The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 19 of the AFL season
After the Bulldogs’ undermanned defence overcame the premier, it’s time to acknowledge Luke Beveridge’s genius moves, writes Mark Robinson. See all his likes and dislikes.
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Why can’t Collingwood’s incredible run continue deep into September?
That’s a serious question after the Pies’ unshakeable belief delivered another close win in an epic contest against Essendon at the MCG.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are back, Patrick Dangerfield and Brownlow medallist Ollie Wines are battling, and a Brisbane midfielder could be the steal of this year’s trade period.
Scroll down for all of Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 19.
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LIKES
1. Spinning the magnets
Luke Beveridge is a brave, creative and intriguing coach who, more than any other coach, is prepared to swing the magnets on his team board. It’s funny how many times he makes a move, is criticised in the media and among fans for it, only for the player to excel in his new position. Essendon great Kevin Sheedy was lauded for demanding his players to be versatile, but the same accolades are not layered on Beveridge. That has to change. The Bulldogs’ grand final back seven was Alex Keath, Bailey Dale, Caleb Daniel, Zaine Cordy, Easton Wood, Bailey Williams and Taylor Duryea. On Saturday night, it was Keath, Dale, Ryan Gardner, Buku Khamis, Ed Richards, Adam Treloar and Mitch Hannan. Only two players – Keath and Dale – are the constants. Form and injury has hurt the defensive group, but the coach still has to find defenders, still has to instil confidence and synergy, and, against the Demons anyhow, still had to back in an inexperienced group to shut down the premiers. Of them, Richards has developed into a promising defender. He can intercept, he can attack and he played on Kozzie Pickett on Saturday, who was fresh off six goals in Alice Springs. I don’t know about Adam Treloar’s defensive instincts, but he’s there to create in Caleb Daniel’s absence. Buku Khamis also is promising and Mitch Hannan might be the surprise of the lot of them. He’s played as a mid-sized forward all of his career, but has played defence for the past three weeks. If magnet tossing was a sport, Beveridge could represent Australia.
2. Football is a special game
So many moments of desperation, exhilaration and disappointment in the final quarter on Sunday at the MCG. It was truly an incredible finish and the scenes on the boundary fence, after Jamie Elliott kicked the winner after the siren from near the 50m line, are only second in amazement to Buddy Franklin’s 1000th goal. That’s nine in a row from the Pies and if you believe in fairytales, then yes, Collingwood can win the premiership. There was so much to like, including Brody Mihocek’s tackle on Zerk-Thatcher, Darcy Moore getting the kick-in from Pendlebury in the final 20 seconds and taking it to Trent Bianco on the wing, all the tackles, all the tap-ons and finally the pile-on. While the Pies are ecstatic, the Bombers will kick themselves. 1 a) Harrison Jones missing the goal and b) not setting up defensively after he missed the goal. As for the Pies, when you barrack for a team, all you ask from your team is to try and never give up. They are grand qualities and the Pies have them in abundance.
3. Saad shades Doc for AA
Internally, the Blues say Sam Docherty should be a lock for the All-Australian team. Externally, the list of locks in defence in the AA team is too plentiful to have a great level of confidence in anyone. Maybe Tom Stewart is the closest thing to a lock and that’s despite him getting four weeks for banging into Dion Prestia. Saad was magnificent on Sunday against the Giants and Docherty’s numbers were similar. After watching Angus Brayshaw on Saturday night, he firmed as an All-Australian defender. As did Richmond’s Nick Vlastuin after Friday night. Then there’s Jack Sinclair, Nick Daicos, Brayden Maynard, Scott Pendlebury and Bailey Dale. There’s your gluttony of back flankers and good luck to the selectors separating all them.
4. Saints smalls
Dan Butler and Jack Higgins epitomise the good and bad of St Kilda, which can be unfair on small forwards. But when they play well, the Saints certainly sizzle. They combined for seven of St Kilda’s 14 goals kicked in the wet in the west on Sunday, and the Saints kept their September aspirations intact. It was gritty by St Kilda led by Jack Steele and Brad Crouch who combined for 71 disposals and 19 clearances. Can you believe the Saints are above Richmond on the ladder with three games to play? Steele said in the post-match they had hard conversations after the loss to the Bulldogs 10 days earlier, and that was evident by the way Brett Ratten spoke to fans during the week. “The season is alive for us, so we’re happy,’’ Steele said. Yep, they’re alive, and maybe they’re on life support, but alive they are. It will mean not much if they lose to the Hawks this week.
5. Gawn v English
The coaches’ votes on Monday will be intriguing because the Max Gawn–Tim English contest on Saturday night was the best contest between two ruckmen this season. Gawn won on the stats sheet, but English also was enormous, and his running goal in the third quarter from 50m out was the standout moment in a batch of high quality moments from him. When they were opposed in the ruck, Gawn slaughtered English in the tap-outs, but the Bulldogs won the clearances 26-20. It was a crazy clearance game because the centre square number was Melbourne +7 and they kicked six goals from those seven clearances. The Dogs were required to work tirelessly outside the centre square to wrestle back control. Crazy again that the Bulldogs didn’t kick a goal from the centre bounce, but outside of that area, they kicked 52 points to Melbourne’s 15 points from clearance. Make sense? It was an amazing game.
6. The Barometer
Rhys Mathieson is 25 and we’re not yet absolutely confident he will keep his spot in the Lions team. That’s despite one cracking game and one solid game in his return to the senior team. On Saturday night, he had 18 disposals and kicked two goals. He gives the Lions energy and a combative soul in the midfield, but in the past that hasn’t been enough. He’s played only the two games this year, so there’s something questionable about him as a player. His VFL form is phenomenal. He averages 30-plus disposals, 17 contested possessions, nine clearances and 139 SuperCoach points. If he falls out of the team again, you could excuse him for looking at a new team next year. He’s the 2022 version of Will Brodie, who tore up the VFL but couldn’t get a game at the Suns. He then departed for Fremantle, where he’s now in the conversation as the recruit of the year.
7. We’ve got to talk about Robbie Fox
Robbie who, you may say? Robbie Fox from the Swans. He came into the senior team at round 15 after a spell in the VFL and coach John Longmire slotted him at his customary half-back position. But he looks different this time round, he looks like he’s a settled player now. He’s 29 and has played 60 games in six years, after being recruited as a 23-year-old, so the Tasmanian hasn’t exactly been a walk-up starter. But this last patch of games has perhaps cemented him in the Swans’ finals team. In the past five weeks, he’s averaging 22 disposals, seven marks, and has gone at 80 per cent by foot. That last stat is the bell ringer. The league average is 67 per cent, and he’s 13 per cent above that. In any game style, particularly a high-kicking disposal plan which the Swans like, precision kicking is gold. And in Fox, the Swans may have found a little nugget.
DISLIKES
1. It had to be Jack, didn’t it?
The angst was always coming after the AFL reiterated its stance on ducking, diving and dropping the body, and of course the poster boy, Jack Ginnivan, just had to be central to the weekend’s drama. Essendon’s Mason Redman nailed him on Sunday and while Ginnivan did drop the body a small fraction, Redman’s tackle was on the crude end. There are good intentions to prevent head high hits and tackles, but footy has to sort out what is worse for the game: a slight lowering of the body versus a slightly crude tackle? Always, consistency was going to be an issue. Ginnivan was pinged on Sunday, yet Richmond’s Dylan Grimes was given a high free kick after dropping his body on Friday night. It is a work in progress.
2. It’s tough for Spike
Mark McVeigh is trying to put together a dossier of work to take to the decision-makers at the Giants, in the hope of securing the senior role full-time. He’s not helped, and neither was Leon Cameron before him, when the midfield collectively lets him down so badly. Have some of the players checked out already? Against the Blues on Sunday, the Giants lost the ground ball by 38. That’s with Coniglio, Hopper, Taranto and Ward in the middle. The Giants, once revered for their gritty football, are 17th this year for ground ball gets. The 18th team is West Coast and for large parts of the season, they have been a walk-over team. The Giants have the “names”, but the names haven’t set the world alight this year. Under McVeigh, the Giants have beaten West Coast, North Melbourne and Hawthorn and lost to six other teams.
3. Is everything OK, Patty?
Big game, close game, tough game and Patrick Dangerfield has only 11 disposals, two clearances and two score involvements. He played roughly 40 per cent forward and 60 per cent midfield and couldn’t get into the game. Maybe it was just a bad game from the champ. He’s been back four weeks now and is averaging 21 disposals, which is OK for a midfielder-forward, but can’t help think that while the team is priming and planning to be at its best in September, so, too, is Dangerfield. We hope so, anyway. That was his 297th game and one of his worst, but we ain’t writing him off just yet. His 300th will be a great celebration for a great footballer, and let’s hope his form rises as the milestone approaches.
4, The big guys
Another week and another win for the Lions, and it was done without a huge impact from two of their tall forwards – Daniel McStay and Eric Hipwood – and a wayward game from Joe Daniher. You could be worried about that trio not clicking, or you could be positive in a sense, because when these three get going, the Lions will be an even more formidable team. To be fair, Daniher was more than OK. He kicked 3.4 – which makes it 7.11 over the past five matches – and we say only OK, because three goals from seven shots is frustrating. McStay (0.0) and Hipwood (1.1) are the concerns, although Hipwood is slowly gaining confidence after returning from his knee injury. It’s round 20 next week and there’s still time to find their mojo, but time is not endless. If the Lions are to win the flag, those three big guys have to be better.
5. May day, May day
It was a frantic night for Melbourne’s back six, and at one stage Steven May and Angus Brayshaw had words, but of course, nothing was said of that. If it was North Melbourne and Essendon players verbally sparring and fine pointing, the commentary box would be alight with criticism. May took Aaron Naughton and was the winner in that classic 1v1 match-up, but a kicking error from May at the 17th minute of the final quarter killed the Demons. Compare two kicks. May’s simple-ish 15m kick was cut off by Marcus Bontempelli, who found Jackson Macrae via a handball, whose 25m kick for goal was far less simple and was pure class. Macrae took the handball and immediately dropped the ball on to his boot without taking a step, and all the while with Tom Sparrow bearing down from behind. The difficulty of kicking the ball accurately in that instant was extremely high end, yet Macrae accomplished it. It’s why he’s a seasoned pro. The goal made the margin only two points and then of course, came the coming-of-age moment from Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, a 52m bomb near the final siren.
6. Is everything OK, Ollie?
It’s more than a watch because last year’s Brownlow medallist hasn’t been able to match this season with last season. Ollie Wines plays his 200th game this week and there’s very few players who have played the sort of ferocious footy Wines does. Think Selwood, Sloane, Dangerfield, Oliver. But he’s in a slump and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn at the end of the season that Wines has had a wretched list of injuries. His impact has dropped. His SuperCoach points, for example, over the past three weeks have been 66 points, 87 and 69. They are not the numbers of the hard, relentless midfielder that we’ve come to expect. As for Port, they are a hardy mob. They could’ve turned up their toes this season and they haven’t, and that says plenty about coach Ken Hinkley and the culture he has helped instil at Alberton.
7. To Billy
Billy Picken was a hero to a nation because, even though he played for Collingwood, he was one of the first real superstars when TV started. He was a gun player and a character, and we all love how he used take speccies. Carlton great Mark Maclure and Picken played on each other about 30 times through the 1970s and early 1980s, and on Sunday Maclure was still dealing with the loss of his great opponent. “He was a great player and he was a better bloke,’’ Maclure said. “He was younger than me, I’m 67 he was 66, and we started our battles when we were 18 or 19, so we played against each other for about 13 years. You know, I loved him. He was a ripper bloke. But I wouldn’t know that when we were playing against each other, but afterwards, we’d have a beer and a laugh. He was one of the great competitors, and you won’t find one harder and tougher than him.’’
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