This Collingwood comeback wasn’t quite enough; Bulldogs win but still ‘on edge’

GOLD COAST SUNS 14.17 (101) d COLLINGWOOD 13.12 (90)

Mac Andrew of the Suns punches the ball clear.Credit: AFL Photos

We thought we’d seen this movie before

For 25 minutes, it looked like Collingwood were going to do it again: steal a game that looked gone, by any normal measure. But this is no ordinary team, and between them, Nick Daicos and the returning Jordan De Goey nearly hauled the Pies over the line. It’s to the Suns’ great credit that, after Nathan Kreuger briefly gave the Pies the lead, they were able to steady in the final moments and take a game that had been theirs all night back, preserving a perfect record at home this season. And for the Pies, there are lessons. They’d looked flat and unusually sloppy for three quarters, missing targets and opportunities – and maybe, after coming back from 54 points against North Melbourne two weeks ago, they’d cheated death once too often. They’ve made bank heists look like business as usual. This time, the bank won.

Witts standing tall

During the week, emerging Gold Coast Suns ruckman Ned Moyle resisted big overtures from multiple clubs, including Collingwood, to re-sign with the club for four years. Early on Saturday, he racked up 70 hit-outs at VFL level. The gauntlet was being thrown down with interest to Suns veteran Jarrod Witts – and the man mountain responded. The Suns had a lot of good players against Collingwood, but none more influential than the veteran colossus, who did everything to get his team over the line. The Suns midfield had the better of Collingwood for almost the entire match, in no small thanks to Witts’ deft hands and bullocking presence at ground level. Moyle is coming, but he will have to bide his time a little longer.

Long makes a physical impact

Ben Long looked like a depth player when he came to the Suns from St Kilda at the end of 2022. In his third year at his second club, he’s been much more than that, and he had a brilliant match against Collingwood – dishing out brutal, but fair tackles to Billy Frampton and Josh Daicos that rattled the all-conquering visiting team; kicking the goal that gave the Suns back the lead when it looked for all the world that the Pies were home, and shovelling the ball to Ben Ainsworth for the sealer. He’s not a pretty player, but his 15 possessions don’t speak to his enormous impact on the result.

Gold Coast’s Ben Long celebrates a goal.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

KEY STATS

Thanks for joining us across this marathon day of footy.

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Bye for now.

A dazzling Izak Rankine cameo fired Adelaide to a 16-point upset win against Greater Western Sydney.

Rankine’s sensational opening half gave the Crows the edge in their 13.16 (94) to 12.6 (78) triumph at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

Rankine had halftime stats that would please most in a full game: 21 disposals, seven inside 50s, five clearances, seven score involvements and kicking 2.2.

His feats sparked a seven-goal second-term surge from the Crows in a 20-minute patch that turned a 12-point deficit to a 33-point lead.

Crow on the fly: Izak Rankine kicks clear.Credit: AFL Photos

“Izak was huge in that first half especially,” Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks said.

“We knew they’d come at us in the second (half) but I thought his individual performance in the first half, off the back of what his teammates did, was was just great.”

Rankine finished with 27 touches, Darcy Fogarty kicked three goals and Taylor Walker, Bean Keays and Josh Rachele scored two each.

Captain Jordan Dawson (24 disposals, 10 marks) and defenders Mitch Hinge (31 disposals) and Mark Keane were also prominent as the Crows snapped a three-game losing streak.

The Giants (eight wins, seven losses) blew a chance to rise to fifth on the ladder — instead, they drop to ninth spot.

ADELAIDE 2.6 9.9 10.14 13.16 (94)
GWS GIANTS 4.0 5.0 8.3 12.6 (78)
GOALS - Adelaide Crows: Fogarty 3, Rachele 2, Rankine 2, Walker 2, Keays 2, Sholl, Dowling
GWS GIANTS: Greene 3, Hogan 2, Riccardi 2, Kelly 2, Ward 2, Cumming

Cats coach Chris Scott spoke to the media post game.

Were you happy with the response tonight after that tough little period?

I thought we played well. A bit similar to some games we have played in the last couple of months where we were outplayed in patches but if you are more than a casual observer you will see that across the competition. I do not think anyone is good enough to dominate games from the whole game. It was pleasing. We had some of our good players who were back in some good form. The competition is so tight, even Dangerfield coming back last week, after missing a fair bit of footy and he looked like himself which is a really good sign for us. I thought he was probably symptomatic of where we are trying to get to with some... We have good guys who have been a bit off which has manned... We had a bad one against Carlton and the Gold Coast and the others were pretty tied. I don’t think we ever got sucked into thinking we were going that badly. Again, it is our job to look deeper than just the win loss. I will not say that it is not pleasing to play better and win.

Cats coach Chris Scott.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

The call to send Tom Stewart into the centre bounces?

The move makes sense to me. I hold him in such high regard. I joked with them, if we decide to play him as a small forward he would be the best in the competition in my opinion. He has great attributes and a great attitude to his footy. I do not think he has been shooting the lights at but he is going much better than others sense.

Why this game when Essendon has so many good forward targets?

Well, the game has never been more in a situation where to get something you need to give something. That might sound obvious but it used to be that... If you were a really good team, there were some weeks where you could experiment a little bit and not lose too much. Now every single team in the competition can exploit any weaknesses in your setup. I would make the argument that especially without Dangerfield and Guthrie, pretty quickly we became a developing midfield and Tanner Bruhn was an important part. The other side of that argument is we did not have him in the back half as much but if we played him back we wouldn’t have had him around the ball. We have been giving up scores as well so it is not just the midfield but we have been a little bit off in the midfield as compared to other parts of the ground and last month or so.

He looked like he was a full-time mid at the stoppages and after that he would push back maybe 20m away from behind the ball? Can this continue?

How do I enter this without answering it? (LAUGHS) The way I think about Tom’s game, we want him to maximise his attributes but that is the way I think about the game anyway. I am not a believer that there is the right way to play the game and you have to force your players into that mode. We look at what we have got and we try to get our best players in their best spots. And even if you move a guy from one position to another, there will be a bias to play to his strengths. I think that is what you are seeing as opposed to any structural change.

Bombers coach Brad Scott spoke to the media post game.

You won clearances, inside 50s but lose by 45 points, how do you sum it up?

We are disappointed. From those inside 50s, we scored at 25 per cent which is not enough. We have to look at that. There were some really good opportunities that we did not take. Defended well as they have historically, Geelong. Again, it is the foundation of the game to keep the ball in your forward half more often than not. We did not defend particularly in the second half. Probably when we were trying to accelerate the game and trying to accelerate the game and try to get back into the contest. That destabilised a bit in the back after the margin in the end, you try... To make up the deficit and take a few risks to try and score. Not only did we not score, we opened up our defence a bit. The margin, I don’t think tells the story but it is a fact at the end of the day. Again, 60 inside 50s and a loss is disappointing.

Todd Goldstein of the Bombers competes for the ballCredit: Getty Images

Did you go too tall in hindsight with the two rucks?

I thought our stoppage... I liked it around the contest and I do not think that hurt us at all. I thought he might have looked threatening than he actually was. And even the conditions, we like Draper’s ability to give us a contest in the forward half but we could not capitalise when the ball hit the ground. Early in the first half we did. I thought we looked really dangerous. The balance of our side was fine.

With the conditions, did you not consider making a late change? It was bucketing down pretty hard at the start.

Yeah. It did not look like it was going to. It rained a lot more during the day and at the start of the game looked fine. When I got to the coach’s box it was pouring rain and it was too late to make a late change. Peter Wright looked really dangerous early. The ruck set up do not cost us in my opinion. I think it is just too easy to say that we are too tall. I do not think that impacted us. We had enough ground-level support. Good around the contest. We thought that could give us ascendancy and it did around stoppage and there was some good stoppage work. It was more our ability to capitalise on opportunities.

Their run started with the kick to Sam Draper where he wasn’t given the free kick - what did you make of that?

We clearly lost momentum n the third quarter through a series of unfortunate events. And we didn’t. We were not set up behind the ball. Got transition. You give up, you don’t get a screen opportunity and it goes down the other end. We just had a patch where we lost total control of the game. That can happen through a variety of factors. What I am most disappointed about is that we lost momentum and then we lost our composure. We could not regain the momentum. We could not stabilise the game. That is the most disappointing part because, for the most part this year, things go against you in games of footy all the time whether it is the opposition doing great things or other things that happen that are outside of your control. As frustrating as it is, there is nothing you can do about it. The only thing you can do is control your response and our response tonight was really disappointing. Step back in that area for us which has been really good so far this year. Our ability to regain composure after losing momentum in the third quarter compounded and made it worse. Not only did we not regain the momentum, we cannot even stem the momentum they had.

How do your players steel themselves to get back in it?

I think that it is a challenge in elite sport that when things happen you get frustrated and that is a natural human reaction. But it is just a challenge to get back, not just the leaders but our whole team. We worked really hard on that and we were just not able to do it tonight. That is a thing in this game. You have to be able... Whatever happens, good or bad, you have to keep level and keep competing. And I thought we set the game up really well in the first half. I thought we had ample opportunity to be a lot further in front than we were at halftime. And then in a short period of time in the third quarter we lost momentum. To a certain extent dropped our bundle.

Lawson Humphries of the Cats.Credit: Getty Images

Cats debutante Lawson Humphries had some fun with the Geelong media team’s phone post game after being asked to take a selfie after his debut.

The Cats lads got in on the fun as well. Here is the finished product.

Humphries, who reportedly had more than 50 family and friends come to the game from all over Australia and New Zealand, told Channel Seven he found it a bit weird but fun.

“The media guys came up to me and said, we need you to take some selfies,” Humphries told Channel Seven.

“I don’t take many often. I just thought I would get one with everybody and that should be all good.

“It was a bit weird! I guess that is how it is here.”

GEELONG 16.9 (105) d ESSENDON 9.6 (60)

Gary Rohan celebrates a goal.Credit: AFL Photos

Dons Bomb On Big Stage

There is a reason why many do not have Essendon as a genuine finals contender, and it was on show tonight. The Bombers were comprehensively outplayed in the second half by Geelong, who atoned for last week’s shocker with an emphatic 45-point victory at the MCG. In one of their worst performances of the season, the Bombers were blown away after half-time, outscored 10 goals to two. The Essendon Edge that has been a key part of their revival this season was nowhere to be seen in the second half. Their midfield was blown away. Zach Merrett had just eight touches after half-time, Sam Durham only five. Alarmingly for Brad Scott, it came after a first half in which they arguably should have led by two to three goals at the long break. The Bombers were smacked in transition, giving up 11 goals on turnover - a mark of the Cats’ greater pressure, and Essendon’s inability to move the ball outside of winning the ball at clearance. The Dons now have a crucial Friday night blockbuster against old foe Collingwood, who are also on the rebound.

Cats Kids

The Cats have been the butt of Dad’s Army jokes but their youngsters played a big role in their victory over the Bombers. We know Max Holmes is a bona fide topliner but there are others who are developing well enough to give the Cats veterans another shot at September. Ollie Dempsey started the season well as a forward, but has improved further on the wing, this time with 25 possessions and two goals. Four of his highest disposal tallies have now come in his past six games. The move to the ruck has given Sam De Koning the shake-up he needed after a flat patch. Lawson Humphries on debut looked like he belonged at the top level with a cool head in defence. Jack Bowes, the sub last week, had a good night in the midfield. Mitch Knevitt had some nice moments, topped off with a goal in junk time.

Oliver Dempsey is congratulated by teammates after kicking a goal.Credit: AFL Photos

Did Dons Err With Two Rucks?

Cricketer Gulbadin Naib created an international stir with a sudden onset of cramp as a shower swept through the Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent during the week. Australia’s leggie Adam Zampa joked Gulbadin had done a “rainstring”. Afghanistan would win on Duckworth/Lewis if play stopped there and then. As the rain tumbled down minutes before the first bounce, we wondered whether either Todd Goldstein or Sam Draper were to do a “rainstring” as well so that the Dons would not have two frontline rucks in conditions not suiting the big men. Against Mark Blicavs and Sam De Koning, neither of whom are specialist rucks, the pair dominated the hitouts, 57-24, helping Essendon win clearances by seven, but they had little impact around the ground with 21 disposals between them to their opponents’ 36 and a goal. Brad Scott has generally preferred two rucks in his time at The Hangar though this may have been a game where the Dons would have been better served with forward Peter Wright playing a few minutes each quarter as the second ruck.

KEY STATS

Tom Stewart of the Cats.Credit: Getty Images

Cats star Tom Stewart spoke to Channel Seven post game after his surprise move into the midfield tonight.

Did you love your different role? A bit of a challenge? Was that good for you?

It was interesting. Something new. I have played a lot of footy down back. I had my struggles the last few weeks. The coaches challenge me and see if I wanted to have a crack into play alongside Clark and the skipper was brilliant. Good fun.

We discussed that an commentary, it’s one thing to throw a guy in the midfield, you still have to perform your role. What were you focused on?

Just the contest. Get my body into as many contests as I could. Help that defensively. Try to keep it pretty simple. The most important thing is we got the win, so I’m stoked.

The Cats have scored a big win over the Bombers and stopped their fall down the ladder at the same time.

There will be plenty talked about regarding umpire decisions but their spirit and ability to put on goal after goal should be acknowledged.

Jack Bowes of the Cats.Credit: Getty Images

There will be those who give up on Essendon’s finals hopes after this second half but former Dons star Jobe Watson isn’t one of them.

When asked if the Dons could still do something significant this season, he was still positive.

“You look at what happened, the season fell away last year dramatically in the last month, and I think they would be aware of where they were last year, and they feel like they have advanced,” Watson said during commentary commitments on Channel Seven.

“I think this team still is good enough, and it is improving. They are trying to adjust and shift some positions but they match up against the better teams in the second half of this year, and they will have to perform against the quality sides.”

Cats 98, Dons 60 with four mins to go.