The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round nine of the 2022 AFL season
Dustin Martin is back, but Shai Bolton is absolutely flying and is a big reason the Tigers are back in contention, writes Mark Robinson. See all Robbo’s likes and dislikes.
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After Saturday night’s humiliating performance, more questions need to be asked of the Bombers.
Of the board, culture, players and coach. Will the coaching merry-go-round heap more pressure on Ben Rutten?
But as it builds at Essendon, the pressure is starting to ease elsewhere.
See Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round nine.
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DISLIKES
1. Pressure mounts
Let’s talk about facts. Ben Rutten is struggling at Essendon. Alastair Clarkson wants to coach somewhere next season. James Hird would want to coach Essendon next season. And Clarkson and Hird will be interviewed by Giants to coach them next season. Intrigue abounds. Firstly, is Rutten the man? If not, do they go after Clarkson or Hird, or lose one of them to the Giants? Would the Bombers fans accept Hird coaching another club (the Giants) when deep down he would love to get another opportunity at the Bombers? Of course, it’s all dependent on how Essendon is viewing Rutten’s performance. Fact again, if Rutten’s team continues to put up similar humiliating efforts like it did against Sydney on Saturday night, the Bombers have to be concerned – if they’re not already. A review of all things footy is needed despite chairman Paul Brasher saying otherwise. How can a team be so inept at the fundamentals of football - like tackling, applying pressure and playing defence. The defensive system put in place by the coach is not working. That’s not saying Rutten’s a bad coach, it’s saying the system he is coaching is not working. And there’s a flow-on effect. The team looks lost and confused, as we wrote five weeks ago. Where’s the fire in the belly? Where’s the want to pressure the opposition, or does the system not encourage or demand pressure on the opposition? The Round 1 loss to Geelong was humiliating. The Round 9 loss to Sydney was much worse. Just an idea, but a review could start with one question to Joe Daniher, Adam Saad and Orazio Fantasia: Why did you so badly want to leave the footy club?
2. White flags
A long time ago, North Melbourne hard man Mick Martyn grabbed Hird by the back of the jumper and dragged him for 20m across the turf at the MCG. After the game, then assistant coach Robert Shaw launched at the group. “That’s never to happen again,” Shaw boomed. At the weekend, Dylan Shiel was mocked by an opposition and nothing happened in response. No one challenged Luke Parker. No one pushed him or wrestled him. Where’s the culture of resistance? Or self respect? The fire? If Shaw was at the club, or Choco Williams for example - and they both wanted to work at the Bombers - that Parker act wouldn’t go unchallenged. Football is about mateship, performance and brand. Right now, mates aren’t looking after mates, the performance is poor and the brand is nothing. Essendon is vanilla. And Rutten has to fix that, and urgently, because if he doesn’t, someone else will.
3. Let’s talk numbers
The Bombers pressure rating of 154 on Saturday was their lowest rating since Round 20, 2019. The tackle count was 30. In last week’s final quarter against Hawthorn, it was 24. The 30 in total was the lowest number of tackles by a team this season. The Swans had 394 possessions and 56 tackles. The insipid Bombers had 331 and 30 tackles. The 30 tackles in total was Essendon’s lowest number in a game since Round 14, 2005. Of course, the heat is on Essendon. It’s on the players, on the coach, on chief executive Xavier Campbell and on the board because the Bombers, as we speak, are being walked all over.
4. They’re too nice
Dyson Heppell played his 200th game against the Swans and a bunch of friends and family lined up on the ground as part of the celebration. A big bunch, maybe 50 of them. He’s a terrific bloke Heppell, but is the club celebrating in a wrong way? It was 200 games, not the all-time games record being broken. If the club wanted to really celebrate Heppell, celebrate him by the manner in which the team should play. Simply, it was a nice gesture, from a nice club, who plays nice football.
5. Guns fire blanks
In Leon Cameron’s final game against a surging Carlton, Cameron needed his better players to have an impact. Some did. Some didn’t. These things happen because fairytales are great but rare. Toby Greene had seven touches and two goals, Lachie Whitfield had 11 touches, and Steve Coniglio and Callan Ward 14 touches. Of that group, Whitfield has had a so-so season and his 11 touches was his lowest tally of the season. Kudos to the Blues for giving the highly respected Cameron a guard of honor as he departed the field.
6. Third quarter numbness
In the match between West Coast and Melbourne, the umpire called play on when Jeremy McGovern went to kick the ball and Christian Petracca, who was standing two metres away, stepped in to smother. McGovern stopped, the umpire called play on, McGovern put the ball out of bounds, the umpire paid a free kick against McGovern for deliberate and Petracca kicked the goal. Then McGovern, with arms wide open, complained to the umpire. So, Petracca was in the wrong and so was the umpire to call play on, the deliberate was there, the goal was kicked, and a furious McGovern showed dissent but no free kick was paid. Sorry, AFL, but confusion still abounds with the dissent rule.
7. An odd Sunday afternoon
Fremantle led the inside 50 count 55-36 and lost the game by 36 points. It’s the highest inside 50 differential in a losing game since Melbourne in Round 14, 2018. In that game, they lost by 10 points and led the inside 50 count 69-39. The point is, scoreboard pressure is still the best pressure. The dislike is Fremantle didn’t kick goals when they controlled early, and still didn’t kick goals when the game became a bit of an arm wrestle in the wet. It didn’t work for the Dockers on Sunday. The like was the Suns defence, who defended the onslaught of 55 inside 50s and kicked winning score on the back 36 inside 50s.
8. Zac and Jack
Zac Williams could be out for close to 12 months if he hurt his achilles on Sunday, he could be out for six weeks if he hurt his calf. It’s another blow to the Blues, who are without Harry McKay for six weeks, but it pales compared to how shattered Williams would be. He arrived unfit last year and worked hard to give himself the best chance to play good footy for the Blues. He might not be back until 2023. Saints skipper Jack Steele fared better in that regard. He’s out for two months with a shoulder, which means he will play catch up but his season is not over.
LIKES
1. Be ballsy Gold Coast
The popular narrative is AFL boss Gillon McLachlan, with one of his final swishes of his pen, would tick off the appointment of Alastair Clarkson to the Suns. After all, the Suns’ failure has been the AFL’s failure, and Clarkson just might be the saviour. That narrative is changing - or should be changing. Coach Stuart Dew is showing and more importantly the players are showing that the direction of this team is more than promising. That’s victories over Sydney and Fremantle in consecutive weeks, with the win on Sunday clearly one of the best under Dew. The 42-year-old has broken the back of ineptitude, and for that, he has earned the right to continue coaching. His players clearly are in Dew’s corner, so why would the club sack their coach.
2. Sammy’s back in town
It’s been a long build up since Sam Walsh injured the syndesmosis in his ankle and was waylaid in February. He missed Round 1 and his form has been OK, but his Round 9 game against the Giants was easily his best of the season. That’s why the Blues were always going to get better because Walsh was going to get better. Against the Giants, he delivered a near-perfect midfielder’s game. He had 31 and kicked two goals, had 15 contested possessions and eight score involvements.
3. It was over before it began
This was about winning, not sustaining injuries and who between Christian Petracca, Max Gawn and Clayton Oliver would receive the three Brownlow Medal votes. Sorry to disrespect the Eagles, and they were OK in parts of the game, but Demons coach Simon Goodwin will be thankful to get into WA and get out largely unscathed, other than James Harmes’ hamstring injury. Jake Bowey might have a sore head and Liam Ryan’s poor season will get worse when he is suspended for bumping Bowey, and there was a dump tackle from Kade Chandler which Matthew Pavlich thought was two actions and Jordan Lewis thought was one action. As for the Brownlow, it’s probably C. Petracca, three votes.
4. Shai Bolton
He fell away, as did Richmond, in the back end of last season, and it was a mystery if Bolton, and Richmond, could play high-level football again this season. It’s a mystery no more. The Tigers are rolling and Bolton is absolutely flying. He is the quintessential quality over quantity footballer. On Saturday, the Hawks led by 25 points early in the second quarter and the Tigers put Bolton into the middle. He changed the game. He ran and weaved and the game opened up. In the second quarter alone, he attended six centre bounces and had a game-high 64 SuperCoach points. They came on the back of 12 disposals, five score involvements and 293m gained, which is a high number in a single quarter, especially when you consider he only had 130m gained in the other three quarters. Bolton has kicked multiple goals in seven games this season. The leader in that category is teammate Tom Lynch, with eight games. Equal with Bolton is Tom Hawkins, Max King, Charlie Cameron and Peter Wright.
5. Ollie’s back in town
It’s now a month since Ollie Wines had his heart scare and, let’s be honest, no one knew what the outcome of that would be. He missed the one week, and his form has been steady upon return. He’s gone 33, 27, 31 and on Saturday he had 32 possessions and kicked two goals. There was a minor adjustment to his game against North Melbourne. He spent more time forward and suddenly the Port forward line of Marshall, Finlayson, Georgiades, Gray, Motlop and a bit of Wines, Rozee, Butters, and Powell-Pepper is potent, different and in form. Coach Ken Hinkley wants to bring Charlie Dixon back, but who goes out? It won’t be Marshall, Finlayson is in a great head space and kicks goals, and Georgiades is getting a return on the scoreboard as well. Can Hinkley play four of them, with one of them on the pine? They are a watch and a good watch.
6. Callum Wilkie
He’s the glue in the backline of a team sitting in fifth position and he took yet another big name in Round 9. This time it was Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron. Wilkie’s opponents this season have included Cameron (one goal), Bayley Fritsch (one goal), Robbie Gray (two goals in the wet at Cairns), Jack Gunston (goalless) and Toby Greene (one goal). Wilkie plays in the same manner as Richmond’s Dylan Grimes. Grimes is 194cm and Wilkie is 191cm, and although he’s not in Grimes status, he’s building a damn fine career. He can play tall and small, and he’s disciplined and mature. And he’s resilient. He’s played every game since 2019, which was his first year at the club. That’s 72 games in succession. Little wonder coach Brett Ratten rates him so high.
7. Anyone can tackle
Callum Mills has been a revelation as a midfielder, and while he’s not always a tackling machine, he has brought his defensive attitude into the middle for Sydney. While the Bombers had 30 tackles in total on Saturday night, Mills laid 13 himself for the Swans. Try to comprehend that. 30 as a team versus 13 from an individual. Mills had energy overload. His tackle numbers this season have been 5, 4, 2, 4, 4, 5, 7, 4 and then 13 against the Bombers. There are many contenders for the All Australian midfield spots, and Mills won’t be a starting player. But a bench spot is a possibility.
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