Wreck It Ralph: Seven players who can step up and deliver a finals spot for their team in 2021
Jack Martin can do it all — now he needs to put it all together for three weeks to launch Carlton into the finals. Jon Ralph puts seven big names under the blowtorch.
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Who wants to put the Superman cape on and wear their undies on the outside?
With three weeks remaining, Leigh Montagna’s “seven seducers” — the seven teams that keep teasing us about whether they will make the eight — all remain in the mix.
The seven sides that fill positions seven to 13 on the ladder are: West Coast, Fremantle, Greater Western Sydney, Essendon, Richmond, Carlton and St Kilda.
And for those who believe falling into the eight is fool’s gold, tell that to Carlton, which provided a career highlight to the players who knocked off Richmond in front of 94,690 fans in a glorious 2013 elimination final.
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So who are the players from each of those seven sides who need to stop teasing and step up to the plate and get the job done?
Or the solid performers who can spend the next three weeks in AFL Beast Mode to ensure their team wins all three remaining matches and nabs that final spot?
TOM LYNCH (RICHMOND)
Lynch hasn’t had a terrible year, he just hasn’t had the kind of year a $950,000-per-season star forward can deliver.
Like Western Bulldog Tom Boyd, Lynch has already paid his way after two flags in as many years — including five goals in the 2019 preliminary final — but he is capable of much more.
He is averaging his lowest ranking points and disposals since 2013 even if he is still averaging two goals per game.
As an inside-50 target, the Tigers score only 12 per cent of the time kicking to Lynch, the seventh-worst percentage of the top 50 forwards.
And after botching a routine set shot late in the third term against Fremantle, he has kicked 30.28 for the season as well as five total misses.
It’s good, but it’s a long way from great.
His one-on-one contest work is still elite, but he’s not getting separation or the easy goals as Jack Riewoldt holds the forward line together.
JACK MARTIN (CARLTON)
Win the next three and the Blues probably play finals, and maybe save David Teague.
So where are those big moments from $600,000-a-season man Martin, who is capable of the kind of four-goal, 17-possession games he showed us in his Carlton debut against Richmond.
He looks like he is turning a corner after six score involvements and six score assists against St Kilda, but he has only two goals in his past five weeks.
Martin can do it all — lay a bone-crunching tackle, hit lace-out passes to Harry McKay, kick freakish goals on either foot — so it’s time to put it together for three full weeks.
JESSE HOGAN (GWS)
Across three clubs Jesse Hogan has never played an AFL final amid a string of controversies, mental health issues and false dawns.
Now Shane Mumford’s babysitter and granny flat tenant has knuckled down, done the work and has a perfect chance to cash in.
Despite multiple injuries he has kicked 14 goals in six games — with a pair of four-goal hauls — as GWS sits only two premiership points out of the eight.
What better chance does he have to redefine his reputation and win a multi-year contract with a three-week purple patch, starting with a Friday night trip to GMHBA Stadium to take on the Cats.
BRAD CROUCH (ST KILDA)
Crouch can hold his head up high in his debut season after averaging 92 SuperCoach points and 26.5 disposals across 17 games.
But as St Kilda coughed up 12 straight goals from turnovers against Carlton, it was obvious the Saints cannot crack open a flag window with so many players who butcher it by foot.
Crouch goes at 50.2 per cent efficiency, with his past three weeks 38 per cent, 12 per cent and 53 per cent.
Like Ollie Wines and Clayton Oliver, he will never be an elite kick, but that pair find a way to explode from packs and minimise their poor skills by foot.
Can St Kilda win a final with Luke Dunstan, Crouch and Seb Ross distributing the ball after the club’s third-lowest kicking efficiency in a game (just 60 per cent)?
Dunstan had four direct turnovers by foot and Crouch and Jack Steele two each, and that was the ball game.
ANDREW GAFF (WEST COAST)
The best part about being a wingman in the modern game is you don’t need to tackle anyone.
In a team full of downhill skiers Gaff covers vast distances up and back but has 25 tackles for the year and one in three weeks.
Who at West Coast wants to channel Christian Petracca, whose defensive intent saw him drag down three Port Adelaide mids for chase-down tackles a month back and is averaging 4.3 tackles a game?
Certainly not the tall trio of Jack Darling, Oscar Allen and Josh Kennedy, who had three tackles between them in a loss in which Gaff, Nic Naitanui, Jack Redden, Tom Cole and Josh Rotham failed to record a tackle.
DEVON SMITH (ESSENDON)
Smith was a star on the rise when he won the 2018 Crichton Medal as a hard-tackling midfielder averaging 8.5 tackles and 22 possessions.
This year in a change of role as a small forward his pressure is still elite, but he has career lows in SuperCoach points and contested possessions.
Essendon is lovely to watch but easy to play against, having lost three times this year despite kicking 100 points.
Smith can turn a solid year into something exceptional by leading that swarming tackling pressure and devoting himself to discipline and team sacrifice despite giving away the second-most 50m penalties in the league this year.
A finals performance with this list in transition would be nothing short of astonishing, and he can be a key part of that list transformation.
SEAN DARCY (FREMANTLE)
What a stunning breakout season from newly re-signed Darcy, who keeps plugging away despite knee issues that could easily have sidelined him.
He probably isn’t All-Australian but he’s not far away and if he can take down Oscar McInerney, Nic Naitanui and the Rowan Marshall-Paddy Ryder combo in the next three weeks, he might be by the end of the home-and-away season.
He is averaging 4.7 clearances and his around-the-ground work is superb, but can he add goal power to that portfolio?
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Originally published as Wreck It Ralph: Seven players who can step up and deliver a finals spot for their team in 2021
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