The Tackle: Sam Landsberger and Glenn McFarlane’s likes and dislikes from Gather Round
After all the suspensions and concussions this year, will players start to take take heed of the warnings and stop throwing their opponents to ground? SEE THE R5 LIKES AND DISLIKES.
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What a brilliant celebration of the game.
Gather Round took Adelaide by storm, with some fantastic football on display to the strong crowds across the weekend.
But, as always, there were still the negatives to come out of the festival of football for some clubs.
Take a look at the likes and dislikes from Gather Round.
LIKES
ADELAIDE’S NEW FRINGE FESTIVAL
The famous Adelaide Fringe Festival may have wrapped up last month, but a new footy version looks set for a much longer run.
The Crows have plenty of headline acts including Jordan Dawson and Rory Laird, but there are a swag of fringe players heading Adelaide’s 2023 charge.
Most footy fans, particularly those from outside of South Australia, would struggle to recognise the likes of Chayce Jones, Mitch Hinge, Nick Murray and Jordon Butts, but Matthew Nicks’ pride in his lesser lights is unmistakable.
Jones is coming off the best two weeks of his 61-game AFL career. In the past fortnight he has had 49 disposals (35 uncontested), 16 scoring involvements and four score assists.
Hinge had 24 disposals against the Blues, including seven marks, nine scoring involvements and eight intercepts.
Nick Murray has conceded only seven goals against Tom Lynch, Todd Marshall, Matt Taberner/Luke Jackson and Charlie Curnow in the past four weeks; and Butts is in good form and fresh off signing a new deal through to the end of 2026.
Even the Crows’ father-son draft selection Max Michalanny is surely headed for a Rising Star nomination soon. In round 5 he restricted Shai Bolton to five disposals and a goal in 49 minutes, Junior Rioli to five disposals and no goals in 78 minutes, Michael Walters to five disposals and no goals in 67 minutes and on Thursday Jesse Motlop to four disposals and one goal in 59 minutes. He looks like becoming a serious intercept defender at 190cm.
‘BASKET CASE TO BRAD’ … AND THE MOST ANTICIPATED ANZAC DAY IN YEARS
When Alastair Clarkson spurned a late approach from a coachless Essendon late last August, the consensus was that the Bombers were “a basket case”.
Not any more.
While five weeks doesn’t make a season, or a coach, the decision to target and take Brad Scott out of AFL House is starting to look like a winner.
The Bombers are 4-1, having claimed its first serious scalp with Melbourne on Saturday. But just as impressive as that win-loss record, and something which looks sustainable, is the system and selflessness that Essendon is currently displaying.
It won’t all be linear, but Bombers fans have every reason to be excited, not just with the list, but in the manner that Scott has his team playing.
The midfield that was once labelled selfish is working with a collegiate approach; the defence looks rock solid in structure and style; and the forward line is humming with Saturday showing it is not just ‘Jake Stringer or nothing’.
This has set up one of the most-highly anticipated Anzac Day clashes in recent memory with Collingwood set to provide a big challenge to the Bombers.
Bring it on!
POWER RANGERS
The Dogs have had their claws in Port Adelaide’s midfield and then got out-hunted. They won clearances by 10 in the first three quarters and then were beaten by nine in the final term. Pelting rain made this a territory game and suddenly the home team had field position. The most impressive part for coach Ken Hinkley was the changing of the guard it signified, and the fact that he was the firestarter by substituting out ruckman Scott Lycett. Power added another ground-level player in Jackson Mead to the contest, pushed Jeremy Finlayson into the ruck and Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis got to work. They each had 11 disposals and four clearances in the fourth quarter. Williem Drew went to Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli, who had been enormous. In the fourth quarter Jackson Macrae had one disposal (albeit it should’ve set up an Aaron Naughton goal) while Toby McLean, Rory Lobb and Mitch Hannan didn’t touch the footy. Was there a touch of Mark Thompson’s “You people! All of you” about his post-match defence of Horne-Francis?
GATHER GROUNDED
Collingwood coach and South Australian Craig McRae ventured south to visit family on Saturday. Richmond assistant and local hero Ben Rutten ventured to The Moseley pub he owns along with Travis Boak and Robbie Gray for the Crows-Blues clash on Thursday night. Essendon ruckman Sam Draper had 40 family and friends from his hometown of Old Reynalla, 20km south of Adelaide, up for his game. Draper said “every man and his dog” from Old Reynalla was there. Former Bulldog and Tiger Jordan McMahon took his Richmond-supporting daughter to Tigers training at Glenelg on Thursday, where about 5000 yellow and black supporters piled into the SANFL venue, sank $5 beers and got photos with players. It was an unbeatable old-school atmosphere. Even Gather Round t-shirts and footy jumpers featuring nothing more than the fixture of games were spotted everywhere. Nightspots were filled with colours from every team. Sorry, northern states, but it’s hard to imagine such genuine passion for the game getting generated out of the game’s heartland.
HOME SWEET HOME
It’s hard to know how to assess Geelong’s premiership defence after five weeks given the Cats are playing in patches at the moment, but they do get the luxury of returning home next week.
While Tyson Stengle will likely be a big out against Sydney next round after being taken to hospital with am arm injury, the biggest ‘in’ for the Cats next week will be GMHBA Stadium.
Geelong has won 32 of the past 37 games on their home deck and while a return to their base won’t cure some of the inconsistency in patches, it won’t hurt them either.
And the return on Saturday night will also see the Cats unfurl their 2022 premiership flag!
Geelong looked devastating in periods of Sunday’s clash with West Coast, including a streak of 11 consecutive goals in a first half that yielded 14.5 on the scoreboard.
In a damaging six-minute window the Cats kicked four goals at the same time as the Eagles had three collective disposals.
But Chris Scott won’t be happy that the Eagles outscored his team in the second half, and a 77-point margin in the third quarter was cut back to 47 points by the game’s end.
HAWKS HUMMING AROUND THE BALL
It was Harry Himmelberg’s day – the swingman took a legitimate speccy, kicked the go-ahead goal and then played goalkeeper to save the game when Jarman Impey tried to steal it – and Harry had his brother, crow Elliott, in the stands. But there was also a lot in this one for Hawthorn. In what was a hot contest – both clubs recorded pressure ratings above the AFL average – the Hawks were strong around the contest, winning contested ball by 10 and clearances by eight. They kicked five goals from the back half, too, in a big tick to the ball movement under coach Sam Mitchell. The decision for Conor Nash to tag 50-gamer Tom Green was another big tick for Mitchell. Green had 20 disposals in the first half, but in 52 minutes opposed to Nash after that he had only 10 more, compared to Nash’s 15. Ex-Dog Fergus Greene playing as a key forward kicked another three goals and is another shrewd signing.
THE WILKIE WAY
St Kilda remains on top of the ladder and the only team to concede fewer than 300 points. On Sunday night they badly lost the territory battle, conceding 64 inside 50s, but it didn’t worry the defenders. Only North Melbourne conceded more entries (66) and while the Roos leaked 42 scores – 22.20 (152) – Collingwood could only muster 10.10 (70). The Saints boasted the lowest score-per-inside 50m rate and Callum Wilkie was once again the key reason why. In the past three weeks Wilkie has taken 20 intercept marks, which must be close to a record, in addition to blanketing some of the best forwards. On Sunday night he kept Jamie Elliott to one goal and Will Hoskin-Elliott goalless after beating Ben King (one goal), Jake Stringer (one goal), Aaron Naughton (two goals) and Nat Fyfe (goalless). Next up? Carlton’s Coleman Medallists – Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay.
NO CLEAR FAVOURITE
Who’s your premiership favourite? Is it Collingwood, who reverted to its 2022 form on Sunday night? The Magpies lost contested ball by 21 and clearances by six – but won a close one. But they also lost makeshift ruckman Dan McStay (finger), with full-back Billy Frampton forced to go into the middle. Collingwood will also be without Nathan Murphy (concussion) on Anzac Day. Is it the suddenly-flaky Melbourne, which just got smashed by Essendon? Is it Geelong, which has finally started to grow some legs? Is it Brisbane Lions, who scored 116 points off turnovers against North Melbourne on Saturday ? Or is it Sydney, who cruised past Richmond with most of its starting backline in the stands and then Joel Amartey (hamstring) on the bench? The flag race is wide open … the Brownlow Medal market is not. Nick Daicos had 42 disposals (31 uncontested) and 850m gained against the Saints. Bradley Hill spent 50 minutes on him and was moved to a wing in the last quarter. Daicos might have 12, 13 or even 14 votes already. It’s flawless footy from the slick 20-year-old.
DISLIKES
DROUGHT THAT DAMNED THE DEES
They were the AFL’s highest scoring team in the first month of football, but as the heavens opened for Gather Round, the big drought came on for the Dees.
Melbourne went 53 minutes without a goal between the second and final quarters - a rare goal-scoring famine that killed any chance it had of winning this match.
In between, a super efficient and surprisingly slick Essendon piled on seven unanswered goals, inexplicably five of them came from turnover.
Was it any wonder that Simon Goodwin lamented the performance as “not us” and conceded he and his coaching staff were still sorting through what the best forward mix looked like.
Late withdrawal Ben Brown will be back next week, and the likely return of Max Gawn from his knee injury will see him share a ruck-forward split with Brodie Grundy.
What was particularly alarming about that 53-minute window was that the Demons scored from only 17 per cent of their entries compared to Essendon’s 48 per cent.
In that time frame, Melbourne’s pressure rating of 172 saw them lose clearances by four, inside 50s by five and contested ball by five.
It’s far from damning just yet. But Goodwin knows the Demons need to clean things up.
ANOTHER ECLIPSE OF THE SUNS
Gold Coast has won four out of 12 games since the club re-signed coach Stewart Dew through to the end of 2024. Four of those losses have been by eight goals or more while in that time the likes of Adelaide, St Kilda and Essendon have spiked past the Suns with arguably less-talented lists. In 2022 it was Collingwood and Fremantle who shot clear of them. This week the Suns host North Melbourne and if the Kangaroos join that list and dump the Suns to 1-5 it will be crisis time for the AFL’s problem child … again. Rivals believe they have the recipe to block out the Suns, who are so contest-focussed that their list of weaponry beyond that is skinnier than the Norwood Oval wings they were beaten on. On Friday night Fremantle kicked seven of the final nine goals as the Suns were slaughtered away from the contest. In that period they lost uncontested ball by -47, disposals by -42, inside 50s by -10 and recorded a pressure rating below the AFL average. If you can breakeven with the Suns in clearance and contested ball you should be banking four points. Is Gold Coast ever going to play finals?
NOISE OF AFFIRMATION
Aliir Aliir’s desperation in defence has been rightly lauded recently. There was that goalline spoil to save the game after the final siren against Sydney and a similar effort to deny Jamarra Ugle-Hagan a goal on Saturday night. But you still have to execute legally, and his rundown tackle on Aaron Naughton in the goalsquare during the tense fourth quarter should’ve been penalised for a trip. Aliir clung on to Naughton’s left leg below his knee and dragged him to the ground. The certain goal would’ve cut the margin to three points with eight minutes on the clock. You had to wonder what the goal umpire and boundary umpire, who had a perfect view of the incident, were thinking as they stood there powerless to intervene as all four field umpires failed to pick up on the crucial error.
SLING TACKLES
When are players going to take heed of the warnings? The AFL’s crackdown on sling tackles is a few weeks old now and yet players are still falling into the trap of throwing opponents to the ground when it is unnecessary. Zach Merrett has paid the penalty for his exuberance on Tom Sparrow and will now miss Anzac Day. Eagle Josh Rotham took Cat Tyson Stengle to the ground, which saw the Geelong forward’s arm caught underneath him. He was subbed out of the game and was taken to hospital for assessment. Tom Green and Taylor Adams were both rubbed out for a week after dangerous tackles on Josh Ward and Seb Ross respectively.
WOUNDED EAGLES
The sad reality is a wounded West Coast is playing a level below AFL standard and its reserves are several levels below WAFL standard. On Saturday the club’s seconds lost 34.13 (217) to 7.6 (48) … against a West Perth outfit that was also coming off a defeat. The Eagles started with six AFL-listed players - Coby Burgiel, Zane Trew, Harry Barnett, Rhett Bazzo, Tyrell Dewar and Elijah Hewett - only for Hewett to hurt his ankle before touching the footy. Two Falcons forwards kicked a bigger score than the Eagles. You wonder how such a game is helping them develop into AFL players. Surely they can find WAFL players up to scratch, as a similarly injury-hit Richmond has done in the VFL.
COULD HAWKS COME LAST AND LOSE HARLEY?
Here is the doomsday scenario for the Hawks. Imagine if they slump to their first wooden spoon since 1965 (they currently sit last with a percentage under 60) … and miss out on No.1 draft pick and Dustin Martin clone Harley Reid due to penalties from the racism saga. That would seemingly rely on guilty findings that implicate the club – not just individuals. But it is a possibility the AFL can’t emphatically rule out right now. The hope a No.1 pick provides was there to see on Sunday at Norwood as Giant Aaron Cadman made his AFL debut. The highlight came when Cadman came to the bench four minutes after booting the first goal of his career. The teenager tried his best to act professional as a row of mates screamed and cheered for him, and after Cadman had waded past all of the club’s officials on the sidelines he shot them a cheeky smile.
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