The Tackle: Mark Robinson names his Round 7 likes and dislikes
Everyone is on the Darcy Moore bandwagon for All Australian selection and rightly so, but another Collingwood defender deserves every bit as much consideration as the Pies’ backline propels their resurgence.
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More questions than answers from Hawthorn, a missed opportunity for Carlton and the AFL’s newest big, bad, bustling forward.
Round 7 has had plenty to like and dislike for chief football writer Mark Robinson.
The Hawks lead Robbo’s dislikes for the round after being humbled by Melbourne after a week where coach Alastair Clarkson’s long-term plans were put under the microscope.
Where to now for Clarko and Hawthorn?
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DISLIKES
1 LIKE HAWK AND CHEESE
Where to now for the once imposing Hawks? Midfield beaten again, ruckman Ben McEvoy looking better as a defender than he did as a ruckman opposed to Max Gawn on Sunday, and too many players shells of their former selves.
“They are at the lowest they’ve been for a while. They have issues all over the joint,’’ Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon said.
Jonathan Brown added: “It was like a training drill for Melbourne.’’
The Hawks are under siege. Clearly, president Jeff Kennett wanted improvement this week, and he didn’t get it.
It makes the next board meeting interesting.
At 3-4 and in 14th spot, do Alastair Clarkson and the Hawks discuss the immediate and long-term future, as put on the agenda by Jordan Lewis last week?
2 FELLAS, YOU BLUE THAT
Carlton was lucky to be still leading on Sunday after Port Adelaide squandered opportunities late, but blew the chance to ice the game.
People talk about the two-minute rule for leading teams; this was the 40-second rule.
Mistakes were made all day in one of the best matches of the season, but Carlton had the ball in its possession with 40 seconds to play and when leading on the scoreboard.
Micky Gibbons had it on the back flank. He kicked long to the wing, where Marc Pittonet, Levi Casboult and Harry McKay had gathered. None of them could mark or force a stoppage.
Instead, Port skipper Tom Jonas took the mark and, well, you know the rest.
Still, there was plenty to like about Carlton. Its slogan once was “They know we’re coming”. The Blues are just about here.
3 A TEAM IN TURMOIL
Eight games ago Greater Western Sydney was in a Grand Final. Today it is a team lacking identity and performance.
Coach Leon Cameron has issues popping up everywhere. It’s a bit like those fountains where water spurts out — cover one hole, up it pops out of another.
With their talented midfield group the Giants should be flamboyant, but they are boring and stagnant.
Cameron emphasised contested ball and clearance this week. They won both against the Brisbane Lions and still were murdered in the inside-50 count.
The Giants haven’t won this stat all season. The differential counts are Brisbane (34-56), Port Adelaide (33-51), Hawthorn (26-38), Collingwood (37-48), Western Bulldogs (29-44), North Melbourne (38-43) and Geelong (39-42). The total inside-50 differential is -86. Cameron looked a despairing figure after the match.
4 GIANT LOSS OF CONFIDENCE?
Their highly acclaimed midfield can’t move the ball between the arcs and the pressure to keep the ball in the forward line is below par.
How about them giving up their first two goals at stoppages in the defensive 50 and then allowing Lachie Neal to waltz in for another goal?
You have to wonder if Cameron will keep three talls — Jeremy Finlayson, Jeremy Cameron and Harry Himmelberg — in his forward-line. Is that even the problem?
You can scan the stats and look for the issue, but sometimes it is simpler than that. The Orange Tsunami has petered out to a small squall.
The run, which creates dare and ball movement, needs to return. It’s as if defence has overtaken instinct. The Giants play Richmond this week and if it’s another loss you can put a line through them.
5 WHAT TO DO WITH ROOS
Where do you want to start? They have injuries, they have Ben Brown desperately out of whack and a game plan that gives them little chance of winning.
Eighty disposals in the first quarter against Richmond for no score. How does that happen?
Coach Rhyce Shaw threw around his team, which didn’t help the scoreboard, but it did give him some positives. Josh Walker went from defence to attack and took eight marks, which just emphasised Brown’s plight, and Ben McKay played key defence on Tom Lynch and didn’t concede a goal — a miracle considering Richmond’s dominance.
McKay has to stand up in defence for the rest of the year. Against Lynch he recorded 15 spoils, the second-most by any player in 2020.
“McKay did a superb job for a majority of the game,’’ Shaw said.
He has to look for positives because the negatives will drown him. Will say it again, the Kangas need draft picks, which means they have to trade out players.
6 SWANS BASHING
It was led by Richmond coach Damien Hardwick the previous week and he soon followed up with an apology.
The Swans were part of a terrific game at the SCG on Saturday. Fox Footy commentator Dermott Brereton hasn’t been a fan of John Longmire’s defensive coaching and a column written by Brereton two years ago didn’t impress the Swans coach. A phone call was made and opinions shared.
Brereton, however, heaped praise on Longmire after Saturday’s game.
“Well done to John,’’ Brereton told The Tackle.
“He attacked and he let them play football and he will see who can do what and who can’t do that. I thought it was fantastic and refreshing.’’
7 INDIGENOUS ISSUE HITS NERVE
The AFL rarely says sorry, so its apology on Saturday is testament to the size of the “communication’’ error it made about injections apparently required by Indigenous players.
The Indigenous players believe they were singled out. The Players Association is not happy and will investigate.
The AFL has said sorry, but hasn’t explained. Claiming a “communication error’’ won’t make this issue go away.
8 IF THE TAG FITS …
Essendon continues to be the most frustrating team in the competition — set the standard for pressure and energy against Collingwood in Round 5 then couldn’t clamp the Bulldogs on Friday night.
Former Dons assistant coach Robert Shaw is having sleepless nights wondering why undermanned Essendon doesn’t use a tag, especially against a Bulldogs midfield that must wish it played the Dons every week. A tagger might not help ball movement, but might stop rival midfields running riot.
3.00 am selection thoughts. @essendonfc best block of wins/form under JW came Rnd 11 to Rnd 19 2019. Team went 7-1. Dylan Clarke played in all those. With centre square starters Heppell Shiel Stringer out runwith role on #2 Crouch can spread load. #mustvebeenadream 😴#biggerbody
— Robert Shaw (@shawry_analyst) July 18, 2020
9 BEING CONFUSED
Like the new holding the ball interpretation and despite some weird decisions, it encourages the players not cuddle the footy. But can’t understand how a free kick wasn’t paid against Jack Darling on Sunday night. The Eagles forward took a handball receive, took several steps and was tackled and lost the ball. He had prior. To say it was knocked out in the tackle doesn’t cut it anymore when other players are pinged for far less prior opportunity. Fans are trying to understand the new world order, but are left confused after the non-Darling decision. Another non-call late in the fourth quarter was also mind-boggling. We don’t mind new rules, but we can have consistency please.
LIKES
1 DIXON HAS HALL THE ATTRIBUTES
Once there was Barry Hall, now there’s Charlie Dixon. Big. Bad. Bustling. Charlie.
He is the most aggressive and intimidating big man in the game and on Sunday he terrorised Carlton.
The actual matchwinner was Robbie Gray, whose goal from near the boundary post-siren was boys’ own stuff.
The player who separated Port Adelaide from Carlton was Dixon. He had a game-high 10 score involvements, had eight shots at goal for admittedly only three majors, was targeted 19 times and took seven marks inside 50m, which no player has accomplished this season.
He has a presence. Opponents want to know where he is and so do fans. He is Baz reincarnated — without the flailing fists but with the same attitude.
2 WEID GETS DEES SMOKING
When he competes like he did on Sunday — and he kicked three goals — you have to wonder why Melbourne’s Sam Weideman wasn’t a starter from Round 1.
Coach Simon Goodwin would know more than us on that front. But Weideman and top draft pick Luke Jackson gave the Demons a new-look forward-line.
They’re young and exciting and fly for everything. Bayley Fritsch looked to play a little higher, Kysaiah Pickett was buzzing, Harley Bennell was looming, Jake Melksham kicked goals, and a resting Christian Petracca meant the Demons attack was finally threatening.
Petracca is top shelf, a real sight with the ball. It looks like Goodwin has found answers to all those questions asked in the past 18 months.
3 LIONS BEAT GRID-LACH
A sign the Brisbane Lions are becoming a better team than in 2019 can be assessed by the Lachie Neale-Matt de Boer match-up.
In the 2019 semi-final at the Gabba, De Boer clamped on Neale and the Lions couldn’t find a way through.
On Saturday at Giants Stadium, De Boer again nullified Neale when playing on him, yet the Lions controlled most of this game.
Might say as much about Neale helping teammates at stoppages as it does about his teammates, but this is a better Brisbane team all the same.
Everyone played their roles, not least Jarryd Lyons. He is an unassuming star in a star-laden team.
He is averaging 51.4 pressure points, five tackles and 4.3 inside-50s per match — each of those categories No 1 at the club — and is No 2 for disposals, contested possessions and clearances.
4 ENGLISH LESSON
Tim English’s performance against Essendon ranks as the best of his career and most observers thought him best afield on Friday night.
The outlier was none other than Leigh Matthews, the greatest player of the 20th century and owner of the most practical mind in the game.
Lethal’s votes on 3AW were: 5: Jack Macrae. 4: Tim English. 3: Marcus Bontempelli. 2: Adam Saad. 1: Mitch Wallis.
Footy is a matter of opinion and Lethal’s opinion carries more weight than most.
But we can disagree. If English doesn’t get maximum votes from the umpires and coaches, he never will.
5 BOLTON FROM THE BLUE
Shai Bolton found a spot as a small forward in 2019 and, due to injury and opportunity, has found himself in the Richmond midfield in 2020.
He was always a smooth player as a forward, but has found the substance required in the midfield, so much so that coach Damien Hardwick has no hesitation putting him in traffic.
Against North Melbourne he was the No 1 centre square player. He was in for the bounce 14 times, and the next best were Dustin Martin (12), Marlion Pickett (12), Jack Graham (nine) and Kane Lambert (four).
Who would have thought Bolton and fourth-gamer Derek Eggmolesse-Smith would be Richmond’s best players in a game this year? That’s depth.
6 MAGPIE LEFT-FOOTERS
The back flankers — are they still called that? — Brayden Maynard and Jack Crisp are two weapons out of defence.
Yes, Darcy Moore is flying, Jordan Roughead is stopping goals and the kids Isaac Quaynor and Atu Bosenavulagi are promising.
But Maynard and Crisp are propelling this side. Everyone is on Moore’s All-Australian bandwagon but Maynard’s wagon is filling up, too.
Defence is about stopping and attacking. Maynard’s an animal in the contest, which we love, and important with the ball. His kicking efficiency this season is 82 per cent, which has him second of the top-75 ball winners across the competition. On Thursday, Crisp’s 12 kicks went at 92 per cent. He is ranked fourth.
7 RIGHT ON BRANDON
Always thought Brandon Ellis was a good player in a great team at Richmond, which can mask deficiencies.
At the Suns he’s a very good and infectious player in a growing team, and for that he deserves kudos.
Playing on a wing his offence-defence is balanced. While everyone is salivating about Izak Rankine, Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson, Jack Lukosius, Jack Bowes and Lachie Weller, veterans Ellis, Touk Miller and Hugh Greenwood are heavy lifting.
Ellis had a season-high 567m gained against the Swans That’s not a surprise.
The fact he had a team-high four intercept marks and six intercept possessions tell us Ellis is working his bum off defensively.
8 COURAGE BEYOND THE CALL
Carlton’s budding star Sam Walsh, who many believe is a running linkman, ran 20m with the flight of the ball and escaped injury despite a pack of Port Adelaide players coming the other way.
It was staggeringly courageous.
And North Melbourne’s Kyron Hayden’s similar effort was maximum gutsy.
He was unlucky — flushed by Richmond’s Tom Lynch. Often it is about luck.
It’s little consolation for Hayden, but he was clapped as he was carried off. If you are so determined to win the ball that you get yourself knocked out, you deserve respect.
9 FLAG SHORTENERS
The Eagles at home are a different beast and if we’ve forgotten that then last night was a reminder. They like to play mark-kick-surge football and that returned against the Dockers last night. We got another reminder. 1) Josh Kennedy (four goals) is the best non-preferred hook kick of any key forwards. 2) Tim Kelly will carve Optus Stadium. 3) The booing of Andrew Gaff was nice to hear. 4) Let’s hope Fremantle’s Michael Frederick is given arun of games because he is an exciting prospect. 5) The Eagles kept the Dockers to one goal in three quarters, so, yeah, what price are they again for the flag?
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