The Tackle: Mark Robinson names the players who will decide their team’s finals fate
PATRICK Dangerfield and Lance Franklin are ready to put their stamp on September. Can Jake Stringer or Drew Petrie step up when the stakes are highest? Mark Robinson previews the finals.
Mark Robinson
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ADELAIDE great Mark Ricciuto sent a tweet on Friday. It was a photograph of Phil Walsh’s memorial tree near Adelaide Oval.
The tree was still in its throes of it’s winter hibernation, waiting for that burst of spring sunshine, and in a message to Walshy, Ricciuto wrote: ‘’It’s September mate ... time to shine!’’
Walshy had his favourite footy sayings and I’m guessing that was one of them.
And he was right: September is the time to shine.
Now that whingeing has stopped over the bye weekend — was it really that momentum shattering? — the AFL finals are upon us.
Who can win? Who has momentum? Who will play the best football at the right time?
It's September mate time to shine! pic.twitter.com/gMMk57MWcU
— Mark Ricciuto (@markricciuto) September 1, 2016
Can an argument be made for the Bulldogs?
If Jake Stringer doesn’t play, it would be one of more adventurous coaching decisions of recent times. Coach Luke Beveridge concerns himself with output and not reputation, but it’s difficult to believe he will go into an elimination final without a player who has the capacity to be a game-winner.
It’s been lean pickings this year for Stringer, save for his two hauls of five goals and two hauls of four goals, but he simply has to play.
They need a strong contribution from him, in fact from all of the Bulldogs
They have lost their past seven game in the west by an average of 57 points and have won just three matches there in the past decade.
They meet a team boiling with belief. Wins over Greater Western Sydney, Hawthorn and Adelaide in the three weeks leading into the finals gives West Coast momentum and confidence. You can ask what does that really mean. Well, go and ask North Melbourne about confidence and momentum.
The Kangas have won two matches from their past 11 outings, including the past four against four top-eight teams — Bulldogs, Hawks, Swans and Giants.
If they can find salvation against the Crows at Adelaide Oval, it will be recorded as Brad Scott’s greatest finals victory.
They beat up a beaten-up Sydney in 2015 and defeated Geelong in a semi-final in 2014, but this team is dealing with many issues.
Form is one aspect, the clear belief from management that this team has run its race despite it playing finals — “We needed a pretty aggressive reset,’’ president James Brayshaw said — is another, and who really knows the impact of those comments, on the back of the forced retirements of Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Michael Firrito and Nick Dal Santo, has had on the group.
In a sense, North announced it was over before the finals began.
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If Scott can gather the collective spirit, implement a game style to stop the Crows’ ball movement and restrict the potentially powerful forward group, then this would be an almighty victory.
Does Petrie play? You betcha. Petrie was so bad last start he wouldn’t have got a kick in a stampede. But he’s a warrior and Scott surely won’t go in without him.
There’s one warrior side and that’s Hawthorn.
They’ve won three in a row and the fourth, right now, seems miles away.
There are questions on their youth, their contested ball, the lack of oomph from their forward talls and everyone’s just waiting to say ‘I told you so’ about them being too old.
There’s no question, though, about leadership, competitiveness and football smarts when the game has to be won.
Some observers reckon it would be boring if they won it again. I disagree. Witnessing four in a row for the first time since Collingwood (1927-30) would be kind of special.
If they are the old campaigners — if I can borrow Eddie McGuire’s whimsical words — then GSW are the new kids so on the block. They’re not really kids but they are new, and if you’re really into football, then Giants v Swans on Saturday will be must-watch.
The coach of the year award is an oddity because Alastair Clarkson didn’t win it in any of his three previous seasons. By that criteria, Leon Cameron must be a strong candidate.
In three years, he’s posted six wins, 11 wins and this season 16 wins and the double chance.
If they beat the Swans on Saturday, the AFL will be doing backflips.
The Swans are my tip for the flag. They invested in youth and, to date, they haven’t let the team down. And the midfield is as good as any team has ever put on the park.
And, of course, there’s Lance Franklin.
If any player is ready to shine in September, it’s Buddy. Arguably, he’s playing the best footy of his career. The only curiosity is where will coach John Longmire play him. Franklin has been pinch-hitting in the middle, but you suspect when it comes to the truth, Franklin will be start 25m and patrol the 50m arc like a lion patrols his patch.
Patrick Dangerfield will patrol everywhere — midfield, a bit of defence, almost certainly in attack.
He left Adelaide for Geelong and although the Cats are not a one-man team, not even a two-man team with Joel Selwood, if Dangerfield doesn’t fly in September, then neither will the Cats.
Why? Because most of this years finalists are separated by the thinnest of margins and one good player down could be the difference.
The wait is nearly over.
Enjoy September.
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