The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and disliked from Round 15 and 16 of the 2020 AFL season
Another big stage test, another example of the Bombers failing miserably. The season can’t end quick enough for Essendon. Check out all Robbo’s likes and dislikes in this week’s Tackle.
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Brisbane extractor Lachie Neale might be the man nominated as the Brownlow Medal favourite, but the title of best player in the game comes down to two men.
Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield and Richmond’s Dustin Martin, both already Brownlow medallists, set the standard in today’s AFL, Mark Robinson believes.
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While Danger was dominating, the Bombers had their worst loss of the year, Port has found a rejuvenated hero in Tom Rockliff and the AFL is emerging from a week it would dearly like to forget.
SEE ALL MARK ROBINSON’S LIKES AND DISLIKES BELOW
LIKES
1 IS DANGER THE BEST IN THE GAME?
He won’t win the Brownlow, he won’t win the coaches award and he won’t win the Leigh Matthews trophy as the MVP, but Patrick Dangerfield just might be the best player in the competition as we speak. If not the best then at least the equal of Dustin Martin, who won’t win any of the top three awards, either. Dangerfield has sacrificed his own game this season, playing forward and not solely midfield, and has been able to because of Geelong’s improved depth. It’s made the Cats a better team and Dangerfield an even more dangerous player. On Sunday he had 17 disposals and 139 ranking points, which tells us his possessions are damaging. There’s been a handful of players who have been in the discussion this season for best player — Lachie Neale and Travis Boak come to mind — but, with two rounds to play before finals, once again, the question of who is the most brutal, dynamic and threatening player in the game comes down to two players — Dangerfield or Martin. Can’t wait for Tigers-Cats on Friday night.
2 ALONG CAME THE BONT
The skipper kicked the go-ahead goal with three minutes to play, a drop-punt bomb from 53m.
It was a huge moment in a night of mistakes in the Bulldogs’ forward half. They kicked 6.13 before the skipper took the responsibility. They’re called captain’s goals for a reason. And he would have been nervous. He has kicked nine goals from 20 shots this year and it was just his second goal from beyond the 50m arc. Others Dogs made big contributions, including Josh Dunkley and Tim English, but it was Bontempelli who stamped his presence on this game when it counted. Finals beckon if the Giants or Pies stuff it.
3 BEN MAKING LONG STRIDES
Ben Long’s escaping the plaudits because of the rise of Nick Coffield and Hunter Clark as mid-sized defenders, and Long’s elevation in the same position is equally impressive. He had a season-high 18 disposals against Hawthorn and a game-high eight intercept possessions, which was made up from marks and winning the ball back at ground level. He is a tough, burst player and cool under heat. And his speed allows him to scoot away from the pressure. On Sunday, he had 221m gained, which was his second-highest gain behind his 236m in Round 6 against Fremantle.
4 REJUVENATED ROCKY
The subtle changes at Port Adelaide continue. Sam Powell-Pepper and Robbie Gray are spending more time in the midfield and Tom Rockliff is spending less time at the bottom of packs. Long considered a contested-ball winner, Rockliff is taking his game to the outside. While still averaging 6.5 tackles a game, ranked third in the AFL, Rockliff has won two-thirds of his disposals in an uncontested manner, his third-highest percentage recorded in a season across his career. Now, he just needs to fix his kicking. He has a career-low kicking efficiency of 51 per cent, which will burn him at some stage through the finals series. Still, after being dumped for Rounds 6-8, Rockliff remains integral to the high-rotating Port midfield.
5 RAYNER’S X-FACTOR
He’s been a slow burn, just as Christian Petracca was at Melbourne, but his elevation to the midfield this season has seen Rayner’s impact grow. He’s not a 25-plus disposal winner, he’s a player who has X-factor, and hopefully this finals series will elevate his game even further. He’s 20, has played 58 games and, this season, has increased his average disposals, score involvements, marks, clearances and improved his kicking efficiency by 10 per cent. In 2019 Rayner spent just 12 per cent of game time in the midfield and 88 per cent forward. This year it’s a 37-63 split. He’s an explosive player, like Petracca, and he gives the Lions’ workmanlike midfield a point of difference.
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6 NOBLE GESTURE
One of the more endearing pieces of footage this season was the embrace of father and son — Brisbane’s David Noble and Collingwood’s John — after the match on Friday. John played arguably his best game for the Pies and David’s team won, so dad would have been doubly pleased. He’s a straight-shooter David. On Sunday, he revealed All-Australian Harris Andrews would miss five-six weeks because of a hamstring injury suffered on Friday night. Most clubs would keep that sort of diagnosis from the public. It’s a huge blow for the Lions, perhaps a premiership blow, because Andrews is the key component of Brisbane’s defence. Looks like Daniel McStay is heading to the backline until preliminary final weekend.
7 ROOS’ BIG BEN
The brother of Harry is having more impact as a defender than his brother is at Carlton as a forward and, in these dark times for North Melbourne, that’s a huge find. There were doubts North’s McKay would make it. He was drafted with the club’s first selection and No.21 overall in the 2015 national draft. He’s played only 13 games overall and nine this season, some of which have ensured he has a long-term future at the club. He has assumed one of the key tall roles at the back and, in recent weeks, has kept Port Adelaide’s Charlie Dixon to two goals, St Kilda’s Ben King (one goal), Collingwood’s Mason Cox (one goal), Brisbane’s Eric Hipwood (one goal) and Melbourne’s Sam Weideman (one goal).
8 ZAK BUTTERS UP FOR PORT
He will be suspended for his bump on North’s Jy Simpkin. Again, no free kick was paid but Butters will be suspended. Weird hey? How did the umpires miss the contact? It was a mistimed bump but coach Kenny Hinkley won’t be too disappointed. Butters has emerged from the 2018 national draft as the pick of the litter at Port and possibly the pick of the entire draft. Against North, he showed he could give it and take it. When Jack Ziebell came off second best when he ploughed into Butters, after Butters had cleaned up another North player, Butters added to his growing reputation. The kid has everything.
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DISLIKES
1 GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR TIM
West Coast recruited Tim Kelly to secure groundballs and right now it is 18th for groundball differential. The Eagles lost that stat by 27 to the Bulldogs on Sunday night. In simple terms, they don’t have enough ball winners — it’s a whole-ground issue —and a challenge for Kelly.
The other issue is a lack of scoring. In the past four weeks, they have kicked 61, 61, 60 and on Sunday night 47 points, this coming from a forward group everyone assumes is an offensive juggernaut. After quarter-time, they kicked three goals, and overall had a worrisome 27 inside-50s, their worst return of the year. The Eagles have problems and now must rely on Geelong beating Richmond on Friday night to get back into top-four contention.
2 AND THAT’S THE END OF THE BOMBERS
It seems to come every season, the game to stake your flag, and every season the Bombers fail miserably. On Sunday, it was to Geelong. A team can lose but it’s always how you lose. This was the worst loss of the season, to any team. You continue to wonder about the game plan. Most teams try to base it on contested ball and pressure and, from there, quick ball movement. Essendon’s pressure was low in the first half and the Cats did as they pleased. Former captain Jobe Watson seemed mystified. “It’s when they go slow and play a possession game, that’s where I think they get lost,’’ Watson said on Channel 7. It looks like the season can’t end quick enough for the Bombers. Maintain the patience, Bombers fans.
3 THE FACTS...
What a horribly embarrassing weekend for the code. Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones deserved to be whacked, as did Richmond. There’s an issue about whether Stack and Coleman-Jones will pay the $75,000 fine, but that will be worked out, with the players likely to escape the hit to the hip pocket. The hit to their reputations and to the club cannot be underplayed. Stack is one misstep away from ending his career and Coleman-Jones should have known better. Their sense of entitlement and lack of responsibility permeates through a football club, which has let itself down several times this season. Time will tell if this will galvanise the group or be the backbreaker for the Tigers.
4 ...AND THE ALLEGATION
If domestic abuse allegations against Sydney youngster Elijah Taylor are true – and stress they are allegations – he has more concerns with the police than he has with a teetering football career. The allegations aired by his girlfriend Lekahni Pearce in a now deleted Insta post were shockingly violent and prompted a swift response from the Sydney Swans. Of course, the facts will be obtained before the Swans next speak. Inside three days, the AFL code has been embarrassed by quarantine protocol breaches involving strippers, police, a brawl and a hospital visit at 3.30am and, far more serious, allegations of domestic abuse. The code is reeling at the moment.
5 WHAT DO WE WANT IN OUR GAME?
AFL footy boss Steve Hocking did the radio rounds on Saturday and, among other things, said he was captivated by Friday night’s match between Brisbane and Collingwood. And, he said, the decade-high ratings showed that people loved it as well. It’s difficult to argue numbers proved his point, seeing as everyone’s at home with not much to do other than watch TV. It was a fierce, edgy contest and Brisbane kicked one goal in three quarters and still won the game. Surely, that’s not what the AFL wants. Goals and high marks and players streaking down the ground bouncing the ball is part of Australian rules, not three quarters of slog football in every third game we watch. Hocking oversaw, as football boss at Geelong, one of the most exciting, attacking sides in the history of the game. Now, he oversees a sport which is at one of lowest points as a spectacle. Don’t worry about ratings, worry about the sport.
6 IT WAS WORTH A FINE, BUT NOT A FREE?
The umpires had to believe Brisbane’s Mitch Robinson flopped – he said he didn’t – when he was crashed into by All-Australian contender Brayden Maynard on Friday night. No free kick was paid to Robinson, which was a joke, because the MRO then fined Maynard $750 for instigating a melee. So, no free but a fine for the same action. Someone has got it wrong and, in this case, it’s not the MRO. We won’t say Robinson’s reputation played a role, but would have loved to have seen the umpire’s decision if it was Robinson who did the same to Maynard.
7 WILLIAMS AND WOOD HAVE ROO BLUES
North Melbourne will rock their boat at the end of the season and a bunch of players will fall overboard. Before the game on Saturday night coach Rhyce Shaw stressed the importance of the game. “There’s opportunities there … take them,’’ he said. Mason Wood and Marley Williams did not. Williams, 27, recorded season-lows for ranking points (27), kicking efficiency (40 per cent), intercept possessions (2) and pressure points (5). Wood, who is 27 in a week, recorded zero ranking points in the first half and finished the match with 22 ranking points, eight disposals and one goal. This season, where he simply had to perform, is a career-low for him. While Williams and Wood appear to be coming to the end of their careers, what of Majak Daw? He was dropped for the Port match and if he couldn’t get a game with this team, then his future at the Kangas also looks doomed.
8 FADIN’ JAIDYN
The Collingwood lead-and-mark forward has dropped his numbers in every facet of the game from last season. Last month Herald Sun colleague Mick McGuane said Stephenson, when in the midfield, was playing “pretty timid footy” and was “not physical at all”. The same can be said of Stephenson in the forward line. He had two brilliant finals matches in 2019, taking 15 marks. This season, he has 36 marks from 11 matches. The congested defences, and Collingwood’s at times slow ball movement, haven’t helped Stephenson’s style, but he still has to find a greater level of competitiveness.
Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and disliked from Round 15 and 16 of the 2020 AFL season
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