Gather Round for home wins
Peter Malinauskas is a canny politician. He bought his state a round of football, untold investment, tourist dollars and the two local teams two more home games. And with home games came two wins. As far as dividend on political investment this is as good as it gets.
The Power defied heavy conditions to overturn three quarters of Bulldogs’ territorial ascendancy.Credit: Paul Kane, Getty
Integrity is a word unknown in the AFL when it comes to fixturing but in a competition where only half has a true home ground advantage and teams don’t play all others twice, where the Victorian teams travel half the amount of the non-Victorian teams, this is yet another added inconsistency.
This isn’t to diminish either the Crows or Power’s performances for they were superb and both thoroughly deserved their wins. Adelaide were stronger, ran the ball better, and looked like they would win from the first bounce. Port grew into the game in grim conditions, were far cleaner in the critical last quarter and were just as deserving.
This isn’t about that. This is about a competition where two, and only two, of the competition’s teams get an extra home game and the well-accepted advantages that flow from that. Put it this way, Port finished 11th last year, only won 10 games but seven of them were at home. The Crows finished 14th, won eight games and five of those were at Adelaide Oval.
In a 23-round competition, two teams get 12 home games. Fourteen teams get 11 home games and one neutral game. And two teams – Carlton and the Western Bulldogs this year – get 11 home games and 12 away games.
Put like that it’s hard to find a fairness argument in it. And yes, fairness, like integrity, is only ever whispered at the AFL and anyone heard to do so is quickly escorted from the building.
The gushing about Gather Round that came across the border – which for those not there was like pictures of food at a restaurant on a Facebook page, “Look where I am, you really you should be here” – means that of course this round was by all other measures an outrageous success. It will happen again, it should happen again. It was great; it brought eyeballs and cash to the game.
But it didn’t help that pesky integrity question. And for that Carlton and the Dogs can feel most aggrieved. They were the two teams that played an additional away game.
And before those in South Australia start frothing and flexing their fingers to thunder out a stern email about the hypocrisy of Victorians and travel and the VFL running the competition, don’t. This same unfairness issue affects the WA, NSW and QLD teams when two teams from one state only get an extra home game.
The clearest thinker in the game, Leigh Matthews, a Brisbane three-time premiership coach and board member made the same point.
It’s not insurmountable. The most obvious answer is that next year the round kicks off with a Showdown, Adelaide v Port.
Wild-eyed Draper the heartbeat of the Bombers
Sam Draper looks like the type of player who will injure teammates at training, accidentally. He’s all energy, elbows, knees and mad enthusiasm. He looks like he doesn’t have an off switch, and he’d be the same in a supermarket aisle as the Adelaide Oval.
Sam Draper of the Bombers and Christian Petracca of the Demons during round five.Credit: Sarah Reed, Getty
In a team of quiet types, he is not. He is a big man with a big personality. He knows it’s his thing, he has previously spoken about how it is his role to be the pulse of the team. So, he would be the one in the rooms before a game strutting around, singing, punching lockers and jumping on benches and pumping out the loud music.
On Saturday, with Andrew Phillips, they worked to their strengths to double-team and exploit Brodie Grundy and in doing so, didn’t allow the Demons ruck to play to his strengths. Grundy is a good ruck who covers the ground like a midfielder and often is the one to break from stoppages. But marking is not a strength.
On a wet night Phillips took six marks, Draper four and Grundy three. But it was the way the Bombers big men pushed forward that was the difference. The two Essendon rucks kicked five goals between them. This is not to point blame at Grundy for there were myriad reasons why Melbourne lost, but Draper in particular was a key reason why Essendon won.
The Demons looked thin without Max Gawn, Jake Lever and Ben Brown, and they played flat. It was their worst pressure and running game of the year.
And they ran into a highly organised and very well-planned Bombers outfit that played excellent football.
The Bombers are kicking the ball more under coach Brad Scott and are moving it quicker (ranked seventh by Champion Data compared to 18th in both of Ben Rutten’s years).
If numbers don’t tell a persuasive story of the change under Scott this simple scenario does. Try and think of the number of times Melbourne had a one-on-one inside 50. You can’t? That’s the difference. It’s the way Essendon now set up behind the ball.
The consequence of that is Melbourne had 17 entries inside 50s at one point for two behinds. Against previous Essendon teams you would put them down for five goals from that number of entries.
Horne-Francis superb
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley was right and wrong. It’s understandable he’d be defensive of his star player Jason Horne-Francis. It is also entirely reasonable in a professional sport to assess the on-field performance of one of the biggest names, most highly valued recruits in the game.
And, on that, we can say this. He is a 19-year-old who had a few iffy performances in recent weeks where he didn’t work as hard as he should. As if he were ... a teenager.
We can also say his performance on Saturday night, especially in the last quarter, spoke of a player who is far advanced on his 19 years. He was superb. He was strong and imposing and was as influential as Todd Marshall’s unerringly straight goal-kicking in the Power’s win.
Jason Horne-Francis. Credit: Paul Kane, Getty
And the booing? Telling people not to boo normally seems to have the opposite effect.
Danger zone
There are just some moments that deserve separate acknowledgment. Marshall’s two shots at goal in the wet that never deviated. And Patrick Dangerfield’s masterclass centre clearance on Sunday.
Patrick Dangerfield, right, in action on the weekend. Credit: Mark Brake, Getty
If you didn’t see it, it was vintage Dangerfield. At the bounce, he was shoulder-to-shoulder with Jai Culley. The Cats captain accelerated, scooped the ball off the palm of Eagles’ ruckman Bailey Williams and had 10 metres clear of any player within a blink. He then punted the ball long to Tom Hawkins. Just brilliant.