finished with three goals.
Liam Stocker ended the game in pain after going to ground late in a collision with Patrick Dangerfield, putting some doubt on whether he will be fit to take on Collingwood this week.
SAY IT AIN’T SO, SHOELESS ‘RO’
The umpires didn’t stop play when the footy hit ‘Spidercam’ on Friday night, but an errant boot throw brought a brief halt to proceedings at GMHBA Stadium in the Cats-Saints clash.
St Kilda ruckman Rowan Marshall had lost his boot during the second term of the clash with Geelong when cheeky Cat Gryan Miers saw an opportunity and took it.
In shades of Essendon’s Tony Buhargiar throwing Carlton’s Bruce Doull’s trademark headband over the fence in 1983 after teammate Cameron Clayton had dislodged it, Miers couldn’t help himself when he saw Marshall’s loose boot.
He grabbed the white boot and gave it an almighty heave.
It didn’t go over the fence as Doull’s headband did all those years ago, but in tossing it, the umpire intervened to halt the play.
“You can put your shoe back on, OK,” the umpire said to Marshall.
Miers was arguably lucky not to be paid a free kick against him for misconduct, but he still might get a little financial reminder he did the wrong thing when the MRO findings come back late on Sunday.
PIES’ ‘THORNY’ SELECTION DILEMMAS
Craig McRae was right when suggesting before the AFL’s Opening Round that smelling the roses was a therapeutic modern trait, but it’s approaching time he added a few thorns to the equation.
Collingwood’s 0-2 start is a concern, but it is fixable.
More troubling than that win-loss ledger is the lack of on-field connection and structure, the game style anomalies and horrendous turnovers far removed from the 2022-2023 template.
It is time to make a statement or two at the selection table.
McRae backs his players, but he has already shown he can make hard decisions (think John Noble in last year’s finals), and it’s time to do that again.
Ash Johnson won’t play against St Kilda next week — the coach has all but told us that — but he needs to go back to the VFL for an extended period of time.
He either learns to play with more urgency and impact, or he will forever be that ‘maybe’ player, who threatens to take a game apart but never quite manages to.
He got his hands to a lot of incoming balls, but spilled them like a fumbling slips fieldsman. His stats: three disposals, one mark and the equal lowest pressure points on the ground.
Reef McInnes should replace him against the Saints.
Finlay Macrae must play … a full game, not in the sub’s vest.
When Tom Mitchell was “managed” with an ankle niggle, it was assumed Macrae would start in the 22, so it was a surprise when he didn’t get that chance.
Macrae was targeted by rival clubs last trade period, but chose to stay and has since locked in to the end of 2025.
He turned 22 this week, and it is time to find out if he is going to become the player that most within the walls of the AIA Centre – and most of the fans – think he will be.
He needs an extended period at the coalface ... from the first bounce.
Young defender Charlie Dean is going to be a good AFL player, but understandably looks as if he still has ‘P’ Plates on in a wobbly Collingwood backline right now.
Nathan Murphy is sorely missed, but at the very best he is still six-to-eight weeks away from playing again.
Dean might well fill that spot in the time ahead, but for the moment, it wouldn’t hurt for him to have a spell in the VFL to build his confidence and game time experiences.
That would, however, require a rethink from the Magpies as Billy Frampton has been playing in attack in recent weeks, and would need to be recast as a defender again.
Over to you, Fly.
TURNOVER PIES OUT-TACKLED, OUTWORKED
Friday night won’t be a comfortable review for Collingwood’s players with an emphasis on the turnover and tackling counts certain to be on McRae’s radar.
Collingwood tackle differential was an alarming -21 against the Swans, which was the worst for the club since McRae took over at the end of the 2021.
Seventeen Magpies had two or fewer tackles; two had none.
In contrast, the Swans were tackle happy, ripping into the contest with their 72-51 count an indication of their energy and intent.
Just as alarming for the Pies was the high volume of costly turnovers – some from players who rarely miss their targets including Scott Pendlebury, Darcy Moore, Isaac Quaynor and Steele Sidebottom.
Collingwood gave up 78 points off turnover, which is a headshaker, given the Magpies were the most efficient team in the AFL in that regard last season, averaging almost half of that tally in 2023.
Is that attitude, system or intent? We’ll soon find out.
ROTTEN LUCK FACTOR
They say bad luck is just a good opportunity for good luck to come knocking. But try telling that to the likes of Richmond’s Josh Gibcus and Essendon’s Zach Reid.
Both of them would have gone into this round excited and expectant after being sidelined already for far too long in their short AFL careers.
Gibcus missed all of last year with hamstring injuries and now faces another season on the sidelines after his sickening ACL rupture on Thursday night.
He had a taste of it again last week, but now faces a long wait to get that opportunity.
Reid’s issue isn’t anywhere near as serious as that, given he was subbed out of Saturday’s clash with Hawthorn with hamstring awareness.
He could be back soon, but must be kicking himself at being sidelined yet again when he looked like locking in his spot in the Bombers’ side.
Reid missed all of last year, and has played only nine games since being drafted in late 2020.
Let’s hope it is not serious, and good luck comes knocking for him soon.
YZE KEEN TO GET ‘MONKEY OFF THE BACK’
The previous Richmond coach before Adem Yze – a bloke called Damien Hardwick – had nine consecutive losses before opening up his first AFL win as a coach.
He turned out all right as a coach.
And while Yze might never end up a three-time premiership coach (how many do?), there were enough signs on Friday night – against a mountain of injuries – to suggest a win is not far away.
Nick Vlastuin said Yze referenced the fact he is desperate to get off the mark in the team meeting after the match.
“He (Yze) did say he wants his first win, to get the monkey off his back,” Vlastuin said.
“We had a couple of stats up there (in the rooms), we beat them in clearance and we beat them in contested ball and they are one of the best teams in the AFL at that.
“We got smashed in those areas last week, so that (change) is pleasing.”
The next chance comes next Sunday against Port Adelaide at the MCG, before a tough clash with Sydney, then St Kilda before the round 5 trip to play West Coast in Perth.
Tigers fans, it is coming, you just have to be patient!
WAYWARD HAWKS RUEING MISSED CHANCE
Sam Mitchell has never made a secret of the fact he dislikes Essendon – perhaps it is even stronger than that – so you could see that Saturday’s MCG missed opportunity cut deep into the Hawthorn coach.
Fair enough, too.
There was plenty to like about the Hawks in terms of the big picture, but this entertaining game would have left Mitchell with an overwhelming sense of ‘what might have been’.
They shot themselves in the foot with a wayward radar, torching too many chances in front of goal, and allowing the Bombers to get them back the other way.
The scoreline said it all with 11.17 (83), with too many chances going begging when a few more accurate shots might have kept their hopes alive.
Nick Watson kicked 0.3 on debut and will be much better for the MCG experience, while others including Luke Breust (0.2), Mitch Lewis (1.2), Jack Gunston (1.2) and Mabior Chol (2.2) missed shots they could have kicked.
Jack Ginnivan swapped to different coloured stripes, but hasn’t lost his penchant for the big occasion, kicking 2.0, while Dylan Moore kicked 3.0 in trying to keep the Hawks in it.
The Hawks struggled to convert in attack, their backs were under siege at times, while the highly-rated mids were -9 in centre clearances.
Hot takes can be cheap in round 1, particularly for a team missing a few key players, but this was a missed opportunity … and now the Hawks face a tough run ahead – Melbourne, Geelong, Collingwood and Gold Coast.
LIKES
STAND AND DELIVER IN THE DANGER & DEMPSEY SHOW
On a night when Geelong opened its new stand named appropriately after club legend Joel Selwood, the young and the old helped to get the Cats over the line against a gallant St Kilda.
So often pitched as the AFL’s version of ‘Dad’s Army’, this time some of Geelong younger players showed why it is not quite a changing of the guard, but a host of fresh faces are now stepping up.
Pre-game, Selwood predicted 21-year-old Ollie Dempsey, in his eighth game, would drag down a mark of the year contender sooner rather than later. We didn’t quite see that, but we saw enough to suggest he is going to be some sort of player in the hoops.
He kicked three goals - it should have been more - in a performance that delighted Cats fans but didn’t surprise those closest to him.
The younger Cats made an impression including Max Holmes, Tanner Bruhn, Ollie Henry and Jhye Clark bringing a freshness, but it was also some of the old heads who were critical in the clinches.
Three of the last four Geelong goals came from the oldest Cats, but it was Patrick Dangerfield who locked away the victory with a long goal to put the game beyond the Saints’ reach.
Dangerfield’s teammate Tom Stewart wasn’t sure he had the distance in him. But there was never any doubt!
DOES HEENEY THE MIDFIELDER PUT PRESSURE ON ADAMS THE MIDFIELDER?
Taylor Adams left Collingwood because he wanted to play midfield again.
He was pushed out of that role through 2023, playing mainly as a half forward before an ill-timed hamstring injury cost him his shot at a premiership.
Could Isaac Heeney’s extraordinary start to this season – with an impactful, mostly midfield role – put pressure on Adams’ future game time in the engine room when he recovers from his pre-season hamstring injury?
The Swans are unbeaten after two matches, and they are doing so without injured trio Adams, Callum Mills and Luke Parker in the midfield, but so far that hasn’t hurt John Longmire’s side.
Heeney has gone in there in their absence, instead of the forward-mid hybrid role he has played in recent years, and he could well be at the head of Brownlow Medal votes after two games.
It’s difficult to see the Swans changing that role anytime soon.
Chad Warner is a star and looks to have taken his game to a new level, Errol Gulden just knocks up getting disposals and James Rowbottom has become such an important player with his 13 tackles double the number of any of his teammates.
Adams is two to three weeks away from resuming and was recruited to play as a permanent midfielder.
He might yet do that, but Heeney’s start to 2024 has given coach John Longmire some healthy selection options.
Can the Swans win the flag? It’s an early call, we know. ‘Blood’ oath they can!
OPERATION ‘LOCK IN LOGAN’
Sam Landsberger’s fascinating deep dive into Brodie Grundy’s contract with the Swans this week showed their financial commitment to the ruckman is bigger than most people thought.
So what does it mean for Sydney’s cap, especially given they need to find significant coin for star midfielder Errol Gulden who almost won the Brownlow last year and young key forward Logan McDonald who can finally step out of Buddy Franklin’s enormous shadow.
James Rowbottom and Ollie Florent are also in the final year of their existing deals.
The Gulden deal will almost certainly get done. There are a handful of clubs trying to find a way into starting the conversation, but most of them expect him to remain a Swan, potentially on a long term-deal.
The McDonald issue is not as clear cut. Key forwards can take some time to mature and now in his fourth season he looks ready to make his mark.
He was good last year. He can be even better this year. He’s not going to Lance Franklin – we might never see another of his ilk again – but McDonald showed again on Friday night with four goals (a couple of them over the top majors) that he is going to be a serious player.
Interest will come from Western Australian clubs for the former Perth forward, but the Swans need to get the paperwork done sooner rather than later.
ANOTHER CLUTCH BLUES WIN ANOTHER CLOSE ONE BUT WALSH STILL A WORRY
Carlton narrowly got the four points against an undermanned, under-resourced Richmond on Thursday night, but they lost the clearance and contested possession count.
Sam Walsh might have changed that, if he had been fit and had played. Instead, Blues fans are sweating on an injury update on the star midfielder’s nagging back issue, which won’t likely come until round three, following the bye this week.
There is every reason to be nervous. Any time a young footballer has ongoing back concerns, you start to worry and it could mean he is on the sidelines for some time ahead.
Watch this space.
Carlton’s last six wins have come from a goal or less, by a collective 22 points, with Thursday night’s five-point thriller over Richmond the latest instalment in a clutch stretch for Michael Voss’ team.
Sound familiar?
There is a touch of 2023 Collingwood in the way the Blues have been able to extricate themselves out of delicate last quarter situations in recent times.
At the back end of last season there were finals wins over Melbourne (two points), Sydney (six points), as well as a pair of four-point victories over the Demons and Gold Coast which made for a heart-stirring August and September for devotees of the Navy Blues.
The first two games this season have delivered similar scenarios.
The Blues have clearly gone to school on being either proactive or protective in those final minutes – depending on the scoreline – and it has worked.
As an undermanned Richmond surged forward, Carlton did its best to shut the game down, putting a swarm of players around the ball in order to protect the lead.
TIGER BALME
Footy farewells are never easy, but if this season marks the final year of Neil Balme’s extraordinary football journey as a player, coach and administrator, he deserves a serious send off.
Balme was told in the pre-season that he wouldn’t officially be a part of the Richmond Football Club following this year.
It’s never an easy decision to make, and he wasn’t initially happy being told the news but realises this is a game forever changing.
His timeline in the game has taken him to Richmond, Melbourne, Collingwood, Geelong, Collingwood and back to Richmond, as one of the defining clubland figures in modern football.
He knocked back a push to join the Crows in 2022, and it remains to be seen if another AFL club sees the 72-year-old as a future troubleshooter.
Regardless, the Tigers – and the AFL – should give him a fitting farewell.
PARTY LIKE IT’S THE 1980S
This masthead revealed recently old rivals Essendon and Hawthorn want to keep those old enmities alive by annually playing each other in round 1.
If the theatre of Saturday’s MCG clash in front of a huge crowd is any indication, the AFL should lock it in for 2025 and beyond.
Against the backdrop of the Bombers’ 40-year 1984 premiership reunion – they won it against the Hawks that season and the year after – these two teams even turned the heat up with a mini melee in the opening term.
That would have been called shadow boxing in Terry Daniher’s day, but it was something to raise the spirits of these old foes.
Dermott Brereton didn’t disappoint as he theatrically ‘stormed’ through the old-time Bombers on the ground before the game, just as he did at Waverley all those years ago.
And on a day when the Bombers celebrated that famous come-from-behind flag 40 years ago- Kevin Sheedy’s first as a coach – the final margin of Saturday’s game was 24 points … exactly the same as it was in the 1984 grand final.
C’MON BOMBERS FANS, LET’S GET EXCITED
If this was a sugar-hit, gee it must have tasted pretty sweet for Bombers fans.
After a summer where Brad Scott tried to hose down expectations for 2024, a scorching autumn afternoon at the MCG and a four-goal victory against an old foe surely has Essendon fans thinking a finals berth should be beyond them.
Why wouldn’t they look at the positives? The Bombers’ brand looked more attractive; the ball movement appeared a little more aggressive; most of the new faces including Todd Goldstein, Jade Gresham and Ben McKay performed well; and a host of the red and black kids were among the better performers.
This was arguably Archie Perkins’ best game (24 disposals and two goals), Elijah Tsatas had some impressive moments when coming in as the sub, Sam Durham is now right in the midfield mix, and Nik Cox had some solid moments.
And Jake Stringer was so exciting to watch with four goals, in his first round 1 match since 2020. Maybe some tough love helped there. He needs to make this a benchmark.
There will be many more twists and turns to come for the Bombers, and maybe even a closer audit of their progress against an unbeaten Sydney at the SCG next week.
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
It wasn’t the result or the margin that Alastair Clarkson wanted, and North Melbourne has lost Josh Goater to what looks like a ruptured Achilles, but there were still plenty of green shoots in the way the Kangaroos went about their western Sydney road trip.
We know how good Harry Sheezel (32 disposals and 132 SuperCoach points) and George Wardlaw (17 disposals and 69 SuperCoach points) are already, but the Kangaroos’ top end draft crop in Colby McKercher and Zane Duursma gave an early sign of their future capabilities in game one.
McKercher had 22 disposals, eight marks and almost 500 metres gained, but it was his cool and composed manner and his neat skills which shone out.
Oh yes, and thanks for the 88 SuperCoach points.
Duursma made the most of his opportunities with 10 disposals and two goals, and looks to be a mainstay in that Roos’ forward line for a decade or more. He had 71 ranking points.
It was also good to see one-time high end draft pick Tom Powell have a career-best 26 disposals.
It is still going to take some time for this young group to make big inroads on the elite teams. But in the interim, Kangaroos fans are going to have the luxury of sitting back and enjoying the ride.
The destination might yet be a great one.
IS THIS THE AFL’S SCARIEST FORWARD LINE?
Be afraid; be very afraid.
The Giants beat up one of the most inexperienced AFL backlines in their own backyard on Saturday, but let’s be honest they are going to do that to a lot of more experienced defences this season.
They might possess the scariest forward lines in the game right now and it could be one of the key points of difference that sweeps them to that elusive maiden premiership.
Thirty five goals in two weeks – against the Magpies and Kangaroos – tells only part of the story, as this group has a capacity to share the load and share the majors.
The Giants had 25 marks inside 50 this weekend – almost double last week’s tally – with Jesse Hogan’s six goals adding to his four from last week.
How Melbourne and Fremantle would love to have this version of Hogan in their attack right now?
Jake Riccardi was impressive with three goals; Callum Brown is one of footy’s great stories, adding two more to his five from last week; Aaron Cadman is looking more at home with two more goals; Toby Bedford always chimes in with a major and midfielder Josh Kelly celebrated his 200th game with two goals.
And let’s not forget a bloke called Toby Greene. The Giants’ reliance on Greene in attack used to almost be unhealthy, but that is a distant memory now.
He had 21 disposals against the Kangaroos, but could muster only 0.4. When the skipper clicks in front of goal – and we know he will – this scary forward line might end up being an unstoppable force.
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