The Tackle: Mark Robinson gives his likes and dislikes after a huge Round 9

Angus Brayshaw was the boom Demon in the second half of last season as Melbourne made it all the way to the preliminary final. This year, he is languishing with his club. SEE ALL ROBBO’S LIKES AND DISLIKES

Five minutes into Richmond’s clash with Hawthorn was all it took. You could feel it and you could see it.

Dustin Martin was back to his Brownlow Medal winning best. But he wasn’t the only Tiger to impress.

Meanwhile, it was a case of, ‘Oh no. Not again, Carlton’.

After a massive weekend, see all Robbo’s likes and dislikes.

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WHAT I LIKE

1 CHAMP AND THE KID

You could tell five minutes into Sunday’s game that Dustin Martin was playing with a hunger we haven’t seen this year.

He hunted the ball instead of waiting for it to be given to him and his 37 possessions, 10 clearances and two goals were the Brownlow medallist at his best.

While Tigers fans will be delighted with that output, they would also be salivating at what young Noah Balta can deliver with Toby Nankervis on the sidelines.

Balta played ruck/forward against the Hawks and is an X-factor.

If Sunday proved anything, it was that Balta had played himself into the Tigers’ best team. Now, where is his best position? I like him in the ruck.

Dustin Martin was on fire at the MCG against the Hawks. Picture: Michael Klein

2 EFFICIENT CATS

It seems that every week Geelong plays, we highlight an area of its game that is elite.

The Cats’ back six, their forward six, their youth in the middle, the use of the veterans such as Joel Selwood and Gary Ablett, their forward pressure — all have been headlines.

Against the Bulldogs, which was a hell of a game for three quarters, the Cats outscored the Dogs 56-16 from forward-half intercepts.

But that wasn’t the standout.

The Cats had a kicking efficiency of 82.1 per cent in moist conditions, which was the highest percentage by a team since 2008.

At Round 9, nothing is guaranteed in regards to September, but it’s difficult at this point of the season to find an obvious issue with their performances.

3 KENNY’S CRECHE

In the national competition, and outside of Greater Western Sydney and Gold Coast in their first seasons, Port Adelaide must have been close to fielding the most players in one side to have played fewer than 10 games.

It had eight players in that category — Jarrod Lienert (nine), Connor Rozee and Xavier Duursma (eight), Zak Butters (seven), Kane Farrell (six), Joe Atley (three), Billy Frampton (one) and Joel Garner. And it still won.

This is a rebuild on the run from Ken Hinkley and after nine rounds Port is 5-4. It has been a superb season to date considering its injury nightmare.

Ken Hinkley congratulates Billy Frampton after Port Adelaide’s win. Picture: Sarah Reed

4 GEORGEY BOY

The field for the most improved player is wide, but Sydney’s George Hewett just might be top of the pops.

He has become the James Harmes of 2019 — a ball-winning tagger. Hewett averaged 18.7 disposals in both 2017 and 2018, and in the past five weeks, since being moved to the midfield, he is averaging 26.5.

In those five weeks, he has won more disposals than his main opponents — Dustin Martin, Stephen Coniglio, Lachie Neale, Dylan Shiel and Ben Cunnington.

Against Neale, he won 25 disposals to Neale’s 14. Against Cunnington on Saturday night, it was 23 to Cunnington’s 15. He was pivotal in the Swans’ victory.

5 ADAM TRELOAR

The Magpie midfielder has become the short-possession king and the between-the-arcs specialist.

Once renowned for being a run-and-carry midfielder, Treloar is now killing the opposition with a thousand cuts — not dissimilar to how Tom Rockliff plays his best football.

Treloar runs at contests for the short receive handball or short kick and then distributes to available teammates.

He’s never tagged, allowing him to roam wherever he likes. You could ask how influential his disposals are, but the thing to remember is when he has the ball the opposition doesn’t.

The Pies would probably like him to kick the ball more often, but they would be mindful he starts plenty of forward chains.

Maybe opposition clubs should be as mindful. He is ranked No. 1 for disposals between the arcs with an average of 27.4. The next best is Shaun Higgins (26.3). No. 3 is Clayton Oliver (25.9). No. 4 is Rockliff (25.6) and No. 5 is Andrew Gaff (25.6).

Adam Treloar continues to impress for Collingwood. Picture: AFL Photos

6 SHANNON HURN

If the All-Australian selectors are hellbent on legacy to help choose their captain, as they were last year with Lance Franklin, then Hurn is well placed to receive the honour this season.

He has to remain injury free and keep his form, of course. But if there’s one West Coast Eagle who hasn’t dropped his output from last year, it is the captain.

And don’t question legacy. He’s 31, played 257 games and still clocking up best-on-grounds.

No one decries Buddy’s night of recognition last year, but that said, Hurn was in the team and was captain of the premiership team.

Shannon Hurn was everywhere against the Demons. Picture: Getty Images

7 BRISBANE’S PRESSURE

Amid the glitz of youth at Brisbane, there’s a growing backbone based on pressure, which underpins all the good sides. The Lions will be fourth on the ladder after nine rounds and if Eric Hipwood could kick straight and Cam Rayner could find some ball, they could be better placed.

The Lions are a formidable pressure team. They have laid 64 forward-50 tackles in the past three weeks, the most by a team over a three-week stretch since 2017.

Their pressure rating has been more than 190 in each of their past four matches and the only team to string five in a row since 2013 was Richmond during the 2017 finals series.

That’s a huge tick. Not a tick is Rayner. Just three touches to follow his eight the previous week has the 2017 No. 1 draft pick in a terrible slump.

8 TOM STEWART AND FLYIN’ RYAN

Scores are down, but the speccy is alive and well.

Liam Ryan is a freak and his workrate in the lead-up to Friday night’s hanger added to the brilliance of his effort. It is the mark of the year to date.

Stewart’s grab was vintage.

He had the sit, jumped, knees high in the back and two hands in front of the eyes.

Stewart is special in his own way and is becoming more like Matthew Scarlett with every season. He’s a terrific one-on-one defender but isn’t as big an interceptor as most observers would think.

This year he’s playing more as a distributor, which was how Scarlett plied his craft.

Liam Ryan’s mark was a stunner. Picture: AAP Images

9 HONESTY

Not that you have to agree with it. The Bombers eked out a close win against Fremantle — and congrats for sitting through two hours of mundane football to watch the end of the game — and Zach Merrett was among the better players according to most media judges. Not so, for 3AW’s Scott Cummings.

The Humpday podcast roustabout said: “I’d go close to dropping Zach Merrett. If the ball’s not given to him, he’s not getting it.”

Merrett had 35 disposals, 13 contested possessions and a game-high eight score involvements. He’s had 35, 28, 29, 30, 39 and 35 in his past six matches and while a tag can shut him down at times, you suspect coach John Worsfold will persevere.

DISLIKES

1 OH NO, NOT AGAIN

Carlton fell in the swamp two weeks ago against North Melbourne, climbed out to push Collingwood and fell back in the swamp against GWS.

So much for Patrick Cripps saying the Blues would not be so uncompetitive again.

It was 87-13 at halftime, 38-12 for inside-50s and they had 100 fewer disposal.

We said it after the North game, and we’ll say it again. These type of dispirited performances focus the spotlight on coach Brendon Bolton and the Carlton powerbrokers.

True, it’s acceptable to be beaten by the Giants, but not like this.

Can this really continue without repercussion?

2 NATHAN VARDY

Just no. The big man won plenty of friends for his efforts in the final series last year, but lost some for his pathetic sledge of Max Gawn on Friday night.

Gawn’s only crime was to be a step ladder for Liam Ryan.

It’s not a major issue but, boy, it was a terrible look for a player who was well beaten on the night.

You know it’s bad when commentator Bruce McAvaney says he “hated it’’ because Bruce doesn’t hate anything in footy.

"I hated Nathan Vardy doing that. Gawn has turned him inside out all night. He has destroyed him!"

- Bruce McAvaney pic.twitter.com/Ivz4dgkYEl

— 7AFL (@7AFL) May 17, 2019

3 DISAPPEARING SAINT

Alan Richardson returns to AFL360 on Monday night and we’ll find out pretty quickly if his anger has subsided.

The second quarter against the Pies was both exhilarating and mind-numbing.

The Saints dominated play, but let their winning chances nosedive with missed shots on goal.

The culprits were Josh Bruce twice, Robbie Young, Dean Kent, Seb Ross and Shane Savage.

Why Bruce tried to kick around the corner from 30m in front would have blown Richo’s head apart.

The “fittest team in the AFL’’ ran out of legs and talent in the final quarter, and one of the culprits there was Jack Billings.

He had 19 disposals in the first half and was close to best afield — and 11 in the second half. His kicking efficiency fell from 91 per cent to 43 per cent.

The Saints fell apart against the Magpies. Picture: AAP Images

4 ANGUS BRAYSHAW

It’s more by the eye than by the numbers with Brayshaw.

He has been moved to the wing in the past four weeks, so the numbers are down.

But it seems the Demon’s impact has dropped significantly from his whirlwind second half of last season.

He is naturally laconic, but there does appear to be a lack of urgency about him this year. His tackles are down from an average of five last year to 2.5 and score involvements from 6.9 to 4.2.

I might be picky, but he’s a long way off the influence that attracted so much attention from the umpires last year.

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Angus Brayshaw is not the player he was in the seconed half of last season. Picture: Michael Klein

5 WAYNE CAREY WAS WRONG

Hawthorn isn’t boring compared to Fremantle because boring and winning sure as hell beats boring and losing.

Ross Lyon’s DNA is defence footy and during the past three weeks his team is averaging 57 points. In the same time the Dockers’ opposition is averaging only 74 points — and the opposition has won all three games.

It might have been a different result against the Bombers if Bradley Hill, Brandon Matera, Jesse Hogan and Taylin Duman all kicked goals in the third quarter. Still, the overall numbers point to safe football.

In Freo’s matches, the combined score of both sides averages 146.8 points, which ranks it 17th (Gold Coast 18th), corridor use is at 23.4 per cent which ranks it 17th (Carlton 18th), mark/play-on ratio is at 23.4 per cent, which ranks it 17th (Geelong 18th) and scores per inside 50m is 39.7, which ranks it 16th (Melbourne 18th).

Ross Lyon chats to his players during the loss to Essendon. Picture: AAP Images

6 OVER TO THE MRO

It will be intriguing to see how Michael Christian assesses Luke Parker’s elbow to the head of North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell on Saturday night.

In light of the decision not to punish Gary Ablett and Nat Fyfe last week, the Swans would fully expect Parker not to have any issue.

Ziebell felt the hit, no doubt, but continued to play the game and did not leave the field.

Coming on the back of their belief that Dane Rampe was excessively fined for his umpire sledge, when others in the AFL industry escaped sanction for their verbals, the Swans will scream blue murder if Parker is suspended.

Rhys Mathieson will come under MRO scrutiny. Picture: Getty Images

7 TAKE A WEEK, RHYS MATHIESON

He wants to play tough all the time, but toughness in footy is putting your head over the ball and winning your own ball and not putting your forearm into the back of a player’s head.

Yep, it was from behind as Adelaide’s Jordan Gallucci was walking towards the huddle at the quarter-time break.

It was the kind of cowardly act that Christian shouldn’t assess as having the potential to cause injury, but the potential to cause a melee. Because the forearm didn’t decapitate Gallucci, it will likely be assessed as low impact. Still, it’s nowhere near acceptable from the Brisbane onballer.

8 THREE WRONGS DON’T MAKE IT RIGHT

The Lewis Jetta tackle on Melbourne’s Tim Smith was a shemozzle.

1) Why didn’t the umpire call a ball-up — which mostly happens when a vulnerable player such as Smith doesn’t hear the “play on’’ call and is tackled?

2) Why wasn’t a free kick paid against Jetta for a dangerous tackle when he later was charged for rough conduct and suspended for a week?

3) How could a clearly staggering Smith return to the field?

4) How could all of Australia watching the game know it was a pinned-arm, head-slammed tackle and not be right?

9 BUT DON’T JOIN PILE-ON AT THE ESSENDON GAME

Two free kicks in the last five minutes to Fremantle had Essendon fans reconstructing their Anzac Day boo-athon and left commentators flabbergasted.

The fact is you could see why the umpire paid both free kicks. Mason Redman briefly had his arm around Michael Walters’ neck and Michael Hurley took his eyes off the ball and blocked Jesse Hogan from contesting the mark.

Because Redman had the sit behind Walters and his contact was brief doesn’t mean Redman gets all the favours.