The Tackle: Jay Clark’s likes and dislikes from Gather Round
There were talks the Dons should let Sam Draper walk and grab a compensation pick. Not anymore after Nick Bryan’s injury. Jay Clark writes, Draper deserves all the money coming his way.
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Gather Round part III has come and gone and what a weekend of footy it served up for both the travelling fans and those at home.
But it’s the Dees who come out of Gather Round well and truly in the gun.
Check out Jay Clark’s likes and dislikes from the festival of footy.
DISLIKES
1. DEES CHASE DOCKERS
The time has come for the big selection statement at winless Melbourne.
Until now, coach Simon Goodwin has largely wheeled out the same side and for the second year in a row (and at times longer) the forward half has been in disarray.
And the D-Day will come against Richmond in a fortnight on Anzac Day eve which looms as the make-or-breaker for the club and its frustrated supporter base.
A poor loss to a developing team like the Tigers could be the line in the sand because the Kumbaya sessions over summer have got the club nowhere and now the blowtorch is on Goodwin to save his job.
Matchwinner Kysaiah Pickett will try to leave at season’s end, Clayton Oliver could be out the door to St Kilda or Geelong and what will Christian Petracca do without some of his mates?
He wanted to join the Magpies last season but the deal was too difficult.
The Demons will have a good look at Fremantle this weekend as part of some potential swaps for Pickett, with all eyes on former premiership Demon Luke Jackson, six-goal star Josh Treacy or Jye Amiss if Pickett wants to go.
They’re trying hard for Jackson to return despite his denials and Treacy has become a genuine goalkicking star of the game after smashing the Tigers on Sunday.
Melbourne is desperate for some established key forwards after missing out on Tom Hawkins, Taylor Walker and Jake Waterman in recent years.
Regardless, this team is in for a significant re-wire at season’s end and the first few steps could be taken this weekend against Fremantle.
There is significant young talent like Caleb Windsor, Harvey Langford, Xavier Lindsay and Judd McVee and Koltyn Tholstrup will push to play against the Dockers if they are ready.
Goodwin would love to play young big man Matthew Jefferson if he is fit to go after breaking his hand in the narrow loss to GWS Giants but his conditioning may not be up to it.
But the big one is 199cm Tom Fullarton who was traded to the club from Brisbane Lions as a second-ruck but kicked five goals in the VFL last weekend against Geelong.
Jacob Van Rooyen couldn’t look lower on confidence, so perhaps this is the week to give Fullarton a go as a marking target.
Goodwin can’t keep backing in the same players and structures for the same terrible outcomes.
Otherwise, he is walking a plank.
So many Melbourne players are out of form, and that includes the costly dropped marks from Steven May and Max Gawn.
The forward connection is as sloppy as an old Hawaiian shirt and it is hard to excuse the strategy win Melbourne handed Geelong last week with the extra defender the Cats were allowed.
The club is going to give the premiership coach the time and the respect they feel he deserves to fight his way through the current scoring woes.
But they will know how big the Richmond game is.
2. LIKE A SIEVE
The defensive system at North Melbourne is in the gun.
All season the Roos have been the worst team in the league at stopping the opposition’s ball movement from defensive 50m to attacking 50m.
And on Saturday against the Suns they conceded another 67 points in that way, almost double the league average, according to Champion Data.
To put that into contest, it is the worst result for North in the past 10 years.
Surely, as Jy Simpkin said last week after the loss to Sydney Swans, North is better than that.
Coach Alastair Clarkson said after the loss to Gold Coast that clubs such as the Suns and the Lions have been afforded six to eight years to blossom.
But the problem is it has been six years since the Roos bottomed out with only three wins in 2020.
How long before the pop like the Hawks did in Clarkson’s third year at Waverley?
The Good Friday game against Carlton at Marvel Stadium is the biggest stage of the year for the Roos, and the club will hope for a full house and an improved performance.
They just can’t afford another uncompetitive flop (like the Sydney game) in this one and from a big picture perspective the patience will run out at some point.
Football manager Todd Viney said the Roos were chasing Brayden Maynard to beef-up the back half after missing out on Suns’ Sam Collins last year.
But personnel aside, the system also has to come under the microscope this week.
3. NO MORE HANDOUTS
The AFL said last year it wanted to abolish priority picks.
But the Eagles look so barren for talent we know the request is coming at season’s end.
The problem is the AFL cannot hand out a special assistance package to a club which won the flag only six years ago and played finals four years ago.
They are in a pickle at the moment and Oscar Allen and Harley Reid both seem like they are out the door this year (Allen) or next (Reid).
The Allen press conference disaster looked like a hostage situation and won’t help in keeping the big man even though he has some bright moments early in the loss to Carlton.
The captain started the last quarter on the bench which was another bad sign after being sent to full back at fortnight ago.
His departure means the Eagles will have to go backwards before they go forwards again and it is perhaps why we saw all the top candidates pull out on the coaching race when it was up for grabs last year.
But a powerful and successful club like West Coast does not need another free leg-up.
They had pick one two years ago (Reid) and traded pick three (Jagga Smith) for 12 and 14.
And if Allen goes they will get pick one and two (as compensation) as the ladder stands.
Should they get pick three for free as well? No way. That should be reserved for clubs who are a basket case for the best part of a decade, as Andrew Dillon seemed to hint last year.
This year’s draft will be compromised in a major way already with father-son and next generation academy picks galore.
Expect rivals to go bananas if West Coast sticks its hand out considering it is a club which has won four premierships in the AFL era.
LIKES
1. COME ON, PORT ADELAIDE AGGRESSION
Not for the first time, Port Adelaide rattled Hawthorn.
And the only revenge was Ken Hinkley’s.
For all the anger about Hinkley’s $20,000 fine for his plane jibe from last season, it might have been money well spent after Port landed one of the most satisfying whacks to the chops to a rival team we have seen in recent times.
And it wasn’t just a small win on Sunday night, this was a crushing victory from the Power over a club it now considers an arch rival.
The Hollywood Hawks flopped in dramatic circumstances through the first half to close out Gather Round, and the heat in the game at times could have cooked a sausage.
Coach Sam Mitchell looked furious his men had melted in the moment.
The AFL would have lapped up every bit of it on prime time television sets around the country after making the controversial albeit justified call to put it in the marquee slot.
You could feel it when Sam Powell-Pepper tugged his jumper after a brilliant snap goal and you could hear it in the Bronx cheers from the Port crowd when a wobbly James Sicily turnover landed on the chest of Travis Boak in the second term.
Then in the third term hard nut Blake Hardwick went beetroot red as he tried to pile drive Ollie Lord into the turf.
They hate each other, these two clubs, and in a football sense it was magnificent.
But it was Port’s intensity and hardness which derailed the Hawks early when Zak Butters looked like one of the toughest ballwinners in the game again, and Connor Rozee turned on the jets from a half back flank.
At their best, they are an absolute force Port, but the mood and form swings would send any relationship to the brink.
However, in the biggest grudge match of the year, Port Adelaide the agitator was again the victor.
And if Mitchell and his Hawks were upset last time they went down to Port for all the post-siren antics, their frustrations will have grown after a Gather Round no-show.
2. SIGN HERE
Sam Draper’s negotiating power just went through the roof.
But the big man will richly deserve a bumper contract extension at Essendon the way he is playing.
For all the talk about the Bombers letting go of Draper for an early compensation pick, it can’t happen now after Nick Bryan’s knee injury.
Draper’s management team has already kicked off negotiations and, barring an unexpected backflip, will ink a new deal to stay at Essendon.
Having overcome the groin dramas, he’s started the season strong and could yet become the club’s next captain.
His aggression and leadership is important for a group which has introverted elements.
The Bombers’ list management team would be happy.
They made the most criticised move of last year’s draft swapping last year’s first-round pick for Melbourne’s top pick this year which currently sits number two.
They topped up Zach Merrett’s contract in reward for his loyalty and performance over summer and he currently looks like one of the three best players in the competition.
And they have found a beauty in hard-at-it backman Archie Roberts, who looks set to play a big part in the club’s rise.
The man who taken with pick 54, had 28 touches including five intercept possessions and six tackles in defence against Melbourne in only his eighth game.
Roberts, 19, has a nice left foot and looks completely comfortable in tight spaces.
For a late pick the 184cm ballwinner looks like a total steal in his second AFL season.
3. RUNNING REPAIRS
Michael Voss may be about to move the most interesting chess piece in the game.
Without Brodie Kemp (Achilles) and Harry McKay (Concussion), Carlton will consider bringing in ruckman Marc Pittonet which will release Tom De Koning forward in the clash against the Roos.
Considering the Roos’ defensive struggles, Charlie Curnow will be licking his lips.
De Koning is the most sought-after man in the game and has dominated, mostly, so far this season in the ruck, but may be ready for more of a rest forward if Pittonet comes in.
The Blues were handed a dream draw this year with two games each against the Kangas and Eagles to help boost them towards September.
On Saturday, Carlton wheeled out the one wood against West Coast in ruthless fashion.
The Blues delivered one of the greatest hidings around the ball we’ve seen in some time, annihilating the Eagles by 59 contested possessions.
That is the fourth-biggest shellacking in that area in the game since 1999 and comes in top of the win in clearances by 22.
While Sam Walsh cashed in with three goals to return to form, this is Carlton relying on its strength.
To grow and match the best sides, the Blues are still going to have to develop their outside game.
4. UNDER THE RADAR
Darcy Cameron is in the conversation as the best ruckman in the game.
But he will be up for grabs if the Magpies don’t come to the party on an improved new deal.
And he is best mates with Brayden Maynard who is also being heavily courted by North Melbourne.
It is a fascinating crossroad for the Magpies who wouldn’t mind bringing in a first-round draft pick this year and are weighing up letting one star go, and Bobby Hill is also chasing a new deal.
Cameron plays a crucial role for Collingwood with his marking around the ground a kick behind play.
And his aerial influence was again on show in the win over the Swans on Friday night as Steele Sidebottom wound back the clock, Scott Pendlebury showed again why he is on track to break Boomer’s all-times games record, Ned Long cemented his spot on-ball and Nick Daicos destroyed the James Jordon tag.
But Cameron could be the most underrated player in the game.
He is currently is on a deal worth about $500,000 a season and could attract offers of $700,000-plus at West Coast, St Kilda or Carlton (depending on Tom De Koning’s call), and Melbourne to give Max Gawn some help.
Cameron, 29, signed a contract in 2022 when Graham Wright was list manager and there was an undertaking the deal would be improved if he finished high in the best and fairest.
Cameron last year finished runner-up, but Justin Leppitsch has since replaced Wright as list manager and has made it clear there is a new payment model in town.
5. ‘DANGER’ ZONE
Patrick Dangerfield can become the game’s most capped All-Australian.
The brilliant Cat showed what a weapon he can be in a forward role this season bagging four goals to pip Sydney Swans on Thursday night.
And one more All-Australian jacket can take him to the top.
The former Crow has been All-Australian eight times, equal most with Lance Franklin, Mark Ricciuto, Gary Ablett Jr and Robert Harvey.
Alongside Jeremy Cameron he’s never going to get the best defender but his strength and power is still a considerable asset on the ground and in the air.
Dangerfield hasn’t kicked more than 11 goals in each of his past four seasons but he has already tied that mark from only five games in 2025.
6. GIANTS’ PACKAGE ARRIVES
Brisbane might still only be going in second gear, but the Giants might have the highest ceiling in this year’s premiership race.
After a straight sets exit last year, and gut-wrenching preliminary final defeat to Collingwood the year before, the pain remains for GWS.
But it’s the weapons in the midfield and forward riches which makes them a deadly football side.
Plus they have maybe the best defender in the competition in Sam Taylor and gun tagger Toby Bedford who did an excellent shut down job on in-form on-baller Jack Macrae.
At their peak on Sunday, the Giants looked set to cut St Kilda apart with their blistering ball use and goal kicking spread.
And even Jake Stringer did the team thing.
The former Bomber was 40m out on the boundary line late in the third term when he would perhaps normally blaze away at goals.
Instead, he centred the ball to Jake Riccardi who marked and goaled from point blank range as the Giants cruised to a comfortable win over St Kilda at Norwood.
It was the kind of selfless act GWS coach Adam Kingsley will highlight first thing Monday morning at a club which previously has been too heavily weighted on individual brilliance in the past.
The Giants have a brilliant spread of goal kickers (Toby Greene led them with five majors on Sunday) which can take them all the way this year and Stringer only makes them stronger.
7. TIME TO SHINE
Fremantle looks like it has the weapons.
It was showtime on Sunday for the Dockers as Josh Treacy ran riot, Hayden Young looked like the best left foot kick in the game, and Shai Bolton almost reeled in the mark of the year, adding the slickness and polish they required in the forward half.
They have been one of the best defensive teams in the competition but this is the year they have to flex the scoring muscle.
And in the past three weeks they have managed 106, 97 and 108 points against a young Richmond side on Sunday.
Tougher tests will come against better sides but clearly there is added potency to Fremantle in 2025 and that was without Luke Jackson on Sunday.
Together, Treacy, Young and Bolton, as well as heartbeat midfielders Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong, blew the Tigers away in the second half despite some moments of brilliance from youngsters Maurice Rioli and Steely Green early.
Rioli can become a special talent if he can continue to build a tank and Green’s snap from the boundary on the run threaded the tightest of angles.
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