The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 8 of the 2022 AFL season
Essendon has come under fire for going slow and sideways but something significant changed against Hawthorn on Saturday night. See all Robbo’s round 8 likes and dislikes.
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The footy world was delighted to see Dustin Martin back, but his return wasn’t perfect.
As the AFL season settles after eight rounds, Essendon transformed its game, the Swans have an issue, the pressure mounts on Leon Cameron, and Melbourne is still clearly the team to beat. Is it time to try something radical against the Demons?
Chief football writer Mark Robinson names his likes and dislikes from round 8.
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DISLIKES
1. Dusty no-go
While Gillon and Co are in the States entertaining TV rights offers from global media giants – the most recent publicly disclosed deal was worth $2.5 billion – it’s ironic that the most fascinating name in football won’t talk to the media. Can you imagine the Yank TV execs (their brethren demand NBA players play on Christmas Day, mind you) being told they’ll need to cough up $3 billion for the rights but by the way the game’s best player won’t talk to you when you need him to? That’s what happened with Fox Footy on Saturday. The station contacted Richmond last week and said they’d like to talk to Martin before or after the game. The Tigers warned Fox that Martin wouldn’t talk. On the day, Martin was approached by Sarah Jones on the ground post-siren, where Martin waved her off, and then Nick Riewoldt, a mate of Martin’s, went down to Tigers rooms post-match, where he asked a Tigers media person to ask Martin for two minutes to answer two Dorothy Dixers. Like, what was it like to be back? Any message for the fans? It’s not known if said media person even asked Martin. It’s a funny world. The AFL is asking for billions and will get it, the players will ask for a billion in salaries and will get it – both paid by the TV rights – and yet Fox Footy asks for a minute and they get told no. You can understand why Martin would avoid a lengthy sit-down interview, but once you step on the ground, you can’t pick and choose. There are obligations to the broadcaster and to the game.
2. Is it time to tag Petracca, Oliver and Langdon?
It’s radical because clubs generally don’t like running with a single tag or stoppage “cooler”, but it might take something radical to disrupt the all-conquering Demons. Because on Sunday Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Ed Langdon had 39, 38 and 36 disposals. The week before it was 33, 31 and nine (when Langdon was tagged). The week before that it was 41, 25 and 30. St Kilda pitted its system against Melbourne’s system and failed. They will need to adjust. Does every team need to adjust and try something different because you seriously can’t expect to win when Oliver Petracca and Landon each have 35-plus disposals. How could a three-way cooling process work? The obvious answer from coaches is it won’t because their “system” won’t allow it, but as we speak, there’s not a system without taggers threatening the Demons. So, why not be radical? It’s time to explore and maybe the Saints will do that next time they meet. On Sunday, Oliver and Petracca didn’t have a direct opponent and Langdon played mainly on Daniel McKenzie. That surely has to change.
3. Where is Wayne Milera?
He’s playing SANFL after recovering from major knee surgery and, at 24, that is a concern. He signed a five-year contract at the start of 2020 which ties him to the Crows until the end of the 2025 season, and Milera was going to be one of those players to help lay the foundations for the future at the Crows. He played round 1 and then was sent back and is averaging 17 disposals in the SANFL playing across half-back. Which clearly isn’t enough to satisfy senior team selection. The Crows need his bounce. Indeed, the Crows need a few assets. The Crows were non-threatening on Sunday and late goals were a salvage job to some extent. Because 74 inside-50s against is the second-most inside-50s given up by a team this year, behind North Melbourne’s 78 they allowed Brisbane. The Crows have hit the wall.
4. Pass the baton
It will be a weekly occurrence, the spotlight on coaches, and the speculation about Alastair Clarkson adds to the intrigue. Not sure why Stuart Dew is caught up in all this at this stage of the season. The Suns are 3-5 and although it has been noted that the results are awfully similar to previous seasons at the Suns, there’s no doubt they are far more competitive this season. The win over the Swans on Saturday was just the tonic to dampen the talk of Clarkson to Gold Coast. Not so for Leon Cameron. Geelong’s dismantling of the Giants was one of the better coaching performances this year. Chris Scott’s Cats systematically destroyed the Giants, who did not have the answers. Sometimes, you have to have cattle to win games, but they do have the cattle in the midfield, evidenced by the fact they broke even in contested possession and clearances. A problem was their ball movement was stagnant, which was Geelong’s doing.
5. All-Australian conundrum
For three years, we’ve argued that the All-Australian selectors must choose wingmen for integrity at selection, and must choose Hugh McCluggage as one of those wingmen. The problem is McCluggage doesn’t play wing any more. He had the near perfect game against the weakened Eagles on Saturday night, finishing with 26 disposals and four goals, and working defensively with 10 tackles. His role was 55 minutes as a centre-square player and 45 minutes forward. And in the past month, he has only played 5 per cent on the wing. With Ed Langdon in line for one wing position in the AA team, the other wing position is up for grabs – that’s if AA selectors recognise them. The Lions, meanwhile, have opted to go with Callum Ah Chee and Jaxon Prior as their wingmen, meaning Mitch Robinson might struggle to get his spot back.
6. You can’t win if you don’t win the ball
The Hawks didn’t kick enough goals when they had control of the game and when Essendon took control, the Haws couldn’t stop them. Coach Sam Mitchell will identify several poor team aspects, like how did the Bombers march though his team despite the Bombers not playing-on once in that final term? They weren’t beaten by speed, that’s for sure. As Mum would say when we left the door open: Were you born in a tent? And the Hawks left every door open. Midfield depth is an issue, we know that, but it’s difficult to win the game when the whips are being cracked and Tom Mitchell, James Worpel and Jai Newcombe have one disposal each in the final quarter.
7. Can we flag an issue at the Swans?
Just maybe the Swans have an issue with a slow game, which is high marks and stoppages orchestrated by the opposition. On Saturday, the Suns took 118 marks – their average is 80 per game, which is the fewest of any team this year – and in the past two years, only five teams have taken 100 marks or more against Sydney. The result for the Swans is one win and four losses, and of those four losses, two of them have been against the Suns. The brilliant coaching move denies the Swans the ball and quick games. Over time, the Swans have become a dangerous outside opponent and not the ferocious contest team which was their DNA. Well coached, Stu.
LIKES
1. The mid-sized forward glut
For a long time, we’ve had Charlie Cameron, Luke Breust, Isaac Heeney and Tom Papley, Robbie Gray and Eddie Betts, among others, as the matchwinners inside 50m. In the past two years, that group has exploded. The newbies are Dylan Moore, Sam Switkowski, Kossie Pickett, Tyson Stengle, Zac Bailey, Jack Higgins and, this year, Maurice Rioli Jr and Jack Ginnivan. On Sunday Pickett set up Melbourne’s win with two goals and eight possessions in the first quarter, and seven of them were hardball gets. The Demons won the first quarter by four goals and the next three quarters by two goals, meaning Kickett’s first quarter was pivotal. We talk about the 6-6-6 rule aiding the key forwards, but the rule certainly gave the small and mid-sized forwards room to move and be creative. Indeed, the 6-6-6 rule and the rule which discourages the player from dragging the ball in has meant the “rolling maul” has almost disappeared from the game.
2. The Blues’ inspiration
When Sam Docherty returned from testicular cancer and started the season so well, I wasn’t sure if he would sustain it. Eight games into the season, “Doc’’ is arguably having a career season. His average numbers are 28 disposals, 430m gained and seven intercept possessions. His numbers don’t begin to describe the inspiration he is for the thousands of cancer sufferers who follow football. His output this year puts him in the All-Australian discussion at half-back with Tom Stewart, Daniel Rich, Bailey Dale and Scott Pendlebury. That he has been able to play at this high level is extraordinary.
3. Back to the future (I)
By design, the Bombers went back to playing with more aggressive ball use and more speed on the game. And what helped the Bombers was the want to tackle. Don’t know what happened in the third quarter, when they laid just five tackles, but when they laid 24 in the final quarter, the Hawks were made to look useless. And as a result, five of Essendon’s eight goals came from turnovers. So, they tackled hard and handballed hard forward. Essendon was criticised in recent weeks for over-possessing the ball and moving the ball sideways and backwards. In the final quarter on Saturday night, they took 123m by hand which, when you consider the AFL average is 34m per quarter, is a major attitude shift to keep the ball moving forward. Wish clubs would film the coach talking to the players at the breaks because every Essendon fan would love to listen to the message from Ben Rutten at three-quarter time.
4. Back to the future (II)
Only the coach and the players really know if it was by design or not, and maybe the Cats played what was in front of them, but that was a familiar offering from Geelong on Saturday. They took 141 marks, which brings back memories of when then-assistant coach Matty Scarlett said the Cats defend with ball in hand. OK, the Cats did take 48 marks in the final quarter when they completely killed the game, but 93 marks in three quarters is still more than their average of 86 marks per game this year. Geelong is defensively strong again. It’s taken time with their new system, which opened them to turnovers earlier in the season, but the balance is coming together nicely. In the first five weeks, they gave up 50 points on average on turnover. In the last three matches it’s 23.
5. Back to the Future (III)
The Tigers have their DNA back, which is hunt and kill. They scored 88 points off turnover against Collingwood and the week before against the flattened Eagles it was 134 points, which was the second-most ever behind Collingwood’s 140 points in 2011 against Port Adelaide. Maurice Rioli Jr did the hunting and, boy, does he make people smile, and Tommy Lynch did the killing with six goals, 11 marks and 25 disposals. Two points here: 1) Lynch is attacking the ball instead of standing there with an arm in the air and 2) I’m not sure I’ve seen Darcy Moore get comprehensively beaten as he did by Lynch. Zone defence, or spatial defence, or whatever it’s called, can never work when pressure is not put on the opposition midfield.
6. Great call, umpire
The 50m penalty remains a staggeringly large punishment for minor indiscretions, but at least umpires have clamped down on players faking the handball in a bid to have opponents break the stand rule. On Saturday night, Essendon’s Dylan Shiel tried to fake out Hawthorn’s Harry Morrison, who did move, but instead of the 50m penalty, the umpire called “play on”. A great call, as has been the move to relax the dissent rule. Which was lucky for Shiel, who was appealing to the umpire for a free kick, which means Shiel was disagreeing with the umpire’s decision to call play on. Isn’t that dissent under the now-old interpretation?
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