The Tackle round 19: All the likes and dislikes from the weekend
Ross Lyon walked into the Saints as their messiah, but when does St Kilda’s blowtorch turn from ‘nepo baby Suns’ and Nick Daicos onto his failure to get his side anywhere near finals?
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The weekend was full of thrilling matches and finals-shaping results – with no shortage of talking points.
Scott Gullan unpacks his likes and dislikes from the weekend.
DISLIKES
1. HEAT ON SAINTS?
WE’VE had angry Ross, cuddly Ross and maybe now there needs to be more reality Ross.
St Kilda are currently 15th, a game behind Essendon and only percentage clear of Richmond. They have only won two of their past 14 games.
Let’s put that in context, the Bombers have had the worst injury run in the AFL while there were some at the start of the season who thought Richmond might not win a game.
Yet Ross Lyon’s genius ability to deflect away from the facts is unparalleled in the modern era. He will have statistics and theories which cloud everything, then divert attention to Gold Coast being the AFL’s “nepo baby” or Nick Daicos being a protected species from the umpires.
Every week there is something and the Saints fans deserve more than the old we-know-where-we-are routine.
Losing to Geelong at GMHBA Stadium is obviously not an unexpected result – the Saints hadn’t won down the Princes Highway since 1999 – so again Ross can hide behind that pretty significant stat.
Playing well against some of the top teams which they have done throughout the year is nice but how long does it take for a game style and definitive plan to show itself to be capable of winning games.
The next month will tell the story with very winnable games Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond and Essendon. If the Saints win those, is it a pass for the year and we all move on? Or is it just covering over the real story?
Two years ago St Kilda played in an elimination final in Lyon’s first season. They fell to 12th last year – two games out of the finals – as the spin about a rebuild was starting to be put out there.
You can’t tell us the St Kilda board thought they’d be languishing in the bottom four near the end of Lyon’s third year when they made the unpopular move of sacking Brett Ratten to cater for the return of the former messiah.
Fourteen players from that elimination final team played against Geelong on Sunday. That’s still a solid core group yet the team appears to be going in the wrong direction at a rate of knots.
So who is missing from St Kilda’s best team? Full-forward Max King and young gun Mattaes Phillipou are at the top of the list but they’re unfortunately spending more time off the field than on it.
After that there are some journeymen in Dan Butler, Jimmy Webster and Dougal Howard but their absence shouldn’t be the reason for this shocking record.
Of course, there are some nice young players in the making. The Flying Viking Alixzander Tauru has been exciting, Max Hall has been a pleasant surprise while Darcy Wilson had his issues this year but can play.
The biggest problem is their best young player might not be there in a couple of months. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was again superb against the Cats (36 possessions, 10 clearances, two goals) but the fact he hasn’t re-signed by the end of Round 19 says a lot.
Both Adelaide clubs have come hard and if St Kilda is willing to pay a ridiculous $1.7 million per year to get Tom De Koning from Carlton, Wanganeen-Milera could ask for anything and deserve it given he is the best thing to happen at Moorabbin for years.
And if he departs, well, that’s just plain ugly Ross.
2. TIME UP FOR REVIEWS
Incoming AFL footy boss Greg Swann has hinted at a change in quarter lengths when he gets feet under the desk.
The first half of the Cats-Saints should be his case study with almost half an hour of “time-on” (yes, that’s correct according to our man on the ground Mark Hayes).
And if he’s looking to lop a few seconds here and there, surely discussions by umpiring committees around point posts must become history.
Patrick Dangerfield’s sliced set shot in the second term was given a “soft call” of out of bounds before the umpiring triumvirate sent the call “upstairs” for what must rate as the most pointless review of the season.
Surprise, surprise, there was no way of learning more with the video evidence available and the “umpire’s call” meant we’d all just wasted 30 seconds of our lives.
The instruction must surely come to all boundary umpires: if you’re stationed on the point post for a set shot, MAKE THE CALL!
And while Swanny’s at it, the sudden emergence of the dissent rule at the MCG on Sunday needs some reviewing.
Former Melbourne great Garry Lyon lost his mind in the Fox Footy commentary box when a 50m penalty was awarded against Fremantle’s Karl Worner for pointing to the scoreboard.
The result was a goal to Lachie Schultz with Lyon saying: “That hasn’t happened for 12 months.”
3. SHAKY GROUND
Gold Coast weren’t expected to beat Adelaide in Adelaide but a serious finals side doesn’t fail to kick a goal in a half of football.
A week after they won some cred by knocking over Collingwood at home in the club’s biggest victory, Damien Hardwick’s side went backwards again.
And it has again raised question marks about whether they’re a legitimate top eight outfit.
The Crows did as they pleased for the first hour as Suns players lost their heads and you don’t need any think music to work out who led the way there. (Hello Mac Andrew).
There is an uneasiness about the Suns again with all sorts of banana peel games in the run home and if they serve up a display like Sunday night’s they will slip up.
Next week at home against nemesis Brisbane is huge as will another home game in Round 23 against the GWS Giants.
Returning to Adelaide Oval to take on Port Adelaide in Round 24 has danger all over it as it will be an emotionally-charged occasion for the Power with coach Ken Hinkley and legend Travis Boak making their final appearances.
While they definitely have a win guaranteed in the final game of the year against Essendon, if the Western Bulldogs and Giants don’t make any slip-ups it might not matter.
4. EAGLES CRUSH
Let’s be honest the only thing interesting about the West Coast Eagles right now is Harley Reid.
If there wasn’t weekly discussion about whether the former No. 1 draft pick is going to stay or go then no-one would be talking or watching the Eagles at all.
Reid is a fascination because he’s so entertaining to watch on the field. He gets in fights, mouths off, struts around like a two-time Brownlow Medallist who has played 200 games (he probably will be that at some stage) and is already by far the Eagles best player.
He tried his guts out against Richmond in what was the worst performance for the season from West Coast, and that is saying something.
The Eagles understandably started favourites in the match against the third-worst team in the competition because of the home ground advantage but instead they offered up their worst quarter of the season when the Tigers kicked eight goals to one after half-time to blow the game apart.
Eagles coach Andrew McQualter, a former Tigers assistant, was embarrassed and said his team’s skill level “wasn’t at AFL standard”.
What must Reid be thinking after games like that?
Everyone is trying to figure out what he will do when he comes out of contract at the end of next season. Maybe a performance like that shifts the needle and brings forward that departure decision.
Now that would make the West Coast interesting again.
LIKES
1. MARK IT DOWN
Every year in the post-mortem of a premiership, there’s always a game during the year where the players in hindsight pinpoint as the one where everything changed.
Going from having a good season to believing you can actually win the flag is a huge step for a team. Fremantle just did that.
Travelling to the MCG and knocking off the best team in the competition in a cliffhanger – a scenario Collingwood usually thrives in – is up there with the best wins of the year by anybody.
While it might be obvious to call it a turning point for the Dockers, look deeper into it and it’s more about the way they played than the result.
This was a finals type game, hard, tough with no easy possessions. You stand up in that even if it’s late July, you can do it again in September.
The Dockers have the right blend to play finals football.
There is variety to their midfield who can go inside and outside of the contest with vice-captain Caleb Serong (37 possessions and one goal) enormous against the Magpies while we know the quality his running partner Andrew Brayshaw provides.
A bonus on Sunday was former Hawk Jaeger O’Meara (23 possessions) playing his best game for a long time while Hayden Young took the subs vest off at three-quarter time and had 11 disposals in the crucial final term.
They have speed with the likes of Shai Bolton, Sam Switkowski and Michael Frederick and a two-pronged ruck set-up which has come under a lot of criticism but was important against the Pies. Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy both kicked valuable goals, showing coach Justin Longmuir might be onto something.
The defence is consistently good led by Jordan Clark and Luke Ryan while the forward line has two proper big targets in Patrick Voss and Josh Treacy.
While Treacy has rightfully got most of the plaudits this season, Voss was the one who destroyed the Pies with an incredible six goals. To think he couldn’t get a game for Essendon two years ago is mind-numbing given the Bombers current plight.
In previous years the Dockers would get carried away with such a result and fluff their lines in the coming weeks with winnable games against West Coast, Carlton and Port Adelaide.
How they handle Brisbane at Optus Stadium and the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium in the final two rounds will decide if they finish top four. Take care of business there and they’ll get another shot at Collingwood on the MCG which isn’t as daunting now as it was 24 hours ago.
2. CATS’ SEPTEMBER WILDCARD
Could a 30-year-old playing in his 12th season at his third club be Geelong’s September wildcard?
Jack Martin is the most intriguing player at GMHBA Stadium for the final six weeks of the season.
While he only had 11 touches against St Kilda it included seven marks, six tackles and two goals.
He plays sneaky tall as a forward but has also spent time at half-back and on the ball during his six games with the Cats.
Martin’s history is well known. He had potential star written all over him at the Gold Coast before crossing to Carlton on big money.
Unfortunately his body let him down in recent years and the shine went off him.
After just three games last year Geelong saw an opportunity and pounced, backing in their medical team to turn around Martin’s fortunes.
While that wasn’t the case early, the fact he is up and running now and finding his feet ahead of a finals campaign is exactly why the Cats got him.
Right now he is keeping Ollie Henry, who is a more than handy player, out of the Geelong forward line.
They have plenty of great players but in September you need X-factor types who can turn it on for a quarter or put together three or four magical things which change the course of a game.
Martin has shown he can do that.
3. MOIR KOUTA
IT” S a tried and true formula, a player wearing No. 43 giving the Blues some much-needed excitement.
Now before we get accused of comparing Ashton Moir and Anthony Koutoufides, let’s agree this was something about the kid on Saturday night which had the Carlton faithful at least dreaming about what might be in the No. 43 again.
Playing in just his sixth game, the 20-year-old kicked four goals and was instrumental in the Blues finally getting back on the winner’s list against Melbourne.
Even from his first outing at the end of last year there was a look about Moir, the physical attributes were there which included being able to kick just as well on his left and right feet.
But he’s been a slow burn even during the Blues troubles and the patience looks like it might be paying off for the South Australian who was taken at No. 29 in the 2023 draft.
At least Moir provided another option which allowed Charlie Curnow more freedom. Ruckman Marc Pittonet summed it up best afterwards: “The X-factor he has got is unbelievable.”
He is exactly what Michael Voss needed. Ouf of the mess this season has become, the coach desperately needed something new and shiny to offer the fans and he just might have found one in Moir.
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