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After six round of the AFL season, here are some tough questions that need to be asked.
Chris Judd’s injury woes, Match Review Panel inconsistencies and Brett Deledio’s importance to Richmond’s season are all some of the talking points.
So here they are, six tough questions following six rounds of Australian Rules Football.
Are the West Coast Eagles medicos and team selectors costing them players and games?
If Nic Naitanui is injured (some are suggesting he is playing with sore groins) then why is he playing? Injuries, especially groins, don’t get better by playing, they get worse.
In 2013 Mark LeCras broke his arm, and in 2014 he broke the same arm again. Did the medicos rush him back too soon? Who else may have been played when they shouldn’t have?
Or is Naitanui simply out of form? Why hasn’t he been dropped until he finds form? What good does carrying an out of form player do? Are they playing him to sell tickets?
It seems doubtful, but I just can’t make any sense of it. Something stinks and it isn’t just the Eagles record since the start of 2013.
Is the Jake Carlisle forward experiment costing Essendon games?
At this point most of us are in agreement that its time to return Carlisle to the back line, but has the experiment persisted too long?
Bombers head coach Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson only just seems to be realising what has been seemingly obvious to outsiders and neutrals for some time. While I think Thompson should have sent Carlisle to the backline a couple weeks ago, I am not sold on the idea that it has cost Essendon any premiership points.
They just don’t have any proven goal kickers that have been prevented from playing. What I do worry about is how Carlisle will mentally handle under performing in an unfamiliar position.
Is the Match Review Panel as inept and inconsistent as usual?
Yes. First, we had Fremantle’s Nate Fyfe suspended for two games following an accidental head clash during a legal bump.
Next, we had Geelong’s Taylor Hunt rubbed out for a week for a similar accidental head clash during a legal shepherd. Last week we had West Coast’s Darren Glass escape with only one week on the sidelines when the MRP erroneously graded his charge as low contact. This was despite the injured player having to get his head scanned at the local hospital.
Then there is this week. Collingwood’s Clinton Young, with no eyes for the footy, leaps about a meter off the ground and connects his shoulder with Paul Chapman’s head. Young received a reprimand despite officials telling us in the past that if you leave the ground and choose to bump it will be graded worse.
Two weeks for accidental head clashes for legal bumps when a player is reprimanded for a poorly executed bump? Shameful MRP, shameful.
Where is Ross Lyon’s plan B?
Yes, Fremantle has had some injuries, but so too have Hawthorn, Geelong, Port Adelaide and everyone else.
Yes, the Dockers have had some suspension issues, but that’s of their own making and no one else’s fault (except for Fyfe, his was the result of a ridiculous rule change).
When the Dockers defence gets cracked open and teams begin to score on them, where is the response? All I have seen is the same game plan from Lyon for years. When he has his first choice 22 all on the park he gets the desired result. But when he has replacements come in, the plan starts to show cracks.
How has Lyon responded? Has he shown a willingness to open the game up and try to score? I have not seen it. I see him use the same tactics every week, hoping for a different result. The same question was rightly asked of Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson down at Geelong in 2010, now it’s Ross Lyon’s turn.
Is it too early to say: “No Brett Deledio, no Richmond”?
It certainly looks that way.
While Deledio has been on the sidelines through injury the Tigers have managed to whimper along with a single win against the injury-ravaged Brisbane Lions in his absence. The Tigers now sit at 2-4 for the season and must be hoping that Deledio is fit to play very soon.
Is it Mick Malthouse’s fault that Chris Judd is injured again?
I know Malthouse and Judd are saying all the right things, and I’d expect nothing less in today’s politically correct AFL.
But I don’t buy it. Judd could not even get through a single full training session. Prior to the game he manages three weeks of ‘limited’ training.
No preseason, limited training, older body, coming back from an Achilles injury and Malthouse expects Judd’s body to hold up when thrust directly into action? He’s been sitting on the bench cold for nearly three quarters! Come on, you’re kidding me right?
If Judd was named Kane Lucas, Sam Docherty or Josh Bootsma and fighting to get into Carlton’s best 22, would he be thrust straight into it or would have to prove himself fit in the VFL?
Proper duty of care is treating all your players the same. Malthouse has failed in this regard.
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