With the countdown to the 2015 AFL season now just less than a month away, there will be questions asked of some of the contenders and pretenders for this year’s AFL premiership.
In Part I, I asked some questions regarding last year’s top six, including whether Hawthorn can capture a rare hat-trick of flags this year, whether the Sydney Swans could put their grand final debacle behind them and just how high Port Adelaide can fly in 2015.
Here, in Part II, the middle six clubs from last year: Essendon, Richmond, the West Coast Eagles, the Adelaide Crows, Collingwood and the Gold Coast Suns, will come under the spotlight.
Among the issues involving these clubs will be whether Essendon can move on from the ASADA scandal which has clouded the club over the last two years, whether Richmond can prove that last year’s late-season run was no fluke and, armed with new coaches, how the Adelaide Crows and Gold Coast Suns will fare in 2015.
Here are some of the questions fans will ask as AFL fans around the country continue the countdown to the commencement of the 2015 AFL season.
7. Can Essendon move on from the ASADA scandal?
No club has had it tough in the last two years than the Essendon Bombers, with up to 25 players facing provisional suspensions over their involvement in the club’s 2012 supplements program.
The Bombers will have most, if not all, of their squad from three years ago missing ahead of their NAB Challenge campaign, but those who arrived at the club after 2012 – namely Brendon Goddard and Paul Chapman, as well as off-season recruits Adam Cooney and Jonathan Giles – will still be eligible to play.
James Hird returns as head coach this season after sitting out the 2014 season due to a suspension attained as a result of the supplements scandal. He will no doubt be hungry to lead the club again but the efforts of Mark Thompson, who stepped in for Hird last year but has since left the club, must be commended.
While the club did enough to make the finals last year, losing to North Melbourne, they suffered the ignominy of being the only club to lose to the bottom two sides from last year, Melbourne and St Kilda.
With Hird back at the helm, and the tribunal hearings involving the players from the 2012 playing list likely to have wrapped up by the end of this month, it’s clear that the Bombers will want to move on from it all this season.
Round 1: versus Sydney Swans, Saturday April 4, 4:35pm at ANZ Stadium
8. How far can Richmond go in 2015?
Having reached the finals in consecutive seasons for the first time in four decades last year, 2015 shapes as the year in which Richmond should push for the top four.
After seemingly being down and out with only three wins after Round 14, the Tigers embarked on a nine-match winning streak which culminated in a three-point victory over the Sydney Swans in Sydney in Round 23.
However, their late-season run seemed to take its toll as the club then crashed to an embarrassing 57-point loss to Port Adelaide at the Oval, and there’s no doubt that the defeat will have hurt the Tigers during the recent off-season.
The club has received a commercially exciting draw which will help their cause as they look to reach the finals for the third consecutive season. Friday night matches in Perth (against Fremantle) and in Sydney (against the Swans) count among the seven matches the Tigers will play in the AFL’s premium timeslot.
Oh, and not to mention the club will look forward to finally playing the Gold Coast Suns in Melbourne for the first time, having taken their three previous ‘home’ games against them to Cairns for one win and two losses. However, the Tigers will have to wait until Round 20 to improve their record against the Suns, which currently stands at 1-3.
While hopes will be high at Tigerland in 2015, there will be no excuses if the club cannot get their season off and running early on. The season opener against Carlton and the Round 2 match against the Western Bulldogs provides the club the best opportunity to start their season very well.
Round 1: versus Carlton, Thursday April 2, 7:20pm at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
9. Can the West Coast Eagles improve their record against the AFL’s heavyweights?
To say the least, Adam Simpson’s first year as West Coast coach should not be considered a success, neither a failure. However, if the club is to crack the top eight in 2015, the gulf between their best and worst needs to be narrowed.
It was well documented that the Eagles failed to defeat any of last year’s top eight, coming closest when they lost to Essendon by under a kick at Etihad Stadium late in the season.
While they failed to fire against the AFL’s heavyweights, they did feast on the lowly clubs, more to the point that Josh Kennedy kicked 26 goals against the AFL’s two youngest clubs, including a haul of 11 against GWS in Round 8.
As far as this year’s draw goes, the Eagles will have reason to believe that they can attempt to rectify their poor record against the top clubs. They will play each of last year’s top four at home without having to travel away; this includes their mandatory double-date against derby rivals Fremantle.
The bad news for the Eagles though is that defender Eric Mackenzie will sit out the season after rupturing his ACL in the club’s NAB Challenge victory over Carlton, further depleting the Eagles’ defensive stocks which took a huge hit with the retirement last year of captain Darren Glass.
Improving their record against the top sides will be the aim of coach Adam Simpson as the Eagles push to return to the finals for the first time since 2012.
Round 1: versus Western Bulldogs, Saturday April 4, 7:20pm at Etihad Stadium
10. How will the Adelaide Crows fare under Phil Walsh?
After missing the finals for the second year in a row, the Adelaide Crows shocked the AFL world by announcing the abrupt sacking of Brenton Sanderson at the end of the season.
Sanderson, who took the club to within a kick of the grand final in 2012, was the first (of three) major coaching casualty of the season, whereby alleged harsh criticism by the players led to his demise.
He has been replaced by Phil Walsh, who has already stamped his authority on the club by appointing Taylor Walker as the club’s captain for this season.
The future of Patrick Dangerfield, who served as acting co-captain in tandem with Rory Sloane after Nathan van Berlo sat out the entire 2014 season due to injury, will also very likely threaten to cast a shadow over the club’s 2015 campaign.
It will be interesting to see how the club will progress and develop under Walsh, a former assistant coach at Port Adelaide and the West Coast Eagles. The Crows have reached the finals just once since 2009 and so it could be another testing season for the men from West Lakes.
Round 1: versus North Melbourne, Sunday April 5, 2:50pm ACST at the Adelaide Oval
11. Will Collingwood continue to decline, or will they rise again?
After sitting in the top four midway through last year, injuries to key players, none more so than the likes of Dayne Beams (now at the Brisbane Lions), Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan and Brent Macaffer, among others, conspired against Collingwood as they missed the finals for the first time since 2005 last year.
It continued the club’s gradual decline over the last five years, which had seen the club win the premiership in 2010, finish runners-up in 2011, lose a preliminary final in 2012, crash out in the first round of the finals in 2013 and miss out on finals action altogether in 2014.
Beams’ departure for the Brisbane Lions was one of two major losses for the club at the end of last season. Following issues with club management, Heritier Lumumba sought a trade to Melbourne to continue his career under Paul Roos.
It’s not just those two departures that have rocked Collingwood over the last few months; luckless midfielder Macaffer will miss most (if not all) of the 2015 season after succumbing to the dreaded ACL injury against GWS in Round 22 last year.
On the flipside, however, the club was very active during the trade period, picking up Travis Varcoe from Geelong as part of the three-way trade which saw Lumumba head to Melbourne and Mitch Clark switch from the Dees to the Cats, as well as North Melbourne’s Levi Greenwood.
It now remains to be seen whether Varcoe, a two-time premiership winner at the Cats, and Greenwood, can play their role as the Pies look to return to the top half of the ladder in 2015.
With Macaffer’s long-term injury, and the departure of 2012 best-and-fairest winner Dayne Beams, Pies fans may be facing another season of unpredictability from their club.
Round 1: versus Brisbane Lions, Saturday April 4, 6:20pm (Queenslandtime) at the Gabba
12. How will the Gold Coast Suns fare under Rodney Eade?
One team that will have the AFL on high alert in 2015 is the Gold Coast Suns.
Midway through last season the Suns sat third on the ladder (behind only Port Adelaide and the Geelong Cats) and were certain to make the finals for the first time in their short history.
However, their fortunes took a turn for the worse when Gary Ablett Jr suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against Collingwood in Round 16, his hopes of a third Brownlow Medal and the club’s September ambitions going up in smoke simultaneously.
The Suns won just one more game for the year (against last-placed St Kilda in Round 19) and after it was deemed that the club had underachieved in 2014, the tough call was made to show foundation coach Guy McKenna the door.
His replacement is Rodney Eade, one of the best coaches in the industry to have never tasted the ultimate success, coming closest when he took the Sydney Swans to the grand final in his first year at the club, in 1996.
He also achieved considerable success at the Western Bulldogs, taking the club to three consecutive preliminary finals between 2008 and 2010 before being moved on three rounds out from the end of the 2011 season.
The club also scored big during the off-season, landing the services of 2012 Sydney Swans premiership player Nick Malceski via free agency. He has already stamped his authority with some of the younger players at the club, courtesy of the famed Bloods culture he learnt while in Sydney.
The arrivals of Eade and Malceski will raise expectations of a maiden finals appearance for the Gold Coast Suns in 2015. That, combined with the return of Ablett from a shoulder injury, will make the Suns a team no one will want to play against this season.
Round 1: versus Melbourne, Saturday April 4, 1:45pm at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Part III will cover the bottom six teams from last year: Carlton, the Western Bulldogs, Brisbane Lions, GWS Giants, Melbourne and St Kilda.
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Round 5 of the AFL provided plenty of action, from big scorelines to upset wins and pressure starting to build on some clubs and coaches already.
Sean Lemmens was given a four-match ban for this crunching tackle - is it a fair whack?
Geelong has been crafty and creative in its list management and has quietly assembled a very exciting young group of midfielders and half-forwards.
Brisbane co-captain Lachie Neale will be looking to lead his team to a victory against Melbourne in what will be his 250th AFL game.
It’s high stakes with five teams having lost their first three games of season 2024, and in desperate need of a win.
It could be a weekend for contenders to emerge, teams to hopefully break droughts, o and overall footy to have a party.
