The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from Round 14
Carlton’s high-priced recruits are failing to live up to their price-tags — and the output of one of them is becoming a big issue, writes Mark Robinson.
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After a week off with a bye, the blowtorch is well and truly back on the Blues.
A review is underway and positions on and off the field are under scrutiny — and coach David Teague has to be on top of the list.
Meanwhile, Gold Coast delivered another insipid performance, Jake Stringer might have added some zeroes to his next contract and a Brownlow medallist is back.
Check out all chief football writer Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from Round 14.
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DISLIKES
1. Same, same at the Blues
The mid-season review of the Carlton football department surely will focus on coach David Teague as much as anyone else.
Efforts like we saw against the Giants on Saturday demand it.
Either Teague’s messaging and motivation is wrong, or the players are not responding to what the coach is demanding.
The team lacked edge – again. Twenty tackles to halftime, 12 players without a tackle … it’s spiritless football. And coming when the entire football program is under the spotlight.
You’d think there’d be some galvanising effect, some sort of response. Not so. The first two-and-a-half quarters were pedestrian, as lacklustre as we’ve seen from the Blues this year.
It’s expected Teague will survive and the assistants will go, but that theory might be on shaky ground. Because something’s wrong with the Blues.
Maybe the review will uncover what the problem is.
Maybe it’s the culture. Maybe the problem right now is Teague, maybe he’s not demanding enough of his players.
This review quickly has become a lightning rod for massive change and just as quickly, the coach’s position is in question.
2. Can we strip it back?
Mostly always, when struggling teams need to eke out a victory, it’s about going back to basics. The Blues didn’t even do that.
Accountability and defensive instruction surely is part of the game plan, yet the Giants took 138 marks, 120 of them uncontested. Where’s the closing down of space?
The 120 uncontested marks was their most conceded since Round 9, 2019.
As a consequence, Carlton’s pressure was poor. It was 161 when the AFL average is 180, and coming into the round they were ranked 15th for pressure.
Is Teague demanding enough of the required mindset to defend?
These are the kind of questions the review will surely ask.
3. Lack of selection integrity
It’s OK to punt Marc Murphy, who has busted his bum for 295 games, but there are bigger issues than Murphy.
Jack Martin is a more pressing concern.
The big-name and big-money recruit is treading water. He’s played round 2, 11, 12 and 14 and his ranking points are 83, 60, 61 and 48.
It’s not good enough, notwithstanding his long lay-off with injury.
From 2020 to 2021, he’s dropped 20 ranking points. Carlton’s issues are many, and one of them is its big-money recruits aren’t playing to their pay packets.
4. 400 and counting
Unlike Carlton, which looks like they’ll make Marc Murphy work for his 300 games, Hawthorn’s Shaun Burgoyne marches towards 400.
He has two to play to reach the major milestone and I’m not sure how many games he has in him after that.
Unlike the Blues and Murphy, Hawks coach Al Clarkson has found a role for his superstar veteran. Burgoyne is playing as a lock-down defender and although beaten on Sunday — he mainly played on Harrison Jones — Burgoyne is playing the on-field assistant coaches role for his younger teammates.
He’s not offering a lot offensively, but that’s not the point. In a lean year for the Hawks, Burgoyne is scheduled to play his 400th against his first club, Port Adelaide. It will be a mighty celebration.
5. Does anyone care about the Suns?
Not many, but alarm bells should be sounding at the AFL.
Everything else is surging on the Gold Coast in terms of junior participation and interest in Aussie rules, but the main game – the Suns – continues to falter.
It’s 10 years now and it’s much the same.
No one expected the Suns to defeat Port Adelaide on Saturday, but there was an expectation there would be greater competitiveness.
That was insipid.
It puts coach Stuart Dew and everyone at the club under pressure, as Dew noted in the post-match.
Against Port, their pressure rating was 170 and their post-clearance pressure was 147 – way below the AFL average.
The Suns have too many passengers and too many inconsistent performers.
The excuse is they are the youngest and least experienced team in the competition, but just nine shots at goal in 120 minutes is hardly good enough.
6. What to do with JJ?
Since being booted out of the back half, Jason Johannisen has struggled to secure a position.
He’s playing half-forward and the question is: how long will coach Luke Beveridge persevere with him?
JJ might be helping the F50 defensive structure, and only Beveridge can acknowledge that, but winning the ball is an issue.
Against the Cats, Johannisen had six disposals and kicked one goal opposed to Jed Bews and Mark O’Connor.
This year, five of his 11 games have returned single-digit disposal games. And it’s not as though he is playing as a defensive forward.
Recent match-ups include Jimmy Webster, Liam Stocker and Ryan Burton, and his pressure points on Friday night were the fifth-lowest in the team.
They don’t have too many issues, the Dogs, but that mid-sized forward role is a concern.
Laitham Vandermeer is out for another month with a knee injury, Patrick Lipinski plays midfield in the VFL and starred on Friday night, Mitch Wallis got a go against the Cats, and Josh Dunkley and Adam Treloar will return at some stage.
Not sure JJ is the answer.
LIKES
1. That’s the 750K Jake Stringer.
Indeed, if he plays like that every second week that’s the $1 million Jake Stringer.
He’s out of contract and negotiations are afoot and the issue has been, how much do you pay him? On Sunday night against the Hawks, he was the most dynamic and influential player on the ground and it simply means the Bombers will have to stump up more cash.
He had a career-high 177 SuperCoach points, an equal career-high 29 disposals, a career-high eight contested possessions, a career-high 10 inside-50s a career-high 12 score involvements, seven tackles and four goals. They’re Dusty numbers and three of his four goals were Dusty-like.
His best was a one-hand gather at half-forward and then straight to his boot — he never had two hands on the footy — and the goal gave the Bombers lead in the final quarter.
It was a breathtaking performance.
2. Kangaroos on the prowl
The word is if Josh Kelly leaves GWS, he is going to North Melbourne – the club that dangled $1 million a year in front of him two-and-a-half years ago.
Kelly said no then and stayed a Giant, but this time, the Kangaroos are up and about with enthusiasm. It can’t be confirmed, of course, but that’s what rival clubs are surmising.
The question is: Do they need Kelly, or do they need a key forward?
A second key forward to help Nick Larkey is the priority, but there are no gettable key forwards, so it would appear the draft is their best avenue to find one. Kelly into their midfield would be a huge injection of polish.
3. The best of Isaac Smith
Clearly, the boom recruit played his best game for his new club on Friday night.
To be honest, I thought he’d been OK rather than brilliant in the first 13 rounds. Against the Dogs, he went head-to-head with Bailey Smith in the first half and a little bit of Lachie Hunter in the second half and finished with 30 disposals – his second-best return behind his 31 against North Melbourne in Round 5.
What stood out was his penetration with his disposals and, at the end, the perfectly weighted kick to Gary Rohan inside 50m, which was one of his season-high nine inside-50s on the night.
With Smith on one wing and Sam Menegola on the other, the Cats have the best wing combination in the competition.
4. The value of the big man
All the headlines were about Ollie Wines’ 40-plus and rightly so, yet the first-game return of ruckman Scott Lycett would’ve pleased coach Ken Hinkley.
Lycett missed Rounds 9, 10, 11 and 13 because of his suspension for a dangerous tackle and his return helped rectify a few issues.
While Lycett was suspended, Port was ranked 15th for contested possession and 14th for clearance.
Against the Suns – and, yes, it was only against the insipid Suns – Port squared clearances and won contested ball by 18.
Coincidence? Lycett had 13 contested possessions himself and there’s no doubting he brings an edge to Hinkley’s team.
5. The cream rises
If the Lions are to win the flag, they need Lachie Neale at his Brownlow Medal-winning best.
It’s been a slow build this year because of injury, but we saw against the Kangas on Saturday Neale completely take over a game.
He had four disposals in the first quarter and 26 over the next three and in doing so became only the second player this season to accumulate 30 possessions, at least 15 contested possessions, 10 tackles and 10 clearances in a match.
And it was only the second time this season he had more than 100 SuperCoach points.
The Lions have been outstanding without him, but let’s not underestimate his value to the side.
By the way, the other player with the bomb numbers in a single game?
It was Adelaide’s underrated Ben Keays against Hawthorn in Round 6.
6. Defensive builds
The Giants keep finding players for their D50.
Isaac Cumming joins Jack Buckley (15 games), Connor Idun (15 games) and Sam Taylor (44 games) as the new-breed defenders at the Giants.
Cumming played two, five and three games across his first three seasons and this year has played all 13.
A mid-sized defender, he takes the kick-ins and is evolving into a very capable interceptor.
On Saturday night, he had 21 kicks at 100 per cent efficiency, which is Shannon Hurn-type numbers, and was second at the Giants for metres gained (543) behind rebounder Lachie Whitfield (630m).
Quietly, the Giants are building from the back and their narrow finals window remains alive.
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