The Tackle: All the likes and dislikes from Round 7
Ross Lyon gave his troops a spray after an insipid first term, and then subbed out a young gun. He shouldn’t have to apologise for trying to lift standards. See Jay Clark’s likes and dislikes in The Tackle.
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Another week is done and dusted across the AFL. Jay Clark lists his likes and dislikes from Round 7.
LIKES
1.MAKING THE TOUGH CALL
ROSS Lyon doesn’t need to apologise for the high standards.
When the St Kilda coach pulled the second-term trigger on subbing Hugo Garcia on Saturday, the Saints’ midfield was being obliterated.
Garcia, 19, had four touches and had just dumped the ball long down the line for a Brisbane intercept when the coach made the call.
But as Lyon indicated in the press conference, the decision was as much about defensive inactions when Garcia was hauled off.
And in a game where the Lions’ triple A-grade bench probably had the Saints’ starting engine room covered, Lyon doesn’t exactly have the capacity to accept mediocrity.
That is what Saints’ champion Nick Riewoldt was talking about when he said Lyon was brought in to lift the standards at Moorabbin and former coach Brett Ratten had a crack at him back about only coming in for free physio.
So, at quarter time Lyon went down and delivered one of the stronger addresses he has given in his time at St Kilda.
And by early in the second term he clearly wasn’t seeing the improvement, and decided to change things up, injecting the stronger body in Zak Jones into the mix.
The Saints started Garcia on the ground over Jones to give the youngster first crack and the development of some of the club’s first-to-fourth year players has been a highlight.
Alix Tauru looks every chance to press for selection next week after a strong performance in the VFL, while hard nut Hugh Boxshall is also putting pressure on Jack Steele’s spot.
The Saints started the season strong with the win over Geelong at Marvel Stadium but have wobbled over their past three losses.
They know the future is Mattaes Phillipou, Liam Henry and Tobe Travaglia and the Saints will attempt to get all three up and going in the senior midfield soon.
2 .GOOSEBUMP MOMENT OF THE SEASON
Harry McKay delivered the goosebump moment of the season so far.
When the spearhead took some time away from the club for a mental health break earlier this year, the club wrapped its arms around McKay in a bid to give him the time and respite he required.
And then when it came to the crunch late on Sunday, it was the big fella who came up clutch standing under some high balls and banging home the late set shot which won the game.
There might be few better photos from the 2025 season than McKay celebrating with a big fist pump after he nailed one of the most important goals of his career.
There has been talk about whether he could cope with the big game pressure in the AFL.
But he answered those questions emphatically at the MCG.
McKay powered Carlton to a win over a quality opponent which has reignited the Blues’ season after a terrible start.
But the twin towers are back, the pressure is up again, Sam Walsh is running on top of the ground, George Hewett is flourishing without Matt Kennedy, and there is hope in Carlton’s season.
3. RISING STAR SNUB
Joel Freijah was completely dudded eight months ago.
The man who has been dubbed Mini Marcus for his likeness to his superstar captain rubber stamped his papers again on Saturday night as one of the most exciting young players in the competition.
While we all complained about favourite sons Jack Macrae and Caleb Daniel being moved out of the middle last year, coach Luke Beveridge had grand plans for Freijah and Ed Richards.
If Sam Darcy is the new Batman at the Dogs, Freijah will be his midfield Robin.
And somehow, the 191cm jet ballwinner couldn’t even manage a Rising Star nomination last year.
Geelong’s Ollie Dempsey won last year’s Rising Star award, ahead of George Wardlaw (NM), Kai Lohmann (BL), Darcy Wilson (St K), and Colby McKercher (NM).
But if you could pick any two players from last year’s lot as things stand right now, you could make a strong case the Dogs have the best of the whole crop in Darcy and Freijah.
Freijah’s certainly flown by West Coast’s Harley Reid in his second season.
Against GWS on Saturday night, Freijah played perhaps his best game yet racking up 27 disposals including 19 contested and nine clearances in the brilliant win in Canberra.
That is a freakish effort from the 20-gamer against the likes of the most talked up onball group the game including Tom Green and Finn Callaghan.
But it is not lost on anyone at The Kennel just how on earth Freijah, who was taken with pick 45 in the 2023 draft out of Horsham, was completely snubbed in last year’s Rising Star race.
After the last round of the season, it came down to Port Adelaide’s Logan Evans and Freijah for the last nomination and the selectors opted for Evans.
That was despite Freijah’s 29-possessions effort against North Melbourne in Round 24 which was his 13th game for the season.
But the Dogs knew they had a special one, and considering how quickly he and Darcy were progressing, the development program at Bulldogs must be humming.
Beveridge said even though Freijah can play almost anywhere on the ground, it’s his capability and cleanness as an inside midfielder which excited him the most for someone in only their second season.
The knock on Freijah in his draft year was that he might not have been the most courageous player in the pathway system.
Yet two years on he’s been dubbed the next ‘Bont’.
So Dogs fans can forget the Rising Star nomination blunder from last year, and start thinking about Brownlow Medal votes for the supreme young ballwinner, because the kid is going to rack up a few.
4. ZACH’S COMEBACK
Zach Reid has been a five-year slow burn for Essendon.
And for a good chunk of last year amid more back and leg dramas, it was unclear if the pick 10 was going to make it at the top level.
But on Anzac Day Reid produced the most encouraging game of his injury-ravaged career helping nullify the Collingwood key forwards alongside Jordan Ridley and Ben McKay.
Zach Reid pic.twitter.com/vwH9Jnq22w
— The Caddy Shack (@CharlieDons) April 27, 2025
Reid had nine intercept possessions, used his body cleverly, and was trusty on the rebound.
Essendon has struggled to defend well for a decade, and Reid is one of the most important few pieces of the list management puzzle at Essendon if he can stay on the park.
The Bombers would also love to have a crack at Zach’s brother, Archer, a young key forward who has shown some exciting glimpses at West Coast this season.
The difference in the midfield class between Collingwood and Essendon was the clear gap between the two clubs on Friday but Reid was the silver lining.
Can’t say the same about former Saint Jade Gresham who managed only one tackle in the wet on one of the biggest days of the year.
Gresham, 27, may struggle to keep his spot after only five touches the week before against West Coast.
But the Bombers don’t have great depth in the small forward stakes and if anything needs to add to this area in the upcoming draft and exchange period if they can land another one.
5. SUNS’ BIG STATEMENT
The Suns have the chance to make the biggest statement in the club’s history this week.
If they can knock off the local rivals, Brisbane, in the most anticipated Q-Clash in the clubs’ history on Sunday night, it will be the most significant flag the club has planted since Gary Ablett arrived.
Gold Coast was average early against Sydney on Sunday, before Ben King, Bailey Humphrey, Dan Rioli and Co took over in the second half to put the Swans to the sword.
Without some of its injured top-line stars, Sydney’s depth has been exposed in Dean Cox’s first year as coach.
The club which has played in two of the past three grand finals is going to need a miracle to go deep again this year.
6. JACK’S BACK AGAIN
Welcome Jack Gunston to the renaissance club.
On a weekend where Collingwood veteran Steele Sidebottom claimed the Anzac Day Medal, the Hawthorn forward booted four goals to brush aside West Coast.
The 33-year-old has caught fire in 2025, booting 17 goals in five games in place of injured forwards Calsher Dear and Mitch Lewis.
While it caught the Lions by surprise, the trade move back for a set of steak knives was an inspired move by the Hawks as they hunt a deep run into September this year.
And we have seen this sort of vintage form from the old boys run deep across the competition.
The Eagles are an easy kill and Hawks’ big man Lloyd Meek continued the theme of rival ruckmen filling their boots against West Coast.
DISLIKES
1. DRAWING A LINE
It might be time for the next phase in the Jamarra Ugle-Hagan story.
The young star goal kicker is working with the AFL on his complex personal issues and has chosen to stay away from the Western Bulldogs in recent weeks.
He has continued to work out off-site at gyms, and posted the videos to social media.
But his next meetings with the league and with the club will be big ones as they all try to work out whether he wants to reignite his career at the top level.
The Bulldogs will have done everything possible so far to support the number one pick to get back on track with the help of the league’s full array of top-line health services.
But the question also has to be asked as well, what is fair for the rest of the group?
Ugle-Hagan, 23, will still get paid his $800,000-a-year salary in any case, a fair whack for a player who has barely been at the club since summer.
But it may reach a point where Ugle-Hagan’s flexible training arrangement ends and a period of indefinite leave begins, if he genuinely doesn’t want to keep training with the group.
That could be the best thing for him and the club.
At this point, it is unclear to anyone at the Dogs when he will be at the club and when he won’t. Or if he even wants to play again for the red, white and blue again.
So when does the club draw a bit of a line on his on-field prospects at The Kennel given he has only completed a dozen or so sessions for the year?
As Luke Beveridge told the Herald Sun: “He will tell you he does (want to play), but the actions don’t back the words up.”
“It is going to take a lot of time to build trust again with everyone.”
Ugle-Hagan can still get the help he requires off the field, but he is one-million-to-one to play a senior game for the club in 2025 after missing months of training.
Beveridge has been as patient as possible, but the frustrations within his own playing group are clearly mounting.
The coach deserves an enormous amount of credit for helping steer the Dogs to a 4-3 start to the season despite the Ugle-Hagan situation, the severe injury toll and spotlight on his contract decision.
There have been distractions everywhere as the Dogs try to lock in a top-four berth this season for the first time in Beveridge’s career.
They lost Sam Darcy to a serious knee injury and Beveridge dropped Liam Jones this week, and they still rolled GWS in commanding fashion on the road.
Beveridge has had plenty of knockers over the journey, but seven rounds into his 11th season he looks at the top of his coaching game.
2. CALLING CLARRY
Clayton Oliver might need another trip to Rhys Stanley’s farm.
For all the talk about the extra run Bailey Smith and Max Holmes have provided Geelong this season, Geelong still have a clearance headache.
And if Matthew Rowell is going to stay at Gold Coast as expected, Oliver might have to be the answer.
The Cats were belted at the stoppages in the first half by Carlton who led the clearances by 14 at the main change, and from there on it was catch up.
It’s a familiar problem for Chris Scott’s men who have only won the clearances once this season, which means they are on a hunt for another hard-nut ballwinner.
Oliver hasn’t shot the lights out at Melbourne this year, but the Demons are evolving and Harvey Langford has already shown he is capable.
The Demons don’t want to lose Kysaiah Pickett or Christian Petracca, but the Oliver conversation will be an interesting one because the Cats still need someone like him.
3. CHEAP SHOT
Jason Horne-Francis has copped all the heat for his third-quarter meltdown.
The hard nut lost control of his emotions and had to be calmed down by the coach Ken Hinkley and midfield teammate Zak Butters.
There are those who say Butters should be the Power captain despite the uncertainty over his contract situation and in that moment he showed outstanding leadership.
But North Melbourne co-captain Jy Simpkin shouldn’t escape all the scrutiny either.
The skirmish started because Simpkin came from behind Horne-Francis and ploughed into the back of the Port midfielder with a cheap shot bump.
Horne-Francis had no idea what was coming and received a whiplash jolt from behind, and subsequently went troppo at Simpkin in return.
Surely, if you are going to have a crack at someone, at least do it from the front. And it wasn’t a huge night for Simpkin who had 19 touches for eight clangers.
Toughness is putting your head over the ball, especially in the first quarters, where North has been outscored in every game this season.
The fightback was encouraging for the Kangas, but once again on Saturday night the margin at the first change was 29 points.
In any case, there is genuine bad blood between the two clubs and no one at North has forgotten Horne-Francis has forgotten he walked out on the club after a dismal first year.
The rivalry is great, but not sure Simpkin will be trying any cheap shots from behind again on Horne-Francis.
4. BIG NAMES IN THE GUN
FOR the third week in a row we may see a big selection statement from a club.
And it’s all eyes on GWS Giants who were destroyed out of the middle and hammered at ground level by the Bulldogs.
Ruckman Kieran Briggs is battling, Josh Kelly has become a middling midfielder, Finn Callaghan has dropped off and Jake Stringer’s radar is way off, booting 3.12 for the season.
No.1 pick Aaron Cadman is another who can’t get a kick, but Adam Kingsley’s biggest headaches are in the engine room.
And now the premiership fancy is staring at the prospect of a third-straight loss against local rivals Sydney Swans
For all the talk about the rivalry between the two clubs and the way the Giants’ cheeky social media posts have poked fun at the Swans, Sydney has owned GWS in recent times.
The Giants have won only one of their last seven encounters against the cross-town rivals.
We lauded GWS for its first-up win over Collingwood this year but they have gone backwards over the past fortnight, leading to a possible shake up in the engine room that we have all been lauding.
Originally published as The Tackle: All the likes and dislikes from Round 7
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