The Tackle: Jay Clark’s likes and dislikes from round 16
They were the comeback kings in 2023, winning the premiership in frenetic fashion. Jay Clark writes, this year’s Collingwood presents a different challenge. One that should frighten the AFL.
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They didn’t do it in comprehensive fashion, but the Pies’ win on Saturday night puts them 10 points clear at the top — and even further away from the chasing pack on the field.
Jay Clark gives his likes and dislikes from round 16.
LIKES
1. PRIMED PIES
Collingwood won the premiership in 2023 as the comeback kings.
Masters of the final few minutes, Craig McRae’s men repeatedly chased down the opposition with clutch goals in tense finishes two years ago.
And in the back half of the year, it was a magic carpet ride to a flag which few saw coming.
But as the club aims for its second flag in three years, this season represents a much different challenge as the Magpies have gone from the hunters to the hunted, and now stand out as the team to beat in 2025.
Even with stars Jordy De Goey, Brayden Maynard and Bobby Hill to come back in to the side, they sit 10 points clear atop the ladder with eight games to go.
And on Friday night against arch rival Carlton, emotions will be high for the opposition as the under-siege Blues try and pull off an upset win to extinguish the intense pressure on the club and its coach Michael Voss.
A belting could stick a knife through the Blues.
On Saturday night against West Coast, Collingwood was its own worst enemy early with some overuse and unnecessarily risky corridor ball use which played into the Eagles’ hands, resulting in an early scare.
Collingwood powered ahead in the second half as superstar midfielder Nick Daicos put together his second-consecutive three-vote game to propel him forward in the Brownlow Medal race, his brother Josh owned the ball from the back half and Scott Pendlebury showed why he is certain to play on next season.
Brent Harvey’s all-times games record looks set to be broken next year by the man who appears to be going as well as he ever has in the past few campaigns.
But broadly-speaking for Collingwood, the early overuse which gave the young Eagles their chance in the first half would have reaffirmed what the Magpies already know as some of the safest ball users in the competition.
What Collingwood do better than anyone in the AFL is exit the ball wide out of the back 50m to avoid the sort of risky turnovers at the defensive end which allow the opposition to score.
They protect the Sherrin like it’s a leather Gucci bag, ranking third in the league for boundary ball use out of the defensive 50m.
It is, in part, what helps make them the best defensive team in the competition, and a correction from last year when the Magpies were more aggressive and risky up the middle at times.
It made way for a much more protective method in 2025 which limits the scores off turnover and easy giveaways.
Subsequently, Collingwood has conceded the least points in the game. If defence wins flags as they say, Collingwood is sitting pretty.
And in the attacking part of the midfield is where McRae’s ‘Fly Trap’ is in full force as the Pies are ranked number one for scores from intercepts in the attacking mid zone, according to Champion Data.
When they rip the ball off the opposition in the front half, they hammer the scoreboard, averaging 25 points a game from this source. So there is balance in their game.
And that is without De Goey so far this year.
While the critics knocked the Magpies for their age profile in pre-season after trading their first-round pick for Dan Houston, the team went to work on their ball movement over summer.
And putting Saturday night’s patchy win over West Coast aside, this year is clearly the best Collingwood has played under coach McRae in his fourth season in charge.
And what the club’s plays for Matt Rowell and Marcus Bontempelli show is that they aren’t done topping up with more mature-age talent in this list build for next year.
The run home includes six of their final eight games in Melbourne.
Once their top-two spot is secure, which locks in an MCG first final and double chance, they will be able to rest the star veterans and manage their preparations for finals as well as possible.
If they were always racing and conquering the clock in 2023, this year they are the ‘Prime Pies’.
2. DOCKERS’ MATURITY
It might have been the biggest crossroad of Fremantle’s season.
The Dockers were staring down the barrel of a second-straight loss to a plucky St Kilda in the west at three quarter time when the midfield turnaround and Luke Jackson’s heroics began.
Had they gone down, it would have been a week of intense scrutiny on the coach, Justin Longmuir.
But in a sign of maturity, the Dockers responded and the onball leaders Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw were the ones who ignited the fourth-term fire after losing the clearance battle early.
It is hard to trust, Fremantle, but they continue to get the job done.
And the Jackson screamer over Callum Wilkie with 30 seconds left shows how much this man is not only justifying the Dockers’ faith, but also why he has become a genuine star of the league.
Jordan Clark said in the post-match interview it has been a tough week personally for Jackson, but if he’s going to do that in the forward half, the two-ruck strategy will be a keeper.
St Kilda was brave with a younger side and the signs in the air from Alix Tauru in defence were incredibly encouraging.
He might not be seen in the VFL again.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was brilliant again, Hugo Garcia had one of his best games in close, and Max Hall showed his toughness.
It was another loss but going down with an encouraging younger team is better than being done with an older one.
3. CURTIN CALL
When West Coast was circling Harley Reid at pick number one there was another local the Eagles were weighing up.
While Daniel Curtin eventually slid to Adelaide at pick number eight, there were rave reviews about his ball use.
He was the defender who could hit passes like star Bulldog Marcus Bontempelli.
And in the third quarter against Richmond, when he was hemmed in on the boundary line, Curtin pulled out the kind of left-foot bullet which recruiters were raving about in his draft class.
The flat pass hit up defender Max Michalanney as Adelaide piled on the pain in the second half.
The swingman Curtin is booming in his second year, racking up 26 touches to help torch the Tigers by 72 points at the MCG.
And Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks also unveiled a new strategic trick, playing Michalanney as a defensive forward to help curb the influence of Nick Vlastuin.
Vlastuin had 15 touches but this was a big win for the Crows.
4. JACK HIGH
The coffee with Oscar Allen which caused such a storm might have been a Hawthorn misstep.
When Hawks’ coach Sam Mitchell caught up with the Eagles’ skipper the club clearly had an interest in the key forward who now looks bound for Brisbane.
But it might have been the wrong rein from the get go.
Hawthorn has more options in attack than it can fit into the forward half as it is, as Mitchell now weighs up how and where he can squeeze in Mitch Lewis and Calsher Dear in the run home.
Lewis made his return from the VFL snagging two goals for Box Hill on Saturday and Dear looked ultra promising in a Logan Morris kind of a way in his first AFL season bagging 25 goals in 2024.
In their absence earlier this season, the Hawks may have been the land of the small forwards in the first half of the year, but Mitchell now has options and big men coming off big bags.
Jack Gunston hasn’t attracted headlines as one of the trades of last year, and his one season at Brisbane didn’t exactly go to plan.
But arguably at age 33 he’s one of the most important players at Hawthorn behind Jai Newcombe and Will Day when he returns to help sharpen up that delivery even more.
Gunston’s seven-goal haul against the Kangaroos puts him within striking distance of a career-best year with 35 majors for the season and a chance to eclipse his best ever mark of 58 in 2014.
How Mitchell manages Lewis off an ACL and Calsher Dear (back stress fracture) alongside Mabior Chol and Gunston will be one of the most fascinating coach’s calls of the run.
Gunston has wound back the clock to put the Hawks back in premiership contention some 10 years after he last won a flag at Hawthorn in 2015.
But in any case Allen is probably surplus to requirements as the Hawks target West Coast’s Harley Reid instead.
DISLIKES
1. NO MORE FLOPS, NORTH
It might be North Melbourne’s biggest game under Alastair Clarkson.
The club asked for a big stage and national spotlight to celebrate its 100-year anniversary on Thursday night against Western Bulldogs and will rightly celebrate the club’s proud history and its cavalcade of champions.
Wayne Carey will be there on the ground as one of the AFL’s top few players of the past 40 years.
But for all the talk about who is invited into what room and how good the buffet will be in the president’s function for the 1975 premiership team, it’s what happens in the three hours afterwards on the ground that will be most important for the club.
In the past couple of years, the Kangas have flopped on the big stage in Good Friday games in blowout losses to Carlton and this year’s 82-point loss to the Blues earlier in the season was horrendous after a week razzing up for the occasion.
So against the Bulldogs, and their superstar midfield, the Roos need to honour the occasion with a spirited and competitive performance that makes the club’s past greats and faithful fan base proud after a terrible loss to Hawthorn in Launceston.
The worry is the Roos’ midfield was belted by Jai Newcombe and Connor Nash and Co and the task only becomes more difficult against Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore, Ed Richards, Matthew Kennedy and the ‘Baby Bont’, Joel Freijah.
And the Roos will have to do it without George Wardlaw who is out with another concussion after ploughing into Nash’s shoulder on Saturday.
Wardlaw’s family would find it hard to watch his bull-at-a-gate approach in the clinches knowing how desperate and selfless he is in his pursuits for the Sherrin.
Because a man who could be one of the top on-ballers in the competition will risk having his career cut short if there are more head knocks and the one on Saturday looked more innocuous, if not very precautionary.
The doctors don’t take risks and Wardlaw’s wellbeing will come first as it should.
It’s hard to change a game which is so hard-at-it and instinctive as Wardlaw’s.
But if there are times when he has the chance to protect his head a little, everyone would welcome a more conservative approach from him – if at all even possible – in tight spaces.
Hopefully, there is a brilliant career ahead for the hard nut, even if his form has wavered at times this year.
2. PRAYERS FOR PARISH
Brad Scott must be the most frustrated man in footy.
The soft tissue problems have hampered the Bombers for years have become a full-scale problem which will lead to a review of the high performance department at season’s end.
On Saturday, three more issues for Darcy Parish (calf), Kyle Langford (quad) and Mason Redman (hamstring) had not only the coaching staff, but the fan base pulling their hair out over the latest blows.
Parish is the one who may consider serious change.
He has been unable to get his body right in recent years and if the Bombers can’t help keep him out on the park then he may look at his options for a move at season’s end.
The man who polled 26 Brownlow Medal votes in 2021 has played only 15 games in the past two years and only three matches this season.
As the Bombers weigh up what to do with Sam Draper’s contract, there remains the very real prospect the ruckman could join either Adelaide or Brisbane Lions in exchange for a first-round compensation draft pick.
Essendon already has two first-rounders this year and adding another for Draper’s exit would help the Bombers plan for the future with another early choice, albeit in a weak draft.
But where does that leave Parish who turns 28 next month?
He will appeal to other clubs on the trade table even though he remains contracted to Essendon to 2029 after signing a six-year extension.
Is his body broken down, or is he in need of a fresh approach?
It will intrigue rival clubs who are sure to ask the question if his and the club’s frustrations continue for the rest of the season after the latest complaint.
3. DEE NO-SHOW
Melbourne attempted to pass the baton a little in the centre square and it backfired.
First-year hard nut Harvey Langford was given early time in the guts against Gold Coast, but that was when Suns annihilated them.
So as much as there is frustration with the same-old Melbourne dump kicks forward, and the regular rotations, the Langford shift didn’t gain the results they were after early.
The first-quarter performance from Melbourne was one of their worst efforts of the season and consigned them to a fourth-straight loss.
And while the complete no-show would have come as a surprise, the Demons were more competitive after the first change, but by then the game was over.
Against Adelaide Jacob van Rooyen looms as a likely replacement for Harrison Petty and Jake Lever could step in for Blake Howes.
Originally published as The Tackle: Jay Clark’s likes and dislikes from round 16
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