AFL Round 3 Early Tackle: Glenn McFarlane and Matthew Forrest’s likes and dislikes
GWS felt the full brunt of Sam Mitchell’s Hawks on Saturday night – next it’s Port Adelaide’s turn. And it’s obvious who’s ready for the grudge match. See the early likes, dislikes.
Essendon and Carlton came into round 3 under immense pressure.
One past the test, the other crashed and burned.
And then Super Saturday delivered again – for a number of reasons.
Glenn McFarlane and Matthew Forrest name their likes and dislikes so far.
LIKES
BRING ON KENNY AND THE POWER!
Hawthorn overcame howling winds to one end and the orange tsunami on a wild night in Launceston … and Sam Mitchell’s men now have a fortnight to prepare for the Gather Round grudge match with Port Adelaide and Ken Hinkley.
Let’s call it Port in a storm.
These two teams don’t like each other and it’s going to be compelling viewing.
Last year’s semi-final showdown ended with a heartbreaking loss for the Hawks, with Hinkley rubbing salt into the wounds by singling out Jack Ginnivan post-match, with James Sicily almost ready to intervene in a heated exchange.
So much has changed for both sides since then.
Port is struggling at 1-2; the Hawks are unbeaten this season (4-0), having mastered the conditions – and the Giants – on Saturday night with a scene-setting third term, kicking four goals to two against a strong breeze.
This was a smart, mature performance from the Hawks, who revelled in the conditions of their home away from home. and got better as the game wore on to score by 12 points, despite kicking an inaccurate 10.16.
Will Day kicked one of the more remarkable goals of the season, evading two Giants on the boundary wing before unloading a 60m bomb that curled like a wild hook off the tee to go through the sticks.
Five goals came with the wind in the second term, but the hard work against the wind in the third was crucial.
Nick Watson had a career-high 21 disposals and kicked a goal in a polished display.
LIONS’ HUNGER GAMES
Hugh McCluggage summed it up when he said the measure of Brisbane’s hunger for more success in 2025 came in the way the club had scrapped and fought to win its first three matches, including Saturday night’s nine-point win over Geelong.
This time last year the Lions were 0-3; McCluggage said 3-0 looks a lot better on the ledger and it has come off the back of hard work, effort and a never-say-die mentality.
“We’ve been through a lot as a group,” McCluggage said on Fox Footy. “For seven or eight years we have been pushing to get to the top. You don’t want to go back to the bottom.
“You want to just keep making the most of your opportunities.”
A Dayne Zorko goal late in the game tipped the scale in the Lions’ favour, having stormed over the top of the visitors in the second half.
Will Ashcroft had 33 disposals, McCluggage had 30, Zorko had 28, while the Lions had 10 individual goalkickers for their 10 goals as their midfielders and back half shut out the Cats.
THE BEVO EFFECT
During an injury-hit pre-season it seemed the Western Bulldogs had the upper hand in any prospective Luke Beveridge contract negotiations.
Not any more.
The 2016 premiership coach now has the lead role.
When the Bont, Adam Treloar, Liam Jones, Cody Weightman and co went down with injuries before the start of the season and Jamarra Ugle-Hagen was not playing or training due to personal reasons, most believed the Dogs were going to be hard pressed to set a platform before the cavalry returned.
How wrong we were!
Three games into 2025, and only Jones has returned. But the Dogs are 2-1, with an unlucky six-point loss to Collingwood their own blemish.
So much of this has to be put down to the rise of a new wave of young talent, but it also has a lot to do with the connection between the players and the coach.
Bevo clearly still has the group connected. As a person who has only this week expressed his passion for coaching, he clearly still has the hunger to push on.
And he is improvising on the run.
If the Bulldogs are dragging their heels – and there is no evidence yet that they are – another club could so easily come knocking.
Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains said this week that a mid-season contract renewal could be on the cards.
It should happen sooner if the Dogs keep on winning before Bont and co return.
And while we’re at it, Tom Liberatore’s acting captaincy in Bont’s absence cannot be underestimated. He and Bont couldn’t be more different in style or messaging, but Libba has helped drag this group through some tough times.
CALL IT A SUPER DRAFT
We’re three rounds into the season, and the careers of the 2024 draft crop, but let’s call it for what it really is.
A super draft.
Tobie Travaglia was the latest first rounder to earn his debut after a stunning VFL game last week, and he was every bit of class as we thought he was.
Yes, it came in a monster win over Richmond, but 10 first half touches came when the game was in the balance.
He talked a big game in the pre-season when he said he was training with Jack Steele as a midfielder, but he lined up for some centre bounces and did not look out of place.
Now seven of the top 10 draftees have debuted, with just Jagga Smith (knee), Leo Lombard (shoulder) and Alix Tauru (back) yet to play, and the trio are injured.
Throw in the later first round picks, like Xavier Lindsay, Isaac Kako, Joe Berry, Murphy Reid and Luke Trainor, as well as the late gems like Sam Davidson, and this class is shaping as one for the ages.
JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
Medicine is going to have to wait for a fair bit longer.
The Bulldogs’ pick 51 from last year’s draft, Sam Davidson, showed why he has put the final year of his medical studies on hold for the time being as he looks to take his three-game AFL career to the next level.
He did that on Friday night with a statement-making performance.
The 23-year-old had 31 disposals (his direct opponents had 10 on him), while he took 10 marks, and had 605 metres gained on a special night on the wing, as one of several unheralded Dogs who stood up.
Davidson has come a long way in his footy career, not just because he came to Whitten Oval via East Brighton, St Kevins, Sale City, South Mildura, Maffra and Richmond VFL.
Better still, he’s a lifelong Bulldogs fan. He was there on that famous day in 2016 as a 14-year-old in the MCG standing room area, and who could forget the club’s social media post of him and his family last November going wild as his name was called out in the draft.
THE OTHER ZACH
Zach Merrett produced a best afield performance to down the Power on Friday night, but the young Bomber he shares a Christian name with produced his best night in red and black.
Five days after being ragdolled by Darcy Fogarty and co, injury-ravaged defender Zach Reid showed why the Bombers have been so patient with him with a mature display on Friday night, shutting down Power forward Mitch Georgiades.
It was one of the most critical moves on a night in which the Bombers shut out a week of intense criticism following a mauling on the scoreboard and the stats sheet against Adelaide.
Reid was the last of three successive Bombers picks (Nik Cox and Archie Perkins were the others) to round out the top 10 in the 2020 national draft.
But a swag of injuries, and precious little continuity of games, had many wondering if Reid might be a bust.
He has missed 55 games due to injury, including hamstrings (22), back (13), pectoral (11) and illness (six).
But his mature performance to nullify the dangerous Georgiades has given Bombers fresh hope that he won’t be.
He went onto the Power forward in the second half, who had earlier kicked two goals, and restricted him to only four disposals and no more majors.
On the flip side to that, Reid had a career-best 16 disposals, 10 marks and five intercept possessions.
He has only played 12 games since his 2021 debut and still has plenty to learn, but as he looks to play his fourth consecutive game this season … there finally looks to be upside.
BULL DURHAM
No, we are not talking about the 1988 baseball movie starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon.
We’re talking about Essendon’s contested ball-winning midfield bull who obliterated Port Adelaide on Friday night.
We copped a bit of flak in the pre-season for claiming Sam Durham is the Bombers’ second best player, behind Merrett.
It wasn’t meant to be a slight on second best and fairest Nic Martin, but more of an indication of how highly we rate Durham, who at 23 looks like being a 200-gamer.
Take a look at his influence on Friday night.
His 28 disposals were fourth highest in the game, but he ranked No.1 in terms of contested possessions (14), groundball gets (10) and score involvements (12).
And it was good to see Brad Scott ditch the ‘Dylan Shiel at half-back’ experiment after two full games. He had zero per cent midfield time against Hawthorn and Adelaide, and quite rightly copped a whack for his performances.
But the decision to move him back into the midfield – he had 87 per cent midfield time against Port Adelaide – paid big dividends with 25 disposals and 705 metres gained.
DISLIKES
UGLY ALL ROUND
Liam O’Connell is making a name for himself as a brave footballer.
The Irishman, in just his third game of AFL football, charged back with the flight and copped an errant knock from the veteran Tom Lynch.
It was not deliberate contact from that Tiger, but O’Connell was given a late shove by Rhyan Mansell which contributed to the clash.
Certainly, after a run of similar incidents in both the pre-season and the early rounds, it’ll be something that is looked at.
AFL footy boss Laura Kane wrote to clubs earlier this month telling them that those dangerous actions could now be cited by the match review process as rough conduct, and potentially result in suspensions.
Melbourne great Gary Lyon told Fox Footy that the action “needs to be outlawed”.
“Mansell is the one who pushes him (O’Connell) into oncoming traffic,” he said.
“He can’t anticipate what is happening, Rhyan Mansell, but when you have traffic coming you put your opponent into great risk. This is what happens and we need direction from the AFL as to that not happening.
What is more concerning, however, is when O’Connell stood up – clearly dazed from the knock.
The umpire, No.36 Andrew Adair, was trying to get Anthony Caminiti to stand on the mark, and looked back at the stumbling O’Connell and told him to clear out of five metres.
Mansell, the man at fault for contact, could tell straight away O’Connell was in strife, calling for club doctors to come and escort him from the ground.
Still, the umpire let Lynch line up for his shot at goal, despite every person in the stadium seeing O’Connell was in a bad way.
The umpires have been given the power to stop the proceedings and let an injured player get medical help.
Once he finally was removed from the field of play, O’Connell was assessed and then substituted out with concussion.
It’s a bad look, a terrible miss from the officiating crew and will be a shock if the MRO lets Mansell off.
CAT NAPPERS
Geelong almost looked to have this game almost in its keeping when it was 32 points in front of a sluggish Brisbane during the first half.
But something went wrong after the long break.
The Cats could manage only two goals (and a total of 13 points) in the third and fourth quarters while the Lions rattled off 7.6.
The conditions were not kind to Geelong, but that’s no real excuse for having only 13 inside 50s in the second half, while allowing the Lions to have 39.
After a stunning start to 2025 with a powerful home win against Freo, Chris Scott’s team has now lost narrowly – but in contrasting styles – to the Saints and the Lions in the past fortnight.
They were jumped by St Kilda last week before storming home to narrowly miss; they jumped out of the blocks on Saturday but couldn’t quite close the deal, losing by nine points.
The Cats aren’t playing badly, but they have plenty of work ahead of them as they look to peel off four quarter efforts again.
THIRD TERM BURN
Adam Kingsley will likely have the Giants’ third quarter shutdown on loop in this week’s game review.
His team did a lot right against the Hawks.
But after a first-half that saw all 11 goals kicked at the one end at Launceston, the Giants simply could not take the advantage of the wind in the third quarter.
Yes, the wind dropped a little.
But GWS was outplayed and out-thought at times by the Hawks after half-time.
Hawthorn closed the gaps through the midfield which at times were gaping in the opening term, to outscore the visitors four goals to two in the third term.
That was effectively the game.
Jesse Hogan kicked four goals on his return, Toby Bedford had 13 disposals and 13 tackles, and Lachie Whitfield had a game-high 34 disposals.
Jake Stringer couldn’t score a goal in his first game in orange, from his 14 disposals.
This was the Giants’ first loss of the season but they will learn a lot from this.
This is the only time these two very good sides play in the home-and-away season, but we suspect they will meet again come finals time.
SIREN GATE
Well, we’ve had it again.
It was the goal that should’ve never happened.
Not once, but twice.
If Bailey Fritsch takes an uncontested mark in front of goal with less than 40 seconds in the third quarter, the time left on the clock is negligible and Melbourne is 22 points down heading into the final term.
But buttery hands, which was the story of the day for the fumbly Demons, led to an explosive end-to-end Gold Coast goal.
The real controversy comes with the kick from Will Graham, which came just after the siren.
The umpires paid it a goal, pushing it to a 34-point margin.
There will be calls for score reviews all week, which is justified, and to think only a few weeks ago we had a similar situation arise in the community series.
Hawthorn’s Josh Weddle kicked the ball from outside 50 in the dying seconds of the third quarter.
Umpires blew it dead, with the ball rolling through for a goal that did not count.
However, on the broadcast it was clear as day a goal and it should’ve counted.
At the time, Fox Footy’s Jason Dunstall said:
“Wouldn’t we be talking about it if it were a competition match.
“If that was to ever happen in a critical moment like that... there’s no play that you’re holding up. Why wouldn’t you do a review, a video review, and make sure you get the decision correct each and every time.
“Sometimes we don’t address these issues until it’s happened, and then it’s too late.”
Well it’s happened, and the AFL is lucky it wasn’t the margin between Gold Coast and Melbourne.
But they make rule changes and fix issues they deem issues mid-year all the time, what’s one more change going to hurt?
THE ‘RUNDOWN’ BLUES
Zip-three after yet another second-half collapse with a must-win clash against Collingwood off a five-day break.
It’s been a grim start to 2025 for Carlton.
The Blues did more than a few things right on Friday night, but the cold, hard reality is that the longer the games run this year, the more vulnerable Michael Voss’ team has been.
It happened again on Friday night as the Bulldogs stormed over the top of the exhausted Blues in a familiar 2025 tale.
In the three games so far, in losses to Richmond, Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs, the Blues have been overwhelmed after half-time.
Collectively, their opponents have kicked 24.12 to Carlton’s 8.19 in the second half of the past three rounds.
Are they fit enough? What’s the reason for their inability to run out games? Was it a lack of composure? Was it the eight free kicks they coughed up in the final term?
There is not just pressure on the coach to fix the problem; there is pressure on the whole club to fix it – and fast!
Tom De Koning may have tired late in the game but he was enormous for three and a bit quarters before Tim English got more involved late.
The Blues ruckman was massive with 28 disposals (19 contested), eight intercepts, four intercept marks, six scoring involvements and 134 rankings points.
That’s good news … but there is a sting to the tail.
De Koning has proven his loyalty before, but he is understandably weighing up his options after receiving offers of around $1.7m per season from St Kilda.
Just imagine what it would mean to the Blues to lose a player who could be the best ruckman in the game by season’s end.
The Blues desperately need TDK … but the more he dominates under the contract pressure, the harder St Kilda will work to prise him out of IKON Park by potentially increasing the offer to an even more mind-boggling figure.
WHAT WERE THE EAGLES THINKING?
It was a decision that turned heads at the time, but West Coast’s decision to choose Carlton’s future picks over Hawthorn’s during last year’s trade period is looking worse by the day.
Tom Barrass wanted out and the Hawks came calling, with three future picks moving across the Nullarbor.
But when given the option between Hawthorn and Carlton’s picks, the Eagles backed the Hawks to finish below the Blues.
Hawthorn had secured Carlton’s 2025 first and second-round selections in a deal for pick No.14, which was packaged up and sent, somewhat ironically, to West Coast.
The Blues then drafted Jagga Smith with the No.3 pick in the draft and the Eagles landed some homegrown talent in Bo Allan.
But when given the pick of the litter when trading Barrass out of town, the Eagles thought Hawthorn’s second half of 2024 was a flash in the pan, and backed the Hollywood Hawks to bounce out of finals contention in 2025.
It’s still early in the season, but the Hawks are flag favourites and Carlton is 0-3, battling a growing injury list and pressure building on Michael Voss.
Hawks fans were celebrating West Coast’s choice of draft picks back in November, and are now riding every Carlton loss with a grin at Hawthorn.
Could Hawthorn replicate Brisbane of 2024 by winning a premiership and adding a top-five talent in the draft just months later?
THE BIG BUT ZAK COULD BE WRESTLING WITH
Of all the many list-assessment opinions this week on whether Port Adelaide’s premiership window might have slammed shut, the most important might come from somehow who could perhaps tip the balance one way or the other.
How does Zak Butters see the future direction of the Power under Josh Carr beyond 2025?
The star midfielder, who could return from injury soon, will be one of the most sought-after players in next year’s free agency pool – if he doesn’t sign a new deal in the meantime.
At the moment, that’s not happening, with a host of rival Victorian clubs preparing to unlock their respective war chests in an effort to tempt the back-to-back All-Australian who also happens to be Port’s vice-captain.
The 24-year-old remains contracted until the end of 2026 and he has poured his heart and soul into playing for the Power – and Ken for Hinkley.
But could he be swayed by the money and a possible return to Victoria if Port Adelaide starts to slide down the ladder after being finalists for four of the past five seasons and preliminary finalists last season.
The Power were bullied around the contest by the young Bombers on Thursday, especially in a last quarter that saw them -15 in contested possession, -3 in clearances, -8 in inside 50s and -50% in scores per inside 50 against.
Hinkley laid most of the blame on some of the senior players who underperformed, and he was right.
Skipper Connor Rozee was rated 33rd of 46 players in the final term (he won plenty of it but used the ball poorly), Sam Powell-Pepper was 30th, Willem Drew 35th, Mitch Georgiades 43rd and Willie Rioli 45th.
Two bad losses and a flogging of Richmond has the Power sitting on the precipice in Hinkley’s last season.
That thought would have to be running through Butters’ mind throughout a season that looks like it will be a challenging one for Port Adelaide.
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