The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from Round 9 of the AFL season
Teams need grunt and runners and Marc Murphy has always been a mixture of both across his impressive career. But he’s yet to get his hands dirty this season. Robbo’s Round 9 likes and dislikes.
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Another week, another Collingwood controversy, this time the coach Nathan Buckley and assistant Brenton Sanderson under fire for a COVID-19 breach.
His president Eddie McGuire has been strong when others breach protocols, but what about when the Pies do it?
SCROLL DOWN FOR ROBBO’S ROUND 9 LIKES AND DISLIKES
It’s time for the Bombers to park the excuses after another pitiful effort, but there was plenty of purity in Majak Daw’s return, the ruck work of Nic Naitanui and the way his Eagles and the Cats traded blows on Saturday night.
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DISLIKES
1 BUCKS’ DOUBLE FAULT
Scenario 1: Alicia Molik and her coach have COVID-19 and one of them gives it to Buckley and Sanderson. They pass it on to the players and staff. The Pies are locked down, $250 million worth of remaining football this season is in jeopardy and, most of all, there’s potentially graver fall out.
Scenario 2: They were lucky.
Yes, we all make mistakes. But it beggars belief Buckley and Sanderson would put themselves in this situation. Collingwood and the AFL spun the same message. “This is a very disappointing reminder of how vigilant we must be,’’ the Pies said. The AFL: “This is a reminder that everyone, clubs, players, coaches, officials all need to be extremely diligent.’’ No, it’s not a reminder to be diligent — there been plenty of them over the past five months. It was a potentially monumental mistake and both Collingwood and the AFL have downplayed it.
2 WEEKEND AT EDDIE’S
It started off powerfully when McGuire piled on the Queensland hub breakers, of which Trent Cotchin’s wife was the poster girl. Put them on a plane home, he said. Less than 24 hours later, Buckley and Sanderson double faulted. The problem is — again — Ed sends out all these messages as a media man and can’t back them up as a president. Remember, he whacked the Fremantle players on TV for breaking protocols and then, as president, said he was proud of Steele Sidebottom’s response to his four-week suspension. The tennis debacle is not McGuire’s fault, but he puts himself in the position where he gets whacked because he whacks everyone else. Maybe ease up with the whacking, Ed … and enjoy your weekends.
3 INCONSISTENT AFL
Adelaide assistant coach Ben Hart was suspended for six weeks for breaching return to play protocols at a quarantine camp in the Barossa Valley in mid-May. Hart and some players were involved in a training drill among themselves. On Saturday, the AFL hit Collingwood with a fine and suspended fine for a tennis game, treating the Pies the same as other clubs who had members of their parties get a facial, eat chips at the footy and go to a Gold Coast theme park. The Pies deserved a bigger fine because the leadership expected from Buckley and Sanderson is far above the others. Poor leadership from the AFL.
4 AND, TO CAP IT OFF
Collingwood is 10th after nine rounds of football. The Pies were the favourites for the flag not so long ago, but their reputation has taken a battering these past two weeks. On Sunday night, and to end Collingwood and Eddie’s weekend of disappointment, they were out-hunted by a younger, hungrier and tougher team. The midfield group was poor, other than its third quarter. And, in the final quarter, when the game needed authority of conviction, it was the previously 17th-placed Dockers who took command. The Dockers won the contested ball by 36 overall and won it by 15 in the final term.
5 DEE-SASTER
There is always a game that causes the anger to spit out like an erupting volcano. It came for Melbourne president Glen Bartlett after last Thursday’s capitulation to Port Adelaide. Former Demon David Schwarz erupted two weeks previously, calling the club irrelevant, but that was dismissed as a cheap shot by some. You can’t dismiss Bartlett’s comments. No doubt, coach Simon Goodwin is on notice despite having two years to run on a contract. On notice doesn’t mean he will lose his job. Lose to Adelaide on Wednesday and then North Melbourne on Sunday, however, and the Demons will be in crisis. On field, the biggest mystery in football continues to befuddle everyone: How can Max Gawn be so dominant with his tap work and his midfielders not take advantage of it? By the way, whatever happened to James Harmes tagging?
6 SELFISH DEMONS
There was a play on the wing in the third quarter which was symbolic of Melbourne’s lack of support for each other. Ed Langdon competed one-on-one and his opponent won the ball. Langdon laid the tackle, his opponent dished the ball off to an incoming teammate who had Jake Lever as an opponent. Langdon got up off the ground after the first tackle and tried to lay a second tackle on the second Port player. And Lever? He did nothing. He ran to the back of the contest seemingly looking for an easy hand-off. Port won the ball, moved it forward and Ollie Wines kicked the goal. If Lever had helped his teammate in the fight the goal would not have been kicked.
7 ONE SOLDIER IN, TWO SOLDIERS OUT
The Giants’ stuttering season continues to lurch after they lost Toby Greene and Matt de Boer for maybe three weeks each with hamstring injuries. Coach Leon Cameron just can’t get his best team on the park for a sustained period and, if losses follow, he will, once again, be pilloried for being an underperforming coach. It’s an unfair accusation. The Giants finally got Zac Williams back on Sunday, and he had 26 disposals and was dominant across halfback, but that was off-set by the iced hammies on Greene and De Boer. The coach can’t take a trick.
8 COME ON, MURPH
Teams need grunts and runners. Marc Murphy has always been a mixture of both across his impressive 276-game career. Now 33 and playing more wing, Murphy has to get his hands dirty once more. In nine games this year he has laid only 13 tackles. There could be reasons for that and coach David Teague might be satisfied with what Murphy supplies on the outside, but 13 tackles (said in Anthony Hudson’s commentary voice) does seem low for a player living between the arcs.
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9 PARK THE EXCUSES, DONS
We can make excuses. Young, leaders missing, makeshift forward line and new coaches unable to bed down their new game style because of a lack of training. Or we can park the excuses. The skills were poor, the mids were beaten up again and Brisbane’s Lachie Neale is allowed to have 30-plus possessions. Where’s the tag? Where are the club’s grunt players? The team was not only walked over, it was trampled on.
10 CONFUSING FOOTY
Confusion flourishes on all fronts. Players, coaches, commentators and fans. That’s everyone in the game. The principle of holding the ball and trying to move the ball on is a sound one. The adaptation, at times, is hurting the game. Don’t dismiss this as the annual umpire bashing, because the sport as a spectacle is confusing to watch. The ballplayer has to be looked after, not the tackler or gang tacklers.
LIKES
1 FREOOO, THE WAY TO GO
“I thought we played with grit,” Fremantle skipper Nathan Fyfe said post-match. He wasn’t lying. In these slog conditions, every tackle and knock on and body hit counts and the Dockers midfield, containing rising star bolter Caleb Serong, Adam Cerra and Andrew Brayshaw and led by veteran David Mundy, was superb. So much to like but, from a team point of view, their pressure rating of 204 in the final quarter of a four-quarter slog is the foundation of which coach Justin Longmuir can build from. They have a crack, the Dockers, and the young talent is accepting that responsibility. Serong for the Rising Star?
2 THE PURITY OF THE RUCKMAN
Nic Naitanui’s performance against the Cats was the most dominant of any player this season. It was pure because in this age of density and flooded backlines, we don’t see enough skill on display. It’s all pressure and gang-tackling and either hurried, short or down-the-line kicking. Naitanui’s finesse by hand in one of the games of the season was joyful and Cats coach Chris Scott’s offering post-game was equally so. “You don’t want the Eagles to kick a goal because the ball goes back to the centre,’’ he said. Nic Nat’s final-term tap to a roving Josh Kennedy, who snapped a goal, is the play of the season.
3 THE PURITY OF LIFE
Majak Daw’s return was a win for himself and for others. When he kicked his goal and was swarmed by North Melbourne teammates, there wouldn’t have been a watcher without a smile on his face. All kudos to Majak. Footy tough guy Dermott Brereton’s tears on Fox Footy when speaking to North coach Rhyce Shaw 30 minutes before the bounce was also pure in relaying the pain of suicide. Derm has lost family members to suicide and his pain manifested itself into admiration of Daw, Shaw and the Kangaroos footy club. It was a powerful day for many.
4 THE PURITY OF FOOTBALL
In this era of zone defence, Geelong and West Coast played footy in a manner that was finals football in July. Coach Adam Simpson told 3AW radio Sunday his instructions to his players were simple after the Cats were able to find loose players by foot in the first quarter and a half. His message? Find a man. It meant the game was played with full accountability and every player had to earn their kick. Now, that’s a rarity in today’s football. The Cats lost the game, mind you, but they lost without captain Joel Selwood and Gary Ablett. They are strong premiership contenders.
5 MOZZ SQUAD GROWS BY THE WEEK
In only game 15, St Kilda’s Nick Hind announced himself as a serious footballer. He recorded 129 ranking points, 16 disposals, nine contested possessions, 323m gained, six score involvements and three goals in what was a another level performance from the Saints. The Mozz Squad is a weapon, no doubt, and coach Brett Ratten would be thrilled with the impact of his mids and small forwards. He wouldn’t be so thrilled with Jake Carlisle’s pathetic attack on Dane Rampe’s broken hand. What are you doing, Jake? That was rubbish.
6 THE MIDFIELD GIANT AWAKES
It was a matter time for the Giants to get their midfield guns together and firing. The four highest ranked players on the ground on Sunday were Lachie Whitfield, Jacob Hopper, Tim Taranto and Stephen Coniglio and, with Josh Kelly, they combined to make it a slog for the Suns all match. It’s becoming clear Sam Jacobs is their No.1 ruck — no offence Mr Mumford — and on Sunday he beat Jarrod Witts, which not many ruckmen can claim this season.
7 MAYES’ DAY
He’s shaping as a terrific comeback story at top-of-the-table Port Adelaide. His last game for Brisbane was in Round 14, 2018, and his first game for Port was in Round 7, 2020. In between, he had to wonder if his football career was over. Coach Ken Hinkley has put him on a back flank in the past three weeks and has not been let down. In that period, Mayes has averaged 93 ranking points, 16 disposals, 10 uncontested possessions and 387m gained, the latter stat is ranked No 1 at the club. Now 26, Mayes’ career seemingly is taking flight.
8 DON’T DOUBT CLARKO
The recent plight of Hawthorn has not manifested into criticism of the players, more a pile on the coach. So, if he wears the heat he must wear the praise. He ignored calls to play the youth and instead brought back experience, although it was a goal to 19-year-old Will Day, which helped ignite the Hawks. The clear win, outside of Clarkson’s coaching, was the collective midfield effort. It’s been terrible, frankly, and against the Blues it was potent and Carlton crumbled under it.
9 ROOS’ HALL-MARK
The Kangaroo’s playing for his career at the moment, and if he can produce more of what he did against the Crows, the better his standing with the coach will be. Rhyce Shaw has been stern with him — play more team football than selfish football — and it seems Hall is listening. He had his best game of the season, having 20 disposals, nine contested possessions, 324m gained, six score involvements and two goals. It was the perfect mid-forward game. Still, it was against the lowly Crows. Let’s see it against better opposition.
Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from Round 9 of the AFL season
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