The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 23
Let’s not duck and dive, writes MARK ROBINSON, the Saints are a better performing team without Max King in their side. What does that mean for next year?
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It was the penultimate round of the AFL season, with finals spots and top four places on the line across the country. Mark Robinson unpacks the likes and dislikes from a mammoth weekend of football.
LIKES
1. CAPTAIN CRIPPS
If the All Australian selectors are still to decide who is the captain of this year’s team, the Carlton skipper put his name at the top of the list on Sunday. You suspect it’s between Cripps and Marcus Bontempelli, the two resident bulls in the AFL paddock, and both would be worthy captains. Still, it’s games like Sunday’s win over the Eagles where legend is created. Cripps took his banged up team west and needed the win to save the season. From the start, he set a standard of competitiveness which his teammates fed off, and the Blues demolished their opposition. We’re not sure, outside of last year’s finals run, if he would be more proud of a performance since he was named Blues captain in 2019.
Yes, that’s how good the win was, and let alone how good he was. In the first half, when the game was to be won, he had 21 disposals, 13 contested possessions and six score involvements. Overall, it was 35, 21 and 12. Add 10 clearances to that package. Others followed him. Kemp kicked four goals as the stand-in key forward, the Holland brothers and George Hewett cut the mustard in the midfield, Pittonet had eight clearances, and Owies kicked his sixth three-bagger of the season. Every player had a moment of importance in a game which maybe wasn’t one for the ages, but my God, it was full of ticker and high pressure. A rating of 198 with their backs to the wall was enormous.
2. POINT OF DIFFERENCE
In Round 5, after Sam Darcy kicked three goal against Geelong, AFL legend Leigh Matthews declared Darcy as the next big thing. “Most blokes of his size are not much good until they’re probably 24 or 25,” Matthews said. “So I reckon he is the next big thing and that’s going to be very bad news, I suspect, for Rory Lobb. They’re not going to play both of them.” He was right about Darcy and was half right about Lobb. Darcy kicked seven goals on Sunday and Lobb has found a spot in defence, although it’s Darcy who has the footy world excited. He kicked 1.5 against the Crows last week and 7.1 against North Melbourne on Sunday, in a manner which drew comparisons with former Essendon ruck-forward Paul Salmon. Matthews was still playing when, in 1984, Salmon kicked 63.36 in the first 13 games of the season. Salmon (205cm) wowed football with his athleticism, stretch marking and ability to kick left and right foot, and not until Darcy’s arrival has a young footballer had the same unique qualities and flourished. The Bulldogs got 12 goals and 18 marks from Darcy, Naughton and Ugle-Hagan on Sunday. That’s their weapon of mass destruction, although it must be said its rare for big key forwards to dominate in September. But a trio of them makes it more tricky for the opposition.
3. KENNY IS COOKING
Port Adelaide will finish top three on the ladder and will play the Giants in the first week of the finals, at home or away depending on next week’s results. After being humiliated by Port’s supporters when he was booed off his home ground eight games back, Ken Hinkley has won seven matches. At the time, he said: “I am not going to sit here and surrender, I won’t do that.” He hasn’t. Port’s past month has been enormous and lost in review is Port’s defensive profile. They kept Carlton to 11 points after half-time at Marvel Stadium, they kept Sydney to 36 points at home, they grinded with Melbourne at the MCG and kept them to 51 points and on Saturday night, restricted Adelaide to 58 points. It’s in good order. And so are their matchwinners. On Saturday, Zak Butters blitzed the Crows. The week before, it was Jason Horne-Francis and Connor Rozee. Against Sydney, Ollie Wines was the No. 1 rated player. Of course, Hinkley’s future will be decided by how the finals play out. A finals win and it’s more likely than not he will be at Port next year. Certainly, the noise about him being the next West Coast coach has disappeared, as has the booing.
4. DEMONS BE GONE
Not for the first time, Simon Goodwin stuck up to two fingers to the doomsayers who were lining up and shredding his football club. It was a mighty win. “(The win) tells us a lot about the unity and the connection that is pretty strong within our footy club,” Goodwin said. You can’t disagree. But that still doesn’t mean there are some unresolved issues. Like, why exactly is Christian Petracca unsettled? We are told he is and Melbourne hasn’t denied it but we haven’t yet heard from Petracca.
Chief executive Gary Pert, in typical Pert-style – which is to calmly speak a lot and not say a lot – told SEN on Saturday the team had lost “some alignment”. What exactly does that mean? That’s not a criticism of Pert, and nor do we expect the dirty washing to be hung out publicly, but it doesn’t near enough explain why Petracca, the club’s next captain, is disillusioned. Pert also said Jack Viney would be at Melbourne next year, although Viney, who was heroic against the Suns, was less convincing when asked after the match. “We’ll get through the season and we’ll see out it pans out,” Viney said. So, while the win was magnificent, and Goodwin was proud as punch, we still don’t know what Viney is doing or how angry Petracca is with his club. The fans deserve some clarity.
5. LOW-HANGING FRUIT
Before Max King was injured in Round 17, St Kilda had kicked 100-plus points in only two games this season. Since then, there’s been two horrible scores of 39, but more to the point, three been three 100-point scores and a 99-point score. On Saturday night, the Saints kicked 107 points against one of the most organised teams in the competition and a team which had not given up 100 points for seven weeks. Let’s not duck and dive, the Saints are a better performing team without King as the key forward. Without him, the Saints are more unpredictable, more aware of options, which has delivered a spread of goalkickers.
There were nine of them against the Cats. In Round 1 against the Cats, there were just five. It was a great win, but let’s not be seduced. They have won four from five, beating West Coast, Essendon and Richmond before the Cats, but the list needs help. One player who has helped is Hunter Clark. He missed the first 12 weeks because of injury and while he’s not the tearaway mid they require, his calmness and ball delivery amid the helter skelter, makes the Saints a better team. The problem can be if he and Jack Steele are in the same midfield mix for too long, the Saints can appear slow. But he’s a player all right. And so Cal Wilkie. He played the best key back game of any player this year. His 15 marks makes it 56 marks he has taken in his past five games.
6. CAN SHORT BALL SURVIVE SEPTEMBER?
Premiership coach Paul Roos believes pressure and contest will still win finals, so he favours chaos over control. Brisbane’s short-ball, high possession was taken away from them on Saturday. This season, when they have taken more than 100 uncontested marks, they are 9-1 win-loss. When they take fewer than 100 uncontested marks, they are 4 wins, one draw and seven losses. The point is controlled football is difficult to maintain when the pressure rating is high, which it is in finals.
On Saturday, Collingwood’s final quarter pressure was 191. In the final five minutes, the Pies kicked three goals to snatch a brilliant win. In contrast, Brisbane didn’t have ‘control’ of their game for long enough. Fremantle is another team which likes the controlled style and which hasn’t got them over the line in their past three outings. Essendon also has collapsed too many times with their short-ball style, although the Bombers would say that’s not the issue. They’d say it’s connection inside 50m rather than their inability to get in there.
DISLIKES
1, WILL DAY’S COLLARBONE
He went off in the first quarter clutching his wounded wing and it prompted discussion about whether the Hawks could win the flag without him. That’s what momentum does. Even before they had secured a finals spot, their premiership chances were being slashed, so try to figure that one out. Day might be their best player, but this mob does not rely on any one player.
They had nine individual goalkickers on Sunday, seven players with 20 or more possessions and other than Day, every player had more than 10 possessions. Another 11 players had seven or more score involvements. The Hawks share the ball, spread the ground and they celebrate every precious moment. While Day has been cleared of a broken collarbone, the club is sweating on the results of scans on Monday to determine the severity of the injury. If he is given a tick by the doctors after a month off, and the Hawks are still playing, how do you fit him into the team?
2. SUNDAY SLAUGHTER
North Melbourne will lick their wounds both physically and mentally after being pounded on Sunday and their season can’t end quick enough. Just 37 entries versus the Bulldogs’ 69 tells the tale. The work ethic which has been somewhat of a hallmark since Round 14 deserted them. They had 64 fewer possessions than the Bulldogs but the Bulldogs out tackled them 63-49. The 96-point loss was their worst scoreboard result of the year which is why more games in a season, which is being mooted, is not the best idea.
Because the longer the season goes, the longer we have uncompetitive games. It wasn’t as bad at the MCG. The Tigers were jumped in the first quarter, were competitive in the second quarter but still 37 points down at the half. And then 46 points down at three-quarter time. The Hawks had 35 scoring shots to 18 and eventually won by 62 points. The Tigers have a major day this week when Dustin Martin is publicly farewelled. We suspect it won’t be the only Tigers who will say goodbye. Rioli, Baker and Bolton will also have eyes on them, and if there’s a wave to the crowd, we’ll know.
3. HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM
This crazy season has been accompanied by a crazy set of circumstances. Dan Houston knocked Adelaide’s Izak Rankine into next week and the consequence for the Port Adelaide defender will be between four and six weeks’ suspension.
Immediately, Rankine went into that horrible, involuntary spasm – his body stiffened, an arm jerked skywards and his fingers spread. Everyone saw it and knew Rankine was done and so was Houston. Everyone, that is, except the umpires. Rankine did not receive a free kick.
Rather, the ball spilt free before Jason Horne-Francis marked and kicked a goal. What an utterly ridiculous situation. We often have out-of-play umpires calling head-high or holding frees, but on Saturday night not one of the three non-controlling umpires intervened when the controlling umpire, in his wisdom, thought Houston did not infringe.
How can a bloke be knocked out in a front-on bump to the head and the incident be ignored by the umpire? The AFL says head trauma and concussion is the No. 1 issue in the game, yet its umpires green light whacks like that. It’s debatable who was more negligent, Houston or the umpire?
4. WHAT HOGWASH
Veteran reporter Caroline Wilson opined on Saturday that Brad Scott had been coaching for two years with one-arm tied behind his back, because “not everyone has been pulling in the same direction at Essendon”.
The list of excuses about why Essendon has endured another season of capitulation are many and varied, but that one takes the cake. Wilson’s suggestion is that people at Essendon – who exactly, the outgoing Adrian Dodoro and Kevin Sheedy? – made Scott’s situation difficult.
That’s nothing but PR spin from inside Essendon to give Scott some sort of out for a second consecutive wasted second half of the season. Scott is certainly big enough and ugly enough to wear the criticisms for his team’s failings – and wouldn’t blame others.
The Dyson Heppell situation, meanwhile, was a moment lost. Even if Heppell wanted to be selected on merit and was apparently OK about not playing the final home game of his career, Scott should’ve played him. Even as the sub. Surely, he plays this week. Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti got a farewell game from Scott in 2023 when he was unfit and had not played for 12 weeks, so you’d think Heppell would be a certainty to play against the Brisbane Lions.
5. POOR DEFENCE
There are system breakdowns in defence and there’s also individual failings. The Dockers and Brennan Cox were exposed in both.
Jesse Hogan kicked 6.4 and took nine marks on Saturday and looked every inch the commanding presence that has seen him kick five, four, four, four, five, three and six goals in his past seven games. He won the game for the Giants on Saturday. And to be brutal, Cox helped the Dockers lose the game.
In the final minutes, Hogan took an uncontested mark in the centre of the ground and then took another uncontested mark near the 50m line, when Cox lost him as they both ran back towards GWS’s goal. How you lose the best key forward in the game when it’s all hands on deck is mind-boggling for its lack of urgency and organisation. Cox was ball-watching and not Hogan watching. That Fremantle’s Bailey Banfield gave away a 50m penalty after the second mark, which meant Hogan kicked the goal, only added to coach Justin Longmuir’s frustration. AFL legend Jason Dunstall had a novel idea how to play Hogan – touch and feel all the time.
6. DOES MENTAL SCARRING EXIST?
The Cats were walloped on Saturday and former skipper Joel Selwood in his commentary partly put it down to effort. It’s an observation not usually associated with Geelong.
St Kilda kicked 13.5 to 5.2 after halftime which included five goals in 10 minutes in the final quarter. In that period the Saints looked like the best team in the competition and the Cats looked useless.
The stats were damning. In the second half, the Saints were +21 in contested ball and inside 50s were +12 to St Kilda. More damning – or is that more alarming? – was the fact that Geelong gave up eight goals from its defensive half in the final two quarters. It was their worst return since round 3, 2003. It’s only a stat, but a week from finals, it a) raises concerns about their ability to defend transition and b) whether Saturday night’s effort might create doubts in their own heads. Maybe we’re jumping at shadows and the walloping was just another weird outcome in a weird season of results. Time will tell.
7. JOSH RACHELE
It’s OK to talk the talk, but you must walk the walk. It’s part of the contract when you play the hype game. The Crows playmaker was a smart arse in the lead up to the Showdown when had a crack at Port supporters for having no teeth. Yet, when it came to playing, Rachele’s performance had no substance. He had 10 kicks and kicked a goal and in one play, preferred to get out of the way instead of taking the ball and contact. Crows coach Matthew Nicks needs to pull Rachele’s head in, or at least tell him to get a kick before he concerns himself with being the team’s mouthpiece.
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