Early Tackle: Sam Landsberger’s likes and dislikes from AFL round 8
With the match on the line — and 52 seconds on the clock — Carlton was denied a freekick for insufficient intent. SAM LANDSBERGER says it was a “mind boggling” non-decision. Read round 8 likes and dislikes in the Early Tackle.
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Adelaide stormed back into the top-eight mix with a commanding win in the Showdown, before Nick Daicos stole the show on Friday night with his late heroics against Carlton.
Round 8 might only be a few games old, but it has already provided a host of big talking points.
And Sydney made a loud statement in the local derby as it weathered a literal storm against GWS Giants.
Sam Landsberger breaks them down in this week’s Early Tackle.
DISLIKES
FADING HAWK
Tom Hawkins celebrated his 350th game with four goals on Easter Monday. He has not kicked a goal since. Remarkably, it is the first time in Hawkins’ 18-year career that he has endured four consecutive goalless games. Hawkins turns 36 this season and some will start to question whether his time in the game is up. But it is worth remembering he made a hot start to the season and was wanted by Melbourne last October. He has also come up against some handy full-backs in Liam Jones, Jacob Weitering and Steven May in that month, not to mention torrential conditions up at the Gabba. Still, he will know the blowtorch is coming.
DOUR DEES
It will be fascinating to see how the AFL treats the Demons in their next fixture release. They are a premiership heavyweight who have just ended Geelong’s unbeaten start to the season and sit in the top four on the ladder. That combination should command bulk primetime viewing. But when is the last time the Demons played in a classic match? One of those unforgettable contests jam-packed with highlights and thrills that even neutral supporters were left talking about for days? For a perennial contender blessed with so many game-breakers it is hard to think of too many exhilarating spectacles the Demons have produced in recent years. Their defence is once again ranked No.1 this year and they have restricted the Dogs, Hawks and Tigers to their lowest scores. They kept the Cats to only nine majors on Saturday night in a game that produced the first goalless quarter since 2022. It was a fun finish at the ‘G – Bayley Fritsch dribbled through a spectacular goal to shut the door – but it was mostly a slog. It is not Simon Goodwin’s job to entertain the masses – he is paid to win games of football. But a lot of the time it is a hard watch.
GUN-SHY UMPIRES
Scott Pendlebury flushed a set-shot goal from 50m and executed a delightful look-away handball over his head in the frantic final quarter on Friday night. His brilliance knows no bounds and so when he won the final centre clearance and kicked to space at half-forward his intention was clear – find the boundary line. How on earth not one of the four field umpires could deem that as insufficient intent was mind boggling. The Blues should have had a free kick at halfback with 52 seconds on the clock and aerial targets down the line to kick to.
"It was deliberate and it wasn’t sufficient intent… It’s twice in the space three weeks on Friday Night Football we’ve had umpires in critical times of the game make the wrong decision."
— SEN 1116 (@1116sen) May 4, 2024
- Luke Hodge on the Scott Pendlebury's kick late in the game not being paid deliberate
Goal umpires have been gun-shy all season with some of the ridiculous score reviews they have signalled and, for the second time in three weeks, a Friday night thriller has ended with field umpires wilting under pressure. Sam Draper went unpenalized when he lay on the ball in front of Adelaide’s goalmouth and now Pendlebury’s blatant search for the boundary has also been let go. It showed a lack of game awareness. If the Pies were trailing by a goal – instead of leading by a goal – do the umpires really think Pendles would have been kicking it there?
should this have been 'insufficient intent' against Pendlebury? #AFLBluesPiespic.twitter.com/4afYtU1S2g
— outbreezy (@outbreezyWC) May 3, 2024
BIG, BIG THREE WEEKS
It might sound dramatic, but the next three weeks shapes as arguably the biggest test of Adam Kingsley’s early coaching career. The Giants were kept to their lowest score of the season on Saturday and smashed in the turnover battle. They won 11 of their final 14 games last season – and were desperately unlucky that fairytale run ended in preliminary final heartbreak – and their first five games this season, and so the pressure has never really come on. They face Essendon at Marvel Stadium, Western Bulldogs at home and Geelong at GMHBA Stadium before the mid-season bye. They would expect to win at least two of those matches, but any less and their strong foothold in the top four would loosen.
BIG CASE OF THE BLUES
The Blues are 1-3 running with two rucks this season. That might be a simplistic way to look at their past month when Marc Pittonet has partnered Tom De Koning – the absence of Adam Saad and Mitch McGovern is also hurting – but you wonder whether the top-heavy structure is working? It is a tough one because De Koning is an automatic selection and Pittonet has been playing well and is a beautiful tap ruckman. So individually it is tick, tick. But on team balance is it the right set up? Or do the Blues look cumbersome with two rucks alongside Harry McKay, Charlie Curnow and big bulls in the midfield? They have been torched with leg speed by Adelaide, Geelong and Collingwood. The Magpies laid 84 tackles on Friday night because the Blues simply couldn’t break into clear space.
MATURE APPROACH TO HANDOUTS
The football industry would storm AFL House if North Melbourne was afforded draft concessions for a third consecutive year. Agents no longer want their players drafted by the Roos because they fear they are lambs to the slaughter while rivals have had enough of priority picks. But there is a palatable way to help the Kangaroos without upsetting the competition. What if the AFL Commission afforded the Roos four extra list spots to sign the best state-league players available after the national draft? The Kangas are crying out for on-field leadership and bringing in some physical bodies who would work their backsides off and help set standards might just accelerate their improvement. The glut of young talent at North Melbourne needs some battering rams around them for protection. It’s an idea some recruiting experts believe has a lot of merit.
SELFISH EAGLE
Thought Zac Williams’ double-blunder was certain to make him the most unforgivable man of the week. Williams gifted Collingwood two goals when he was pinged for holding Jamie Elliott in almost identical infringements early in the first quarter. Turns out that offence was a ‘hold my beer’ moment for Jamie Cripps. What was Cripps thinking when he dropped Nic Martin to the ground? Jake ‘Plugger’ Waterman had just marked 30m out and a fourth goal to the unlikeliest of Coleman Medal fancies would have shrunk the margin to four points. But Cripps’ brain fade denied Waterman a kick. It was unacceptable from any player, let alone a 32-year-old with 236 games behind him.
LIKES
ZACH’S BROWNLOW?
Isaac Heeney’s hot start to the season was all the rage. Then Greater Western Sydney onballer Tom Green muscled his way into Brownlow Medal favouritism. Carlton captain Patrick Cripps struck a rich vein of form that was widely recognized and on Friday night Nick Daicos reminded everyone why he is the best player in the game. Flying under the radar through all of that was the captain of Essendon. Zach Merrett surely stitched up another three votes on Saturday night when he kicked 3.1 from 29 disposals against West Coast. It was just the third time in Merrett’s career he had kicked three or more goals. The Bombers have not produced a Brownlow Medallist since James Hird in 1996 and Merrett is also on track to equal Hird’s five Crichton Medals this year. Merrett’s leadership since taking charge under coach Brad Scott last year has been exemplary and it would not surprise if he was also considered as All-Australian captain this year. Merrett was $34 for the Brownlow Medal after round 3 but you won’t see that ever again.
GOLDEN ERROL
Adelaide was not the only club to offer Errol Gulden a 10-year contract this year. Sydney did, too, as it became aware of rival interest. Gulden instead re-signed for four years and it was fitting that a day after the football world gushed again over Nick Daicos’ clutch goal it was the Swans’ golden boy shining. Gulden pocketed back-to-back Brett Kirk Medals with 29 disposals, one goal and 765m gained. At one freakish moment Gulden scooped up a wet ball one-handed and snapped to a teammate he saw out of the corner of his eye. The kicker for the Crows and any other club who wanted Gulden is they actually could have had him. The Swans were committed to matching a bid for Braeden Campbell (pick No.5) at the 2020 draft and so if a bid for Gulden came inside about pick 16 they wouldn’t have matched. Geelong loved him, but had traded out its picks for Jeremy Cameron and by the time the Cats placed a bid – at No.32 – Gulden was going nowhere but Sydney.
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
You wonder whether Darcy Wilson circled this game when he was drafted by St Kilda. Wilson’s father, Mick, was the nephew of inaugural North Melbourne premiership “The Galloping Gasometer” Mick Nolan and the family were passionate Kangaroos supporters. But they also shared a link with the Saints. The family is close with St Kilda Hall of Famer and 1966 premiership hero Bob Murray, who relocated to Tarrawingee when Mick Wilson was growing up and the Murrays and Wilsons often attended North-Saints games together. Last week Darcy became the second-youngest Saint to record 20 disposals since 2003 and he backed that up with 21 disposals and 3.2 against the club he grew up barracking for. The Saints have a beauty in the running machine, who would be in the Rising Star votes if it was tallied today.
HUMBLE PIES
Remember when Craig McRae told his players off for slumping to the ground when they lost an epic qualifying final in 2022? “We want to act like winners,” McRae said. “The siren goes and there’s half a dozen of our guys laying on the ground. For me, that’s not a winner. That’s acting like a loser. We lost the game – but we’re not losers.” Well, the Pies are not only winners – they are incredibly humble ones. The post-match actions of matchwinner Nick Daicos, captain Darcy Moore and McRae were so damn impressive. Daicos was at pains to not focus on his miraculous goal when asked multiple times by Channel 7’s Abbey Holmes on the siren. He took off the medal for best-aground after about two seconds and had to be asked to put it back on for a photograph. Moore’s eloquent comments upon receiving the Peter MacCullum Cup on that important cause and then McRae opening his press conference with: “Enough is enough” in regard to the domestic violence issue showed how classy this club really is. It is authentic and should make their supporters immensely proud.
GIANT SHORTS GESTURE
North Melbourne and Melbourne have failed to sign a shorts sponsor this season. Greater Western Sydney also does not have a commercial partner on its playing shorts – instead the Giants have placed EB Research on there to highlight an important cause. A patron partner of the club connected the Giants and EB research and facilitated the costs of the asset given their passion for raising awareness. It might soon become premium real estate should the Giants win an historic first premiership.
HIGH HOPES FOR HARVEY
Collingwood book-ended its 2021 draft with Nick Daicos (pick No. 4) and Harvey Harrison (pick No. 52). Daicos is 55 games into his career and the best player in the game. Harrison is six games into his career and has the hallmarks of a very handy player. Football is about key moments and Harvey had two mighty ones on Friday night. First was the intercept mark when Harry McKay’s searing kick inside 50m had hearts in mouths for Collingwood.
Second was the aggressive knock-on that set up Nick’s matchwinner. The Pies have been desperate to find a spot for Harrison but it has been hard to pick him ahead of the likes of Beau McCreery and Bobby Hill. Recently they tried him on the wing in the VFL to see if that would work at AFL level. Wherever he winds up he looks a player. The Pies are also reprogramming the mercurial Ash Johnson as a defender at VFL level because they know they are light-on for talls at either end.
Tiger delight as North pays heavy price for final draft night pick
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The Bombers had a relatively quiet trade period by their standards, with their focus on Isaac Kako. Now after securing the small forward, their method has been whacked by a draft expert.