What you missed on Monday footy TV: Patrick Cripps trade plan, Port’s SCG emails and George Wardlaw latest

An emotionless plan to ditch Patrick Cripps has been floated by a Hawthorn legend among another heated night of footy TV. This is what you missed.

Patrick Cripps, plus some others, were put on the trade table across Monday night’s footy shows.

Emails from the Port Adelaide footy boss that didn’t save the SCG from its turf headache were revealed, and there were plenty of thoughts on Tom Lynch.

Here’s what you missed as we kept the remote busy.

TOM LYNCH FALLOUT

The topic du jour in the football world on Monday was Richmond’s Tom Lynch being sent straight to the tribunal after his poor hit on Crow Jordon Butts.

It’s expected the AFL will begin the tribunal hearing asking for at least a five-week ban, and all the shows had their say.

On AFL 360, Leigh Montagna said he saw the “red mist” around Lynch as he gave away several free kicks but he didn’t expect the roundhouse punch.

“We haven’t seen anything like that for years, I think it was 2018 it might have been he (Andrew) Gaff incident,” he said.

“I wonder if it was the frustration about his own form and the way he was playing. He couldn’t touch the footy and it just got too much for him and he lashed out. He is going to pay the price.”

Gerard Whateley suggested if Lynch couldn’t handle his emotions as he played as the main forward in a team that will be battling for years, he should “get out” of the club.

On the Agenda Setters, Nick Riewoldt wondered if “the end’s coming” for the veteran if he was getting so frustrated on the field.

Tom Lynch was much discussed. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Jonathan Brown pondered during On The Couch whether Lynch “needed help from his coaching staff” and to be dragged from the field when he was losing control.

Nathan Buckley answered that realistically, the 32-year-old needed to figure that out for himself.

“Maybe a quick runners message to go out and take a few deepies mate (deep breaths) and see how you handle it and if you need to take a breather, take a breather,” the ex-Magpies coach said.

AFL 360

Garry Lyon is away so Leigh Montagna sidled in to sit alongside Gerard Whateley and join the 360 agenda.

Monday is always coaches night on AFL 360 and there was no hesitation getting into the most important footy issue of the week, Herald Sun chief footy writer Jay Clark’s top 50.

Luke Beveridge sat at the desk on 360 but must have got confused reading the paper over breakfast, and was left surprised that our man Jay-Z had three Dogs, including Sam Darcy, in his top four.

“Really? Sam’s No.4? I thought he was 14,” Beveridge said.

“It’s a bit too early an elevation I think for the young fella.”

The Dogs coach was pretty happy with our No.1 though, Marcus Bontempelli.

“He’s been a reasonable player over his journey,” the coach said.

Don’t be like Bevo, make sure you’re across the top 50 by reading it here.

Alastair Clarkson was sitting on the other side of the screen to Beveridge, and he was asked about the future of George Wardlaw, after he suffered his third concussion in 12 months on Saturday.

Clarkson said the latest issues was “reasonably mild” and the youngster would not change his combative style.

“It’s a concern but the difficulty with the way that he plays is, if you take that combativeness away from his game you probably take away half his game,” Clarkson said.

“He might be able to adjust and play a different position or style but he has been playing that way since he was a kid.”

Clarkson revealed he had asked North Melbourne’s legendary coach Denis Pagan to address the players before Thursday’s centenary celebration game against the Western Bulldogs.

On to the dodgy SCG turf.

George Wardlaw won’t be asked to change. Picture: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos

Beveridge was coaching there as his players slipped all over the Paddington End on Friday but he would fall into any controversy about the surface.

“I’d rather just stay silent,’ he said.

“I hope they can work it out, it would be such a shame if games were moved away from the SCG.”

Clarkson blamed the footy boots, and an AFL rule that you get fined $40,000 if you wear the wrong stops, for players falling over.

“We’ve probably jumped a little bit too quickly in terms of one or two injuries … the rubber soles make that (slipping over) a little bit difficult,” he said.

With Lyon away, the question must be asked about the integrity of the Ford Garry’s Valuable Player award, given Montagna handed out the votes this week.

It was three votes from Montagna to Joel Freijah, but we must wonder what this means for the prestigious award.

ON THE COUCH

Into the warm surrounds of Fox Footy’s loungeroom, as our favourite couchers were all set up in dark shirts and boots for their usual footy discussion.

The spotlight was on Carlton, and Hawthorn great Jordan Lewis is happy to open the doors and trade the stars out of Ikon Park while they still have currency.

That includes names like Patrick Cripps, Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay.

As Lewis said, “you have to take the emotion out of it”.

“If you want to be a mediocre side, you aren’t going to make tough decisions,” Lewis said.

“I honestly think everyone should be up for (trade) discussion, other than probably Jagga Smith.”

Patrick Cripps has been put on the trade table. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

When Jonathan Brown wondered if that was an overreaction, Lewis was quick to respond: “I don’t think so”.

Lewis pondered whether Carlton could “miss the boat” on trading stars, like Melbourne did when they held on to Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver last year.

Lewis pointed to an example close to home, when Lance Franklin left the Hawks for the Swans as a free agent.

“The best player in the game was traded out of Hawthorn,” Lewis said, even though ‘Buddy’ was a free agent.

“Lance Franklin left Hawthorn for Sydney and everything was OK.”

Lewis began the Blues blast by providing damning vision of the lack of defensive running in the abysmal loss to Port Adelaide.

Jack Riewoldt then put the spotlight on Tom De Koning, who is mulling over a monster offer from St Kilda that could pay him $1.7m a season.

“He’s not playing anywhere near the standard of $1.7m,” Riewoldt said.

“My plea to Tom De Koning is, go out fighting.”

Jonathan Brown said De Koning needed “to crack in and show a lot of pride in your performance” even if he was soon to be out the door.

Talking broader footy worries, Nathan Buckley backed a dual wildcard game, including ninth and 10th placed teams, to keep more teams interested in this season.

“It would keep the conversation going for clubs for longer,” he said.

Right now it would open the door for Port Adelaide, Carlton, Sydney, Essendon, Melbourne, St Kilda and North Melbourne to fight for 10th spot.

Certainly more activity in the back end of a season destined to be full of dead rubbers.

Brown attempted a new nickname after watching Melbourne’s deplorable opening term against Gold Coast.

Sadly, don’t think the ‘Melbourne Joggers’ will stick.

Known as a slight hothead on the field in his playing days, late in the piece it was revealed Lewis was ejected from a local basketball game.

Sorry Pies fans, if you were waiting to find out what Steele Sidebottom had to say after being advertised as a Couch guest, he was a late out with illness, even if Riewoldt thought it might have been the brutal carpet burn he copped on his head against West Coast.

He’ll be on next week, we hope.

THE AGENDA SETTERS

Still no Craig Hutchison on the great expanses of the Agenda Setters desk, and Mitch Cleary’s strong debut wasn’t enough to see him get a second week running, with Brisbane champ Dayne Zorko sitting at the end.

Off the top Caroline Wilson reported that Jamarra Ugle-Hagan returned to Warrnambool after the death of an elder.

The Indigenous man had taken time away from the game in past years for family reasons and returned to western Victoria to be with family.

Ugle-Hagan was back at the club on Monday, Wilson reported.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera kicks long. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos

Next the veteran journo had some seemingly good news on negotiations between St Kilda and out-of-contract runner Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, with a belief that Wanganeen-Milera’s manager Ben Williams has asked for a two-year offer for the star Saint.

Wilson next revealed Port Adelaide had emailed the AFL to question the ground around the Power’s visit to the SCG all the way back in round 6.

Seemingly, not enough was done to fix the turf before Thursday’s debacle.

Zorko wasn’t too impressed with the grass from his vantage point on the couch.

“That (slipping over) happened far too much for mine, that looked a little bit dangerous,” the Lions great said.

Surprisingly, it took a good 10 minutes for Kane Cornes to drag the discussion to his favourite target, North Melbourne.

Cornes was disappointed Alastair Clarkson hadn’t reviewed the final quarter of the win over Carlton by the time he spoke to his players immediately post-match.

Then internal arrows kept going between Cornes and Luke Hodge, as Nick Riewoldt threw to vision of Hodge praising North Melbourne after their win on last week’s show.

Nothing beats arguing with yourself.

Cornes then reeled up behind-the-goal footage as he and Riewoldt, who is still always yelling, picked the Roos apart.

Dayne Zorko was polished. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos

Zorko proved himself perhaps a little bit too sensible for the Setters, firing away talking points like he drills kick outs to teammates.

He batted away fears over Harley Reid’s standing in the game.

“What we’re seeing is not real. The expectation, no other kid is getting this at 19 years of age,” he said.

Zorko then picked out what could be a tricky match-up for him this weekend, in Power forward Joe Richards, instead picking apart the main stars of the game.

“We’re playing them this week and he’s going to be a bloke we really need to stop,” he said.

He then impressed his manager by declared he “will be playing on” at Brisbane next year, even if that was an attempt to force the hand of the Lions list staff.

Zorko then joined many footy fans in declaring the stand rule was the toughest part of the game as a player.

His opinions were as pinpoint as those laser kicks off half-back.

FOOTY CLASSIFIED

Just as the Agenda Setters had before them, the almost-as-big desk on Footy Class went into the emails from Port Adelaide about the SCG turf.

Footy Class had a copy of the email from Power footy boss Chris Davies sent to the AFL and Venues NSW the manager of the SCG, in which he noted “our players have suggested it’s in a pretty ordinary condition to what they’re used to nowadays”.

And that email came after the captain’s run, a day before the actual match, that Port Adelaide won over Sydney by eight points.

Matthew Lloyd suggested a slip from Dog Bailey Williams that could have resulted in a knee injury “has law suit written all over it”.

Jimmy Bartel suggested the AFL make clear what actually constitutes a dangerous surface.

Melbourne’s woes were back and that means Melbourne trades are back, baby.

Christian Petracca caught Lloyd’s eye.

“I think if he is wanting to go (to another club) again, I don’t think you stop someone two years in a row,” the Essendon great said.

Cal Twomey, who did manage to get back for a second week, suggested clubs would give up a top 10 pick for him but he wasn’t sure there was a taker out there.

There was doubt that there would be a decent return for an out-of-sorts Bayley Fritsch.

“I’m not sure, Fritsch, you would get much for him to be honest,” Lloyd said.

Originally published as What you missed on Monday footy TV: Patrick Cripps trade plan, Port’s SCG emails and George Wardlaw latest