The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 15
North Melbourne has a beauty in Luke Davies-Uniacke. He could well be the highest paid player if he leaves the Roos, but MARK ROBINSON writes that North needs to make sure he stays. See more likes and dislikes here.
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In the final week of the byes, Mark Robinson lists his likes and dislikes from the weekend’s footy.
DISLIKES
1. Fired his last shot?
On Saturday, as the Port Adelaide swarm turned on Ken Hinkley, it felt like Colonel Ken was the last soldier standing in the Alamo when the Mexican army spilt over the walls. The end at the Alamo was an annihilation for the brave Tennessee soldiers who held off the Mexicans for 13 days, in what was one of America’s most famous battles. We’re not sure Colonel Ken will survive the hordes of Port Adelaide fans who are now demanding change at Alberton. Port was annihilated on Saturday by Brisbane. It was the last thing Hinkley needed in a season which began with strong hopes and, as we speak, is in perilous need of saving.
Make no mistake, the horde wants blood. In his 12th season, and after topping up his list, a record defeat was not in the planning. It was the team’s inability to match the Lions in every facet of the game which made this defeat unacceptable. It was un-Port Adelaide like. As if it didn’t mean that much to them. Hinkley is coaching for his future. He’s not stupid, he knows that. And unless there’s a shift in performance, unless there’s a spirited response, president David Koch will fire the final bullet. Dignity is needed if there is to be change, for Hinkley is a good man and a good coach. Let there be a truce, a surrender if you will, without a bloodied ending.
2. What to do about Esava?
Earlier this season, AFL great Malcolm Blight said teams needed two great defenders to become premiership contenders. Port Adelaide recruited Esava Ratugolea to stand beside Aliir Aliir and the belief, internally at least, was that Port had fixed their issues at the back. Esava’s performance on Saturday didn’t lose the game for Port. No, the blame was on the huff and puff midfielders and forwards who allowed 71 inside 50s which, in turn, had Esava and co. under siege for much of the afternoon. But Esava is a problem. It’s not his willingness to compete, it’s his awareness as he competes. One time, he jumped into the air and spoiled a teammate Miles Bergman in a marking contest, the ball spilt and Brisbane kicked a goal. In another play, with Port only six points down, he kicked the ball into the man on the mark, won it back, and his short kick wide to the opposite pocket hung in the air and was spoiled. They were simple plays which were foiled because Esava couldn’t execute. You’ve got to take the good and the bad in all players, but it’s dangerous to have a key defender who is unsafe and unpredictable.
3. Butters has a problem.
He swiped at GWS’s Tom Green last week and was cleared by the AFL on appeal. This week, he swiped at Jarrod Berry behind play and will be charged by the match review officer. His appetite to compete is why he is a leader at Port Adelaide, but he needs to control his temper.
If I was Zak Butters I would stop punching people. Got off against Tom Green but just got another fine for his little cheap one to tagger Jarrod Berry’s back. It will cost him $10K ($6250 with a guilty plea) given it’s a third offence. Those fines begin to add up @FOXFOOTY
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) June 23, 2024
He’s hurting his team with ill-discipline and while he’s frustrated, it’s also frustrating for his team. Veteran commentator and one-time hard man Dermott Brereton had some wise words. “If he was in my team I would say: ‘Leave it to us big ugly blokes to fight your battles, you just play footy’,” Brereton said. Derm knows what he’s talking about. He spent his career looking after midfield teammate John Platten who also had to deal with taggers almost weekly.
4. Throw crackdown needed
Zach Merrett threw the ball to Jye Cadwell with five minutes to play on Sunday and Caldwell’s brilliant running goal from the hand off made it a bridge too far for West Coast. The umpire had clear vision of Merrett’s action in the centre square, yet the umpire didn’t pay a free kick. Why? Because it looked like a handball. It is a play which needs to be eradicated from the game. Instead of bringing the fist to the hand cradling the ball, players bring the cradle hand to the fist, which allows the two arms to move in unison. The sleight of hand manoeuvre makes it difficult for the umpire to adjudicate. It’s basically shovelling, so let’s end the doubt and call it throwing. Caldwell’s goal capped a dominant final 10 minutes from the Bombers. He and Elliot Yeo went head to head and both were strong contributors, although Caldwell had more support around the ground. It was a bit of circle work on Sunday. Low pressure, low tackles, high transition. The Eagles will rue allowing Essendon to kick 11 goals from the back half. That was the damning deficiency in an otherwise good performance from the Eagles.
5. Chaos at the Cats
If we don’t see Tom Hawkins again because of his ankle injury, it is the end of a Hall of Fame career. He is a phenomenal player – we won’t say ‘was’ just yet – and his almost 800 goals puts him at No. 13 on the AFL’s all-time leading goalkicking list, four behind Richmond’s Matthew Richardson and 21 behind another Hall of Famer Bernie Quinlan. Results on Monday will determine his long-term fate.
The immediate fate of Patrick Dangerfield is likely to be decided at the tribunal on Tuesday, where the Cats will appeal his one-match suspension. They have a case. Dangerfield took every duty of care to protect Sam Walsh and his action was not unreasonable in the circumstance. In fact, Dangerfield tried to ensure that Walsh did not hit the ground with force which is what the game has asked of his combatants. The attack on commentator Brian Taylor, as noted by colleague Scott Gullan on Sunday, was pathetic. Taylor had an opinion, as did Luke Hodge and Nathan Buckley. For what it’s worth, BT is a terrific commentator and has earnt the right to call it as he sees it.
6. It’s cheating
Mick Malthouse once famously called players cheats for claiming they had touched a ball – when they hadn’t – when it went through the goals. Collingwood’s Isaac Quaynor actually admitted he did just that earlier this season and laughed about it in a post-match interview. Dare say Malthouse wasn’t impressed with that from Quaynor. Neither should anyone laugh when players are tackled to the ground and they grab their heads as if their heads had hit the turf and they are in distress. Melbourne’s Steven May did that on Saturday night and received the free kick.
Some would say he was faking or conning the umpire. But let’s call it what it is: cheating. Eddie Ford tackled May, held May, swung May around and yet the umpire didn’t play holding the ball. Only when Ford dumped May and May feigned head contact did the umpire blow the whistle and pay a free kick. May’s actions were embarrassing. His free kick led to an Alex Neal-Bullen goal and momentum was found. Tom Sparrow kicked the next goal. And then Jacob van Rooyen after that. That period of the game changed direction in the ground and on the scoreboard all because May faked a head injury. May is a big, tough, respected defender. He should play like one and leave the pretend footy to the kids at half-time.
7. What’s going on?
We get it, football is loaded with 50-50 decisions that you win or lose. It’s the fundamental decisions which drive people crazy. Despite fearing another technical explanation from AFL boss Laura Kane, an explanation is needed for two decisions on Saturday night. The first is why a 50m penalty was paid against Melbourne’s Caleb Windsor when Eddie Ford shaped/faked to handball and Windsor moved off his mark. A change to the stand rule meant faking a player on the mark was not supposed to be a 50m penalty. Ford kicked the goal. The other ridiculous decision scenario saw the umpire award Clayton Oliver a 50m penalty, only to see it mapped out to be between 70-80m. The free kick deep on the half-back of the MCG turned into a shot at goal from inside the 50m arc. They are intolerable mistakes.
LIKES
1. The curious Bombers
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon maintains the ladder doesn’t lie. It never does because you can only beat who you play. And the Bombers are third on the ladder with nine wins, four losses and a draw. But we’re not yet sure if Essendon is a threat or a tease. They beat West Coast by 30 points on Sunday. Offensively they were sharp, sometimes breathtaking with their ball movement from the back half. And Jake Stringer had one of his days where he found goals. But defensively they allowed the Eagles two more inside 50s (56-54) despite having 109 fewer possessions. The Eagles also had more tackles (60-54) and won clearance (44-35). It’s a slight concern. Essendon has given up 91, 96 and 92 points in their past three weeks, and if not for several missed set shots from the Eagles, West Coast could’ve led at three quarter-time. Jayden Laverde’s intercept game – he took 11 marks and had 28 possessions – also was pivotal. The defensive profile in the past month is not of a team which currently sits in the top four. They are 13th for points conceded and 16th for points conceded from turnover, which means they are not stopping the opposition when they lose the ball. They are also the fourth worst team for allowing a goal once the opposition goes inside 50. It’s a profile which needs rectifying if they are to be a serious threat in the finals.
2. Dockers rebound
They read too much of their publicity after their trouncing of Melbourne in Alice Springs and were put back in their box by the Western Bulldogs. At the bye break, coach Justin Longmuir didn’t hold back with his observations. They stuffed their stat boxes against the Dogs and didn’t play like a team. Their positive response was expected, especially so against a Gold Cast team which is still yet to master the travel under coach Damien Hardwick. Brayshaw, Serong and Young stuffed the stats sheet and had 29 score involvements between them, and Sean Darcy shushed the doubters about his capabilities as the No. 1 ruckman. As the season rights itself after the bye period – surely the three-week bye spread is no more in 2025 and complete week off is better? – the Dockers find themselves ahead of a slumping Port Adelaide and Geelong, the Giants and Melbourne on the ladder. A win over Sydney next week, a finals spot looks assured for the Dockers. The Suns goal tally on Sunday looked like a stats box from 2019. It was goals to Day, Swallow and Lukosius, and Miller led all comers with 33 disposals. If the Suns lose to Collingwood at home this week then 2024 will look like 2019 – no finals again.
3. Lions on a roll
In the past three weeks, Brisbane has kicked 17.12, 19.12 and on Saturday it was 23.14. When the defeats plagued the team this season, Lions coach Chris Fagan always believed his team was playing pretty good footy, and that the inability to score was the issue. Some of their goalkicking was horrendous. They kicked 4.13 (against Geelong), 8.11 (GWS), 10.19 (Gold Coast) and 10.15 (Hawthorn). In the first 11 games, Joe Daniher kicked 20.21 and had eight missed shots, Eric Hipwood kicked 11.10 and had four missed shots and Charlie Cameron kicked 18.16 and had nine missed shots. In the past three weeks, which the Lions have won, that trio has combined for 26.15 and three misses. Hipwood has found serious form. He’s kicked 13.5 which included 5.1 on Saturday in the rout of Port Adelaide. Unquestionably, the Lions are flying offensively, but in doing so their defensive profile has taken a hit. It’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul a little bit. Like, let’s be more aggressive with the ball movement, but that opens up the other end. In the past six rounds, which they have won four of them, the Lions are the fourth easiest team to score against going inside 50. It makes them a little vulnerable. Maybe they have the mantra that the opposition can kick 13 goals and they’ll kick 17 goals. It’s certainly free-flowing footy. The fact is they are No. 1 for ball movement and No. 17 for defending ball movement.
4. The young stand tall
As plenty of Melbourne players lost their heads in the final five minutes on Saturday night, it was the kids who stood up. First gamer Kynan Brown’s tackle on Nick Larkey with two minutes to play might well have saved the game and it was Brown, 19, who got special mention from the coach after the game. It was awesome: One play, one decisive moment. The other lad was 20-year-old Judd McVee. He laid a huge smother on Curtis Taylor when North was riding the momentum wave, and another time, he casually baulked around another North Melbourne player, and cleared the ball from defence. McVee, who was a rookie draftee in 2021 and playing for East Fremantle, finished the game with 14 disposals and six intercepts. Skipper Max Gawn called him tough and skilled which is a nice combo. Trent Rivers, 22, was the other standout. He and Tom Sparrow filled Christian Petracca’s minutes in the midfield and were able support for Jack Viney.
5. The fourth musketeer
During Brisbane’s halcyon days at the turn of the century, Luke Power was the fourth wheel in the Lions midfield. There was Voss, Black and Lappin and Power rounded out that unit. At Sydney, there’s Heeney, Warner and Gulden and the fourth musketeer is James Rowbottom. He had career high 32 disposals, 20 contested, 11 clearances and 10 score involvements against the Giants on Saturday. He had Tom Green as an opponent, but it didn’t appear to be the usual close-checking role for Rowbottom. Green had 35, four clearances and three score involvements, and while it’s true that if you have the ball the opposition doesn’t, Green didn’t have the same impact as Rowbotham. A gritty midfielder, Rowbottom always stands the opposition’s contested ball winner. This year, he’s played on Green, Bontempelli, Cripps, Rowell and Merrett. He won’t win the Brownlow Medal, or feature in any media awards, but he will go close to a podium finish in the Swans best and fairest.
6. Grabbing your opportunity
Alex Cincotta has played the past seven games for Carlton and has emerged as a weapon for coach Michael Voss. He is setting the trend in the return of the run-with player. His opponents have been Bobby Hill, Kossie Pickett, Tom Papley, Touk Miller, Zak Butters, Zach Merrett and on Friday night it was Tom Stewart. Cincotta has won all seven contests. Stewart had 15 disposals and one intercept mark and Cincotta had 10 touches, kicked two goals and laid seven tackles. It’s been a defining move for Cincotta and for Voss. The 27-year-old has played just 26 games, but it’s not inconceivable to think Voss would place Cincotta’s magnet first beside the opposition’s most damaging player and then name the team around him. At a guess, this week it’s Richmond (Shai Bolton). Then it’s the Giants (Toby Greene or Tom Green). Then it’s the Dogs (maybe Bontempelli or Treloar). Then it’s North Melbourne (Luke Davies Uniacke). What a find Cincotta is.
7. LDU
There’s a purity to how Luke Davies Uniacke plays. He has Chad Warner speed and swerve and Patrick Cripps’ power and balance. He is a dazzling player – he plays his 100th game this weekend – and always wants the ball in his hands. It’s why his next contract might make him the highest paid player in the game. He most certainly will be if he chooses to leave North Melbourne when his contract expires at the end of next year. The offers will be in the vicinity of $1.3 million, if not more, and even if he stays, the Kangas will cough up a million-plus. He’s endured plenty of hardship in his career, either with injury and a lack of success, but now as the wheel has turned, let’s hope he recommits to the club. In the past three weeks, he’s averaged 29 disposals, 14 contested, 10 ground balls, six clearances and eight score involvements. He is a mighty player.
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