Early Tackle: All the likes and dislikes from round 17 of the AFL

With Dimma gone and a dynasty coming to an end, some thought Dustin Martin’s buy-in would also drift away. One stat shows that clearly isn’t the case. See all the round 17 heroes and villains.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 07: Collingwood President Jeff Browne presents the match ball to Scott Pendlebury of the Magpies after he broke the league record for the most possessions during the 2023 AFL Round 17 match between the Western Bulldogs and the Collingwood Magpies at Marvel Stadium on July 7, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Round 17 of the AFL is in full swing.

What has caught the eye so far as teams vie for top four and top eight spots?

Scott Gullan takes a look in the early tackle.

LIKES

Nick Daicos continues to set the league on fire. Picture: Getty Images

DAICOS DOUBLE

The TAB is offering $5.80 right now for the Collingwood-Nick Daicos premiership/Brownlow Medal double.

It might be a good time to have a chat with your accountant or financial adviser as they are looking like a rock solid investment right now.

And if you really want to delve into things, check the long-range forecast for September because if it’s dry on the last day of that month then Collingwood isn’t going to be beaten.

The Pies had two key players out against a worthy challenger in the Bulldogs on Friday night but they didn’t blink an eye, instead the Harlem Globetrotter waves of offence they can click into were on full display, particularly in a devastating third quarter.

They are playing at a level of confidence which is incredible to watch and really all their rivals are hanging off now is the old can-they-keep-it-up theory, more in hope than anything.

As for Daicos, the comparison with Chris Judd is clearly appropriate.

Judd was so dynamic, with his power running out of stoppages quickly making him the best player in the competition by his third season when he won the Brownlow Medal.

There is a lot of Judd in the way Daicos moves, that burst and exquisite skill is just screaming for umpires to give him votes. The incredible thing is it’s only his second season.

Given how there is no such thing as a quiet day for the youngest Daicos, it’s best you start collecting those coins and taking some of that $5.80.

Gunston starred upon his return. Picture: Getty Images

JACK’S BACK

Jack Gunston would be loving the AFL fixture.

If ever there was a game to come back and show your wares in, it’s against the West Coast Eagles at the Gabba on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The Eagles have become uncompetitive on the road so if you’re looking for a career-boosting confidence surge then get your way into the team when the boys from the west are in town.

Gunston’s situation was also probably helped by Linc McCarthy’s silly jumper punch last week which earned him a one-week suspension which opened up a spot in the forward line.

This was nirvana for the former Hawthorn premiership star who has been a shadow of his former self in his first season at Brisbane which led to him last month putting his hand up to get dropped because he was going that bad.

By half-time Gunston had two goals and was bouncing around all over the place much to the delight of his coach Chris Fagan.

“He’s up and about, he looks like a different player,” Fagan said.

He finished with six goals - he had a shot in the final 30 seconds for a career-best seven - and we could be looking back on this forgettable fixture in a couple of months time as a key turning point in Brisbane’s premiership quest.

Scott Pendlebury of the Magpies receives the match ball from AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, Andrew Dillon and Collingwood president Jeff Browne after breaking the games possession record. Picture: Michael Klein

10K FOR PENDLES?

The AFL cops it a fair amount of the time but you can’t say they don’t know how to acknowledge key moments in history.

In the Collingwood rooms after Friday night’s win, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan was on hand to present Scott Pendlebury with the match ball.

McLachlan gave a quick speech, paying tribute to the Pies midfielder who had just broken the possessions record in the VFL/AFL era since stats started being collected.

It was a nice touch and more than appropriate given the enormity of the achievement.

Pendlebury’s 9657th disposal was a typical short pass to a teammate in space after he’d taken an uncontested mark at centre half-back.

The crowd erupted and a standing ovation broke out around Marvel Stadium for what was his 14th touch of the night. He finished with 21 possessions at 79 per cent kicking efficiency.

He is already signed on for next year with his former coach Nathan Buckley predicting the 35-year-old will top the magical 10,000 possession mark before he is done.

Pendlebury took the mantle off St Kilda legend Robert Harvey with AFL games record holder Brent Harvey (9212) next followed by Kevin Bartlett (9151) and Gary Ablett Jr (8896).

Dustin Martin has returned to his vintage form. Picture: Getty Images

DUSTY DOMINANCE

It wouldn’t have been good reading for Sydney coach John Longmire, but a certain stat says a lot about Dustin Martin and where he’s at.

Clearances in the second half of Thursday night’s game were alarming reading. Richmond won the count 29-12 with centre clearances even a more eye-opening 10-1.

Leading the charge was Martin, who had six clearances, with Jacob Hopper next on five while Dion Prestia, Tim Taranto and Shai Bolton all had four. The best Swan was James Rowbottom with three.

The stat provided further evidence of how committed and involved Martin seems to be as the Tigers continue to battle to keep their finals hopes flickering. There were many who thought after Damien Hardwick’s exit and the sense a dynasty was ending that the superstar’s buy-in might also drift away.

But as he showed in a matchwinning second half against Sydney, Dusty is more than up for the fight.

DISLIKES

Nankervis was suspended for a bump on Lloyd.

SEND OFF? BUGGER OFF

It’s almost starting to merge into the bring back State-of-Origin areas which we must stress are yawn-fest areas.

The regular debate about a send-off rule surfaced again on Thursday night after Richmond’s co-captain Toby Nankervis took out Sydney’s Jake Lloyd.

Lloyd was ruled out for the rest of the game through concussion while Nankervis went on to play a key role in the Tigers close win.

It was good fodder for the pro send-off brigade as it gives them the opportunity to throw up two or three instances from the past 12 months where a team has been disadvantaged by a player who had committed a reportable offence.

Nankervis will get three weeks at the tribunal and fair enough but do you think it’s going to get to the point where it becomes a tactic to take out one of the opposition’s guns and just live with the consequences later on.

We’re well past that and isn’t this the main reason why we have substitutes now. Sydney weren’t a man down for the rest of the game, yes they lost a key player who was replaced by a less credentialed one but introducing equalisation methods on the run has too many grey areas.

First of all who decides if the offending act is bad enough to warrant a send-off. The umpires get enough wrong, even with four of them, so they can be ruled out and don’t even think about throwing up the AFL’s review bunker who also struggle to do their main job of officiating goal line decisions properly.

Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton summed it up best: “We are a robust sport, honestly. If we go down this path, what are we turning into? We’re already pandering to the wokeness of the crowd in this sport.”

What is going on with Bailey Smith? Picture: Getty Images

QUIET BAZ

The last time the Western Bulldogs played Collingwood, Bailey Smith had 41 touches, received two Brownlow Medal votes and his side won by 48 points.

That was Round 9 last year at Marvel Stadium. Almost 14 months later Smith touched the ball just 11 times in a high-octane quality shoot-out which the Magpies won by 12 points.

It was almost sad to watch.

Smith has been a pin-up boy for the AFL over the past two years and he lived up to it on the field but he looks like a lost soul at the moment.

With Josh Dunkley leaving, it was expected Smith would solidify his role in the Dogs midfield and not go the other way. Against the Pies he played as a high half-forward who then pushed up onto the ball for bursts.

So what does Luke Beveridge do? He’s already come out publicly and backed his man but maybe he now has to step in and give his young star a couple of weeks off for a mental refresher as much as anything.

The Dogs will slip to seventh by the end of the round and have to keep winning to ensure a spot in September but the coach needs to make a call. Having Smith back near his best in two months time is more important than having him floating around over the next two weeks against Sydney and Essendon.

The Eagles were smashed once again. Picture: Getty Images

CASHED UP JEZZA DOING IT TOUGH

Watching Jeremy McGovern battle away in the worst team in the competition is painful to watch.

The Eagles defender has rightly made a lot of money from his career - he earnt a $1 million plus a season post West Coast’s 2018 flag - but is now heading for a sad ending.

In another bizarre list management decision - they have made so many bad ones - the Eagles handed the 31-year-old a two-year contract extension in May despite him playing just 10 games the previous year and then being injured again after Round 3 this season.

McGovern obviously wants to be a one-club player and that’s fair enough, he’ll go down as a West Coast legend but you can’t help but wonder what might have been if he’d entertained some overtures which came his way over the past 12 months.

Come over to Melbourne or Sydney for your last couple of years and play in another premiership was the carrot being dangled in front of him.

That must feel like the one that got away for McGovern right now with clubs now focusing on fellow defender Tom Barrass as a potential trade target.

Barrass seemed as frustrated as anyone against the Lions although he also just signed a big contract.

Originally published as Early Tackle: All the likes and dislikes from round 17 of the AFL