The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s Round 19 highlights and lowlights
WHO would you take given the choice? MARK ROBINSON compares the pair. Plus, North Melbourne, Essendon v Hawthorn, irrelevant Bulldogs and cruel knee injuries are among the likes and dislikes.
Mark Robinson
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THEY’RE two of the most exciting young players in the AFL.
But if you were back in the schoolyard and Patrick Cripps and Clayton Oliver were standing against the wall, who would you pick?
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Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson poses the question and looks at the highs and lows from Round 19.
This week, North Melbourne, Essendon and Hawthorn’s mini elimination final, the irrelevant Bulldogs and cruel knee injuries are among the likes and dislikes.
WHAT I LIKE
1. WOULD YOU TAKE CLAYTON OLIVER ...
He’s just 21 and has elevated himself from great stoppage player and handballer to breakaway midfielder and one of the best onballers in the game. He was central to Melbourne’s response on Saturday night after it conceded the first three goals and by the end was the most influential player on the ground. Oliver, the No.1 ground-ball player in the comp (average 11.3), had 15 ground-ball gets and 25 contested possessions, 12 more than the next highest in the game. He has been likened to Michael Voss, Dustin Martin and Simon Black this season and will only get better.
Who would you take? Cripps is 23. Oliver is 21? Both beasts of burden...
— Mark Robinson (@Robbo_heraldsun) July 28, 2018
2. OR PATRICK CRIPPS?
Launched a Twitter poll on Saturday night at 10.45pm and by 4pm on Sunday, 6430 had answered: Who would you take? Cripps with 72 per cent, Oliver 28 per cent. Cripps is widely admired for his effort in a poor side, but Oliver is getting unders for accruing the same numbers in a better side, where he has more teammates also winning the ball. Cripps again earned three votes for 37 disposals, 17 contested possessions and 172 ranking points on Saturday night and could poll in most games without winning the medal. As for who would you take, well, Cripps now, but let’s ask again in three years’ time.
3. AHERN, CUNNINGTON AND THE BIG HEARTED ROOS
If Matt Scharenberg is looking for inspiration in recovery, he should look no further than Paul Ahern. Coming off two knee reconstructions, and his eighth AFL game, Ahern had 37 disposals, 22 contested possessions, 12 clearances and five inside 50s. He and Ben Cunnington combined for 44 contested possessions - the team had 179 - and they put West Coast to the sword. More than that, they showed the Eagles the tough football needed in difficult conditions and in doing so kept North Melbourne’s season alive.
4. HURLEY v FRANKLIN
Love Michael Hurley’s crack at Paul Roos in the post-match, with Hurley reminding Roos of his comment earlier this season that Hurley couldn’t mind a baby in a pram. Roos’ point was Hurley liked to play zone and rebound and not directly on the opposition’s best player. On Friday night, Hurley took Lance Franklin - albeit an injured Franklin - and played his best game of the season. It was the second time he had wholly played directly on the opposition’s main key forward in 2018 (the other was Eric Hipwood, Round 12) and this time he kept Franklin to seven disposals, his fewest in a game since Round 22, 2015. Of their six one-on-one contests, Hurley won three, Franklin one and two were neutralised.
COMPLETE THE SURVEY BELOW AND YOU COULD WIN AFL GRAND FINAL TICKETS
5. IT ALWAYS STARTS IN THE MIDFIELD
The Carlton loss in Round 8 is seen as the game which will most hurt the Bombers, but it was also the game which kickstarted them. They lost the game despite their 28 shots to 21. They have won eight of 10 since on the back of vast improvement in the midfield. From Round 9, the Bombers are ranked No.1 for disposal differential, No.4 for contested possession differential, No.2 uncontested possession differential, No.1 tackle differential, No.2 pressure applied and No.1 for clearance differential. Bombers v Hawks this week will be a beauty.
6. THE SELWOOD EXPERIMENT
Is coach Chris Scott dabbling with his set-up a month out from September? If he is, we like it. Skipper Joel Selwood, according to Champion Data, played 34 per cent of game time in defence, which was the third-highest percentage in his 267-game career. And it was the minutes he has spent in defence since Round 19, 2011. He took a team-high four kick-ins when he had never taken more than one kick-in in a game. They play Richmond on Friday night and if Selwood continues to bring the ball back in, we can only assume Scott is continuing with his experiment. Watch this space.
7. NO PANIC ABOUT TOBY NANKERVIS
On the eye, when Richmond benched Nankervis in the second and fourth quarters on Saturday, Brodie Grundy, Mason Cox and Collingwood took control. No question, if Nankervis does get injured, the Tigers have an issue. But the eye can be deceiving. He was off the ground once in each quarter for 21 minutes total and in that time, the Tigers outscored the Pies by 13 points. Collingwood won clearances 9-5 and Grundy had five disposals in those 21 minutes, but it goes to show the Tigers aren’t too perturbed about losing clearances with their game based around turnover.
8. HAWTHORN v ESSENDON
The Bombers messed up Sydney and Hawthorn belted Fremantle and this Saturday at the MCG, the Hawks can end Essendon’s finals hopes. The usual suspects starred for the Hawks - Tom Mitchell (42 disposals), Luke Breust (four goals), Shaun Burgoyne and Jaeger O’Meara in the middle and Ben Stratton at the back - but it’s difficult to gauge how threatening they are as a team. Their form is: beaten Fremantle, beaten Carlton, lost to Brisbane, beaten the Bulldogs and narrowly lost to the Giants up there. Guess we’ll find out after they play Essendon and then Geelong over the next two weeks.
9. LACHIE WHITFIELD
When James Sicily went down with a wrist injury, a spot opened up in the All-Australian back six. Look no further for the running half-back spot because Whitfield has earned it. His story is yet to be fully told about the events and situation which led to his suspension, but his football is telling his story right now. Since Round 10, he has clocked 25, 26, 36, 26, 25, 28, 35, 31 and on Saturday night, another 32 disposals. His speed, balance and ability to kick left and right foot - go on, guess if he’s a leftie or a right-footer? - is a treat to watch and he is one of the reasons the Giants are considered Richmond’s greatest threat.
10. THAT’S MORE LIKE IT CHARLIE
Port Adelaide’s Charlie Dixon had kicked 20 goals from 17 games and kicked a season-high five goals on Sunday. If Port is to be serious challenger, they need Dixon in this kind of form because they can’t win it without him kicking goals in September. He took five marks inside 50m, three of them contested, and instead of always looking imposing, he actually played imposing football. The difference he makes to Port Adelaide when he’s playing well as opposed to when he’s not, is critical.
WHAT I DISLIKE
1. THE BIGGEST LOSER AGAIN
Sydney has lost its mojo and the finger is being pointed at coach John Longmire, led by Herald Sun columnist Dermott Brereton. The Swans are in a trough and maybe they can work themselves out of it, but the trends are disturbing. Over the past four matches - from which they have won one (North Melbourne) and lost three (Geelong, Gold Coast, Essendon) - the Swans are 16th for inside 50m differential, 17th for time in forward half differential, 13th for points scored, 15th for points scored from turnovers and 15th for scores per inside 50m. In other words, they don’t get inside enough, can’t keep it inside 50m, don’t score enough when it’s inside and cough up the ball too much which leads to opposition scoring. If it wasn’t the Swans, you’d think this team was a complete rabble.
2. YOU CAN TAKE THE BOYS OUT OF WA
Hobart has become a notorious visitors’ ground and it swallowed up West Coast on Sunday. They have Fremantle, Port Adelaide (away), Melbourne (home) and Brisbane (away) and if they miss a top-two spot, they will rue their insipid performance. They didn’t like the cold and they didn’t like North Melbourne’s toughness. Just 1.4 in the second half would usually draw Carlton-like criticism for the lack of scoring, but when you’re second on the ladder, and have injuries, it’s thought to be an aberration. Playing at home compared to Hobart explains it all.
3. MY KINGDOM FOR CLASSY FINISHER
Don’t know if Saints coach Alan Richardson is a prolific reader of Shakespeare - “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’’ - but Richardson’s desperation for a classy finisher or two in his front group must be a priority in the off-season. If St Kilda’s lamentable season can be examined in one match, it is the defeat to GWS on Saturday. The effort was strong, the finishing was pathetic. They were +22 inside 50s and had 68 per cent of the game played in their forward half in the first two quarters, yet trailed by four points. They challenged in the third quarter, only for it to peter out, and then battled evenly in the fourth quarter. Their half-time score of 3.10 is their season in a nutshell.
4. THEY’RE DONE, THE CROWS
They can blame their third quarter and they can blame their midfield leaders, which is yet another blame session in a season where blame has been levelled at many aspects of the football club. When it came to making a statement on Saturday night, in a bid to save a lamentable season, the Crows couldn’t get it done. They led 20-0 and smashed the contested ball, and from then the Demons changed the trend. By the time the third quarter was over, so was Adelaide’s season. The Demons kicked seven goals to one on the back of 18-6 inside 50s, munched Adelaide at stoppages, winning 17-4, and kicked four goals from turnovers created in the forward half. They came late, the Crows.
5. KNEE INJURIES
When Matthew Scharenberg went down clutching his knee, after slightly turning his body to give chase, it was a tear that ripped through the soul of the Collingwood Football Club. “There’s not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel right now for him … he’s shattered and not in a great spot,’’ coach Nathan Buckley said. It is his third ACL which is difficult to comprehend. Why him? What’s the problem with his genes which others don’t have? The sadness comes because as Scharenberg has displayed in the last 10 games of last year and his 17 games this year, he is a walk-up AFL footballer. The footy world wishes him well in his operation and recovery.
6. WHO’S THE WORST TEAM IN THE COMP?
Seven days ago consensus was Carlton - by a long way - but clearly after the weekend, it is Gold Coast. That was utter garbage from a team playing at home that had steamrolled Sydney on the road the week before. Little wonder coach Stuart Dew couldn’t hide his disgust. In the final three quarters, they scored two goals to Carlton’s 11, who aren’t exactly an offensive juggernaut, were -80 in disposals and conceded six goals from stoppages. They have lost by bigger margins this year (108, 85 and 80 points), but this was their most debilitating.
7. STEVEN MAY
Thought last week he spoke like a captain who was in for the long haul, but a week later he acted like a captain who allowed his own frustrations to be more important than the team mentality. He will sit out for a period because you can’t crash into a player - Ed Curnow - after the ball has been moved on and make contact with the shoulder to the jaw. It’s lucky Curnow wasn’t seriously damaged. The Suns were pathetic against the Blues and the skipper hardly set the right tone.
8. 60-MINUTE TEAM
What happens to the Bulldogs at half-time? Is it the messaging? The style? The youth factor? Or do they turn up their toes? Since Round 9, after half-time, they have kicked 1.7, 0.4, 3.3, 7.4, 5.6, 7.3, 2.1, 4.3, 3.5 and Sunday 1.4. They have averaged 23.8 points per game in second halves, with only Gold Coast worse. The worst criticism of a team is to call them irrelevant, but right now can’t think of a more apt description. They are the 60-minute football team who challenge for victory, then fold too easily.
9. DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN
Commentator David King has his favourite sayings, but his absolute favourite is: Don’t get beat by what you know. There’s a twist here: Don’t get beaten by the same play. First was Richmond’s Jayden Short, who twice received the ball outside 50m in the same spot and kicked two goals in as many minutes in the first quarter. It was dumb football from Collingwood. The second was Melbourne’s Jordan Lewis, who twice sat off the stoppage in the first and third quarters, received the handball and from virtually the same spot kicked two goals. It was dumb football from Adelaide.
10. ZAK JONES
His reputation as a hard-running half-back who poses headaches for opposition coaches is being fast replaced by a reputation as a cheap-shot merchant who poses headaches for his own coach. The jab to Zach Merrett was cheap, the bump to Kyle Langford when he could’ve tackled was cheaper. He will miss two weeks for the Langford hit at a time when the Swans season is in free-fall. The irony, highlighted by Fox Footy, was Jones needed to be tough when a ground-ball was presented to him during the match and he pulled out. “I’d suggest he’d be getting some feedback from his teammates,’’ Nick Riewoldt said. If you want to act tough, then play tough.
BEST TWEETS
@AdrianO_JBaus: Like - Jaeger O’Meara. Has gotten better as the year progressed and slowly proving a lot of doubters wrong
@navysaurus: Like: Carlton players and their partners having a beer after the game together quietly in their hotel. Fantastic to see. Shows heart and unity.
@pattykelleher4: Like; Paul Aherrn robbo north landed their big fish 18months ago for pick 69!!
@EileenNZ: Like: Francis’ return and Higgins goal. Dislike: Gil and Hocking standing in the race with supercilious smirks on their faces as they turn the game into a travesty.
@conmjj: I dislike all the Collingwood excuses and false sense of hope the media and supporters have thrust upon them. Challenging Richmond? If Sydney belt them they’ll be ninth next weekend.
@benny_wills: Like - Shane Edwards, Dislike - People shaming Jacob Townsend for an accident
@PaulZauch: Charlie Dixon’s game. Has given an uncompromising contest all year - much maligned outside of Alberton. Conditions in Ballarat suggested he should struggle but he dominated. Also good to see @Jacksontrengove put in a good one. Always a @PAFC man in my books.
@Crooksy18: Like the brave souls who attended at Mars Stadium standing on the grassy slopes in the weather with nothing more than plastic poncho for protection
@Williamso7Clive: Clayton Oliver - best Dees recruit since Robbie Flower
@mattycosta: The eagles having to play in Tasmania. What a joke. 20 hours travel time! Sacrifice a minnow Melbourne club on the spirit.
@chookie94: Love: Jade Gresham. The kid doesn’t get the media attention he deserves but he is an absolute star.
@matt_laing: Like- 99% of everything Wayne Milera did. Dislike- the other 1% of wayne Milera’s game
@ScooterMcNeice: Adam Saad... though Devon Smith rightly gets a lot of praise.... Saad’s improvement has been very significant to Essendons good form
@Damo_F: Ben Stratton should be in all aust team and surely first Brownlow votes
@jameslindseyjnr: Like: Collingwood proving they can match it with the best. Dislikes: Corporates still trying to change the game after some cracking matches last few weeks
@jbutcher9: Ben Stratton... dominates every single week, tall or small! Rarely gets mentioned! absolute gem
@MattSull67: Dislike: Collingwood supporters non stop rambling on about injuries! Many of the blokes out almost cost Bucks his job last year!!
@Daryl_Mac: I dislike Ross Lyon more excuses than Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger combined each time he is in a presser. Until he is given the flick Freo won’t win a premiership.
@liamkelly05: Like: Angus Brayshaw putting himself in harms way without any thought of consequences, he’s well and truely over the concussions. Dislike: season ending injuries to finals contenders.
@ajricho1: Dislike - Freeman still not getting a run despite another 36 touches in the 2nds not like the seniors are doing anything special!
@CyberLeedsCelts: Likes: The Two Carlton Paddy’s (Cripps and Dow), Tom Hawkins’ renaissance, Devon Smith. Dislikes: Poor Matty Scharenberg, Slow, underachieving Swans, Tex Walker’s leadership (or lack thereof)
@nathancoy88: Don’t think dogs v port would have been a better spectacle at Etihad?? Very rare conditions are any good at games scheduled Hobart, Darwin, cairns etc. all about those $$$
@connollc: Dislike, the suggestion of rule changes. How can the AFL suggest introducing rule changes when the current rules are umpires so poorly. Before any changes the AFL must give a score card on umpiring. Inconsistent from play to play let alone game to game or round to round
@dc_fifa69: Like: Mitch Brown, drafted in 2008 pick 15 and at the age of 28 has found some great form and will likely play his 50th game this season
@simon0061: Has to Maxie Fawn. Wizard
@jeddgermano: Like: No Richmond player over 22 possessions, none under 11. Great spread
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