The Tackle: Jon Ralph’s likes and dislikes from Round 23 of the 2021 AFL season
There’s a simple answer on who to support if your team missed finals. Footy saved Max Gawn from a darker path, and now one of the game’s best characters could be its biggest fairytale.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Forget a week, a few seconds can be a long time in football.
For most of Friday night the Western Bulldogs were in the top four, and Geelong was minor premier and Alastair Clarkson was going out with a victory until a crazy few seconds on Saturday changed everything.
Unfortunately for David Teague, his fate seemed sealed long ago. Now we find out what the Blues do next.
Jon Ralph names his likes and dislikes from an epic Round 23.
The race to the 2021 Toyota AFL Finals Series is on and every match matters. Watch Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >
DISLIKES
1. GEELONG
What part of the loss from 44 points up was worse?
That it forced the Cats into an Adelaide Oval final against a Power side that has gone 17-4 at that venue since mid-2019?
That the midfield was smacked in the last quarter?
That Rhys Stanley remains a mystery after seven clearances and 12 hitouts to advantage but his opponent Max Gawn was the second-best player on the ground, behind Clayton Oliver?
That Stanley, Gary Rohan, Mark Blicavs and Tom Hawkins all allowed Gawn to mark uncontested 20m out in the final seconds, looking at each other as they attempted to shift the blame?
This is the year Geelong just has to win the flag given its list profile.
With Patrick Dangerfield, Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron all at peak form, it’s still totally possible.
But the Cats have chosen the hard road home.
2. FOOTBALL IS STRANGE
Patrick Dangerfield had his own footy in the second term on Saturday night, contributing to a trio of consecutive goals as Geelong ran rampant.
Yet in the last quarter, as Melbourne’s blitzkrieg continued, he didn’t have a single possession and at one stage was trapped on the bench from 15:52 to 25:10 despite the action being close enough to the bench for him to make a quick rotation.
He was on the ground for only 16min41sec for the term – the second-least time of any Cat.
Geelong will have reasons why a player in total command played such little game time, but no one can doubt the defeat was particularly costly.
3.CARLTON
Ross Lyon is paid a lot of money by Nine and Triple M, who expect to get their pound of flesh when he is in contention for a job like Carlton.
A simple “no comment” from Lyon across the last weekend on those platforms isn’t how it works. He was compelled to discuss the Carlton opportunity.
It has been a tawdry, messy and complicated 10 weeks, but the bottom line is this – a Carlton team that finished 8-14 would have absolutely no confidence it could be finals bound next year under David Teague.
As he admitted himself post-match, the Blues need to get better at stoppages, at defence and at leadership after Patrick Cripps played half-fit.
So new president Luke Sayers will make the ruthless business decision he would have made countless times to improve performance that will be divorced from emotion or fan reaction – Teague out, Lyon or Clarkson in.
4. DOGS NEED A LIFT
The Dogs aren’t done yet, not after the history of 2016.
But coach Luke Beveridge needs to find a way to maximise Marcus Bontempelli’s impact after two quiet finals in recent years and a round 23 of diminishing returns.
As Beveridge’s tactics worked spectacularly well early against Port Adelaide, Bontempelli kicked an early goal and selflessly engaged Aliir Aliir, playing a 73-27 per cent midfield-forward split.
But he won five total possessions in the second half (16 SuperCoach points, second fewest for his side) as Ollie Wines (115 SuperCoach points) dominated with 21 touches, including 12 in a last term that featured a goal, four tackles and three clearances.
The Bont rucked as Tim English played forward. He played a team role, but when the whips were cracking Wines and Travis Boak took over.
The September spotlight will descend upon him again.
5. BLUES MISSED OUT
Carlton wasn’t interested in Ollie Wines when he was shopped to the club at the end of 2019, spending the trade period trying and failing to secure Tom Papley.
Eventually they used their first-rounder (pick 11) in a trade for picks 17 and 22, on draft night trading 22 back into 20.
They took Brodie Kemp (aware he was coming off an ACL tear) and Sam Philp (pick 20, two games, shut down in May with groin issues)
They might both be fine players and Kemp showed signs again against the Giants, but Teague will be sacked having got four games out of the pair when Wines might have saved his career.
It’s not often elite bullocking inside midfielders who want to come to your club are available — exactly the kind of player who might have offset the reliance on Patrick Cripps.
Hindsight will say after Wines peeled off two magnificent years – with a 2021 that might see him win the Brownlow – it was a blunder of epic proportions.
6. STUART DEW WHISPERS
The AFL seems to have a much greater interest in choosing the coach of the supposedly independent Gold Coast than it does in setting up a timeline for a Tasmanian side.
The league tends to get what it wants, as it did in resuscitating Brisbane and installing both Greg Swann and Mark Evans as the CEOs of the Queensland clubs.
But for Gold Coast, the instability over the coaching future of Stuart Dew after a whispering campaign from AFL House would be absolutely destructive.
Evans was keen as recently as two weeks ago to keep both Dew and football boss Jon Haines, believing Dew’s strong relationships with the kids was one important factor.
Now he needs to find out if Clarkson or Brad Scott is available, review Dew’s position and make a definitive decision.
All a delay will do is undermine Dew and get the likes of Ben King and Jack Lukosius pondering the club’s future at a time when they might sign on past 2022.
7. TIGER SOUL-SEARCHING
Departing triple-premiership player David Astbury, a wonderful and understated defender, admitted this week he retired after he had declined to put himself in positions where he might get exposed.
How many Richmond premiership stars might have been in the same boat this year but are playing on because of contracts for next year and beyond?
Damien Hardwick has dodged the hunger question often this year, but it’s his job to get to the bottom of it this summer and reignite the passion.
Noah Balta (who suffered a syndesmosis injury in round 15) and Shai Bolton emerged as genuine A-graders, but to be honest the jury is still out on Riley Collier-Dawkins, Mabior Chol, Thomson Dow, Jack Ross, Ryan Garthwaite and Patrick Naish.
The Tigers will have picks 7, 16, 26, 28, 41 and 44 in the draft, all of them likely to be pushed back two spots by early father-son selections.
The absolute priority must be to secure another top-10 pick to secure the kind of elite talent that brought Dustin Martin, Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin to the club.
Balta may be back around Round 1, but Daniel Talia makes a heap of sense as a one-year stopgap to allow Dylan Grimes to play the backstop role.
8. EAGLES SOUL-SEARCHING
The path forward is clear for Adam Simpson.
His team full of kids and mid-tier players took it up to Brisbane even when Oscar Allan was concussed on the back of a 22-contested possession display from Nic Naitanui.
Reputations need to count for nothing at selection as he overhauls his game style and rewards dog-hungry players regardless of contact size of past glories.
Plenty of Eagles were banged up for much of the year, but Simpson was trapped between playing high-profile stars who couldn’t get it done and kids who showed potential but lacked a touch of polish.
Now comes the biggest challenge — building a style that is sustainable given the Eagles still lost the tackle count 82-51 against the Lions.
9. MORE MAGPIE TRADE DRAMA
If Collingwood lost Scott Pendlebury for nothing as an unrestricted free agent to a rival on a multi-year playing-coaching deal, president Mark Korda might as well hand the keys to the club to Jeff Browne.
Pendlebury confirmed the unrest over his contract reported by the Herald Sun when he said he was working on a one-year deal, but was open to offers that included playing and coaching.
The cynics might suspect he would be happy to stay but even happier if outside interest drove his price up.
But why wouldn’t Gold Coast or North Melbourne or Fremantle offer Collingwood’s best-ever player a five-year deal with two years of coaching and three of playing?
Over to you Collingwood — make your absolute No.1 priority signing a 33-year-old who still has 50 exceptional games in him or last year’s firestorm will be a mere trifle in comparison.
LIKES
1. SUPER SATURDAY
Max Gawn combined two incredible elements from the final home-and-away round of 1987 when he nailed the sealer against Geelong.
For those who didn’t witness it, that legendary round 22 weekend 34 years ago saw every position in the finals up for grabs, with Stephen Kernahan kicking the winner after the siren for Carlton against North Melbourne to secure the minor premiership.
And Sydney secured a double-chance after trailing by 41 points in the third quarter, holding off Fitzroy to secure third spot.
In an insane Super Saturday, Gawn not only kicked the goal everyone thought he might miss, his Demons came from 44 points down at GMHBA Stadium.
It just doesn’t happen in football.
It was Gawn who volunteered his fears over the “curse of Norm Smith” mid-year when the Demons were setting up their September charge.
Consider all that has befallen this club – the horror finals defeats, the agonising finals miss in 2017 despite 12 victories, the tragic deaths of Jimmy Stynes, Troy Broadbridge, Dean Bailey and Sean Wight.
For one magical moment as long-suffering Demons fans went feral on their couches and hugged the relatives who have shared all that collective pain, it was all forgotten.
2. MAX GAWN
So if you don’t have a dog in the fight this September, here is what you do.
You barrack for Max Gawn.
You barrack for a bloke who says football saved him from a darker path, a player once hauled before the leadership group for having a cigarette on the way to training, a Dominos pizza technician made good.
You barrack for one of footy’s great characters and one of its best media performers, who has never ducked the criticism or spotlight when the Demons have choked or failed or underperformed.
You barrack for a bloke who this year has had 30 shots at goal for 10.14 and six total misses before THAT kick.
Of his 19 set shots he had kicked 7.9 with three complete misses, yet found a way to steer that goal home.
3. BIG NAMES ON BIGGEST STAGE
Toby Greene, Christian Petracca, Lance Franklin, Joe Daniher, Patrick Dangerfield, Lachie Neale, Max Gawn, Travis Boak, Josh Kelly, Jeremy Cameron, Clayton Oliver,
All of them at the peak of their powers and relatively injury free.
All of them setting themselves for a legacy-defining finals series.
Lachie Whitfield, Jeremy Cameron, Kysaiah Pickett, Aliir Aliir, Tom Papley, Luke Parker and Mark Blicavs.
All of them ready to explode in yet another bizarre Covid-ridden finals series that still has that premiership prize on offer.
Dusty isn’t playing in September for the first time since 2016, so who wants to step up or step out?
4. BUDDY’S GIFT
What a gift to have Lance Franklin firing entering September after so many recent finals performances hobbled by injury.
Franklin’s six goals as he roamed far and wide against Gold Coast hand the Swans a lethal edge with all of Franklin, Errol Gulden, Tom Papley and Jordan Dawson hitting up targets inside 50.
Just a thought with Franklin so keen to play on past 2022 according to Swans chairman Andrew Pridham, and the club has such a salary cap crisis.
Would Franklin, who has surely made $15 million or more from footy and endorsements across his career, accept an extension for 2023 that smooths out the $900,000 he is due next year?
Imagine if he could trumpet the fact his new deal — let’s call it $1.2 million over the next two years — allowed the club to keep an in-demand player like Dylan Stephens or George Hewett who might otherwise leave?
5. CLARKO TAKING TIME OFF
The call of the weekend might have gone to former assistant coach Craig Jennings, who suggested Alastair Clarkson would be bored out of his brains in a week if he decided to down tools for a season of fact-finding.
Clarkson is still the master, he is fuelled by Hawthorn’s brutal decision to sack him, he must be itching to see if his methodology works at another club.
Let’s not kid ourselves, he’s not a high-performance manager in an Olympic sport and his chances of international fact-finding missions overseas are non-existent until at least mid-next year.
Clarko, take Carlton’s call.
He built a dynasty with elite coaching and development and high picks taken with pick 1 (Luke Hodge), 2 (Jarryd Roughead), 5 (Lance Franklin), 7 (Jordan Lewis) and 14 (Grant Birchall).
Carlton might be a work in progress but the nucleus is there with picks 1 (Sam Walsh), 1 (Jacob Weitering), 10 (Harry McKay), 12 (Charlie Curnow) and 13 (Patrick Cripps).
6. DOGS ON THE OUTER
It is entirely possible Patrick Lipinski and Mitch Wallis have played their last games at the Western Bulldogs given neither were even emergencies in Round 23.
But the way the Dogs and both players have handled their frustrations over a lack of game time has been full of class and respect.
It is understood the Dogs have told the players when the season ends they should assess their prospects for 2022 and if they believe they can play regular footy, contracts will be available for them.
But if they want to leave they will go with the goodwill of the Dogs, who would orchestrate a trade for Lipinski.
Wallis is an unrestricted free agent and can do as he pleases, but Lipinski looks a player waiting to explode.
His last VFL game? 36 possessions, seven clearances, 15 contested possessions, one goal, four score assists, four tackles.
7. DODGING COVID
The league is already nearly six weeks ahead of last year’s schedule, but why not just march on without a bye before the Grand Final?
The most remarkable aspect of this season is not a single player has contracted Covid, a fate that would surely put a wrecking ball through September if it occurred to a finals team in coming weeks.
Gillon McLachlan is keen on a bye so the teams can move around Perth ahead of the Grand Final and likely participate in a Grand Final parade.
But the AFL knows Grand Final participants will pretty much be locked down anyway to avoid exposure sites and the chance of being involved in a Covid outbreak.
Grand Final dates are irrelevant — who cares if it’s September 18 or 25 — so get the darn thing done ASAP and breathe a huge sigh of relief.
8. SAINTS RECRUITING PUZZLE
Give St Kilda its due — the Saints have found a couple in key-position players Cooper Sharman and Tom Highmore, Jack Higgins kicked 27 goals in a solid first year and Jack Steele was superb in his first year as co-captain.
But despite the rousing nature of their defeat of Fremantle, a team that won a final last year started the year 2-6, went 6-4 in the middle stretches, then went 2-6 to finish the year.
They need more elite young talent but they are also kicking the tyres of every second-string ruckman around to see if they can secure one on the cheap.
Paddy Ryder will be 34 in March next year and with dodgy achilles that restricted him to 12 games, he cannot be relied upon in 2022.
A team that has plucked the likes of Cal Wilkie, Highmore and Sharman from unlikely sources needs to pull another rabbit out of their recruiting hat.
Fremantle’s Rory Lobb would be available but is on $700,000 for the next two seasons.
So the Saints need to find a star ruckman while also keeping a first-rounder to build for the future, two competing priorities that if not balanced appropriately will put Brett Ratten’s job in jeopardy next year.
9. LESSONS OF FINALS HISTORY
History says the fifth-placed Western Bulldogs will be perfectly placed after a finals-like hitout and shred the eighth-placed Essendon after their soft Round 23 kill against Collingwood.
But as Essendon contemplates its first finals victory since 2004 — after five consecutive elimination finals — it is impossible not to consider the possibilities.
Sam Draper pawing the ground like a raging bull at the first bounce ready to make Lewis Young’s life living hell in the ruck.
Essendon interceptors like Jordan Ridley desperate to influence third-up marking contests against Aaron Naughton so the Dons don’t get beaten by what they know.
And a legitimately deep midfield that has Andy McGrath with two runs under his belt and ready to test itself against Luke Beveridge’s mob.
No pressure, Truck, but if the Bombers win a final after all these years they might put a statue of Ben Rutten outside the Hanger after all those finals disasters.
More Coverage
Originally published as The Tackle: Jon Ralph’s likes and dislikes from Round 23 of the 2021 AFL season
The players that made Robbo want to do a top 57
The hardest spot to pick in the top 50 isn’t No.1. It’s actually No.50. Robbo names the players he wanted to fit into his annual list – but couldn’t.
Full rankings: AFL Draft’s top 60 prospects rated and scouted
The 2024 AFL Draft is just over a month away, and to get you ready for the arrival of footy’s next generation, our draft experts CHRIS CAVANAGH and DAN BATTEN rank every prospect.