Early Tackle: Scott Gullan names his likes and dislikes from AFL’s Opening Round
Damien Hardwick and the Suns have put the footy world on notice and SCOTT GULLAN is ready to deliver his first big call of the season. Get all the early likes and dislikes.
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Opening Round delivered big crowds in the northern states, a game which promises to be one of the best of the season and no shortage of talking points.
Scott Gullan names his likes and dislikes from a big weekend of footy to kick off the new campaign.
LIKES
THE WEAPON
It’s time to anoint a nickname. Let us present to you Callum ‘The Weapon’ Brown.
While we understand the last time that nickname was used in the AFL it was front and centre in the Essendon drugs scandal but the GWS Giants forward deserves a chance to resurrect it.
English-born Brown is a physical beast, a strong tall marking forward at 188cm and 91kg who also just happens to be the fastest player on the Giants list.
He showed some impressive signs in the second half of last year but looks ready to explode coming into his fourth season.
Four goals in the first half against the reigning premiers is a good way to announce yourself as a serious player and his combination with Jesse Hogan (four goals) works brilliantly particularly when you throw in the fact skipper Toby Greene is the Giants best forward.
Brown finished with a career-high five goals and to make things even scarier, No.1 draft pick Aaron Cadman looks a different player in his second year and impressed with two goals of his own.
THE OTHER GREEN
In December GWS Giants captain Toby Greene sat in a Toorak cafe and declared Tom Green would win a Brownlow Medal.
While Greene was the subject of the interview, he was more excited about predicting greatness for his young teammate.
The skipper’s prediction didn’t look out of place given the performance from Green against the Pies with the 23-year-old collecting 30 possessions, nine clearances and one goal.
For those who don’t mind a flutter, the TAB has Green’s odds at $13 to take home Charlie in September.
KING COLEMAN
Ben King will win the Coleman Medal.
There you go, there is the first big call of the 2024 season. And yes, we’re getting carried away by the Gold Coast Suns’ impressive win over Richmond.
For the record, we made this call half-way through the second quarter after he kicked his fourth goal. (Footnote - the TAB were offering $16 for the Coleman at the time).
The case against this prediction is easy. King isn’t going to be playing against Tylar Young every week and the supply from the Suns midfield isn’t going to be served on a platter like it was against the Tigers.
But let’s focus on the positive. A fit and healthy King is a tough match-up for anyone given his size and he already has put up some good numbers as he’s been finding his way in the big time.
His best return for a season is 47 goals in 2021 before he missed 2022 with a knee injury. Last year he took a while to get going but still managed 40 goals from 20 goals.
All he needs to do is double that output and he’s in Coleman territory. The key factor is King has never had so many one-on-one opportunities like he’s going to get this season under Damien Hardwick’s game plan of surge football.
The clearance work of Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Touk Miller was at its best against the Tigers and all of that equates to a picnic for King or as should be say King Coleman.
ROWELL-LOW
Yes, we are going there.
We all remember when Matt Rowell burst onto the scene and was best-on-ground in three of his first four games in 2020 before he was cruelly injured.
From that moment he has been pegged as a future Brownlow Medallist. For a variety of reasons this lofty prediction has had the shine come off it with Rowell struggling to recapture his mojo.
In recent times there was a focus on what he can’t do (i.e. burst from contests, outside run) instead of celebrating the fact he is a contested bull.
With a new coach and game plan, Rowell showed in just two quarters of the Hardwick era that his mojo is back with 18 possessions, 11 clearances and a handful of centre clearances.
His combination with Noah Anderson and Touk Miller is quickly going to be in the conversation for the best midfield trio in the game.
For the record Rowell was $51 on the TAB for the Brownlow Medal at half-time (he came into $41 midway through the third quarter) with Anderson at $26.
CHARLIE’S LOVE
The love Charlie Curnow had for Harry McKay after the game said a lot. In a post-match interview the Coleman Medallist didn’t want to talk about his own four-goal performance, he wanted everything to be about his mate who’d just kicked the matchwinning goal with 90 seconds remaining.
But there was more to Curnow’s love than just the last-quarter heroics. He has lived through McKay’s goal kicking yips, continually encouraging and supporting his fellow forward while at the same time hearing all the continual criticism — which was more than justified at times — from fans and commentators.
Harry McKay & Charlie Curnow speak to Abbey Holmes post match.
— Carlton News & Stats (@UptheBaggers) March 9, 2024
🎥 Channel 7 pic.twitter.com/0cjrgE6KlD
He knows how much that has hurt his teammate so the pride he felt as big H went back and started kicking straight drop punts to break Brisbane’s heart was overwhelming.
McKay kept talking about his new philosophy of finding a technique and sticking to it — how it has taken this long to be his mindset is a story for another time — but we’re tipping it won’t just be Curnow hoping it doesn’t suffer from second-up syndrome on Thursday night against Richmond.
HARRY MCKAY WINS IT FOR THE BLUES!#AFLLionsBluespic.twitter.com/BECjiPk3SJ
— AFL (@AFL) March 8, 2024
JACK WHO
We have the first candidate for 2024 Super Sub. Jack Carroll came on in the third quarter to replace Sam Docherty and proceeded to be a key factor in the Blues turnaround. In just his seventh career game the 21-year-old had six disposals, two tackles and kicked a goal for the quarter.
Carroll is a former West Australian who was taken at No. 41 in the 2020 draft. He played five games in 2022 but only got one look-in last year. At 188cm he can play as a taller midfielder, which coaches love nowadays, and we’re tipping Michael Voss might show more affection next week and have him in the starting 22.
BLUES BROTHERS
How good did the section of the stand at the Gabba look with Carlton fans dressed as the Blues Brothers? The Lions were smarting from last year’s preliminary final where the Carlton army turned up en masse and almost turned it into a home game.
This time the Lions were confident they would hold sway given it was a home and away game but the Blues Brothers stunt certainly had an impact. It turns out the dress-up was organised by Queensland-based Carlton fans and it cost an adult $175 for the outfit and experience.
DISLIKES
DISTANT MEMORY
Two of Collingwood’s premiership heroes didn’t pick up where they left off.
Scott Pendlebury’s last quarter in the grand final is the stuff of legend but the veteran couldn’t get into the first game of the new season.
He was almost invisible in the first half against the Giants, touching the ball just three times in what would have to be the worst two quarters of his amazing career.
But then in typical Pendlebury fashion he woke from his slumber collecting three touches in the first five minutes of the third quarter - he finished the term with seven and 18 for the match.
Norm Smith Medallist Bobby Hill kicked a goal early in the first quarter against his old side and then one in j
unk time late but there weren’t too many other highlights.
COX LESS
We know Mason Cox will always have the last laugh given he has a premiership medallion but his carry-on is starting to wear thin.
To his credit the American did help generate publicity for the season-opener, starting with his description of the GWS Giants home ground at Sydney Olympic Park as a “showground for livestock”.
That gave plenty of ammunition for the Giants who responded by constructing an actual petting zoo in the stadium for the game, along with sheep and a Mason Cox cardboard cut out.
All that is pretty harmless but then Cox thought it was amusing to interfere with the Giants pre-game warm-up in the centre square. He took a ball-up from ex-Giants ruckman Shane Mumford who was far from amused.
The issue for Cox is if you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk. He didn’t, with zero possessions in the first half and just five - plus 19 hit-outs - for the match.
GRAND FINAL HANGOVER
Is this the first sign? There was a theory in the lead-up to the season that the only concern for the Lions could be the fatigue about being up for so long, then getting so close to a premiership only to fall short again.
For the past five years the Lions have finished no worse than fifth, culminating in last year’s grand final loss to Collingwood. That’s a lot of home and away wins for no return. In that time they’ve blown some big opportunities — notably having the finals played in Brisbane during the 2020 Covid year — so there possibly comes a time where there is a tipping point.
Having a 14-game winning streak at the Gabba broken in the opening round after leading by 46-points in the second quarter is certainly worthy of an eyebrow raise for those who are in the Brisbane hangover camp.
KEIDY WHACK
He’s not the Lions’ best player but what Keidean Coleman brings is so important for what coach Chris Fagan is trying to achieve. Serious injuries in the first game of the season suck for anyone but this one is likely to haunt Brisbane for some time.
Coleman had turned himself into the Lions halfback weapon, he was like the quarterback, the man whose hands they wanted the ball in at all times when launching forward. Don’t forget, he had the Norm Smith Medal around his neck at halftime of last year’s grand final.
His finals series was out-of-the-box and with 64 games under his belt, this was the season the 23-year-old was set to explode. Unfortunately the ruptured ACL will see him miss the year which is a major headache for Fagan.
SNOOZIN’ TIGERS
Surely for the first game under a new coach there would be an added excitement level.
Everyone knew the Suns were going to get up for Hardwick but why didn’t Richmond do the same for Adem Yze.
Two goals in the first half was a disastrous welcome for Yze but to his credit he showed a willingness to throw the magnets around when required.
New full-forward Noah Balta into the ruck and Daniel Rioli from half-back to the middle in the third quarter sparked a remarkable comeback.
The Tigers kicked seven unanswered goals in the third quarter to breathe life into the game and halted the production of a statue of Hardwick by Suns fans.
While it ended up being a bridge too far, the Tigers will at least take a spark into next Thursday’s blockbuster against Carlton particularly if they can get Dustin Martin, Tom Lynch and Toby Nankervis back.
RUCK DILEMMA
Brodie Grundy’s tactics on Max Gawn on Thursday night ensured ruckmen were going to be a major talking point to come out of Round Zero.
The new Swan’s strategy of charging into Gawn’s space as soon as the ball went in the air at a centre bounce was a stroke of genius.
It will be interesting to see whether other clubs follow suit against the Melbourne captain but what also became apparent from the opening three games was there is no need to go in with two traditional big men.
Richmond elected to go with Sam Naismith and Samson Ryan as a two-pronged attack on Suns captain Jarrod Witts and it back-fired horribly.
Ryan touched the ball just twice in the first half before being subbed off with the impact of Balta in the second half showing a more mobile option as the back-up is the way to go in 2024.
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