By Jon Pierik, Marc McGowan and Peter Ryan
In today’s AFL briefing, your daily wrap of footy news:
- Luke Beveridge hails his triple towers as Bulldogs thump Roos.
- James Hird takes role alongside new Port Melbourne coach Brendan McCartney.
Houston, you have a problem
Jon Pierik
Port Adelaide star Dan Houston has been sent directly to the AFL tribunal for his heavy front-on hit on Izak Rankine, coming as league greats expect Houston to be given a four-week suspension.
Match review officer Michael Christian on Sunday night defined Houston’s hit as high contact, severe impact and careless conduct.
This correlates to a ban of three or more matches. Had the conduct classification been intentional, Houston would have been a ban of four or more games. That could still be the case though, depending on the case the AFL launches.
As there is only one round remaining in the home-and-away season, with the Power guaranteed of a top-four finish, Houston may not play again this year.
If he is banned for three matches, he will need the Power to either win their qualifying and preliminary finals, or to lose their qualifying final but rebound in a semi-final and advance into a preliminary final. If he is banned for four matches, he will need the Power to take the long road to the grand final.
Power coach Ken Hinkley has launched an impassioned defence of Houston, describing him as a “really, really good person” after the defender concussed Rankine with a massive bump in Saturday’s acrimonious Showdown.
It is possible Houston, strongly linked to a return to his home state Victoria next year despite being contracted at Alberton until 2027, has played his last game for Port.
Houston’s shirtfront sparked an all-in melee. Rankine was taken off the ground on a stretcher and immediately subbed out of the game.
“Dan is a really fair player, an outstanding person,” Hinkley said.
“Anyone who’s been involved in those types of situations, I’m sure they know what’s going on and they feel the consequence of what happens. Dan is a really, really good person – I can’t say that enough.
“I know people will say ‘I don’t care whether he’s a good person’, I do. I care about him.”
Giants football director and former Geelong star Jimmy Bartel.Credit: Getty Images
The heavy hit was a major point of debate on Sunday, Geelong great Jimmy Bartel describing the incident as a “classical shirtfront”.
“It was a bump. Where, in my mind this will play out, the AFL will send it to the tribunal. Port Adelaide will argue it was a bump and it [Houston] got him [Rankine] in the chest. He [Rankine] had some whiplash, that’s what created the concussion. Other people will go: ‘Well, he bumped, he is out, you just get weeks’,” Bartel told 3AW.
“Some people try and be the loudest and yell out: ‘Six weeks’. Some are saying three to four.”
Richmond great Matthew Richardson said he expected Houston, 27, to be given up to four weeks.
“I say three to four, probably won’t play for Port again,” Richardson said.
“I would like to see all the evidence and if they could prove that [Rankine was hit in the chest, not the head], maybe bring it down to a couple [of weeks], but I think he will get three to four.”
Collingwood premiership captain Tony Shaw said the Power could argue the specifics of why Rankine had been concussed.
“On the slo-mo and the still photos that we have seen at different stages, his shoulder [Houston] hits into the shoulder [of Rankine]. The ball comes up, which can be a little bit of a weapon itself because it was right in front of his face, but just under his jaw,” Shaw said.
Dan Houston’s bump on Izak Rankine will be assessed at the tribunal.Credit: Fox Footy
“But his head misses his head, but what happens when he gets hit, his head goes forward like whiplash. That is probably one thing that can knock you out, and then he went back and hit his head on the ground, again.
“I think three or four weeks is enough – I don’t think it should get to six.”
Former St Kilda star Nick Dal Santo said Houston has likely played his last game of the season.
“I just can’t see it being any less than four weeks,” Dal Santo said on SEN.
“If Rankine got four for his bump on [Brisbane’s] Brandon Starcevich, and I don’t think he had the ferocity in the bump like we saw last night, I can’t see it being any less than that.“
Greater Western Sydney’s Lachie Ash has been banned for one match for a dump tackle in the Giants’ match against Fremantle.
Dogs coach rewarded for faith in Darcy up forward
Marc McGowan
Luke Beveridge’s decision to back Sam Darcy to redeem his wayward goalkicking of last week paid off spectacularly on Sunday to inch the Western Bulldogs closer to a finals berth.
Darcy, who kicked 1.5 in the Dogs’ loss to Adelaide in round 22, responded with a career-best seven goals to propel his team to a 96-point caning of North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
With 7.1 (43) to his name, Sam Darcy outscored North Melbourne on his own.Credit: Getty Images
Tall towers Darcy, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (three) and Aaron Naughton (two) combined for 12 goals in a dominant performance against an outmatched and undersized Roos backline.
Naughton left the game late clutching at his left hamstring, but Bulldogs coach Beveridge confirmed it was only a cramp.
The Kangaroos lost key defender Charlie Comben and substitute Miller Bergman (both concussion), while Comben also went to hospital to have a lower-leg injury assessed.
The Bulldogs are in sixth spot with a mighty percentage of 123.8 as they prepare to renew acquaintance with rivals Greater Western Sydney in Ballarat in the final round. They could climb as high as fourth but are still not certain to qualify for finals.
“You never go into a game even really thinking or talking – definitely not talking – about percentage, but ultimately, there are still things that are way out of our control,” Beveridge said.
“The discussion in there was the challenge down the highway. We always look forward to going to Ballarat, and to play the Giants this week … it’s a really good challenge for us in the last home-and-away game.”
Beveridge had a call to make with All-Australian ruckman Tim English (ankle) out – which could extend to the GWS clash – on whether to turn to Darcy or Rory Lobb as his primary big man.
Lobb, who has reinvigorated his career as a key defender, ended up performing well as the Bulldogs’ de facto No.1 ruckman against in-form Kangaroo Tristan Xerri.
Darcy spent only short stints in the ruck, while undersized defender Buku Khamis finished the game there after Lobb went to the bench with a corked thigh.
“As much as [Darcy] missed a few last week; he was a big threat against Adelaide,” Beveridge said.
“We’ve got some boys who can mark the footy, but he’s emerging [and] developing, so it was a combination of keeping Sam forward, and Rory [having a ruck background].
Darcy is all smiles after his career-best haul of goals.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“It’s one of the reasons he was such an attractive proposition when there was a chance we could bring him in … [I told him] we just needed stability, and he gave us that, and we thought he played a really strong game, and allowed Sam to stay forward.”
Beveridge still views Lobb as a defender when everyone is fit, and opted not to take the chance to hit back at the early season narrative that Naughton needed to return to defence.
North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson bemoaned his players’ inability to hold up against Darcy, Ugle-Hagan and Naughton, with Comben’s injury magnifying the Roos’ difficulties as they tried to defend 69 inside 50s entries by their opponents.
North will finish in the bottom two for a fifth straight season, and Clarkson said on radio on Friday that they wanted to recruit experienced players to fill the leadership void.
Melbourne vice-captain Jack Viney is on the Kangaroos’ hit list, while Clarkson also named fellow veterans Ollie Wines, Luke Parker, Dane Rampe and Callan Ward.
He raised eyebrows with his willingness to name contracted players at rival clubs, including specifically saying Wines was someone they wanted to speak to, but he said on Sunday they did not want to “crowbar anyone out of their club”.
He also said the discussion was “just philosophical” and that they were simply looking for specific types of players who could help them.
“[We are looking for] anyone possibly who can come in and help us, who’s in the twilight of their career, to give us some leadership because in the mature age of our list, that’s where we’re particularly skinny,” Clarkson said.
“We’ll continue to search for that. It wasn’t meant to be throwing petrol on the fire for other clubs, [and] it wasn’t specifically about any individual.
“If they become available to come and be an asset for our footy club, then we are prepared to explore it.”
Borough land James Hird and Brendan McCartney
Peter Ryan
Essendon great James Hird is expected to join new coach Brendan McCartney in a director of coaching role at VFL club Port Melbourne after knocking back the senior coaching role due to his business commitments.
James Hird assisted his former Essendon teammate Mark McVeigh when he was caretaker coach of GWS late in 2022, and will now help Brendan McCartney at Port Melbourne.Credit: AFL Photos
Port Melbourne will make the announcement on Monday after Adam Skrobalak coached the club to a win over the Northern Bullants in his final match in charge on Saturday. Two sources who wished to remain anonymous as the club had not yet released their decision publicly confirmed the new appointments.
The pair worked together at Essendon after McCartney joined the Bombers in Hird’s first season as senior coach in 2011. He had worked alongside Mark Thompson at Geelong as the club won the 2007 and 2009 flags and quickly won Hird’s respect for his ability to develop young players.
McCartney then became Western Bulldogs senior coach in 2013 before continuing his coaching career as an assistant at Melbourne.
He then became a coach at North Ballarat, where he has worked the past four seasons, and has been working part-time at Collingwood for the past two years. He has also coached at Western Heights College in Geelong.
Former Bulldogs coach and Melbourne assistant Brendan McCartney can’t wait for Friday night’s blockbuster.Credit: Pat Scala
Last Thursday night, he told the North Ballarat players he was leaving at the end of the season but would coach them through the upcoming finals series.
Port Melbourne chased Hird for the senior job, but he was unable to pursue the role because of his business commitments as managing director of Euree Asset Management, which manages about $150 million in investor funds.
He remained in discussions to stay involved in the club where his son Tom plays. With McCartney to be appointed, Hird will come on board to support him and the club’s other coaches, and also play a role developing players that does not require a full-time commitment.
The pairing is a boost for the standalone VFL club which celebrated its 150th year this season.
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