The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from Round 5 of the 2021 AFL season

The easy move when West Coast got on top of Collingwood would have been to throw Darcy Moore back — Nathan Buckley didn’t and he should be praised. See Robbo’s likes and dislikes.

Hamish Hartlett of the Power smothers a kick by Marc Murphy of the Blues.

It’s not quite a state of emergency in Victoria, but power clubs Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn and St Kilda are all are under pressure after five rounds.

Who needs to lift to get their team’s season going?

And it’s not all megatives from Round 5, with Joe Daniher, Tom McDonald and a class act from AFLW premiership coach Craig Starcevich catching the eye of chief footy writer Mark Robinson.

See all Robbo’s likes and dislikes below in the Round 5 edition of The Tackle.

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DISLIKES

1. Kick a Vic (I)

We’ve been sucked in and seduced by Carlton again. The question has been asked for some time: Who are the Blues? After Round 5, the question lies between what is the native flower of Nigeria and how did the universe start. The answer is I don’t know. There’s always excuses with the non-threatening Blues. On Saturday night it was kicking efficiency. On a perfect night for footy, they went at 58 per cent. That’s ordinary. It was the fifth-lowest ranking of any team this year.

What can they hang their hat on? They have no muscle. Going into Saturday night, their pressure rating was 166 — a clear 18th. And they are hit and miss in the F50. They’ve invested heavily this year, yet it seems they are the same ol’ Carlton: Half honest, fully fallible.

David Teague has coached only 33 games, so he deserves time. But surely the Blues need a point of difference. They are a pedestrian football side. On Saturday night, the inside-50s were 58-58. Port Adelaide kicked 15.6 to Carlton’s 9.14. Uncontested marks were Port +58. The long rebuild continues and fans remain frustrated, many of whom left at three-quarter time.

Marc Murphy’s kick is smothered by Hamish Hartlett.

2. What to do about Murph?

Could add Sam Petrevski-Seton and Paddy Dow to that question. Marc Murphy was a gun midfielder and is being asked to play as a permanent forward. He’s delivering the best he’s got, but it’s not nearly enough. He went at just 43 per cent by foot against Port Adelaide and his pressure is low for a forward. Only three goals in five games, albeit he does play high, is an inadequate return. At least Murphy has been a Blues champ for more than 12 years. I look at Petrevski-Seton and see talent but little impact. He is exactly what Carlton is: Adequate sometimes, disappointing the next. A move back to the forward line could be the play.

3. Kick a Vic (II)

If we asked who is Carlton, who in the hell is St Kilda? We can only talk about what we’re seeing for 120 minutes a week and from that observation they are a frontrunning mob who have collapsed in two of their past three games. Footy seemingly gets too hard for them and they subconsciously give up the ghost. They look to be working hard, but not collectively. The play Port Adelaide this week and coach Brett Ratten could do worse than throw out at all offensive strategy and emphasis work rate, defence, tackles and hard running without the ball. Take note Hunter Clark. The offence always sorts itself if the defensive fundamentals are in place. Their season is on a cliff and it won’t take much to tip them over.

Hunter Clark and the Saints need to get their season on track. Picture: Michael Klein

4. Kick a Vic (III)

How perfect: Collingwood v Essendon on Anzac Day. Coach Nathan Buckley and his group had the courage to move Darcy Moore forward. It seemed to me their strategy was to keep Moore forward, no matter what happened. Even when Jeremy Howe was injured, the coach stuck fat. He gave Mark Keane and Jack Madgen opportunity in defence and although the Eagles’ talls got hold of the game, Buckley persevered. They didn’t win, but neither did they surrender. The coach is rebuilding his team and a player like Keane has to get the exposure. It’s almost certain the 1-4 Pies won’t play finals, and that’s OK. Buckley is coaching now and for the future, the issue with that, is will Buckley be part of that future?

Nathan Buckley is sticking to his plan.

5. Kick a Vic (IV)

Hawthorn has won one game from five and is 17th on the ladder. Not so long ago the powerhouse of Victorian football, the Hawks are in a rebuild and trying to find 10-year players and it’s why bringing four quarters together can be a challenge. They were with Melbourne for three quarters before giving up eight of the last nine goals and losing by 50 points. It was their worst defeat of the season, but maybe not their worst performance. The Hawks have fight in them, led by Jaeger O’Meara, and the challenge they have is maintaining that fight as losses mount.

6. Kick a Vic (V)

Essendon. A win, two narrow losses and two heavy defeats for the Bombers across the first five rounds. They are like a restless teenager: They believe they can do everything, but they fail at every third task. They were sorted out by a tougher, bigger-bodied outfit in wet conditions and on the road. It’s why they needed their leaders to deliver. Jake Stringer didn’t. He was the second-lowest ranked player of the starting 44, with nine disposals and a late goal. He’s the kind of player to explode on Anzac Day and with Jordan Ridley to miss with concussion, the Bombers will rely on him. Will be interesting to see if the Melbourne-Richmond Anzac eve game attracts more fans than the Pies-Don match. That’s never happened before.

Jake Stringer needs to lift for Anzac Day.

7. Kick a Crow

The Crows are as honest as any team in the competition, although they do lack maturity and on Sunday, they were without their raging bull in the final quarter. Rory Sloane would’ve made it a better contest against David Mundy and Nathan Fyfe. After Taylor Walker kicked a goal at the 11th minute of the final quarter to give the Crows a four-point lead, Adelaide collapsed. They lost the disposal count 50-35, contested possessions 22-11 and clearances 8-2. They simply weren’t tough for long enough. An even game was blown apart with 20 minutes to play.

8. Kick a Sun

The Gold Coast brand is kick, mark, kick, mark, and to do that with a reasonable amount of success you need to be a talented, mature team. They Suns are not. We can keep saying they are young and injured, but excuses are for the bin. Especially when they can kick 6.1 to 2.5 against the Bulldogs in the third quarter on Saturday. The other three quarters saw the Bulldogs kick 15.11 to the Suns’ 2.7. They are missing Jarrod Witts, Matt Rowell, Connor Budarick, Charlie Ballard and Sam Day, but they were missing them in the third quarter as well. Gallant in their two recent losses — how much longer can they accept that condescending pat on the back? — they were reminded on Saturday they are nowhere near playing big boys football. Another long season looms, which is frustrating for everyone.

LIKES

1. T-Mac

The discussion about who will depart the Melbourne team to make way for Sam Weideman and Ben Brown will not involve Tom McDonald. He’s going nowhere. He might get forced out of the forward line to the wing — which he trained for over summer — but out of the team is not an option. Outside of Max Gawn, are we sure he’s not the most influential player in the league? McDonald was the most important big man on the ground at the MCG on Sunday. He had 22 disposals, took 10 marks, kicked two goals and had the second-most score involvements (11) behind Christian Petracca. Mitch Brown will be omitted for one of Weideman or Brown, but the other player won’t be McDonald.

Tom McDonald is a big part of the Demons’ early-season success.

2. Batman and Superman

David Mundy and Nathan Fyfe bullied Adelaide to secure Sunday’s win for Fremantle. It was a tight game, and statistics were even with 20 minutes to play before Mundy and Fyfe went to work in the middle. The game needed some separation, some players with authority, and not for the first time the veteran duo responded. Mundy had seven disposals, six of them score involvements, and two clearances. Fyfe had seven disposals and four score involvements. There might be debate at Fremantle about who is their greatest player — Fyfe or Matthew Pavlich — but there should be no debate who is their third-greatest.

3. Josh Kelly

The Giants are confident Kelly will activate his long-term contract, but we know the Giants’ confidence in retaining their players hasn’t always been founded. Reckon the Kelly situation is a positive one. He’s certainly found a position playing high half-forward, a role that allows him to roam, largely without a tagger. On Saturday, he was opposed to Jake Lloyd and only four of his 26 disposals were in the forward 50. Two of them, mind you, were goals in the final quarter.

After dealing with injuries in recent seasons, Kelly looks invested and even motivated by the influx of youth into the team. “I’m confident he will stay,” Giants director Jimmy Bartel told 3AW on Sunday. “He’s embraced his new role and he’s delivering and he’s embracing his leadership.” On Saturday, Kelly kicked the winner and was the second-highest ranked player in the team.

Josh Kelly was a happy Giant after kicking the winning goal against the Swans.

4. Josh Dunkley smothers

Credit to this bloke. Coach Luke Beveridge put it to him before Round 1 and while Adam Treloar, Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore, Jack Macrae and the three-headed monster (Tim English, Josh Bruce and Aaron Naughton) are getting the praise, Dunkley is doing his job. Dunkley has not dropped under 100 SuperCoach points as a mid-forward this year and perhaps he was worth two first-rounders from Essendon, after all. He’s such a relentless worker. He didn’t lay a smother on Saturday, but going into the round he was the league leader with 10, ahead of Nathan Fyfe (nine) and three players on seven: Touk Miller, Darcy Parish and Alex Neal-Bullen.

5. Mitch Georgiades

Essendon wanted him badly and asked for him to be part of the trade for Orazio Fantasia. Port laughed at the Bombers, and little wonder they did. The three-headed monsters in the F50 are the DNA of the top teams and Port has Georgiades, Todd Marshall and Charlie Dixon.

Georgiades was too capable in the first half for Liam Jones, who was replaced by Lachie Plowman. He has great hands and an even better kick. Fox Footy commentator Jason Dunstall knows plenty about correct goalkicking traits. He had a suggestion for anyone teaching young players: “Show them a video of Mitch Georgiades.” He finished with 15 disposals, five marks, five inside 50s and three goals.

Jack Darling blitzed Collingwood in the second quarter.

6. Jack Darling

He is approaching his form of 2019 when he kicked 59 goals and made his only All-Australian team. On Friday night, Darling had 95 SuperCoachpoints in the second quarter, which is off the charts. He kicked 5.1 for the game and has 15.2 for the season, which makes him one of the most reliable kicks for goal in the competition. His signature style is to keep the head over the ball for as long as possible. With Josh Kennedy playing higher, Kennedy’s running mate deep is Oscar Allen and altogether they are the No. 1 ranked “three-headed monster” in the competition.

7. Classy in victory

Craig Starcevich had every right to only pour accolades on his Lions players after their tenacious performance secured them the AFLW crown. But Starcevich is a bigger-picture football person, hence his drive-by for Hawks president Jeff Kennett, whose whinge in the Grand Final lead-up was probably best saved for another day. Starcevich’s best in the post-match was saved for opposition superstar Erin Phillips. He believes the medal for the best player in the grand final should be named after Phillips. “Erin has had a massive input and her legacy should be acknowledged,” he said. Kate Lutkins won the medal on Saturday for her stellar game in defence.

Erin Phillips congratulates Brisbane AFLW premiership coach Craig Starcevich.

8. Joe saves his best for the Bombers

Joe Daniher played his best game for the Lions, a career-high 25-disposal game in the slush. It was his highest-ranking performance since 2017 and a superb effort in conditions generally not suited to big men. The temptation is to play Daniher close to goal, where his marking is beneficial, but, as Essendon discovered, Daniher’s ability to run makes him a huge weapon when centre-forward and not always coming out of the goalsquare.

Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from Round 5 of the 2021 AFL season