The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 15

The Dees’ experiment with Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy appears to not be firing, but is there anything Melbourne can do to fix it? Check out Robbo’s likes and dislikes from round 15.

The bye rounds are finally over, and an AFL coach could be a casualty after a nightmare round 15.

The Eagles were walloped, Collingwood pulled off another come-from-behind win and Fremantle, Geelong, Sydney and Gold Coast all did their best to keep the finals race alive.

Chief footy writer Mark Robinson names his likes and dislikes from round 15.

DISLIKES

1. Lack of effort

Leigh Matthews likes to call it a circuit breaker, when something, anything, needs to be done to change the stifling environment at a footy club. It’s beyond that at West Coast – the Eagles need a circus breaker. That’s what Saturday afternoon at the SCG was: A circus. Clowns to the left, jokers to the right and Adam Simpson stuck in the middle of you. Not for the first time this season, and probably even last season, Simpson on Saturday night would’ve asked himself if he should continue as coach of West Coast. If by some remote chance he hasn’t, the Eagles hierarchy should. Simpson is an honourable man, a good footy man, and although excuses are plentiful at the Eagles, there’s no excuses for the lame-duck effort which besieged his team against Swans. The Eagles are banged up, young and soulless. It’s not Simpson’s fault, for the world has conspired against him, but he knows something has to give. He knows his team is not responding, is not motivated, and is not willing to fight. The coach must be torn. To walk would abandon his players, but to stay isn’t working. Management has stood by Simpson throughout the most inept period in the Eagles’ history. It can’t anymore, even with the poultice of excuses. Coaches don’t survive performances like that. As for the senior players, they should be ashamed.

West Coast coach Adam Simpson has a decision to make. Picture: Phil Hillyard

2. Different interpretations

In the final quarter at the MCG on Sunday, Nick Daicos received a free kick and 50m penalty for being retarded after getting rid of the ball in the centre square – in effect he was not allowed to continue his run to potentially receive the ball back. The free kick and 50m penalty resulted in a goal. Minutes before that, Adelaide Wayne Milera was bumped into by Brody Mihocek after he got rid of the ball during a quick passage of play. If he got the 50, Milera would’ve also had a shot at goal. One was a scrag, the other was a bump, but they both had the same consequence, in that the ball player (Daicos and Milera) were stopped in their tracks. Both deserved 50m penalties. Footy is hard enough without two different interpretations only minutes apart.

Brothers Josh and Nick Daicos after Collingwood pulled off another great escape. Picture: Michael Klein

3. Inconsistent Hawks

Brave and daring against Brisbane in round 13 at the MCG, the Hawks packed their bags for the Gold Coast and left their dare at home. Just five goals on Sunday after kicking the first three goals of the game. Quarters two and three were rubbish, non-threatening football with too many mistakes. The final quarter was a whitewash. It was disappointing after kicking 98, 96 and 88 points in their past three matches against the Lions, Port Adelaide and St Kilda. The bye epidemic? It’s the norm this bye month for whatever reason, which is why the four-week bye period should be dumped for a single weekend off for all teams. Just two goals after quarter-time to Gold Coast’s 12 goals was shambolic.

4. Lowering his colours

Essendon wingman Nic Martin was beaten by young Liam Henry on a wing, in what was comfortably Henry’s best game for the Dockers. How many times did the ball appear on the far wing and the likes of Henry, Michael Frederick, Matt Johnson and Neil Erasmus were alone and with ball in hand? The Bombers didn’t keep their width as much as they should have and paid the price. Henry had 32 disposals, of which 28 were uncontested. Martin had 26, of which 20 were uncontested, and had only four score involvements. The numbers look OK in comparison, but Henry’s impact was massive. He’s a delicate little player, Henry, and perhaps is best suited with space around him on a wing instead of scrapping for the ball as a small forward.

Sam Weideman is struggling to make an impact. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

5. What to do with Sam Weideman?

That’s now a month without kicking a goal and three weeks since he’s taken a contested mark. How can that justify a spot in the team? He’s played 12 games this year and been goalless in seven of them. We’re all for key forwards making it contest in the air and bringing the ball to ground, but a couple of marks and goals would be handy. It hasn’t worked for Weideman or Essendon. He’s a clean player, one who doesn’t crash packs or attack with grit, and the coaching group needs some selection integrity. Yes, you have to earn a spot, but you also have earn to keep it. With Peter Wright back, do they really need to play Weideman? Wright, Kyle Langford, Stringer, and one of the resting rucks might be the better mix.

6. What’s happening with Max?
In the second quarter on Thursday night, Max Gawn rucked for just four minutes in total. There was a time, pre-Brodie Grundy, when Gawn was the premier ruckman in the competition and wouldn’t go off the ball. At 31, the plan to get Grundy was probably to ease Gawn’s workload more than anything, but the by-product of that has been a slight easing in Gawn’s performance. It’s not the Gawn we’re used to seeing, the part-time ruckman and part-time key forward. I’m not sure it’s working brilliantly for the Demons but, at the same time, I’m not sure how it can work any other way if Grundy is going to play ruck. At round 15, coach Simon Goodwin is still probably working out how to best use the pair, which in part is linked to how best set up the forward line. The fact is Gawn is a better forward than Grundy and Gawn is marginally a better ruckman than Grundy, but we’re not seeing Gawn absolutely dominate matches like he has in recent seasons. The forward mix and execution is also a work in progress. In the past five weeks, they’ve kicked 76, 72, 61, 66 and 63 points. Calls for Ben Brown to return smack of desperation. Brown’s last game was round 3, so it’s clear he’s not the preferred option, and can’t be if Gawn/Grundy are also playing forward. Still, Brown has come from the clouds before. In 2021, he missed the first six games, played three games, didn’t play the next six games, and played from round 17 onwards and became a premiership player. It doesn’t look like that will happen again.

Max Gawn is spending less time in the ruck. Picture: Michael Klein

7. Goodbye and good riddance

The bye weeks have come and gone, thankfully, and now normal transmission can resume. Media types are grouching the most about the staggered four-week block, but you get the impression the greater public agrees. It’s a laboured four weeks. And because there’s fewer games, there’s fewer topics to discuss. It’s why the dangerous tackle debate raged on and on, to the ridiculous situation where some wise people suggested Gary Rohan should be suspended for colliding with teammate Jeremy Cameron. Yes, the world’s gone mad.

LIKES

1. Gritty Pies

Another deficit at three-quarter time and another rousing final-quarter surge from Collingwood. As goals piled on top of each other, it’s easy to put the spotlight on creativity, belief, run, coaching and leadership. When in fact it’s old fashioned grit which more often than not holds the Pies in good stead. They gave up seven goals in the third quarter and then wrestled back control of the game with five goals to two in the final quarter. It’s not lost on Pies coach Craig McRae about how and why his team are able to perform in fourth quarters. Moments after the final siren, when asked on Fox Footy about the belief within his team, McRae rattled off two huge effort acts by John Noble late in the final quarter. It wasn’t about the brilliance of Nick or Josh Daicos, or Mason Cox’s two final-quarter goals, or Jezza Howe’s return at half-back, it was about Noble’s two efforts to create stoppages. They are mentally tough, the Pies, and daredevil brilliant, which makes them absolutely irresistible.

2. Daicos or Dawson? 

Good luck separating Nick Daicos and Jordan Dawson for the BOG honours. Hazard a guess Pies coach Craig McRae will opt for Daicos in the coaches’ votes and Crows coach Matthew Nicks for Dawson. Both players were superb. Dawson was the highest-rated player on the ground by Champion Data while Daicos was the highest-rated player in Collingwood’s barnstorming final quarter. I’d give it to Dawson for his all-round game. He had 12 tackles to Daicos’s four, they had nine score involvements each and Dawson had 10 inside-50s to Daicos’s two. What Daicos did was create, more by hand than foot, and the speed of getting the ball and cleanly distributing is slick. He would rival Brisbane’s Lachie Neale for the best hands in traffic. Dawson’s game deserves widespread plaudits. So much so, that when the All-Australian selectors meet to discuss the team, it’s games like Sunday’s that should get double loading. Any player can get a kick in an 80-point win, not any player can take on Collingwood at the MCG on a dirty, cold Sunday afternoon and almost carry his team to victory.   

Jordan Dawson tries to give Mason Cox the slip. Picture: Michael Klein

3. Mac Andrew

Played his best game for the Suns on the back of a vastly improved midfield group performance. Andrew had only 12 possession but he took five intercept marks, which was the most on the ground. He’s tracking a little bit like Aliir Aliir, another player of African descent, in that when Aliir was younger he would mix mistakes with brilliance before the brilliance bettered his mistakes and he became one of the best key defenders in the game. Andrew is 19. He was suspended by the club in Darwin and missed a game and slotted back in after missing the week. His response would please coach Stuart Dew. Taken at pick 6, he is contracted until the end of 2025 and is already showing signs he has a big future at the Suns.

4. Blue-collar Kouta

Fremantle’s Luke Jackson is the modern-day equivalent of Anthony Koutoufides – without Kouta’s panache. Kouta was a beautiful footballer, all grace and style with an athleticism few players could match. He played wing, ruck, on-ball, forward and even centre half-back throughout his 278-game career at the Blues. Jackson is hardly stylish. His bull at a gate attitude, and with his long hair and headband and socks downs, makes him less graceful than Kouta. But he, too, is a multi-positional player whose athleticism is freakish for a bloke standing almost two metres. He’s a hell of a player for 21 years of age and not even Kouta at 21 was doing what Jackson is doing at Fremantle. He’s a ruckman, onballer and key forward who might be Fremantle’s most important player. He and Sean Darcy. Together they are the best ruck combo in the game. Jackson’s slow start to the season has been swamped by a series of standout performances. He was among the Dockers’ best against Essendon on Saturday night. In fact, six of his past seven matches have returned more than 100 SuperCoach points, playing mainly ruck in Darcy’s absence.

Luke Jackson has silenced his critics. Picture: Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images

5. Blondes have more fun

Amid the carnage at the SCG on Saturday afternoon were a couple of blonde types who dined out on the Eagles. Chad Warner had 19 score involvements with his 33 possessions, and Isaac Heeney had 18 score involvements from his 22 possessions and kicked 5.4. Warner’s 19 score involvements puts him equal sixth on the all-time list. The list is:

1. Steve Johnson’s 26 (round 9, 2011)

2. Brad Johnson’s 23 (round 22, 2006)

3. Jarryd Roughead’s 21 (round 3, 2015)

4. Jack Riewoldt’s 20 (round 21, 2018)

5. Gary Ablett’s 20 (round 4, 2010)

Johnson’s 26 came one the day Geelong beat Melbourne by 186 points at Geelong, which was Dean Bailey’s final game as coach of the Demons.

Chad Warner had a day out against the Eagles. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

6, Sportsmanship

In the cutthroat business of AFL, a kinship exists between the participants in the most dire of situations. On Thursday night, Melbourne’s Angus Brayshaw joined the chorus of clapping as Jeremy Cameron was taken from the field on a stretcher. Then on Saturday afternoon, Swans coach John Longmire joined Adam Simpson on the sidelines after the final siren, and despite the record win, Longmire didn’t have a smile on his face. He was there to support his former North Melbourne teammate in Simpson, which was a wonderful gesture.

Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 15