The Tackle: Mark Robinson names his likes and dislikes from Round 9

Essendon lost a $650,000 player in Adam Saad to Carlton but picked up another half-back for half the price — and he’s one of the recruits of the year. Likes and dislikes.

Shaun Higgins of the Cats is tackled by Dougal Howard of the Saints.

The AFL’s biggest rule change for 2021 — forcing the man on the mark to “stand” — has been accepted and embraced by most fans.

But an apparent interpretation change on holding the ball in Round 9 has fans, coaches, players — and chief footy writer Mark Robinson — asking for answers.

Meanwhile, Collingwood and Nathan Buckley — and Eddie McGuire — are back in the dislikes, along with Carlton and the Hawks.

On the positive side, the Demons are humming, the Tigers have found another midfielder, and is an unheralded Bomber the recruit of the year?

See all Robbo’s likes and dislikes below.

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Holding the ball? Not this week.

DISLIKES

1. IF YOU DON’T MIND, UMPIRE

The fans feel they lost their game this weekend as they battled to comprehend the clear interpretation change in incorrect disposal. The aim from the AFL/umpires was to keep the ball moving, but the outcome was infuriating for fans, players and coaches. We’re all for protection and encouragement of the ball winner, but not to the point where the balance between offence and defence/tackling is out of whack. St Kilda coach Brett Ratten was dumbfounded on Friday night and he was not alone. Players drop and throw the ball and too often it’s called play on. And it’s a sad look when players stop expecting the whistle to be blown and it’s not, which happened on Sunday at the MCG. This weekend, 1162 tackles were made and 79 holding-the-ball free kicks were paid. There were also nine frees paid for throwing. There seemed to be shift in interpretation. The percentage of tackles resulting in holding the ball and/or throw was the second-lowest of any round this season. It was blown out by a healthy 21 frees paid in the Melbourne-Carlton game. There were five paid on Friday night and four yesterday in the Essendon-Fremantle game.

St Kilda laid 87 tackles on Friday night and won three free kicks for holding the ball.

2.BROKEN RECORD AT THE BLUES

One day the defence will come together, but it didn’t happen on Sunday. Melbourne had 52 entries for 29 scores and Carlton 53 entries for 18 scores. They can’t stop the opposition from scoring and they couldn’t scare the opposition on Sunday. Simply, Melbourne defends better than any other team in the competition and Carlton can’t defend at a level which is September worthy. The Blues’ opponents in their losses this year have scored 105, 106, 96, 103, 107 and 94. It’s an average of 102. In contrast, ladder-leading Melbourne is conceding 63 points a game. That’s a seven-goal gap. Blues coach David Teague can continue to be the most optimistic coach in the AFL, but the fact is his team is 3-6 alongside Essendon, Gold Coast and Adelaide, three clubs in the early days of a rebuild. What’s Carlton’s excuse?

3. NOT GOOD ENOUGH, NATHAN

Highlighting a deficiency in Nathan Fyfe’s game is not the norm, but enough is enough. The champ had 16 kicks on Sunday at Marvel Stadium at a woeful 38 per cent efficiency. Another behind, this one from a set shot in the third quarter from 35m on a 45-degree angle, took his season tally to two goals from 21 shots. Don’t worry about it hurting his legacy as a footballer, that won’t happen, but right now he’s hurting his team badly. Overall, his kicking this season is at 55 per cent which is his lowest percentage since 2013. He does so much right — he’s involved in nine scores a week, which is No.1 in the AFL — but even the greats are flawed.

Goalkicking is doing Nat Fyfe’s head in.

4. JORDAN DE GOEY BASHING

It’s odd behaviour but hardly worth the AFL’s respect and responsibility team stepping in and flexing its PC muscle. The “incident” was pre-game where the energy and anticipation levels are far more heightened than the couch surfer who has a resting heart rate of 80. And because it was Bad Boy De Goey, the criticism is strong from those who want to be offended. Isaac Quaynor didn’t bat an eyelid as he focused on coach Nathan Buckley. Nor should the AFL. Put out a press release about proper behaviour and all that, but let’s keep it real.

5. TICK. TICK. TICK

It appears the ticket to challenge the Collingwood board is about to get real, which means the Pies have the perfect storm: Drama off field and problems on field. Where does that leave Nathan Buckley? It seems practical that if Jeff Browne is to be the new president, he and his new board get to decide on Buckley’s future and not inherit a decision. It’s curious that former president Eddie McGuire, who is great friends with Browne, is refusing to comment when he’s asked about the off-field goings on at the club. Hazard a guess Ed would be all for Browne’s appointment. More curious is Ed’s position on the senior coach. Would he suggest to Browne that Buckley deserves another contract, or has sitting next to Ross Lyon every Wednesday night for the past 18 months made him think Lyon would be an ideal replacement?

In the meantime, Buckley has his team scrapping again, but one goal in three quarters in a low-scoring game continues to highlight the breakdown forward of centre. The cheque book for Melbourne’s Sam Weideman surely is coming.

6. AL CLARKSON HEADLINES WON’T DISAPPEAR

Yes, it was a disappointing loss in Tasmania and it will likely continue the theme about where Clarkson will be in 2022. He’s been named by some observers as a possible replacement for Nathan Buckley if Buckley gets the flick, but not sure that speculation is fair on Clarkson or Buckley. Clarkson stressed on AFL 360 a month ago that history shows he’s loyal to Hawthorn and with a contract until the end of 2022, then surely we take Clarkson on face value. Unless the Hawks want to punt Clarkson — which is idiotic thinking — then Clarkson will be at Hawthorn next year, and probably for a few years after that.

Ben McEvoy is finding it tough going as Hawthorn captain.

7. HAWTHORN’S MIDFIELD WAS A MESS

Luke Davies-Uniacke, Jy Simpkin and Ben Cunnington had a combined 37 clearances and the Hawks had 29 in total. Jaeger O’Meara was largely head-to-head with Simpkin, and Simpkin had a career game. Tom Mitchell had 28 possession (three contested) and two clearances and James Worpel 16 and four clearances. Collectively, they would be disappointed. Worrying is the form of skipper Ben McEvoy. He was beaten by Todd Goldstein, which can happen, but it continues a run of below par performances. In fact, 31-year-old McEvoy has recorded his fewest ranking points since 2016. The Hawks this year are ranked 18th for centre-square clearance differential and 18th for overall clearance differential. North Melbourne is 17th for overall clearance and, alarmingly, pulled the Hawks’ pants down.

8. WHERE ARE YOU, CONNOR ROZEE?

The Port Adelaide playmaker has to find his groove. He missed Rounds 1 and 2 and has played every game since and been under 55 SuperCoach points in four of his seven games. And only kicked six goals. He’s a high half-forward and not impacting in the manner which saw him finish second in the Rising Star Award to Carlton’s Sam Walsh in 2019. He averages 16 disposals and a goal and is only average at stoppages and delivering pressure. They are OK numbers, but he should be better than an OK player.

Port Adelaide needs more from Connor Rozee.

9. GOLD COAST WOES

That was appalling and leaves you wondering where exactly the Suns are. They were supposed to be far better than what they delivered in the Q Clash — why don’t we call it the sexier QLash? — and the review will be frightening. No matter the circumstances since their inception, their three coaches — Guy McKenna, Rodney Eade and Stuart Dew — haven’t been able to nail consistency. McKenna has the best of the bad records. He coached 88 games for a 24-64 record and was 10-12 win-loss in his final year. Eade was 16 wins, 46 losses and a draw in his three years. And Dew is 15 wins, a draw and 54 losses. It’s got to turn, surely.

LIKES

1. ALL-AUSTRALIAN DEMONS

Tom McDonald will headline mid-year All-Australians teams which will pour into the public over the coming fortnight. The resurgent McDonald once again was a standout for the Demons on Sunday, confirming he’s all-tracker in performance this year. His SuperCoach points per game have been 94, 91, 50, 89, 136, 109, 63 (as a defender), 94 and on Sunday 134. For a key forward he is No.2 behind Adelaide’s Taylor Walker. The Demons could have Oliver, Petracca, May, Lever, Kozzie, Salem and probably Max Gawn in contention for half-yearly teams, which is a quiet reward for the 9-0 Demons.

Tom McDonald is in All-Australian form.

2. HIND QUARTERS

Out went Adam Saad on, say $650,000, and in came Nick Hind on, say, $300,000, and clearly Essendon is happy with the outcome. Certainly, Bombers list boss Adrian Dodoro’s 2020 off-season continues to shine. Fox Footy’s Leigh Montagna put Hind v Saad on the agenda two weeks ago and it remains a talking point. On Sunday, Hind once again showed he is one of the recruits of the season with a 31-disposal effort off half-back. He’s as energetic as Saad, but better by foot and his 24 kicks went at 79 per cent efficiency. He won’t get BOG for his game on Michael Walters (13 touches, one goal), that will and should go to the surging Darcy Parish.

3. CHURN IS KING AT THE DOGS

Luke Beveridge has a deep squad and he has no fears about using it. On Saturday night, he played small forward Cody Weightman in his first match this year and fourth in his career. Against Port. Away. Again, no fears. The first-round draftee kicked three goals including two in the jump-start first quarter. The small forward position is Bevo’s kingdom of swing. This season he started with Mitch Wallis and has/is playing Jason Johannisen, Mitch Hannan, Lachie McNeil, Anthony Scott, Rhylee West, Laitham Vandermeer and, before he was injured, Lachie Hunter. Weightman would be stiff to lose his spot this week. He kicked goals and applied high pressure and that’s all you can ask of a small forward. Now the question is: Can he keep it?

Cody Weightman repaid the faith of coach Luke Beveridge.

4. LIAM BAKER

He’s becoming the most versatile small at Punt Rd. Drafted as a mid-forward, he won two flags at half-back, this season was moved to half-forward/wing and on Saturday night started in the centre square. It’s one thing to play fill-in midfielder, it’s another to impose yourself in a desperate last quarter. Dusty will get the votes, but this bloke should be next. His last quarter delivered 11 disposals, four clearances, 25 pressure points, which is top shelf in a final quarter, and four inside-50s. It helped gather a career-high 130 SuperCoach points. It was an incredible individual display in a depleted Richmond team. His standout abilities include finding the ball, delivering the ball and mostly always keeping his feet. Coach Damien Hardwick was forced to use Baker in the midfield against the Giants and it’s a move he can now put in his back pocket for another rainy day.

Liam Baker wraps up Callan Ward. Picture: Michael Klein

5. A WEEK IS A LONG TIME IN FOOTBALL

Last week Jy Simpkin was in the dislikes, not because he was playing poorly, but because he hadn’t taken the steps forward this season as was expected. Basically, his numbers went backwards compared to last season. On Saturday, he was outstanding and underpinned why many at North Melbourne believe he is the club’s next captain. He had career-highs in almost every facet of the game and, in the post-match, a smile which lit up the TV screens. The scenes at Hobart are why we love footy. The Kangaroos’ first win came after they were five goals down and came on the back of some special individual performances. One of them was by Aaron Hall. His past three games have produced 33, 37 and 28 disposals and improved defence. Not bad from a player who was considered a list clogger less than 12 months ago.

6. DANIEL McSTAY

He is the Daniel Bradshaw to Jonathan Brown and Alastair Lynch, the third tall forward at the Lions who is crucial to the set up but who doesn’t get the blazing headlines. McStay is the stay-at-home key forward while Joe Daniher and Eric Hipwood get on their bikes. He’s tough, he takes pack marks and on Saturday night kicked four goals. He’s the size and shape of Steven May, and a left-footer, but plays at the other end, and I reckon he’s a bigger aerial threat than his two teammates. It means opposition defences will always be stretched when playing the Lions and if McStay can continue to get the third defender, his marking prowess is a definite weapon. His 125 SuperCoach points against the Suns were a career-high.

7. BRAD CLOSE

Has been a “maybe’’ in the Geelong line-up and when everyone is available, might still give up his spot. But he’s making it difficult for Chris Scott to dump him this season. Playing at half-forward, he’s found a spot amid the inclusion of big-name recruits and will likely end up vying for a position with the likes of Quinton Narkle and Jordan Clark. Still, he’s in now. He played eight games last year and six this year and of those six games, he’s kicked at least a goal in five games. Gryan Miers will return, but if Close continues to hit the scoreboard and apply pressure, the rare player who wears the long sleeves has job security.

Brad Close is bringing joy to long sleeve lovers everywhere. Picture: Michael Klein

8. IS McLEAN MORE VALUABLE THAN BUDDY?

As we all contemplate whether Lance Franklin’s legs have left him, the Swans have found another tall forward in Hayden McLean. The arrival of ruckman Tom Hickey has meant McLean has played more as a permanent forward and is doing exactly what John Longmire needs of him: Taking marks and kicking goals. He’s 22 and played 16 games and in the past four games has kicked seven goals. Against the Pies, he took nine marks and six of them were contested, which is different to how Buddy goes about it. Of course, Franklin is 34 and a future Hall of Fame legend and McLean is a rookie of sorts, but together with Isaac Heeney, they offer the Swans an array of options forward.