AFL Round 2 Early Tackle: Scott Gullan’s likes and dislikes

Apart from a handful, the Bombers are an ordinary bunch, writes SCOTT GULLAN. And now the curious re-signing of Brad Scott makes sense. See all the early likes and dislikes.

Collingwood spoiled Western Bulldogs’ birthday bash and Hawthorn compounded Carlton’s early-season worries to kickstart an important weekend of football.

Scott Gullan names his likes and dislikes in the Early Tackle.

LIKES

THERE’S A NEW KING IN TOWN

When Wayne Carey was at his peak his North Melbourne teammates would joke that their job was simply to just kick it in his area because they knew he’d get it.

Sam Darcy is quickly moving into Carey areas.

On the biggest stage – a centenary celebration against Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night — the 21-year-old was so dominant that Footscray fans were screaming to just kick it in the air anywhere near him.

Most times when they did he got it, with six contested marks from his eight for the night, 15 possessions and 4.2 goals.

Feeling for the key defenders who will have to play on Sam Darcy for the next 10+ years 😅 #freak

— Steven May (@stevemay_92) March 21, 2025

Collingwood superstar Scott Pendlebury has seen a lot over his career but even he was left in awe of the 208cm forward.

In particular Darcy’s ability to kick on both legs. He seems to prefer using his left foot in general play and then right-foot when taking set shots for goal.

“That’s better than most midfielders,” Pendlebury said.

“Just his presence . . last night he was such a focal point for them, it just felt like any time he was near the ball he just marked it or got a free-kick.

“I honestly don’t think I have ever played against anybody who can do what he can do at such a young age.

“It is sort of scary to play against someone like that, you realise I think he is only 20 or 21 years old. He is going to be something that I don’t think this game has seen before. It is scary for the rest of the competition.”

Pendlebury said Pies skipper Darcy Moore was made to look like a “medium-sized back” by Darcy.

“Darcy is not small, he’s 6ft 8’ or 6ft 7’ and he made Darcy look like a medium-sized back,” he told SEN.

“Darcy is so athletic but I think with Sam if you let him jump and get the footy at the highest point you are out of the contest, his hands are like vices out there.

“The other thing I really liked was he looks so calm, he looks like he enjoys the ball in his hands in front of goal and as I said he is going to be a hell of a player.”

Harry Armstrong showed some good signs against the Power. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT HARRY

In the euphoria of the season-opening win over Carlton, much of the focus understandably fell on No.1 draft pick Sam Lalor.

He was sensational and quite rightly won the Rising Star nomination with his Dusty Martin-like impersonation on debut.

Another debutant was Harry Armstrong who soaked up the experience rather than had an enormous impact.

This week Tiger fans got to see why he was seen as a steal to be taken at No.23 in last year’s national draft.

Armstrong kicked two goals from 12 touches against Port but it was his leap and nice left-foot which indicated there was something to get excited about for the future.

BIGGER THE BETTER

The two most exciting teams early in the season are rolling with completely different forward set-ups.

Hawthorn is putting its stake in the ground with one tall in Mabior Chol and an elite fleet of smalls around him with the option of swinging captain James Sicily up there at any time to add height.

Adelaide has gone the opposite with three tall power forwards the recipe for its forward half and the mix was on point against Essendon on Saturday.

Veteran Taylor Walker, rising young star Riley Thilthorpe and dead-eye Darcy Fogarty gave a master class in system and how three talls can coexist in the modern game.

The trio combined for seven goals and an incredible 26 marks against the Bombers.

Riley Thilthorpe and the Crows ran riot on Saturday. Picture: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos

Rarely did they fly against each other and the separation they found in the wide spaces of the MCG was brilliant to watch. The fact they are all excellent kicks for goal just adds to the goodness of this equation for Matthew Nicks.

The Crows hadn’t won at the MCG since 2017 but while it must be acknowledged they didn’t beat much in a disappointing Essendon, the physical power across the board in this team reeks of what’s required on the ground in September.

Nicks is in his sixth year in charge with 10th his best-placed finish. That should change dramatically this year particularly when you look at the draw and what double-up games the Crows have.

Courtesy of finishing 15th last year, Adelaide plays West Coast and North Melbourne twice and gets an extra game at Adelaide Oval thanks to Gather Round.

PARTY TIME

To be a serious contender you don’t only need a good structure and system, you need X-factor.

Adelaide has several players who bring it to the table and in the space of two minutes we saw two of them produce pieces of magic.

Josh Rachele lost his way near the end of last year but he brings a lot to the table when on and midway through the third quarter he showed his exquisite skill with a beautiful banana goal from the boundary line.

It was pretty impressive but he was quickly put back in his box by his teammate Izak Rankine.

When you look up X-factor in the dictionary there is a picture of Rankine and he showed why when he got the ball on the wing near the boundary line.

A casual two bounces got him to the 50m arc right where he then kicked an extraordinary goal that had class with a capital ‘C’ written all over it.

Rankine on a dry day at the MCG in September … can’t wait to see that.

DISLIKES

BLACK HOLE

Essendon’s top brass must have seen this coming.

The curious re-signing of Brad Scott on the eve of the season seemed strange, particularly when the coach – who had two years left on his contract – knew nothing about it until approached.

President David Barham’s spin was that the extension to add 2027 was a “statement of stability and alignment”.

But the reality is they clearly predicted the Scott rebuild was going to take a lot longer than originally hoped so they needed to get out the front of it because there was more pain coming.

It came in a big way on Saturday with the Bombers pushed around by a dominant Adelaide Crows outfit who looked classes above.

Zach Reid (Photo by Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

On the evidence so far it’s hard to see where the improvement is going to come for the Bombers as apart from a handful, led by captain Zach Merrett and Sam Durham, they’re an ordinary bunch.

Yes, they have some injuries which exposes the depth but why have so many of the young players not developed.

Poor old Zach Reid – the No.10 pick in the 2020 draft – has been hampered by injuries but he is the poster boy for this development black hole.

He was pushed around like a rag doll by the Crows forwards but he wasn’t on his lonesome.

The Bombers had seven first-round picks from the past five national drafts playing against the Crows and apart from the most recent two on that list – Isaac Kako and Nate Caddy – there is lack of excitement about them.

Reid, Archie Perkins, Ben Hobbs and Elijah Tsatas were drafted as players to be the backbone of the next generation – and you can throw Harrison Jones (No.30 in 2019) into the mix – but they’re struggling to be more than average AFL players.

Tsatas, who’d played just 11 games in two years, at least found plenty of it with 25 touches and 11 clearances but his disposal, which has held him back from playing more, is still a work in progress.

And clearly the whole list has a lot of work to do which Barham and Co. identified before anyone else.

TOUGH WATCH

TO be fair to Ben McKay he didn’t ask to get paid a motza, Essendon put a fat cheque in front of him which was too good to refuse.

But the problem is when you do take the cash it comes with a responsibility to live up to expectations.

Playing at full-back for this Essendon team wouldn’t be fun but there is no other way to get around the fact that McKay is nowhere near paying his way.

He was always going to have his hands full against the three-pronged Adelaide tall forward line but the former Kangaroo had the white flag up early doors.

Five disposals and just two marks isn’t good enough.

To think Hawthorn desperately wanted McKay and ex-Cat Esava Ratugolea, instead ended up luring Tom Barrass and Josh Battle this year.

Talk about sliding doors.

OVER-REACTION ANYBODY?

It happens every year.

After six months of craving football, there is so much placed on what happens in Round 1 that inevitably there are a few over-reactions.

The declaration that the Port Adelaide players weren’t playing for Ken Hinkley anymore because of the succession plan to hand over the reins to assistant Josh Carr has to be up there as the No.1 over-reaction.

Port were rubbish against Collingwood – who were backing up after their own embarrassing season-opening performance – but the fact the narrative was to blame the succession plan was short-sighted.

It was the bet of the century that the Power would bounce back and that Richmond wouldn’t be able to reproduce the hunger, excitement and emotion they showed in beating Carlton.

Led by captain Connor Rozee who had a game-high 39 possessions and two goals after having 35 touches last week, the players suddenly seemed to be OK with the coaching set-up as they went about dismantling the young Tigers.

And there was even another smirk from Camperdown Ken on the bench but we’re tipping he’s not going to get criticised this week for it.

WHERE WAS JAMARRA?

Friday night was a massive occasion for the Footscray Football Club.

The pre-game ceremony was expertly narrated by former captain Bob Murphy with the stars of different generations being introduced on the MCG.

It was great to see so many familiar faces who’d played an integral part through the club’s history including 2016 Grand Final hero Tom Boyd.

A record home and away crowd for the Bulldogs was just reward but was there someone who was conspicuous by his absence?

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was not at the Bulldogs’ game on Friday night. Picture: Michael Klein

Sadly Jamarra Ugle-Hagan doesn’t feel strong enough to deal with such a big occasion yet, mingling with crowds and having to answer questions from fans who would be desperate to bail up their wayward star.

There were some alarm bells for social media followers when an Instagram post popped up around the time the Bulldogs were slugging it out in a thrilling final-quarter against the Pies.

It was a photo of Ugle-Hagan sitting next to a mate with a padlock emoji and was clearly not at the MCG. We know these photos may have been taken at a different time and just put on line then but the timing certainly caught the attention of conspiracy theorists.

But the club is aware of Ugle-Hagan’s feelings about attending games and are willing to be patient. The hope being that seeing his teammates in such an incredible match will stoke the fires to get his career back on track.