The Tackle: Mark Robinson reviews preliminary final weekend
Chris Fagan deserves plenty of credit for changing the manner in which the Lions were playing to haul in the Cats. MARK ROBINSON reviews the weekend’s action in The Tackle.
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We’re down to two.
After a memorable preliminary final weekend, it’s the Swans and Lions that go through to next Saturday’s grand final.
Chief AFL writer Mark Robinson dives into all the action in The Tackle.
LEGEND GROWS
ISAAC HEENEY
That’s two terrific finals matches and if there’s a third from him on Saturday, he will enter footy folklore for having put together a final series of excellence. He is playing with full confidence in his capabilities and this September has played every bit one of the best players in the competition. Of course, the pressure will be on him to perform. His previous grand final was a bust. Against the Cats in 2022, he had just 11 touches and was a non-entity when the game was being decided in the first half. In fact, Heeney’s entire ‘22 finals series was a bust. He had eight disposals and kicked a goal in the first final against Melbourne, and 16 and a goal against Collingwood in the preliminary final. The last time he played against Brisbane, in Round 19, he didn’t have a set opponent. He had a bit of Dunkley, Neale and McCluggage. This Saturday, we suspect it will be Dunkley at stoppages, just as Dunkley had the job on Jordan De Goey in last year’s grand final and Patrick Dangerfield on Saturday night.
LACHIE NEALE
We’ll learn how much Neale has had to nurture his bung heel after the grand final is played. What we already know is that Neale is a champion of the game. He’s not as pretty as the Sydney trio - Heeney, Warner and Gulden - but even they might admit they aren’t as hard-nosed as the Lions captain. He had 31 touches and 12 clearances - six more than the next best player (McCluggage) - and time and again gave the Lions momentum from stoppages. He’s a difficult player to combat because his brain seems to work faster than that of others. He sees ball and gets ball, and he’s so damned quick and clinical with his hands. He’s probably the best handballer in the game, not because he can rifle off a 20m bullet, but just how he finds teammates when in traffic with a delicate lob, or short outlet handball. Tom Atkins and Tanner Bruhn couldn’t curtail him on Saturday night, but someone from Sydney has to get the role on Saturday.
THE COOLER
CHARLIE DIXON
The big fella cooled himself, so much so you’d think his career is now frozen. Was the target four times inside 50 and hauled down zero marks, playing mainly on Lewis Melican. It wasn’t all his fault because Port continually just popped the ball long and high, and Charlie couldn’t jump, and the Swans defender just mauled him in the pack. He was better after half-time, he at least got some hands to the ball, but he wasn’t a threat. Once stacked with tall forward options, Port has issues: There’s Todd Marshall’s concussion, Jeremy Finlayson fell off the face of the earth, Esava Ratugolea can’t mark it, and Dixon is 34 on Monday and, at times, looked like was 44. It’s disheartening when talking about the demise of the warrior types like Dixon, but Father Time hasn’t lost a battle yet. Would be surprised if he goes around again. The same with Travis Boak. He picked the wrong game to cough up the ball.
JAMES ROWBOTTOM
When Sydney coach John Longmire and his comrades sit down at match committee this week, you suspect the first magnet they grab will be James Rowbottom’s. Like, let’s work out who this bloke will go to and we’ll go from there. There’s three options: Lachie Neale, Hugh McCluggage and Will Ashcroft. Their other stopper James Jordon surely goes to Dayne Zorko at half-back. My bet is Rowbottom will take Neale, not because of the work Neale does between stoppages, but because of the work he does at stoppages and Rowbottom is a head down bum up type of player himself. On Friday night, he looked after Connor Rozee at times and did very well.
BRANDON STARCEVICH
His job was easier said than done. Stand next to All Australian small forward Tyson Stengle and try to keep him goalless. It was a job well done. Stengle had 11 touches and six score involvements but didn’t kick a goal. The Cats’ goal sneak couldn’t shake Starcevich who has regained his reputation as one of the game’s best defensive stoppers. Last week, Starcevich kept Toby Greene to two goals. In Round 23, he kept Toby to two disposals. Before that it was Jack Higgins goalless, and before that Kossie Pickett to one goal after Pickett lit up the Gabba. You don’t have to be Einstein to work to work who Starceich gets on Saturday. He will go straight to Tom Papley. Put your house on that match-up.
HERE’S LOOKING AT YA, KID
LOGAN MCDONALD
When the 22-year-old Swan buggered up a couple of kicks at goal to win matches against Fremantle and St Kilda this season, the critics from the cheap seats wondered if he had the bottling to handle the big moments. But in the week after those two consecutive flops, he kicked four goals against North Melbourne. And in the final round of the season, he had 17 and kicked three goals. A quiet-ish first final against the Giants was trumped by 10 touches, seven marks and two goals against Port Adelaide. He probably hasn’t played to his pick 4 draft ranking, but key forwards need time to develop. He’s coming along nicely.
FLETCHER AND LOHMANN
Kai Lohmann is 21-years-old and when he was mesmerising Geelong’s forwards on Saturday night, it made you wonder if the AFL’s Josh Mahoney got it right after all. Mahoney was the only Rising Star selector to give Lohmann the maximum five votes. Lohmann didn’t win the award, but he stood up big in the preliminary final, which for Lohmann was probably the bigger prize. Lohmann is a star. He kicked 1.3, although his miss in the fourth quarter from 25m threatened to be game-changer. Jaspa Fletcher is 20. He doesn’t get the headlines or the accolades that teammate Will Ashcroft gets, but he’s coming along nicely on a wing. Played on the rising star winner, Ollie Dempsey, and their numbers and impact were similar. That was a win for the Lions, for Dempsey can be a match-winner.
REALLY, COACH?
KEN HINKLEY
Was able to get his players to close down space and time against Hawthorn, yet the Swans could drive a bus through Port on Friday night. It was kick, mark, kick, mark, march forward, take a mark, kick a goal. Repeat and rinse. Maybe Port was tired. Maybe Sydney was simply too smart and too talented. But the same energy wasn’t there from Port Adelaide. Port buggered up their ball involvement, too. Kicking clangers killed them which led to turnover goals and when Port did have greater control of the ball, continually kicked the ball long and high and hoped for the best. Hinkley needs more talent to finally secure that premiership cup. Tall forwards is a problem area, Aliir Aliir still needs help at the back and the four bottom-ranked players are a worry. That all said, Port made a preliminary final with a team that had holes in it. It’s a pretty good coaching effort.
CHRIS FAGAN
If Chris Scott rescued a four-goal deficit by changing the manner in which the team played from the first half to the second half, he would be proclaimed as the tactical genius who won the game. Fagan did exactly that as Brisbane coach. Brisbane’s careful, short and controlled footy wasn’t getting the job done in the first half, so Fagan instituted a play-on edict in the second half. Or at least move the ball by handballs and run. The Lions had 47 handball receives in the first half and 61 in the second half. The mark/play-on ratio was 18 per cent in the first half and 23 per cent in the second half. The narrative that Fagan is not tactically savvy - or near Scott’s level - seems to have galvanized the group. “They went after him when we were 0-6 (in 2018), they went after him recently, (but) it’s like, we’ve played finals for six years in a row,” Jarrod Berry told Fox Footy. “I just want to do it for him and show the haters that he’s a sensational people person, and he’s got all the boys right behind him.” Coaching is bit parts everything: Tactics, trust and emotional intelligence. All those attributes can be summed up with his use of Ryan Lester. A 14-year veteran, Fagan has always had faith in Lester when others did not. He decided last Tuesday night he would send Lester to Jeremy Cameron. He didn’t know if it would work, but he knew Lester would die trying. That faith was rewarded after half-time when Lester was huge. That’s trusting your players. That’s great coaching.
REPUTATION ENHANCED
SWANS KEY FORWARDS
Joel Amartey, Logan McDonald and Hayden McLean took 19 marks and kicked six goals. It wasn’t expected. As teams are dissected within an inch of themselves, the query on Sydney was whether its key tall forwards could have a serious impact. Not just compete in the air and ensure the ball is brought to ground, but to take marks and kick goals. If they go near to repeating that collective effort in the grand final, the Swans will not lose. Amartey is the one. That was his best game since his nine goals against Adelaide and his athleticism was too much of a handful for Zerk-Thatcher. Amartey had a season-high 16 disposals, nine contested possessions and three contested marks.
CAMERON RAYNER
Watch over and over again the Cameron Rayner goal in the final quarter. Watch how Will Ashcroft intercepted the ball and watch how Eric Hipwood squirted an ugly handball to Cam Rayner, which bounced behind him and which interrupted Rayner’s momentum. We can only imagine what Rayner was thinking. Get the ball. Gather it. Get running. Get balanced. He knew the Cats were coming. Tom Atkins was tracking him, but who else, and how many others? So assured Rayner was in his own blessed skillset, he didn’t even bother to balance up for a right foot kick. So assured, he took a pop from 55m on his left. To have the confidence to think it and the skill to execute it is that glorious meeting of possibility and accomplishment. Watch the actual kick again. The beauty of it. There was no shortening of stride, or hesitation with his steps, which usually happens on your non-preferred leg. No, the fluid body, the ball drop, the sway to the left, the timing of his leg sweep … it was football elegance. As Dermott Brereton noted in the post-match, it was the moment why Rayner was the No.1 draft pick. It was the moment of the preliminary final weekend.
REPUTATION DENTED
BRANDON ZERK–THATCHER
He shouldn’t watch the game again. In fact, two poor finals were not what was expected after Port Adelaide last off-season set about shoring up its key defensive posts. Zerk-Thatcher was brought in to add stability. It turned out he was unstable, playing poorly in the first final against Geelong and being a liability against the Swans on Friday night. He played with authority against the Hawks in week two of the finals. But that disappeared against the Swans. Zerk-Thatcher lost two of his five one-on-one contests last night, his three intercept possessions were the second-worst return of the season, and his overall game was his lowest rated performance of 2024. What a stinker.
SHAUN MANNAGH
Moments can make players and haunt others. Mannagh’s moment came in the third quarter which was big when it happened and far bigger when the game was over. A small forward, his job is to kick goals, which at times gives him the belief that he must always try to kick goals. That leads to selfishness. So, when Mannagh gathered the ball and tried to slide it through from 20m, he ignored a teammate on his left. That was his first mistake. The second mistake was to dribble kick. The result was a behind, Dayne Zorko played on immediately, the Lions kept a hot ball alive down the members’ wing and Charlie Cameron kicked the goal. A shot at goal for Geelong became a Lions goal in an instant. And the game shifted dimensions.
THE VANQUISHED
PORT ADELAIDE
Kenny Hinkley is coaching again and he deserves the job. But 2025 will be another year of constant speculation about whether Year 13 will be his last. That’s if Port Adelaide doesn’t consider a succession plan of course. It wouldn’t surprise if there was movement in that space, with Josh Carr the obvious replacement. On the field, Port has problem areas which made a preliminary final finish a damned good effort. It’s clear Hinkley coaches with emotion and Port plays with emotion and that’s all fine, but that means the energy level has to be close to optimal every week. That can be a difficult assignment and Port lacked energy against the Swans. And look what happened. On the field, they don’t have the squad to win the flag, but they might add a couple of Giants boys, and Powell-Pepper will be back. But if Dan Houston leaves, that’s an All Australian waltzing out the door. Ollie Lord is 22-years-old and played 19 games. He looms as a key piece in Port’s front six next year. He just has to be.
GEELONG
A phenomenal season ended because they couldn’t catch the Lions in the second half and Callum Ah Chee and Cameron Rayner kicked two incredible goals. They were three minutes away from playing in a grand final. Plenty of rot is written and said in a season, but there was a brave headline - or rather a silly headline - that asked if the Geelong era was over. When will people learn that Geelong doesn’t have eras. They are an era. This Chris Scott team probably lacks the champion-level talent we’ve seen in previous Geelong teams, which makes a preliminary final finish all the more admirable. Scott gets maximum effort and mileage from his players, all the while as the team is in a period of regeneration. Tanner Bruhn, Oliver Henry, Max Holmes and Shannon Neale are 22-years-old and Ollie Dempsey and Lawson Humphries are 21. And it sounds like they are getting 23-year-old Bailey Smith. Next year Cam Guthrie will also be available. No, the Cats aren’t going anywhere.
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Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson reviews preliminary final weekend
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