Early Tackle: Josh Barnes’ likes and dislikes from Round 16 so far
There’s no way around it – the SCG turf wasn’t up to scratch on Friday night, and if the ground can’t get it right in a week then the AFL must take action, writes Josh Barnes.
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Round 16 has only just begun but there’s not shortage of talking points, with another rout of Carlton on Thursday night and a thriller at the SCG before a full suite of Saturday games.
See Josh Barnes’ likes and dislikes here.
DISLIKES
GRASS FARCE
There is no way around it, the turf at the Paddington end of the SCG was not up to AFL standard on Friday night.
Jonathan Brown didn’t mince words, when he said it was worse than the old sandy Colonial Stadium, a surface so farcical it was nicknamed ‘Death Valley’.
“Should we be allowed to play on this surface? This is as bad as I’ve seen,” Brown said on Fox Footy.
The Brisbane great later pondered whether games should be shifted off the ground going forward.
The AFL should explain if a proper inspection was held pre-match and what it found that convinced staff the ground was fit for action.
Defenders chasing to tackle ran on tip toes like they were barefoot on bitumen after a day at the beach, and others slid around like their boots were Tom Cruise’s white socks in Risky Business.
It's been 85 days since the Andrea Bocelli concert at the SCG.
— Lachlan McKirdy (@LMcKirdy7) June 27, 2025
It's beyond unacceptable the state of the SCG turf at the Paddington End. #AFLSwansDogs
The excuse floated that the ground hadn’t recovered from an Andrea Bocelli concert on April 3 just doesn’t fly: that was 85 days before the Swans and Dogs met.
It was also the first game on the ground since round 12, so long ago it was the first of the never-ending bye weeks.
Sydney hosts Fremantle next Sunday, and the AFL should consider Brown’s suggestion and look for alternative options if there isn’t improvement.
BYE BYE BYES
Thank goodness this is our last weekend of the elongated bye rounds.
Stretched over five weeks, the bye period has felt like it has gone on longer than a mushroom murder trial.
There has to be a better solution in 2026.
Whether that is reducing it to one marquee game on a weekend where other teams are off, hosting a mid-year Northern Round in Queensland and New South Wales to replace Opening Round as coined by Jonathan Brown, or even a complete week off, all those options are better than what we have now.
The fixture for this weekend was particularly uninspiring and it leaves us all a little bit grumpy in the middle of the season.
BLUES NO CLUES
There have already been thousands of damning words written about the Blues, so let’s keep this one short.
Perhaps most alarming from a horrible night in Adelaide was the fact Carlton fielded it’s oldest side since 1944 – a season so far back that the MCG was still being used by the military for World War 2.
That ageing team even included two debutants, and you almost had to feel sorry for Billy Wilson and Flynn Young for being thrown in to the Port Adelaide avalanche.
Carlton clearly is right in the middle of its flag window and floundering so badly that the window is shutting week by week.
Before we know it, the superstars of this Blues era will be out of their primes and what will be left to show for it then?
LIKES
DUAL DOG DELIGHT
It took a mini Bont and a forgotten Hawk for the Dogs to hold off Isaac Heeney and the wayward Swans.
Joel Freijah looks and moves like a star and his three goal third term held off Heeney’s premiership quarter explosion.
Freijah finished his work in front of the sticks and he read the play as smoothly as he kicked, collecting six intercept possessions, no mean feat when playing as a half-forward flanker.
And he never looked like missing with his four shots at goal.
They call him a mini Bont at Whitten Oval and he outshone his skipper Marcus Bontempelli on a milestone night.
No player taken in the past two drafts has really gone near the consistent output of Freijah, the 45th pick in 2023.
As Heeney bagged four goals in the sensational third term, Lachie Bramble saved just as many, with a 15 disposal quarter.
Bramble was bizarrely jettisoned by Hawthorn and hasn’t missed a single match since arriving at his second club, another masterstroke for the Dogs recruiting staff.
Where most were on ice skates at one end of the SCG, Bramble moved like Torvill and Dean through traffic and rebounded at will.
It was a beauty on Friday night, with Heeney joined by a fully returned Errol Gulden and a resurgent Brodie Grundy in pushing the Swans close to a classic win.
They will look back with plenty of regrets on this season, the Swans, and one of those regrets will be kicking 4.10 from set shots on Friday night.
The Dogs are a serious outfit and in the space of a few weeks clubs that saw easy wins on the run home against Sydney now know it won’t come that easy, even if Dean Cox’s side is resigned to missing the eight.
ESAVA’S ARRIVAL
Only once in 106 AFL games – most of which were up forward – had Esava Ratugolea collected 10 intercept possessions before his last four matches.
Starting with round 13’s meeting with the Giants, the Power defender has reeled off 12, 12, 11 and 11 intercepts, and taken 23 intercept marks in that span.
The big fella is getting in the way more than a puppy at your feet in the kitchen.
Perhaps it is no coincidence Port Adelaide has won three of those four games.
This is the player Hawthorn competed with Port Adelaide to get.
Brandon Zerk-Thatcher had some iffy moments against Carlton, but the Ratugolea-Aliir Aliir pairing looks one that can be set-and-forget for new coach Josh Carr next year.
Great to see a player finding career best form less than a month out from his 27th birthday.
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Originally published as Early Tackle: Josh Barnes’ likes and dislikes from Round 16 so far
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