Mick Malthouse: Club that best handles COVID-19 chaos will be best-placed to win flag
Richmond has won only two games and now has a string of injuries and players not joining the hub. How can they turn their season around? Mick Malthouse on the teams that can play finals and win the flag.
Mick Malthouse
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When uncertainty is the most common factor of a season, some will relish the challenge and others will flounder.
Who are we playing? Where are we playing? When are we playing? It isn’t ideal preparation for anyone, but in these extraordinary times there have been some standouts among those who have adjusted faster, better.
Sunday afternoon one man will get his first AFL win as coach.
I have felt terribly sorry for Matthew Nicks and Justin Longmuir, each in his first season as senior coach. They’ve been hit with thunderbolts.
Adelaide has been, not surprisingly, disappointing. The Crows have been on a rapid decline since they lost the 2017 Grand Final. Good clubs don’t lose top quality players, but this has happened to the Crows in big numbers. Patrick Dangerfield, Kurt Tippett, Mitch McGovern, Charlie Cameron, Jake Lever, Eddie Betts, Josh Jenkins, Sam Jacobs and Hugh Greenwood have all departed in the past five years.
Nicks should not be under pressure, especially in a year of extreme circumstance, but Adelaide is a shell of a club and a team.
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Nicks needs to be more assertive. It’s OK to display your disappointment to the media, but any club is encouraged by a coach who takes a strong stance.
On the flip side, Fremantle under new coach Justin Longmuir, is unlucky not to be in a better position. The Dockers have had four losses by six, 12, 29 and 13 points and been in each game for long periods of time.
Longmuir also wears his heart on his sleeve, but he seems to give off an air of positivity. I think he will be a fine coach.
Speaking of fine coaches, Ken Hinkley is one of the best. He is always in control and never wears the pressure that is put on him from within and outside the club. He lives and dies by his game structure.
As Port’s drafting starts to come to fruition through the likes of Xavier Duursma, Connor Rozee and Zak Butters, and Charlie Dixon makes the forward line stand tall as the fit, strong, go-to target. Port plays exciting footy and is primed for a top-four finish regardless of the result of Saturday night’s clash against the Lions.
It is clearly the best scoring team in the league (averaging 86.3 points per game after four rounds) and has “must watch” written all over it.
Gold Coast is also exciting.
Stuart Dew is a breath of fresh air. You can see that his players are revelling in his coaching, with excellent systems in place.
A young team that is used to travelling, a potential hub away from Queensland shouldn’t be a problem for the Suns. This could be the start of something big.
Matt Rowell is a sensation, in his first year and yet he has such a bearing on his team’s fortunes. Jack Lukosius and Noah Anderson are two more kids who add to the excitement
machine.
Still, Collingwood is the team to beat. Its best is brilliant, but in coming weeks it might need to throw things around.
Crucially, the Magpies boast a powerful midfield, led by Brodie Grundy, Scott Pendlebury, Taylor Adams and Adam Treloar with Jordan De Goey in a cameo role.
But worrying issues are creeping in.
A team with a forward line that contains De Goey, Jamie Elliott, Jaidyn Stephenson, Mason Cox and Brody Mihocek should be kicking 12 goals a game in these shortened matches.
They need to be more consistent and all contributing.
Jeremy Howe’s knee injury could sideline him for the rest of the season, which will hurt the Magpies, but it will also allow Moore a chance to shine. He is sometimes the forgotten man alongside Howe and Jordan Roughead, but he is diligent and reliable.
Collingwood will finish top four.
There are two clubs Sunday — Richmond and Melbourne — which desperately need their key forwards to make a stand as they bid to stay in touch with the league leaders.
Jack Riewoldt has kicked four goals this season and Tom Lynch six. Lynch isn’t getting the same ball supply that netted him 63 goals last year, but Riewoldt, remarkably, is missing some deadset sitters. He didn’t even make the distance with a chance to beat Collingwood late in Round 2.
There is no doubt Damien Hardwick can coach, but it is going to take his best to get Richmond out of this mess.
The Tigers have lost their bite. They are not as fanatical as we have come to expect, which in the past has been so relied upon as a game strategy. They can’t settle on one ruck, and players like Daniel Rioli can’t even get near the ball. Plus, injuries are disrupting their lines.
Perhaps hub life would suit them, to shake things up, though if players are unavailable it just becomes harder. Sunday’s clash was a must-win fixture for Richmond.
But it’s also a must win for Melbourne.
Simon Goodwin, in his own words says the Demons are playing good footy, just not enough of it. I would say they’re not playing near well enough.
Melbourne still gives the opposition too much of a look at the ball by overusing it, and its forward line structure lacks potency. Tom McDonald has kicked just three goals, and he seems confused as to which angle he is supposed to lead to. Too often he is out of position.
Key defenders Steven May and Jake Lever have been caught out trying to peel off their direct opponents.
And others may think Christian Petracca has turned a corner, but I think he’s still a long way short of his potential. Clayton Oliver is always under siege as one of the team’s more reliable midfielders.
Essendon is a team I can’t place. I can’t make an argument for the Bombers to finish top four, but I see them in the final eight.
Jake Stringer (10 goals), Shaun McKernan, Jacob Townsend and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (five each) lead Essendon’s scoring. The Bombers need more contributors. Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti is their barometer and he had moments of considerable influence on Friday night.
The Dons will be desperately hoping Stringer does not need surgery on his ankle, which John Worsfold revealed on Saturday was a syndesmosis injury. It’s a real concern for them.
Unless Joe Daniher makes an unlikely return, I’m not sure where their goals will consistently come from against the better sides.
One thing is certain though, if there is a club that handle a pandemic season it’s Essendon.
With everything it’s had thrown at it in recent years, to have the Conor McKenna debacle disrupt this season, too, it shows how resilient the Bombers are to have handled it so well.
The dual coaching scenario of John Worsfold and Ben Rutten is an interesting concept and so far it’s working. They were unlucky in the end against Carlton, had a fine win against Collingwood, and they are still a game in lieu. There are plenty of positives.
I have been so impressed with Giant Toby Greene. He isn’t a massive possession getter and he hasn’t been used in the midfield too often. His trigger for success is his competitiveness and ability to lift his teammates while kicking those magic goals.
Greater Western Sydney has gained a bonus player this year with the return of Callan Ward after 12 months out with a knee injury. He is one of the few players who still attacks the ball and runs with it, no matter what the rest of the team is doing.
And make no mistake, Tom Green is going to be beauty for the Giants.
The most frustrating thing about the Giants, and it must drive Leon Cameron nuts, is their inconsistency.
I tipped them to win the premiership, and they still can, but they sit an unlikely 10th after four rounds. I also tipped West Coast for a top-four finish and it is wallowing in 16th position after three consecutive losses.
The Eagles will be glad to see the back of the Gold Coast after this round. As a team it hasn’t handled hub life well.
The Eagles’ work will be just beginning when they arrive home.
The way this year has unfolded, Rhyce Shaw has seemed far more mature than his 38 years, probably because he’s had to be. So, the fact that his full-forward is off the mark would be difficult to take.
Ben Brown’s output is well below his usual high standards, basically because the opposition has worked out that he is a lead-up player, and as he makes his ungainly approach he is too easily moved off the ball. He needs to stay fixed to the ground to control the contest.
If he gets his mojo back, North is still a possibility of finishing in the top eight.
How Hawthorn (4th) and Geelong (6th) cope with older lists in hub life will be interesting. We’ve already seen younger teams adapt faster and better than older counterparts.
Whatever the case, there is a hard road ahead for all, just to complete the season. I hope for the integrity of the competition that things don’t become even more difficult.
I applaud the AFL’s hard work and positivity in keeping the game going, and all club officials and players who have made sacrifices that deny them “normal” life right now. The Steele Sidebottom breaches of protocol show just how difficult that is to maintain.
But with a bit of good fortune on the injury front, fixturing luck, and happiness in the hub, the ladder could be turned on its head within weeks. The uncertainty and unpredictability is great for keeping supporters on the edge of their seats. It’s just not great for those playing the game.
FLY AWAY
Hubs where Victorian clubs are headed for at least the next five weeks.
QUEENSLAND: Richmond, Carlton, Essendon, North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs, St Kilda.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Geelong, Collingwood (after one week each in Sydney for Round 6).
NSW: Hawthorn, Melbourne.
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