The Tackle: Jon Ralph’s AFL likes and dislikes from Round 19
In another era David Teague would be sacked for Carlton’s one diabolical quarter against North Melbourne. Will he survive the Blues’ review? See Jon Ralph’s likes and dislikes.
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After a dismal loss to North Melbourne, there’s no masking Carlton’s flaws, or the pressure mounting on coach David Teague.
It wasn’t a pretty watch for Blues fans as all the old problems emerged, including the now familiar diabolical tackling stats.
And just who is Carlton’s third best onballer as a shallow midfield continues to haunt the club?
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Sydney Swans legend Lance Franklin did himself no favours in his pursuit of 1000 goals with a reckless act which should see him sidelined, while Melbourne’s problems in the forward line were again exposed.
Marcus Bontempelli enjoyed another night out to firm up his Brownlow Medal favouritism, but a select few are certain to keep him honest with their ongoing good form.
And is St Kilda forward Max King finally going to start living up to his nickname after his superb performance?
Check out Jon Ralph’s likes and dislikes from Round 19 below.
DISLIKES
1. BELEAGUERED TEAGUE
In another era, David Teague would have been sacked after quarters like the third against North Melbourne on Saturday.
All the old problems emerged — diabolical tackling stats, a shallow midfield, a lack of defensive intent, another five-goal run by the opposition.
Hawks coach Al Clarkson has to be non-starter at Carlton next year — imagine the lack of credibility if he jumped ship after his impassioned speech on Friday — but president elect Luke Sayers cannot just rubberstamp another year of Teague without considering other contenders for the job.
He should tell Teague he is going to interview candidates regardless of his contract.
Making Teague effectively reapply for his job might be a hit to the ego, but Carlton cannot worry about bruised egos.
If Sayers finds a better candidate, tough luck, Teague.
If Teague wins the day, well played. He looked like a man in a hostage video during his Zoom press conference and his words about believing in this team rang a little hollow.
2. JUST A MIDDLING REBUILD
Sam Walsh was solid but not explosive (as Jy Simpkin minded him) and Patrick Cripps (three goals, 45 per cent forward) was needed in attack.
Who is the Blues’ third-best midfielder?
A club that has drafted or acquired Paddy Dow, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Matt Kennedy, Matthew Cottrell, Lochie O’Brien, Michael Gibbons, Zac Fisher, Josh Honey, Will Setterfield, Jack Newnes, Sam Philp, Brodie Kemp, Lachie Plowman, Liam Stocker and Zac Williams as midfielders still has daylight behind its No. 1 overall pick (Walsh) and its skipper.
That is a failure of development, of drafting and trading, and reflects a lack of a cohesive strategy.
Outlaying multiple high picks for Fremantle’s Adam Cerra cannot be the answer. Carlton needs to get better at building its own.
In that third quarter the Blues were outscored by 40 points as they were annihilated on the outside.
3. BUDDY LUCKY IF NOT RUBBED OUT
Lance Franklin deserves to be suspended for a blatant elbow to Luke Ryan’s head.
The MRO has been guilty of giving the Swan the benefit of the doubt too often, but Buddy’s decision to shift the ball from his left arm to his right to free his elbow to strike Ryan means Michael Christian can easily assess it as intentional.
He deserves two weeks (intentional, medium impact, given the capacity to cause injury), but Christian handed David Astbury only a fine for a similar strike on Lachie Plowman in round 1.
So for consistency’s sake it’s hard to see him elevating it to two weeks despite the blow looking, as Dermott Brereton noted, “100 per cent intentional”.
4. CRACKDOWN ON COVIDIOTS
The only way out of our current crisis is vaccination — and Covidiots like Jaidyn Stephenson and the dopes who stormed city streets on Saturday threaten that freedom … and the AFL’s bottom dollar in 2021.
The league has tasked its new head of healthcare governance Rachel Elliott to lead a vaccine working group that involves the AFL, player union and coaches’ association and will eventually educate the players, and encourage them to be fully vaccinated by round 1 next year.
The league won’t force players to be vaccinated, or penalise them if they are not, but in a week where some NFL coaches decided they would step out of the coming season instead of being vaccinated, the AFL must lead the way.
And it must use players in public campaigns to encourage the million-plus AFL members and fans to get on board.
Who knows what Nathan Buckley was trying to get at with his Twitter comments about infections, but Buckley, who was vocal about the leadership from Canberra over last year’s bushfires, could inspire more people to get vaccinated than any politician.
5. FORWARD LINE DEE-RAILED
The Demons cannot seem to kick a winning score but all is not lost.
They managed 63 points against the Pies, 68 against Essendon, 55 against Greater Western Sydney and 65 against the Western Bulldogs, and have two wins and a draw from their past six games.
But in that time they are 17th for set shots. Tom McDonald has six goals from 16 shots, Christian Petracca 7.4 and eight total misses from 19 shots, Ben Brown three goals from 10 shots.
On expected accuracy they would be fifth in the AFL.
6. EASE UP, CHAD
Chad Wingard is a proud footballer who only knows one way to lead – by performing on the field. He did that against Adelaide, but if he wants to remain at Hawthorn he needs to get used to the kind of tear-your-hair-out frustrations that came in his onfield spat with Jacob Koschitzke.
Wingard was isolated deep and Koschitzke brought his man into his area of influence.
Wingard ripped into a 17-game player in his first year in senior football in a one-way conversation that went on way too long. He might have been instructing a kid, but he needs to find a way for it not to look selfish and petulant.
7. SUN HARDLY A RORY-ING SUCCESS
Gold Coast recruit Rory Atkins has a four-year deal with a fifth season if he plays enough games.
Right now he is playing like the ultimate list clogger.
He had nine touches against Brisbane and on current form deserves to hand some of his pay back.
He gained 31m playing 26 per cent wing and 74 per cent forward, and while it might not be his preferred spot he needs to make it work.
8. ABOUT THAT POSITION, SIMMO
Adam Simpson made a clumsy comment about only recruiting private school kids as he lobbied for greater footy department funding then owned his apology.
Slack can be cut, as the Eagles have shown they are prepared to support Willie Rioli in his time of need.
But Simpson should have known kids from disadvantaged backgrounds need every reinforcement that they can make the grade. The Eagles now need to walk the talk after losing Indigenous liaison officer Chance Bateman through Covid and not yet replacing him.
9. TROLLS ON A ROLL
Taylor Adams highlighted more offensive social media comments after he played banged up on Friday night. It was vile and pathetic as usual.
If the AFL is serious it needs to lobby the social media giants about more accountability.
No point tut-tutting people it cannot find while doing very little that will meaningfully change behaviours.
LIKES
1 PIES SHOULD HAVE PYKE ON HOOK
If Collingwood had to declare its next senior coach right now, Don Pyke would be the strong favourite.
Its five-man panel is hitting the phones like Woodward and Bernstein, talking to everyone around the eight or 10 coaches still on the shortlist.
As you can imagine, the wraps on Pyke are off the charts. He may have bungled on that infamous Adelaide pre-season camp, and still needs to push his chips into the middle of the table, but he has plenty to offer AFL footy.
Rob Harvey won’t be Pies coach next year and has been told to play the kids. He has done it perfectly with his ego-free, club-first attitude. Clubs like West Coast are sniffing around the former Saints champ should he not be at Collingwood next year.
2 ROOS WEREN’T LARKING ABOUT
Those who don’t understand list management said the Roos would struggle to field a team when a day after the 2020 season they delisted 11 players. How could they replace them?
Larkey’s seven goals against Carlton took him to an astonishingly accurate 34.11 for the season. He was taken at pick 73 in the 2016 national draft, proving yet again there are diamonds to be mined late in drafts.
Players taken beyond 50 in 2016 include Elliott Himmelberg (pick 51), Josh Daicos (57, father-son), Quinton Narkle (60), Tom Williamson (61), Luke Ryan (66), Larkey (73), Harry Morrison (74) and Mitch Lewis (76).
3 ‘WINX’ IMPROVES MANY LENGTHS
The retired key forwards who populate the football media had started to wonder about the St Kilda player nicknamed Winx, and fair enough. Was Max King ever going to nail his set shots? Would he start clunking the six to 10 balls he got his hands to every week?
King’s six-goal, eight-contested-mark performance against the Eagles vindicated his new four-year, $750,000 deal.
He has banished the yips and booted 17.5 in the past seven weeks.
He is the first player since 1999 to take eight contested marks and kick six goals.
4 BUT WEIGHT, THERE’S MORE
Cody Weightman “posterised” Max Gawn yet again, the star ruckman a sitting duck for the high-flyer, just as he was under Liam Ryan last year and Mitch Georgiades only a week ago.
And no, Weightman’s wasn’t as good as Jack Riewoldt’s grab, or even Shai Bolton’s or Tim O’Brien’s legs-akimbo effort.
But this Bulldogs kid is something else. He has 17 goals in 10 games since coming back into the side. He is clearly the Dogs’ best pressuring forward, can be isolated deep and is a super aerialist.
5 HEENEY ENTERS KELLY COUNTRY
Isaac Heeney is Sydney’s modern-day Paul Kelly, a player who wants for nothing but some luck with injury.
Who else can stand on heads (he hovered over Luke Ryan on Sunday), kick goals (five on Sunday) and have 22 effortless possessions in such an eye-watching mix?
You can debate Sydney’s low clearance numbers but with Lance Franklin, Tom Papley, Heeney and Errol Gulden lighting up the attack, Sydney could win the flag from outside the top four.
6 AWARDS NOT LACHED AWAY
Last year Brisbane’s Lachie Neale cantered to a 10-vote Brownlow victory in a night devoid of suspense.
Marcus Bontempelli’s night out against the Demons should secure him another three votes but despite his TAB $2.10 odds there are five contenders well in the market with Port’s Ollie Wines at $4.50, and Melbourne pair Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca and Bomber Darcy Parish at $7.
For what it’s worth, Champion Data’s Brownlow predictor had Wines and Bontempelli on 20 votes leading into this round with Bulldog Jackson Macrae, Blue Sam Walsh and Saint Jack Steele on 19 votes and Sun Touk Miller on 18.
7 THE GOOD BOAK FACTOR
Chris Judd once said the greatest lesson for kids was to own their own preparation away from the football club.
This week’s 300-gamer Travis Boak at Port Adelaide and fellow veteran Todd Goldstein, 33 this month, at North own that attitude. Both may have played their best football post-30.
Boak spends his off-seasons (Covid dependent) overseas honing body and mind, and Goldstein forgoing fancy holidays to work in the gym.
The message for young players? Get your footy trip out of the way, then set about improving your career.
8 TAKE A CHANCE ON RANCE
Alex Rance is back playing the game, and that is probably enough for him. He might be sick of people questioning him over his retirement, but he seems to enjoy his footy.
He answered Essendon’s SOS to help out its VFL side while on holiday. But if Adrian Dodoro is not reaching out to Rance, still only 31, to put a one-year deal in front of him, he is not the recruiter we know him to be.
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