The Tackle: Jay Clark’s likes and dislikes from round 6 of the 2023 AFL season
Jack Steele appeared unhappy and uncomfortable in the Saints win over the Blues. Was his short stint on the sidelines really enough? See all the round 6 likes and dislikes.
The Saints are flying, the Crows got out of jail and the Cats are back.
But there are big worries at Carlton and both WA clubs.
AFL reporter Jay Clark names his likes and dislikes of round 6.
DISLIKES
1. BLUES STUCK IN SECOND GEAR
Carlton’s win-loss record had flattered it over the first five weeks of the season and the club remained stuck in second gear in the loss to the Saints. For the second week in a row the Blues were smacked on turnover, with the Saints scoring 34 more points than Carlton on the counter-attack. Last week it was a 47-point differential in the thrashing from Adelaide. Suddenly, the Blues have a flat tyre on the highway to their first finals berth in a decade, and if they don’t make the eight in 2023 it would be a dismal failure from a club which has more than enough talent. Maybe it is because the Blues were missing Adam Saad, Sam Docherty and Zac Williams, who can ignite the team off half-back, but the controlled ball movement clearly lacked potency on Sunday, more often going wide and slow to its twin towers. And Carlton somehow didn’t have a single running bounce in four quarters of footy. Late in the fourth quarter when the Blues had nothing to lose there was a long kick up the middle out of full-back, drawing some Bronx cheers from an annoyed fan base. Champion Data said the Blues have the second-easiest fixture this season, but the club is no guarantees to make September. They should get an easy kill against West Coast in Perth on Saturday night, but the big test will come after that against Brisbane Lions, Western Bulldogs, Collingwood, Sydney Swans and Melbourne.
2. RUSTY STEELE
Jack Steele has been an incredible player for St Kilda since he made the move in 2016, but the inspirational captain had a rare quiet day on Sunday. Locking horns with Sam Walsh and Patrick Cripps, Steele had only six first-half touches, raising questions about whether he was truly ready to return from a broken collarbone after only three weeks off. He is as tough as they come, and the jet from Canberra, who had his right shoulder heavily strapped, was unable to have his normal impact at the clearances for the Saints. Whether it was just his own performance or a sore shoulder, Steele didn’t appear totally comfortable or happy at times.
3. EARLY CROW ON UNDER-PRESSURE COACHES
Luke Beveridge wasn’t happy with the criticism which came his way after the opening two losses of the season and Ken Hinkley’s position was also declared “untenable” by club great Warren Tredrea early on. But the two coaches have engineered decent comebacks from their sides to quieten the speculation and stay in the finals mix. In particular, the Dogs defence looks much improved over the past month after copping consecutive 50-point thrashings in the first two rounds. It was the top priority for the Dogs over summer because we know they have a jet midfield and are potent forward, but last year the defence was ordinary at best. But Liam Jones has made a sensational return to the kennel and over the past four matches the Dogs have limited their opposition to 69, 70, 84 and 53 points. The Dogs have a nice run over the next five weeks where they will take on five-straight non-finalists from last year in Hawthorn, GWS Giants, Carlton, Adelaide and Gold Coast.
4. ANSWER TO FREO CRISIS
Fremantle’s midfield suddenly looks a bit thin after a touch-up from the Dogs, which highlighted the Dockers’ midfield-forward connection issues. The misfiring Dockers are struggling to put a score on the board but there is every opportunity in every crisis, which is why it is time to get classy midfielder Neil Erasmus in the team. The No.10 draft pick is a goalkicking midfielder who can step around opponents and play inside and outside roles. Ethan Hughes (10 disposals), James Aish (11) and Bailey Banfield (12) might be under the pump. The defenders showed lots of bravado with the push and shove with Rory Lobb, but the Fremantle backline, including skipper Alex Pearce, Brennan Cox and Luke Ryan, hasn’t had a great start to the season, either. Headaches everywhere.
5. BIG QUESTIONS OUT WEST
The coach always attracts the pressure and scrutiny but the most nervous people at West Coast might be those in the high-performance department. The Eagles have endured terrible runs with injury in recent years and despite some changes the injury problems have continued in 2023, leaving Adam Simpson handcuffed in his attempts to rise up the ladder this year. The Eagles tried hard on Saturday in the loss to Port Adelaide and mid-season pick-up Jai Culley had a breakout game snagging four goals, but with 16 players on the injury list, West Coast is certain to finish in the bottom few spots on the ladder again. Simpson is contracted for another year and will provide a steady hand in the short term, but the frustration is building around the injuries, simply bad luck or not.
LIKES
1. MARCHING TO SEPTEMBER
Ross Lyon said he was nervous stepping into the AFL coaches box. Did he still have it? Could he get the buy-in? Six rounds in, his team is 5-1 and top of the ladder, and surely in the process of locking in a finals berth playing a sustainable brand of footy which strangles the opposition on defence and scores quickly on turnover. The kids are flying, Seb Ross and Brad Crouch are playing some of the best footy of their careers, and by the look of Josh Battle’s desperate tackle on Jesse Motlop to stop a certain goal in the third term, the players are all-in on the Lyon plan. Top four is a distinct possibility despite an injury list as long as your arm. Carlton has immense talent, but he Blues managed only eight goals against the Saints, who will deserve the footy world’s full attention when they take on Port Adelaide on Friday night at Marvel Stadium. Some thought Lyon wasn’t the right pick for the Saints, but he still has plenty left in the tank watching him prowl along his line of players on the ground just before the Anzac round ceremony took place.
2. BOBBY DAZZLER
Bobby Hill’s excellent start to the season at Collingwood has flown under the radar. The speedy forward has provided a new edge to the Magpies’ forward half alongside tackle king Beau McCreery and has already bagged 10 goals from his first five games of the season, having nailed at least one major in each match. It is a remarkable bounce back from a man who was out last year with testicular cancer as a 22-year-old and was traded for a future second-round pick. Currently, that is looking cheap. And after playing in front of tiny crowds at GWS in his first four seasons, Hill will line up on Anzac Day in front of 90,000-plus. Dale Thomas still got goosebumps talking about his first Anzac Day game in 2006 in the Triple M commentary box on Sunday and Hill will undoubtedly feel the same thrill at the MCG on Tuesday.
3. CATS RECRUITERS ON A MISSION
It is going to be interesting to see what Geelong does in the ruck next season as Rhys Stanley and Jon Ceglar come to the end part of their careers. The Cats turned to Mark Blicavs in the thumping win over Sydney Swans, which Chris Scott admitted was a move which was always in the backs of their minds. But Stanley, Ceglar and Blicavs are all 32, and young ruck Toby Conway suffered a stress fracture in his foot in February, delaying his start to the year. It raises the question are the Cats going to hit the player market for another big man at season’s end, pending how the three veterans are all travelling. It will be a conversation for down the track, but the Cats’ recruiting team will already be weighing up their ruck options. Scott was full of praise for Blicavs’ effort racking up 15 hitouts to Peter Ladhams’ 28 on Saturday night. Blicavs, as Scott believes, is one of the most versatile players in the game.
4. SCOTT SCHOOLS JOURNOS
Chris Scott always provides some gold in the press conferences and he was clearly in a playful mood as the post-game questioning on Saturday night wrapped up. Just as the journos said thanks Chris and left their chairs to begin tapping out their stories, Scott seemed annoyed no one had asked about Mitch Duncan. “Want to talk about Mitch Duncan?” Scott said. In his third game back from injury, Duncan had 16 disposals rebounding the ball out of the back half with trademark precision. Clearly, Scott was impressed with his own club’s management of the gun ballwinner’s return from a calf injury, which included a trip to Adelaide to see guru Steve Saunders. The Cats did a brilliant job handling Patrick Dangerfield last year and it looks like a big tick on the Duncan front as well. Perhaps it’s a sell to recruiting targets who may be having some injury issues at other clubs and may like how the Cats operate in this regard. Scott, too, had done his research on Duncan’s collision with Robbie Fox and was perhaps keen to outline why he thought Duncan had no case to answer. Where coaches often deflect in such instances, or say they had not seen contentious incidents, Scott was ready – even revealing he had looked “really closely” at the vision.
5. LACHIE TAKES BACK SEAT
Brownlow Medalist Lachie Neale knows he can’t win the club a flag on his own. So the prolific ballwinner is fully on board with the club’s shared approach in the engine room, which has seen his disposal numbers take a significant hit in 2023. For the third time in six games this year, Neale had 22 possessions or fewer in the win over GWS Giants on Saturday. Neale averaged 30 touches a game last year to finish second for most disposals in the league but new teammates Josh Dunkley and Will Ashcroft have taken a slice of the midfield pie to help the Lions become a more dangerous onball operation. He’ll step into a big spotlight up against his former side Fremantle on Saturday at the Gabba after briefly considering a trade back to the Dockers two years ago.
6. SUNS’ SHEEZEL COMPLIMENT
Gold Coast paid the ultimate compliment to Rising Star favourite Harry Sheezel in the commanding win over North Melbourne, tagging the jet playmaker in only his sixth game. Hard to remember if it has happened to such an inexperienced player in recent times, but Nick Holman was given the job on the dashing half back and kept him to only six touches in the first half as the Suns romped to victory despite a nasty-looking knee injury to Touk Miller. Shezel, who had averaged 31 disposals a game, was thrown forward and then into the midfield to get him going as the Roos failed to fire a shot in Todd Goldstein’s 300th game. It was Alastair Clarkson’s second-straight thrashing after Brisbane destroyed the Roos last week and showed the club still has a long way to go (as it has said many times) despite winning its first two games of the season. The Roos were unable to get their hands on the footy in the forward line but it was hard to fault the effort of Ben Cunnington who battled desperately in the clinches after the sub controversy against Carlton on Good Friday.
Revealed: Staggering asking price leaves Blue out in cold
The huge price Carlton forward Matt Owies has put on his head can be revealed as rival clubs baulk at his contract demands. FOLLOW DAY 2 LIVE
Inside AFL’s draft combine: See the standouts, surprise packet
Draft hopefuls for both the AFL and AFLW were put to the test at this year’s combine, with one Victorian key forward producing a stunning 20m sprint. See the results and more here.