The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 9
St Kilda has lost by eight, four, one and five points this season, but gallantry runs out of patience, writes Mark Robinson. And the Saints have issues. All the round 9 likes, dislikes.
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Another week of action, and nine rounds of footy are completed, with some clubs flying, while others are floundering.
Mark Robinson names his likes and dislikes from round 9 of the AFL season.
DISLIKES
1. RICHMOND
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. When the Tigers were the best team in the competition, they looked at how the other dynasty clubs of this century – Brisbane, Hawthorn and Geelong – confronted their potential free-fall. The Lions fell off a cliff, the Hawks recruited heavily and still fell off the cliff, and Geelong recruited superbly and haven’t gone near the cliff for 25 years. Yep, the Tigers hoped to be Geelong: The plan was to keep the stars, recruit some stars and develop the kids. But it hasn’t worked. They, too, have tumbled over the cliff. It’s difficult to describe Saturday night’s performance. It was clearly their worst in a four-week stretch of losses. Let’s not pussy-foot around and make excuses. This team had Nankervis, Prestia, Vlastuin, Short, D Rioli, Pickett, Martin, Bolton, Balta, Broad and Graham. Once, they were warriors. On Saturday night, they were spectators. How can the kids perform when the senior players don’t? And everyone is pussy-footing around Dustin Martin too, about whether he’ll stay or he’ll go. How about he get a meaningful kick while he’s there? His ranking points this past month are 59, 87, 60 and 56. It’s not good enough. Coach Adem Yze has a tremendously difficult task ahead of him. It’s made worse when his senior crew lets him down. A loss was acceptable, the trouncing was humiliating.
2. ST KILDA
They’re a mess. They can’t kick goals. They play boring football. They have lost by eight, four, one and five points this season, but gallantry runs out of patience. Their 58 points scored against Hawthorn on Saturday follows scores of 72, 64, 79, 67 and 67. There was the 103 points scored against North Melbourne but who isn’t kicking goals against the Kangas? The headline after Saturday’s loss was coach Ross Lyon bemoaning his inability to get messages to his players. It might be true, but Lyon generally lives by the mantra that you don’t explain and you don’t complain. The headline should’ve been: We had 52 entries and we only kicked 59 points. Let’s not pussy-foot around here, either. Max King and Tim Membrey need to have more influence. So does Mitch Owens. Their small forwards were also not a scoreboard influence. Defensively, the Saints are mid-table in several categories, when last year they were the best defensive team in the competition. One of the curiosities this season has presented is working out where the St Kilda list is. It’s not this bad, surely?
3. FREMANTLE
This was their night of reckoning. We would learn if the Dockers were big boy contenders or still in the pack of maybes. They kicked 4.15 against the Swans. They failed this test dismally because part of the DNA of being a good footy team is taking your opportunities. They get a mulligan, however. Cam McCarthy’s death clearly had some players thinking about more important things than football. That’s not offering an excuse, that’s real. Look at when skipper Alex Pearce was crying during the pre-game tribute for McCarthy. And there won’t be a more poignant moment this season than when Pearce and Nat Fyfe laid flowers in the goal square. His former teammates spoke of the fun-loving forward and his wacky sense of humour, yet he is dead at just 29. In a moving tribute, Dermott Brereton, who partly coached McCarthy at the Giants, wondered if he could’ve done more to help him. Even if it was just a phone call. It was bloody sad.
4. GWS
They were bullied by Sydney last week in the wet and overrun and out-toughed by Essendon under the roof on Saturday. Out-run should read slaughtered. The gave up 105 uncontested marks and lost the inside 50 count by 17. In turn, the ‘orange tsunami’ wasn’t a threat. They only scored 15 points from their back half which was a season-low. And scores from stoppages were 41-26 to Essendon, even though the Giants won clearances by 40-39. Matt Guelfi did the job on Lachie Whitfield up one end and Jake Kelly kept Toby Greene in check up the other end. Greene’s season to date is so-so. Ranked by most people as a top-five player, he’s currently ranked No. 247 in Champion Data rankings. He’s kicked 11.9 in nine games which is hardly Mr Damaging. The Giants overall are off their tucker. They’ve lost three of their past four matches, and while they remain a top four contender, their bona fides will be challenged when they play the Bulldogs (home) and Geelong (away) in the next two weeks.
5. ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK
The Eagles had turned the corner, so we thought. Two wins (Richmond and Fremantle) and a six-point loss to Essendon in the past month had increased expectations. But that expectation was extinguished at Marvel Stadium on Sunday. Only 5.7 from 34 entries on the quickest deck in football was the worry. The 34 inside 50s were the second least of any team this year behind North Melbourne’s 31 entries in Round 4.
The much anticipated possible match-up of Daicos v Reid was a flop, as was all of the Eagles midfield in the first half. The centre clearance count was 16-6 and at one stage, the Pies had kicked 45 points to zero from that source. The Eagles midfield group of Kelly, Reid, Duggan, Sheed and Ginbey badly missed Elliot Yeo’s contest and attitude. The positives was the margin was only 66 points, when it looked like it was heading towards 100 points. Small wins, as they say.
6. WHAT’S YOUR DECISION?
The AFL is happy because scandals are not hogging the headlines and, like clockwork every year, the state of umpiring is the talking point. Just as the score review, the concussion debate and the drugs policy all get their share of headlines. The AFL, however, can no longer ignore the umpiring debate. Geelong was stiffed on Friday night over the advantage non-decision, and all of footy is being stiffed by the instruction to not pay holding the ball. The ball player has to be protected, but at the same time, they are not a protected species. Pay more free kicks to help ease congestion.
LIKES
1. DARE TO DREAM
At Round 17 in 2023, Essendon was fourth on the ladder. They went 2-5 after that and missed finals and one of those two losses was by 126 points to the Giants. At Round nine in 2024, the Bombers are third on the ladder. As Ross Lyon likes to say, the ladder doesn’t lie. So, what’s different about this mob? We can talk about Nic Martin, Sam Durham, Kyle Langford, Zach Merrett and Andy McGrath, but it’s not about the stars. It’s about widespread contribution. It’s about a collective resolve. It’s about doing your job, no matter what is asked of you. Take Nick Hind. Prior to Saturday, he had 42 disposals in six games, and in four of those games he was the sub. On Saturday, he had 20 disposals and was Essendon’s second highest-ranked player behind Mason Redman. Really, Nick Hind? Bombers fans love and loathe him. They love him because of his dash and loathe because he can too easily cough up the ball. And being a player whose prowess is leg speed, his 1v1 stuff can be tricky for him. There was one play, however, which typified the ‘do-your-job’ mantra. In the last quarter, Hind found himself opposed in the air to the wily Toby Greene deep forward. Most people would expect Greene to win that contest, but Hind stayed close and got a fist to the ball. It was minor in the overall scheme, but it’s all those ‘minor’ efforts which is helping to propel the Bombers into being a premiership smokie.
2. NEW ROLE FOR MAGPIE
Steele Sidebottom’s magnificent career is nearing an end and the question has to be asked: Will he survive in the senior team? His ball-winning ability to date this season has been scratchy. Having been played in his customary wing position, coach Craig McRae on Sunday chose to send him to defence. The wing roles went to Josh Daicos, Pat Lipinski, Lachie Sullivan, a little bit of Jack Bytel and a little bit of Sidebottom.
The veteran’s 21 disposals was an equal season-high and before Sunday, he was averaging only 14.5 disposals per game. He’s as smart as any player, and his defensive positioning is not always acknowledged, but 14.5 disposals on a wing won’t cut it. One game doesn’t make him a defender, either, because on the bigger grounds he could be vulnerable. The newbies played well on Sunday – Richards, Sullivan, Macrae and McInnes – and with De Goey, Elliott, Mihocek, McCreary and Mitchell to return, the Magpies have built themselves a healthy roster. Sidebottom, meanwhile, is on watch.
3. SUNDAY THRILLER
There’s always moments which decide games – and drawn games. Adelaide’s Darcy Fogarty came of age with a near match-winning four goals, yet he won’t remember them. He will remember his miss at half-time from 40m and then, very late in the game, when he chose to pass from 55m and the ball went over the top and into the behind post. Crows skipper Jordan Dawson had the final shot at goal, but his left footer went right and tied the scores. He was probably exhausted at the time. In the final quarter, he has eight disposals, 279m gained, four inside 50s and five score involvements. But he, too, will remember that it was his opponent, Callum Ah Chee, who kicked the final goal for the Lions. The Lions will be angry about their second quarter. They were +4 inside 50 but scored 2.5. It was a ripper game. It was 90 points each, it was high pressure – Brisbane was 197 and Adelaide 189 – and after 120 minutes, they couldn’t be separated. They are 12th and 13th on the ladder, two points ahead of St Kilda. But while the Saints are in struggle town, these two teams can threaten the finals.
4. HOW GOOD IS THIS KID?
Hawthorn’s Josh Weddle is the steal of the 2022 draft. He was taken at pick No. 17, but if the draft was reworked with hindsight, he’d be in the top five with Will Ashcroft, Harry Sheezel, George Wardlaw and Reuben Ginbey. In fact, you could make a case that Weddle could be the pick of that bunch. That’s fantasy talk, but fantasy talk is exactly what the future market is. Clearly, it’s hardly breaking news that the rising 20-year-old is a good young player. At 20, he plays like a 26-year-old Mason Redman. He’s a rebounder like Redman, has wheels like Redman and he’s better overhead than Redman. He played on Tim Membrey and Max King on Saturday and in a combined 85 minutes, he only conceded one goal. His opponents this year have been Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (two goals from three touches), Ben King (one goal), Jeremy Cameron (one goal) and Jamie Elliott (zero goals). The back six at Hawthorn is holding its own. Weddle will be star, Amon and Impey are super cool with ball in hand, Scrimshaw needs to be blasted by Sam Mitchell every week if this is how he’s going to respond, and Sam Frost’s past three weeks on Max King, Aaron Naughton and Hayden McLean have been better than solid.
5. AND FROM THE SAME DRAFT
Bailey Humphrey was pick No. 7 to the Gold Coast and he has been a slower burn compared to Weddle. But while Weddle has slotted at half-back, Humphrey has had to win a kick at half forward, which is not easy for a young player. We saw his talent shine on Saturday when he took off the subs vest and slotted into the Suns midfield in the final quarter.
He had 12 disposals, 405m gained, six clearances, seven score involvements and five tackles, which is beyond extraordinary in a quarter of footy. Mainstay Touk Miller made his way to the forward line, meaning Humphrey joined Noah Anderson and Matt Rowell in the centre square. The question is: will we see more of Humphrey in the middle? The Suns won’t break up the Miller-Rowell-Anderson combo too often, so Humphrey will likely be developed into a high impact mid-forward, a la Christian Petracca, Chad Warner and Shai Bolton. The wait will be worth it.
6. CONGRATS TO PORT ADELAIDE.
In this kneejerk world we live in, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley was staring at a media onslaught if Port lost to Geelong. A loss would’ve meant Port had lost three of its past four matches and that would be considered scandalous in the footy-crazy city of Adelaide. Beating Geelong at Geelong and without their skipper and their two ruckmen in Soldo and Sweet, was the best win of the season. They got the job done early. At half-time, they were +7 contested possessions, +10 inside 50s, their pressure was 193 and they scored 38 points from stoppage. The overall margin was 41 points. They ticked all boxes. They then withstood Geelong’s comeback. They were lucky with some umpiring decisions, but name a game where luck doesn’t play a role. Port is equal on the ladder on points with Carlton, the Giants and Melbourne. Which is pretty good for a team – and coach – who seemingly rides the emotional rollercoaster every week.
7. THE CONVERSATION.
The system is a failure if Jeremy Cameron was allowed to stay on the ground. We’re not doctors, but the big fella needed to come off and be assessed properly instead of being asked a couple of innocuous questions after suffering a brain jolt. How could the AFL tick it off when clearly Cameron was distressed? Surely, it’s better to be safe than sorry, even if Cameron said he was OK. At least the conversation was had by the football world. It’s evidence that the concussion discussion is now quick to mind.
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