The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from Round 5

There are problems galore for Melbourne. One week it’s the dysfunctional forward line, the next it’s the overwhelmed defence. And the problems don’t end there. Check out all MARK ROBINSON’S likes and dislikes after Round 5.

North Melbourne put in a dismal performance on Good Friday against Essendon. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith.

North Melbourne and Melbourne find their respective seasons hanging by a thread after five rounds, with pressure piling up on coaches Brad Scott and Simon Goodwin.

The Demons were outgunned by a relentless St Kilda on Saturday, while the Roos are set for a season-defining two-week stretch after being humbled by a resurgent Essendon on Good Friday.

But there has been a lot to like in Round 5, including the breakout performance from a Blue who has previously given only a tease of his undoubted talents.

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MARK ROBINSON reveals his likes and dislikes for Round 5.

North Melbourne put in a dismal performance on Good Friday against Essendon. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith.

DISLIKES

1. North Melbourne

COACH Brad Scott has called on fans to support the players. But who will support the coach? Chairman Ben Buckley, who rarely hits the hustings, might want to talk to the North Melbourne electorate this week because it is angry. The players are accused of embarrassing the jumper, the club is said to have no playing identity, and the fans are asking questions of the coach. It adds up to an early-season crisis at the Kangas. They can get out of it by starting with consistent effort and then winning games. If that doesn’t happen it will become a full-blown crisis. A game always comes along that is defining — if it’s not next week against Port Adelaide, it’s definitely the week after against Carlton.

2. What to do with Ziebell?

JACK Ziebell was solid the week before but disappointing on Friday as commentators wondered why he wasn’t deployed in the midfield. If Jed Anderson, Jared Polec, Aaron Hall and Shaun Higgins couldn’t catch the zippy Bombers, Ziebell had little hope. Maybe his aggression could have helped. His ability to find the ball certainly would have. His six possessions playing forward were his fewest in a full match since Round 18, 2014. I think forward is his go, as his lack of pace might be exposed in the middle, and it hasn’t worked when he has been tried in the back half.

Where to now for Melbourne after it was blown away by St Kilda? Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Pockett.

3. Melbourne

PROBLEMS galore here, as we have said many times already this year. What has happened to the ferocious Melbourne we saw last season? It’s increasingly obvious that if teams match the Demons at the contest and in clearances, they can get them on the spread. Melbourne was chasing the Saints all afternoon at the MCG. One week we point to the dysfunctional forward line, the next it’s the overwhelmed defence. But mostly it’s the “downhill skiers”, as Dermott Brereton describes them, in the midfield. The midfield and Max Gawn are disconnected. The Saints lost the hit-outs 49-16 and hit-outs to advantage 18-3, but still won the clearances 34-31. Add the fact the Demons lost the contested ball count for the fourth time this year, and it’s problems upon problems.

4. The Swans

YOU can lose pretty and you can lose ugly. The Swan were dog ugly against Richmond on Saturday night. They took 122 marks, so Richmond either applied the greatest pressure and defensive set-up we’ve seen this year or the Swans’ strategy was slow and controlled. Sydney’s era is over. Premiership player Jude Bolton said turnovers were crippling Sydney’s ball flow, there were handballs to teammates under pressure, and the team folded in the arm wrestle. He’s not wrong. Thank-you Swans for 15 years of willing football. We await the next wave.

5. Brisbane Lions

THEY might be sexy, but they need to get dirty. Contested possession is not always the panacea it seems, as the Hawks have previously shown. However, the Lions don’t yet have players of the same quality as the Hawks, which means they must start getting their hands dirtier. The Lions have lost the contested possession count in their past four matches and are ranked 14th. Lachie Neale was the only Brisbane player to win 10 contested possessions against Collingwood. The Lions have won the contested count once in five games this year.

Mark Robinson says Sydney’s era as a contender is officially over. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith.

6. What to do about Vardy?

HIS Grand Final performance against Collingwood won’t be forgotten, but Nathan Vardy’s 2019 has been largely forgettable, and poses a problem for Eagles coach Adam Simpson. He likely has to persevere with Vardy as the second ruckman until Nic Nat returns after the bye. With Vardy in the centre square, the Eagles have won 23 clearances and lost 41 (-18). With Tom Hickey in the middle, they have won 35 and lost 19 (+16). Football’s not all about tap- outs and clearances — look at Melbourne. So Vardy wasn’t the reason the Eagles were trounced by Port Adelaide, but the numbers are stark.

7. Frustrating Dogs

NAME another team that tantalises and then disappoints as much as Luke Beveridge’s team. The Bulldogs won the first two games of the season, were competitive in the next two, and then yesterday’s performance was oh so familiar. They just couldn’t kick goals, but when you lose by 44 points it is more than just yips. The midfield lost it — beaten up by Patrick Cripps (38 disposals), Sam Petrevski-Seton (35) and Zac Fisher (28). Those three Blues midfielders combined for 41 contested possessions. The Dogs were also smashed in the clearances, 42-26.

8. Dayne Zorko careless?

HE can count himself very lucky. The Lion was charged with engaging in rough play — he hit Taylor Adams in the head after Adams disposed of the ball — and it was assessed as low impact by the match review officer. This was an act of frustration, which is to put it nicely. In reality it looked to me like a deliberate cheap shot from behind, and Zorko escaped suspension only because Adams suffered no injury. Not good enough from the Lions skipper.

Sam Petrevski-Seton was one of Carlton’s standouts with a tough performance against Western Bulldogs. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

LIKES

1. SPS

FINGERS crossed the moons have aligned for Sam Petrevski-Seton, who played his best game for Carlton today. It clicked for him and for Carlton — as coach Brendon Bolton has continuously forecast in recent weeks. Petrevksi-Seton is a talent but there was a harder edge to him yesterday. He had double-figure contested disposals just once last year, but already has double-digit disposals in two games this season. The Blues defence shut out the Bulldogs talls, Harry McKay was a monster up the other end, but to win this game the Blues had to match the much-vaunted Bulldogs midfield. They bested them easily, and SPS was arguably more influential than Patrick Cripps.

2. Saints footy

PRESSURE, defend and spread is ideal football, and the Saints served it up to a hapless Melbourne. Plaudits have gone to coach Alan Richardson and the newbies on the coaching panel headed by Brett Ratten, Brendon Lade and Billy Slater. But not so much to defensive coach Henry Playfair. In the previous five years under Richardson, the Saints struggled to keep opposition scores under 100 points. This year the number is 68.8 — ranked No. 4 in the league. It’s a team strategy without the ball, but Playfair and his group of defenders have kept their end of the bargain. On Saturday it was Josh Battle, Callum Wilkie, Nathan Brown, Jarryn Geary, Shane Savage and Ben Paton, three of whom — Battle, Wilkie and Paton — have played just 22 games between them. In his second season at the Saints after departing Sydney, Playfair is both the team defence coach and backline coach.

3. The Tackle loves a tackle

HALFWAY through the final quarter when the game was over — the Saints led by 29 points — there was 15 seconds of football that surely will lead Richardson’s review today. In a series of pressure acts on the Members’ wing, the Saints didn’t allow the Demons to breathe. It was a Battle tackle, Jack Steele contest, Blake Acres tackle, Geary contest, Matty Parker and Acres gang tackle, Geary tackle, Battle tackle, and finally a Seb Ross tackle that won a free kick. Other positives will make the review, such as Dean Kent’s workrate and Steele’s tenacity, but nothing will beat that 15 seconds of “Saints footy’’.

Callum Wilkie is making the most of his chance to shine in St Kilda’s defence. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images.

4. Ahhh, Eddie

THE Crows smacked the Suns, but it’s too early to say they have rescued their season. The Crows were tough in the contest — Hugh Greenwood helps there — and their run from half-back and spread over Adelaide Oval looked like the Crows of 2017. But it was a night for Eddie Betts. In his 300th game, he kicked six goals, the last one a left-foot banana from the boundary line, 35m from goal. The GOTY is a fans vote, and I suspect Eddie might have it in the bag.

5. Essendon

COACH John Worsfold has overseen a stunning transformation since Round 1. When the Bombers are allowed to put speed and space into the game, like they did on Saturday, they are the most exciting outfit in the competition. Everyone knows it starts in the back half for the Bombers. Stopping it is another matter. They scored another 58 points from their defensive half, and their past three matches have produced three of the top four defensive-half scoring matches of the season. It is such a devastating style, they have scored more points in those three matches than anyone else for the entire season. How Collingwood counters it will probably decide the Anzac Day game.

Matt Taberner was a dominant presence in attack for Fremantle against GWS. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images.

6. Compare the pair

MATT Taberner and Jesse Hogan are examples of how two key forwards can work together. Melbourne’s Tom McDonald and Sam Weideman are examples of how not to do it. In Canberra, Taberner and Hogan had 43 disposals and took 27 marks. At the MCG, McDonald and Weideman had 23 and eight. Taberner has been a revelation. Sometimes he looks like he’s playing his first game, such is his decision-making and skill. Other times he looks like the powerhouse key forward the Dockers have spent years investing in.

7. The big five

EXTERNALLY the Tigers have revolved around the big four — Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin, Jack Riewoldt and Alex Rance. Inside the club it is the big five, the fifth being Shane Edwards. A forward-mid for most of his 236-game career, Edwards switched to a back flank after Rance and Jayden Short were injured. He has become an instant intercept master. Edwards has been in the top three interceptors — and in Richmond’s best — in the past three matches. Against Sydney he had 28 disposals and eight intercept possessions, combined with 410m gained.

Adam Treloar’s form has certainly caught Robbo’s eye. Will opposition coaches start to pay attention? Picture: Darren England.

8. Patrick Ryder and his mates

CAN’T imagine playing a cracking game in the wet, being one of the few talls to influence one of the best wins of the seasons, and then waking up to someone posting racist taunts about me. Ryder handled exactly that with great maturity, as did the AFL. ‘‘We have a lot of good people supporting us and the AFL have been really supportive, we know it’s not something we’re going to eradicate overnight,’’ Ryder said. “We’ve just got to keep on it and keep educating people and hopefully one day we’ll get there.’’

9. Adam Treloar

LOOPING handballs can be a teammate killer or a ploy to give and get. Collingwood’s Treloar is a master at it. Only Sydney’s Jake Lloyd has wracked up more “one-twos’’ than Treloar. It is becoming his trademark manoeuvre — and he will keep doing it unless the opposition puts a body on him.