AFL Early Tackle: Scott Gullan names his likes and dislikes from round 18

The ladder said Essendon was a top-four team — but as SCOTT GULLAN writes, the Bombers are a long way from it. See his likes and dislikes in this week’s Early Tackle.

Lawson Humphries of the Cats

Craig McRae couldn’t orchestrate a Collingwood victory on Friday night and its season hangs in the balance.

On Saturday, a Sam Mitchell coaching masterclass pushed Hawthorn closer to what might be the Magpies’ finals spot.

And plenty happened in between.

Scott Gullan names his round 18 likes and dislikes in the Early Tackle.

DISLIKES

DEJA VU PIES

It’s a sadly predictable tale for Collingwood at the moment.

While there are still six games to go, the Pies only have to look at their opponents from Friday night to know how their 2024 season is going to end.

Geelong were behind the eight ball from the start last year in its premiership defence and apart from a mid-season surge, eventually limped to the line and finished 12th.

The Pies lost their opening three games this year and then got their mojo back for a spurt before the injuries began piling up.

Friday night’s loss in which you couldn’t question their effort means Craig McRae’s team has won just two games since Round 11. And it was the second time this season where they’ve now lost three games in a row.

The flow-on effect of being down critical soldiers – ie Brody Mihocek and Jeremy Howe in the forward line – is that things become a bit too hard for the old warriors sometimes.

With the game on the line on Friday night Scott Pendlebury, Jordan De Goey, Jack Crisp and Nick Daicos had just 15 possessions between them in the final term.

It’s getting harder and harder to flick the switch which is exactly the problem Geelong ran into last year.

Cat Jack Bowes catches Scott Pendlebury on Friday night. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

RUCK ‘N FLOP

Did Carlton outsmart itself by playing two ruckmen again?

The predictable move when the news that Liam Jones would be missing again was to try and stretch the Western Bulldogs defence by going tall.

So at the opening bounce Michael Voss sent Tom De Koning forward to stand next to Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay which meant Marc Pittonet, who’d been included into the team for his eighth game of the season, started in the centre square.

The record of the two big Blues playing together isn’t great. They’ve tried the combination seven times and won just twice whereas when De Koning played by himself for a month - Round 12-16 - Carlton won every game.

Against the Bulldogs Pittonet had 36 hit-outs while De Koning had 13 which gave the Blues a 49-37 edge against the combination of Tim English and Sam Darcy.

But they were still beaten a lot around the ball, particularly allowing the Dogs a number of scoring opportunities straight out of the centre square.

Centre clearances were plus one to the Dogs (13-12), stoppage clearances were 30-30 while Blues won the overall clearances by just one 43-42.

A tough call for Voss looms because on all the current evidence the Blues need to back De Koning as their solo man for September.

Tim English and Tom De Koning on Saturday. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

TRUST ME NOT

Essendon started the round in fourth position but for many they were a fake fourth.

Every time they’d come up against a contender they’ve faulted. Two weeks ago it was a horrible performance against Geelong while back in Round 13 they couldn’t go with Carlton.

Last week they were brilliantly led by captain Zach Merrett and got over an undermanned Collingwood. That win got a lot of Bombers fans talking about double-chances.

On what they served up against Melbourne on Saturday night, maybe some of their players had a similar mindset.

The Demons were without their captain Max Gawn and were ripe to be touched up but instead as the rain came at the MCG and the game became a case of who wanted it the most, Essendon went missing.

That’s why they still don’t have the trust of the football world.

A dream draw means they should play finals - their next five games are in Melbourne – but Brad Scott has some soul-searching to do and there will be a few players (starting with Nik Cox) who won’t want to watch the replay of Saturday night’s game.

NORTH’S MULLIGAN

Next week’s Sunday twilight clash with Carlton looms as one of the most important games of Alastair Clarkson’s reign at North Melbourne.

After an excellent five-week block after the mid-season bye, the last thing the Roos need is to let their guard down for the last part of the season.

The 79-point loss to Sydney at the SCG can be a mulligan.

There was a lot going against North for this game. The Swans were coming off two losses, it was at their home deck of the SCG and two favourite sons – Callum Mills and Luke Parker - were playing their first games of the season.

That’s why next week against the Blues is so important for Clarkson. If the Roos are outplayed again then all the good work and good will which they’ve compiled over recent weeks will disappear.

RULE OF THE WEEK

Hats off to Chris Scott who declared he was no longer remaining silent on umpiring this season.

The Cats coach was rightly bemused by the clear new rule of the week for this round which was a stricter interpretation on kicks going the required distance of 15 metres.

There is a simple fix. Just tell everyone before the first game of the round.

The AFL should release a memo every Thursday revealing what rules have been addressed this week by the umpires.

If there is something they think has drifted in its interpretation such as too many kicks being allowed which aren’t 15m then tell everyone that it will be a focus.

That way the coaches, players and supporters know what is coming rather than being completely caught off guard in the first 10 minutes of the Friday night game.

Surely, that’s better than pretending there isn’t a rule of the week when quizzed about it every Monday.

Luke Beveridge sent a very specific message to his players this week. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

LIKES

EFFORT WITH CAPITAL ‘E’

Luke Beveridge spent the week telling his players that it takes no talent to have effort.

His narrative was based on the Dogs taking on one of the premiership favourites without full-forward Aaron Naughton and key defender Liam Jones.

Then in the warm-up before the opening bounce, his words became more prophetic given his most prolific onballer Adam Treloar hurt his calf and was a late withdrawal.

Suddenly the gulf of talent between Carlton and the Dogs was looking like the Grand Canyon.

But Beveridge loved this underdog theme and thrived on the challenge of convincing his players that Carlton was gettable.

After kicking seven behinds in the opening quarter and with Harry McKay looking like he was going to kick 10 goals for the night, the game was following the script most had anticipated.

At quarter-time Beveridge said it again, effort over talent. The result was a seven-goal second quarter followed by an inspiring second half which kept the Dogs finals chances alive.

There were character-building efforts all over the ground.

An out-of-form Jamarra Ugle-Hagan who’d been easily beaten by Jacob Weitering early fought back to kick 4.3 goals with Cody Weightman sacrificing his own game to help get the Dogs full-forward going.

Rory Lobb, who’d had his pants pulled down by McKay, fought back to have some big moments late while youngster Buku Khamis took on the challenge of taking on Charlie Curnow with gusto although the Blues spearhead’s (3.7 goals) inaccuracy helped his cause.

Role players like Rhylee West and Lachie McNeil made crucial plays while youngster Sam Darcy had valuable minutes in the ruck late.

Normally such a great win by the Dogs would have come about through the tireless work of their elite talent Marcus Bontempelli and Tom Liberatore, and while both were good, this upset was an old-fashioned team effort.

Just as Beveridge planned it.

Jake Melksham celebrates during the win over Essendon. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

VET TIME

Is Jake Melksham the key to Melbourne?

Before you start yelling out names like Gawn, May, Lever, Oliver, Petracca and Pickett; just entertain this theory.

The Demons forward structure lost its way in the finals last year after Melksham did his knee in the last home and away game.

In his absence this year it has again been out of whack with Bailey Fritsch having his struggles and Harrison Petty disappointing which has meant a lot has been left to youngster Jacob van Royen and the freakish skills of Kysaiah Pickett.

A fair indication that Demons coach Simon Goodwin likes our theory is that Melksham came straight back into the senior team without any VFL time last week against West Coast.

He kicked two goals then and did it again in the wet weather on Saturday night against Essendon with the veteran’s football smarts and ability to get in the right place at the right time a standout.

It’s no coincidence that with Melksham doing his thing suddenly Fritsch (three goals) had a spark again as did others like Daniel ‘Disco’ Turner who also kicked three goals.

Sam Mitchell during the win over Fremantle on Saturday. Picture: Steve Bell/Getty Images

COACHING GENIUS

Sam Mitchell’s coaching career is trending in the right direction at a rate of knots.

What he has done with Hawthorn this season after a 0-5 start has been spectacular and they remain in the finals hunt off the back of some magic in the coaches’ box.

At half-time against Fremantle a lot of the discussion in Launceston was about Hawks skipper James Sicily.

He was clearly troubled by the shoulder injury which had forced him out the previous week and it was fast looking like a bad error from the Hawks to play him given he couldn’t tackle and had barely touched the ball.

So what does Mitchell do? Sends Sicily to full-forward.

It had almost instant results in the third quarter with the skipper getting a goal but it hit real paydirt in the final term with Sicily booting two goals to win his team the game.

“I was probably a liability down back,” was Sicily’s frank assessment of his first half.

The match-winning move adds further evidence to the growing theory that the Hawks knew what they were doing when they ushered coaching legend Alistair Clarkson out the door to fast-track Mitchell.

QUICK RESPONSE

Logan McDonald has had a lot on his mind over the past two weeks.

In consecutive weeks the Swans forward has blown set shots at goal to win games inside the final minute.

Those things can haunt you for a while but McDonald found the right way to get over the horror … he had the ball on a string in the opening quarter against North Melbourne.

Nine possessions and two goals was the full-forward’s return in the first term to kick-start his side.

He finished with four goals as the Swans kicked their biggest score of the season to end a two-game losing streak and give McDonald the opportunity to have his first good night’s sleep for a couple of weeks.

APOLOGY TIME

Guilty as charged, Your Honour.

Like many who watched Geelong get humiliated by 63 points against Carlton in Round 15, I participated in a declaration that the Cats golden era was officially over.

For many years I’d been a believer when others had been keen to start writing off Chris Scott’s team.

But after seeing Tom Hawkins sadly limp off the MCG on that cold June 21 night, it was an obvious moment to pin on the downfall of the empire and I let myself get washed away in the tidal way of negativity.

Old, slow, no ruckman, zero clearance game and an out-of-form forward half was enough to put the nail in the coffin.

Since that night Geelong has won three games in a row by an average of 38 points against top four contender Essendon, the hottest team in the comp in Hawthorn and reigning premier Collingwood.

Tom Stewart has been stellar in the midfield for the Cats. Picture: Mark Stewart

They will be entrenched in the top five by the end of the round and with a kind draw for the remainder of the season the Cats suddenly look like a lock for the double chance in September.

Credit where credit is due, the resurrection has come off the back of the Geelong coaching panel throwing the magnets around.

Tom Stewart into the middle, Tom Atkins back to hard tagging (on Nick Daicos), Ollie Dempsey to the wing, Sam De Koning’s ruck experiment, Jeremy Cameron playing more traditional full-forward, Patrick Dangerfield fit and in the middle, Zach Touhy and Max Holmes spending more time at half-back, Jack Bowes given more midfield responsibility and the introduction of Lawson Humphries.

It has been a masterclass from Scott who acknowledged after Friday night’s impressive defeat of Collingwood that this latest model of his side is playing its best footy for the season even though they started with seven straight wins.

So if possible Your Honour, could we please be allowed back on the Geelong bandwagon? Seat 1A will do just fine.

WELLSY SPECIAL

There have been many calls for a statue out the front of GMHBA Stadium of long-time recruiter Stephen Wells given he has been behind the creation of Geelong’s four premiership this century.

And once again he has the rest of the competition shaking their heads after he seems to unearthed another gold nugget from nowhere.

Lawson Humphries’ last game of football last year was a premiership victory for the Swan Districts reserves in the WAFL.

Fast forward 10 months and the 21-year-old is cruising around the MCG in front of 73,000 against the reigning premiers looking like he’s been doing it for years.

Lawson Humphries of the Cats

Humphries collected 23 possessions across half-back but it’s his calmness with ball in hand - he went at 94 per cent kicking accuracy - which shone out in the pressure-cooker environment against a manic Collingwood team.

His teammates still aren’t sure what foot is his natural kicking foot given he’s so good on both sides of his body.

“You just knew straight when he came in that there was something about him and that he was going to get better at the next level,” Cats captain Patrick Dangerfield said.

“He thinks a step ahead. It’s an incredible story and he’s also such a great person, very positive and vibrant personality which is infectious for us older players.”

Originally published as AFL Early Tackle: Scott Gullan names his likes and dislikes from round 18