By Peter Ryan, Jon Pierik and Andrew Wu
In today’s AFL Briefing, your wrap of footy news:
- Melbourne midfielder Clayton Oliver has drawn the curtain on his season after undergoing surgery on his hand on Monday.
- Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell says his surging Hawks are building a standard of football that he hopes will stand up in September, a plan endorsed by deep analytical data.
Season over for Oliver as Demons address Petracca concerns
Peter Ryan
Melbourne midfielder Clayton Oliver has drawn the curtain on his season after undergoing surgery on his hand on Monday.
The 27-year-old was also battling a posterior cruciate injury and sore ribs and will take a break before attacking his pre-season after a tumultuous year.
Dees coach Simon Goodwin said he was looking forward to Oliver putting in a huge pre-season after his interrupted preparation heading into 2024.
He guaranteed Oliver and frustrated star Christian Petracca, who have long-term contracts, would be playing for Melbourne next season, and backed the team to address the frustrations and their lack of scoring power to return to finals.
Clayton Oliver has been ruled out for the rest of the season.Credit: AFL Photos
“We’ve got to get him [Oliver] physically well again ... he’s walking around this morning with a smile on his face and is more determined the ever to get his football back to the highest level,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin also said the whole club was frustrated with the performance this season and was determined to return to finals, following Petracca’s frustration creating more unwanted headlines for the Demons, who will miss finals for the first time since 2020.
Goodwin welcomed the opportunity to publicly address internal concerns, saying the club was united in a desire to get better. “As senior leaders we want as much information as possible to help us get back where we want to be,” he said, adding that he was speaking to Petracca and other club leaders to identify and address their frustrations.
Petracca’s season ended in the King’s Birthday clash with Collingwood after a heavy collision. He had emergency surgery after being diagnosed with a grade five lacerated spleen and a punctured lung when admitted to hospital. He had returned to the ground in the second quarter after sustaining the injury at the end of the first quarter.
The 28-year-old champion has recently returned to running in his recovery.
“Christian had an incredibly traumatic experience ... we don’t need to underestimate that emotionally,” Goodwin said. “In his own words, he had to go away from the game and really think a lot about getting happy and healthy, and with that, he obviously did a lot of reflecting on football as well.
“I’m sure he’s got some wonderful ideas about how we can get better and we’ll lean into those suggestions.”
The coach revealed that premiership star Alex Neal-Bullen told him about four weeks ago that he needed to return to South Australia for family reasons.
He said that the 28-year-old explained to his teammates that if he could lift the club to Adelaide he would do so, but he had to put family first, and his decision was not related to any other issues.
“He’s such a wonderful person for our footy club and a much loved person and given so much to the footy club that we’re very open to helping Alex get that request done,” Goodwin said.
“Families are a really important element in life. We’ll do our best trying to get that deal done for Alex ... people move for different reasons and sometimes there is a want, and sometimes it’s just an absolute need, and in this situation it’s a need for his family, and we respect that.”
Lord help us: Battered Blues blood rookie for trip west
Andrew Wu
Carlton are turning to a Lord for salvation.
The injury-ravaged Blues have announced mid-season recruit Cooper Lord will make his AFL debut against West Coast on Sunday.
Lord is the first of at least six inclusions to be confirmed by the Blues, whose season hangs by a thread after their heavy loss to Hawthorn. The defeat was compounded by injuries to Charlie Curnow, Harry McKay, Jack Martin, Lachie Fogarty, Adam Saad and Jordan Boyd.
Selected with pick nine in the mid-season rookie draft, Lord has been rewarded for his strong VFL form playing as a hard-nosed inside midfielder who can also get the ball on the outside.
In seven games for the Blues, Lord, recruited from North Melbourne’s VFL list, has averaged 26 possessions, seven tackles and four clearances.
He was among the best afield in the Blues’ win over Geelong last week, with 30 disposals, nine tackles and six clearances.
Former Port Adelaide star Brad Ebert, now working as the Blues’ development coach, said he was impressed by Lord’s start in navy blue.
“He’s an awesome kid to work with. He’s fitted into the group super well: from a personality point of view, he’s eager to learn, be part of the group and improve,” Ebert told the club’s website last month.
“On a Sunday night, I’ll get a message from him every week to ask what time he can do his review. The next morning, one of the other boys was there waiting by the desk, and I was like ‘nope, you haven’t organised this, Cooper has!’.
“It shows the planning and dedication he’s got to his game.”
Lord is the Blues’ second debutant this season, and, likely, won’t be their last given the club’s extensive injury list.
Young forward Harry Lemmey is in the frame to take one of the key forward posts vacated by Curnow and McKay, while goal sneak Ashton Moir and defender Billy Wilson – both from last year’s draft – are also close to breaking through.
‘A game style that will stand up’: How Mitchell has the Hawks humming
Jon Pierik
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell says his surging Hawks are building a standard of football that he hopes will stand up in September, a plan endorsed by deep analytical data.
On a roll: Sam Mitchell and his Hawks are one happy family.Credit: Getty Images
The Hawks have been one of the stories of the season. They dropped their first five games in one of the club’s worst starts to a season ever, before going 9-2 since round 11, including five wins by 48 points or more.
Coming off their blitz of the Blues on Sunday, the Hawks, fifth on the form ladder since round 15, have slipped into the top eight and won praise for their defensive edge from four-time premiership great Luke Hodge.
Their finals hopes are boosted by the vagaries of an AFL fixture that has them facing bottom-placed Richmond in what Mitchell labelled a “final” at the MCG on Sunday, before meeting the Alastair Clarkson-led North Melbourne in Launceston in round 24.
Mitchell said on Wednesday that the Hawks “are far from a finished product” but he was hopeful his team’s hard-running style would help them handle the September furnace – should his team finish in the top eight.
“We hope so. A lot of what we are planning, and a lot of the messaging over the last couple of years, is, let’s try and develop a game style that will stand up in finals. So, there are certain ways that you can play that are more suitable to a high-pressure game that finals usually are,” Mitchell, a four-time premiership player, said.
“There are usually less marks, there is usually more pressure, there are usually more mistakes, particularly unforced ones. We have tried to create a game style that will stand up.
Key plank: Josh Weddle has been instrumental in turning the Hawks into an offensive and defensive powerhouse.Credit: Getty Images
“Time will tell. If we get an opportunity this year, as soon as this year we will find out if our game style and the way that we play, whether we can handle the mental rigours of finals footy and the extra pressure.”
The Hawks are not only a scoring machine, but defensively can strangle opponents. From round 11, they have conceded an average of only 67.9 points per game, ranked No.1 in the league, while producing 98.2 points per game of their own, ranked No.2.
That scoring fluency has been particularly pleasing for line coach Adrian Hickmott, for five players in the Hawks forward line last weekend – as Mitchell pointed out – were not at the club last season.
They are ranked fifth or higher across the league for points scored from turnovers, clearances and kick-ins, while they are ranked fourth or higher for stopping opponents from scoring in these categories.
Hodge, a four-time premiership star alongside Mitchell, said the Hawks had the balance required for success.
“Since round 11, they’re second in points for, they are first for [least] points against. So we’re talking about the flair, the run, the creativity, but they’re the best in defence since round 11. It’s not all one way for them, it’s not just all [forward] running, you’ve got to run just as hard back,” Hodge told SEN.
The Hawks were supposed to still be in a semi-rebuilding mode this season, and possibly through 2025 as well, but Mitchell and skipper James Sicily have been instrumental in moving the dial.
They have a young, exciting nucleus, including Jack Ginnivan, Connor Macdonald, Will Day and Nick Watson, who have supporters dreaming that a new premiership era is not far off.
Rebounding defender Changkuoth Jiath (calf) was a late withdrawal on Sunday, but trained strongly on Wednesday. Mitchell said the Hawks would not take any risks with Jiath, who has signed a three-year contract extension.
Mitchell has met with West Coast premiership defender Tom Barrass, who is considering a fresh start despite being contracted to the Eagles until 2027. However, Mitchell wouldn’t be drawn on any trade talk on Wednesday.
“As I said, we get linked to pretty much every player. There is a lot of talk in the competition about players from so many clubs … we’ll get tied to them all,” he said.
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