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We’re in the midst of an even season of AFL action, but it’s hardly a great one.
All of the top six from last year have underwhelmed, even if three of them currently occupy a top-four position.
Fifteen rounds into the season, Hawthorn have only played a handful of great games and been middling in the others. They’ve been too inconsistent within matches for a champion team, which has cost them a loss on four separate occasions.
They flexed their considerable muscle on the weekend, which they’ve done from time to time, but the Hawks shouldn’t bank on being able to just flick the switch like that come finals.
It’s fair to suggest their experienced campaigners might not have been as mentally sharp earlier in the year, waiting for September to arrive. They can’t afford any more lapses if they want home ground advantage in week one of the finals.
Fremantle sit one game clear on top of the ladder, but the overriding thought is that they must be the worst team to hold that position this deep into the season.
The Dockers opened the season with an average score of 97 over the first eight rounds, five times topping the 100-point mark. From Rounds 9-15, they have an average score of 66, with totals of 68, 70, 53, 80, 84 and 43.
That’s not going to get it done at the business end.
Freo had a tendency to take the foot off the pedal in some second halves earlier in the year, but now they’re falling asleep for entire games.
Sydney sit in third, but haven’t reached any great heights on the field. Putting together four quarters of football hasn’t been their thing this season, and they’ve barely played any memorable footy at all.
As soon as Lance Franklin made the move north, the minimum pass mark for the Swans was a flag in his first two years. It’s possible that the Swans are less than the sum of their impressive parts, but they need to find another gear if they’re going to deliver on that promise.
While the three aforementioned teams have underwhelmed, Port heads the list of those that have disappointed beyond belief.
The Power have shown rare flashes of brilliance amidst large blocks of mediocrity. They were all the rage as a flag fancy before the season, but at no stage have they looked like playing finals calibre football for any length of time. The fall from grace will be complete when they pack their bags after Round 23.
North were a popular top four tip after last year’s run to a preliminary final, but we were all sucked in by an average group of self-satisfied footballers.
Todd Goldstein has gone to another level off an already high base, and Shaun Higgins has played consistent sparkling football in the front half, but the list of Kangaroo players that have improved this season ends there. The list of those to have gone backwards is at least five times the size.
Geelong were always going to fall off the perch at some stage, and this has turned out to be the year.
The Cats have had some injuries to their experienced players, and the overall burden on Joel Selwood and Tom Hawkins has been too much for them to bear.
Selwood has been playing angry with his influence dulled. Hawkins has been playing anonymously, barely taking a mark or kicking a goal.
Geelong fans probably thought their depth was better than it’s turned out to be, and the final handover from the experienced hands to those coming through is going to more painful than anticipated.
Essendon’s problems have been well documented. The drugs saga is the gift that keeps on giving – in the worst possible way.
As the Bible tells us, the guilty do not go unpunished; the children and their children get punished for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation. It’s a similar story at Bomberland, where the effects of the Essendon supplements program will be felt for another half decade.
Let’s not even talk about Queensland football. Both clubs are showing signs that while this year might be a write-off, next season won’t necessarily be.
Thankfully, there have been some good stories, with the rise of the West Coast Eagles and Western Bulldogs; the former into premiership contender, the latter into almost certain finalist.
The Eagles have played the best consistent football of any side, and the Dogs have probably played the most exciting brand.
The seemingly inexorable climb of Greater Western Sydney continues on, and it’s hard to shake the feeling everyone else will be playing for second at some point in the near future. It’s been great to see Saint Kilda develop as a young side too, and they have every reason to think they can emulate the rise of the Dogs in 2016-17.
We expect young teams to be inconsistent, but we’re right to demand more from the clubs with established talent.
There’s a lot of talk around right now about too many stoppages, ugly footy, rolling mauls, etc. That’s been accompanied by what rule changes are needed, and how many. Should there be a cap on the interchange, less players on the ground, or do players need to get restricted in zones?
What we actually need is for the best teams to start playing like it, more often. Hopefully that’s exactly what we get from this point on.