Early Tackle: Scott Gullan’s likes and dislikes from AFL round 12
The Dees need Bayley Fritsch up and firing to contend this seaosn, but does that come at a price? Check out the early round 12 likes and dislikes.
Carlton is in free fall and the team with two Coleman medallists is battling to score.
But one team has emerged as Collingwood’s biggest premiership challenger, and don’t count out the Cats just yet.
See Scott Gullan’s likes and dislikes from round 12.
DISLIKES
TIM’S FINEST DESERVED MORE
Great individual games should be rewarded with a win.
If there was any doubt for those who like to put together mid-year All-Australian teams about the ruck position, there shouldn’t be now.
Tim English is a lock and he would have been showered with accolades if the Dogs had found a way to beat Geelong.
There are so many different parts to English’s game now and he is almost like an old-fashioned follower given his ability to cover the ground and play as an important link man.
He finished the night with 27 possessions, 12 marks, eight tackles, four clearances and 30 hit-outs.
The performance came in a week where it was reported that the West Coast Eagles were eyeing off his contract situation – he’s out at the end of next year – and were readying themselves for a major play to lure him home.
If Luke Jackson got around $900,000 per season over seven seasons to move home last year to Fremantle, the Dogs better start saving their pennies to keep English at the Whitten Oval.
‘HORRENDOUS’ STAT CRIPPS CAN’T IGNORE
Where do you start with Carlton?
There will be plenty breaking down the demise of the Blues over lattes on Lygon St and they’ll all come up with the same thing: “They just can’t score.”
Anxiety has clearly crept into everything Michael Voss’ side does this season with the decision to have a more defensive slant badly backfiring.
The lack of scoring has been stark. In six of its last eight games Carlton has scored 62 points or less and if you throw in the round 1 58-point draw, it makes it seven times for the season.
Last year the Blues only went under 10 goals twice, in rounds 18 and 20 when they only scored 55 points.
So where have all the goals gone?
As captain Patrick Cripps cops a lot of the heat but there is no escaping the Brownlow medallist’s form slump has hurt his team more than anything else.
In 2022 when he was the best player in the competition, Cripps kicked 20 goals. After 12 rounds this year he has kicked one goal, nine behinds. That’s horrendous.
Others who are badly down on their 2022 output include Zac Fisher who was fourth on the Blues’ goal kicking list last year with 18 but only has three goals from eight games this season.
Harry McKay also deserves a mention here with his three-goal performance against the Demons a positive sign but he still only has 17 for the season compared to a 45-goal haul last year.
FRITSCH PROBLEM RESURFACES
Bayley Fritsch is an intriguing case study.
He looks like he would frustrate the life out of his teammates at times, but in the next breath they know how important he is to their premiership quest.
Fritsch is old-fashioned hungry. When he has the ball in his hands, his teammates evaporate and the two big sticks are the only thing he sees.
On Friday night late in the third quarter he booted his second for the game with a nice dribble kick from 15m out. The issue was he had Kade Chandler on his own in the goalsquare.
Should he have handballed it over in a team-first act or taken on the responsibility as the Demons leading goalkicker?
Lucky Fritsch kicked that, he burnt Chandler to an absolute crisp! #AFLDeesBlues
— Ronny Lerner (@RonnyLerner) June 2, 2023
On this occasion it was probably a line ball, he did have a Carlton opponent on his hammer but the fact Chandler never entered his thinking is the issue.
Last year when the Demons started their slide in the second-half of the season, Fritsch’s “toasting” of his teammates became headlines.
There were at least three different games where he’d overlooked teammates in better positions to have a shot.
It can cause a disconnect and the Demons certainly fell apart last year after it was highlighted. Could it happen again?
Watch this space.
LIKES
YOUNG CATS LEAD THE WAY
Early in the second quarter the Western Bulldogs went coast-to-coast from full-back for a Cody Weightman goal without a Geelong player touching the ball.
It was such an un-Geelong like piece of play.
Fast forward to early in the final quarter and the Dogs can’t get off a kick or handball without a Geelong player in their face or dragging them down.
The difference was stark but there were two key factors at play here.
Geelong don’t lose four-in-a-row – the last time they had was back in 2006 – and the Bulldogs don’t know how to beat the Cats (Dogs coach Luke Beveridge has a 2-9 record against the Cats).
The reason Chris Scott’s undermanned team are still well and truly in the hunt this season is based on a performance that was all about pressure and guts when it mattered in the second half.
They tackled, scrapped and frustrated the Bulldogs who particularly in the first half had continually looked like they were going to break the game open but never did.
Geelong were on the wrong side in most categories on the stats column but a look at the tackle count tells the story. Three players who were asked to step up in the midfield because of the absence of bigger names, led the way.
New recruit Tanner Bruhn led all-comers with 12 tackles, Tom Atkins had nine while Mitch Knevitt, playing in just his ninth game, had seven as did back-up ruckman Mark Blicavs.
That’s called getting your hands dirty and it’s the sort of thing which keeps premiership campaigns alive.
THE REAL THREAT TO PIES FLAG
Right now Port Adelaide are the only challenger to Collingwood but there is an asterisk.
The Power have a run of games towards the end of the season which will confirm whether what we’re seeing now is the real deal.
First let’s look at what is in front of us.
What they did to Hawthorn in the first half was some of the best football seen this season and historically THE best football the Power has produced.
The 16.9 (103) half-time score was the best in club history which came off a nine goal opening quarter. At one point they led by 96 points before putting the cue in the rack, cruising to a 54-point victory which was a club record ninth win in a row.
There were ticks everywhere with the usual faces – ie Zak Butters and Connor Rozee – doing what they liked but it was more about the performance of some lesser names which would have pleased Ken Hinkley.
Ruckman Scott Lycett has been out of favour but he dominated in the first half before being subbed out, Jeremy Finlayson kicked four goals in the opening quarter while Todd Marshall kicked five goals in his return from concussion.
Junior Rioli kicked four goals and showed what a smart move it was to recruit him this season.
The Power now have one of the best pressuring forward lines in the business led by Sam Powell-Pepper, Darcy Byrne-Jones, who has found his niche since being switched from defence, while Jason Horne-Francis adds plenty in the pressure stakes when resting forward.
And then there is Jed McEntee who knows he’s one of the last two picked each week but plays his role to perfection.
Port has serious depth given their best forward Charlie Dixon is currently out as is veteran Travis Boak while captain Tom Jonas can’t even get a game.
They are young, fast, well-coached who play with no fear. That’s a recipe for success in September but before Power fans start making travel plans for the last Saturday in September, there is a potential hurdle – the draw.
There is a three week stretch starting in late July which will tell us the full Port Adelaide story.
In Round 19, they play Collingwood at the Adelaide Oval then across-town rival Adelaide (who beat them earlier in the season) followed by a visit to Geelong in Round 21.
JEZZA’S BEAUTIFUL DAY
Football karma is a beautiful thing.
If ever anyone deserved some good fortune it is Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Finlayson.
So when he went berserk in the opening quarter, gathering eight disposals, six marks and kicking four goals, you couldn’t help but raise a glass to the Power forward.
He has been fighting some major personal demons with his wife Kellie diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer in 2021, just three months after giving birth to the couple’s first child Sophia.
They got married earlier this year in a surprise wedding and last week Kellie got some encouraging news that her chemotherapy treatment was working “unbelievably well”
While there is still a long road ahead, the news gave the whole AFL community a boost and to see her husband celebrate it on the field (he finished with five goals) warmed the hearts of everyone.
SUPPORTERS WON’T COP ANOTHER DOW AXING
Paddy Dow must have a thick skin.
Despite being best-on-ground in the VFL regularly, his coach has seemingly refused to give him a run despite the team’s fortunes spiralling.
It has become a weekly pantomime for Blues fans to see if Dow gets a game and there was much excitement when he was finally selected as the sub on Friday night.
And when he replaced Jack Silvagni in the third quarter, the cheers from the Carlton faithful told a story.
The fans cheered every time Dow went near the ball and given they really didn’t have much to cheer about, the noise stood out throughout the second half.
Michael Voss wouldn’t have missed the message from the supporters and to Dow’s credit he was more than serviceable with nine touches.
There were plenty worse against the Demons so if Dow is banished again, strap yourselves in.
ROOKIE GEM HAS BECOME A KEY DEE
Melbourne has found another interceptor.
Rivals spend hours trying to figure out how to avoid kicking the ball to All-Australians Steven May and Jake Lever but they may now have to start paying more attention to a rookie who has found his niche in the Demons backline.
Judd McVee was overlooked by every club in the 2021 draft before Melbourne swooped with pick No. 16 in the rookie draft.
The teenager from Geraldton in Western Australia spent last season learning his craft in the VFL before he made his debut in round 1.
He has played every game since and against Carlton on Friday night collected 17 disposals which included six marks – three of those being interceptions which was an equal team high. (Lever also had three with May only two).
There is a calmness and poise about the 19-year-old who should spend the weekend preparing for his first taste of the media as the round 12 Rising Star nomination.
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