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A thrilling – and for everyone but Hawthorn fans, frustrating – game at the MCG where the Hawks ran out winners by a single point has locked in an opening week of very appealing finals matches.
The qualifying finals look like simply incredible fixtures. A Sydney derby in GWS’ first ever final is a promoter’s dream, and so is the opportunity to see Geelong and Hawthorn renew September acquaintances.
The elimination finals – Adealaide against North Melbourne, and West Coast against the Western Bulldogs – both at this early stage project as likely wins for the home side.
But anything can happen in finals, so get excited, because September footy is here!
Oh. After the bye week.
Saying goodbye really sucks
I feel like there should be a more detailed, more philosophical point here, but what else can you really say? It’s hard to remember a worse week to be a North Melbourne fan and we have been through some pretty bad ones.
Not that North are the only ones who’ve had to say goodbye this week of course. Seeing guys like Matthew Pavlich, Jay Schulz and Daniel Merrett bow out has been bittersweet – and it swings more to the bitter side when you know they fell short of ever achieving the ultimate success.
The wheel is always turning. New stars will take their place and a long career at AFL level is something to be incredibly proud of, regardless of how many medals you leave with. As a North fan I know with Brent Harvey that we should be grateful that we got to see so much of him.
There’s plenty of nice words that can be said to numb the pain, no doubt. But at the core, it’s really just a massive bummer.
And the most improved player of the year is…
Tim Membrey of the St Kilda Saints, come on down.
Membrey moved to St Kilda after two years of limited opportunities at Sydney ahead of the 2015 season and when he finally started getting AFL level chances, I didn’t think there was much to the word that he was a good talent.
He started this year in the VFL and my suspicions there grew even further. But, since getting a call up the AFL in Round 6 this year, he has blown us away with 44 goals for the season, including four bags of five.
I’m happy to call him the league’s most improved player in 2016. And together with Paddy McCartin and Josh Bruce, he looks to be part of what will be very potent St Kilda forward line when the time comes that their level of class rises to meet their impressive level of evidence.
Oh and just a mini-talking point attached – Nick Riewoldt. Nine goals. Twenty-one marks. Phwoar.
Honourable mention goes to Jarryd Lyons, while he hasn’t necessarily become a star player he has had a really impressive year for someone I saw as being on the AFL’s scrap heap at the start of the season. Many more players could be mentioned, but these are the ones I’ve been impressed by most.
Giants make history
The Giants seemed destined to finish in the fifth-eighth bracket this season but were given a rare chance for redemption when Adelaide slipped up on Friday night.
They took it with both hands, comfortably better than a North Melbourne outfit that never really looekd to be in the game after halftime. Jon Patton booted another six goals making twelve in the space of eight days.
And so now they’re in the top four and headed into their first ever finals series, with a double-chance already in hand and a tantalising first-week matchup to come. This is history in the making.
Roos leaves Dees with plenty of work to do
Paul Roos deserves plenty of accolades for the work he has done at Melbourne.
When he arrived the club was the biggest basket case in the league, and had been for a long time. It was bad under Dean Bailey, and Mark Neeld did bold and dangerous research into finding whole new levels of bad when he took over.
Now the Dees are a not entirely unrespectable mid-tier team. They’re not very good yet, but they’re competitive and they try hard. With a bit of polish – okay, a lot of polish – their ceiling looks to be pretty high.
Now the real task begins. Under new coach Simon Goodwin in 2017, they have a lot of hard work ahead of them. If they put in the hours, though, they might just get back to the top again in the years to come – or at least into the finals.
Re-signing Jesse Hogan must be priority number one and is probably the biggest question mark hanging over the club right now.
Yes, he is contracted til the end of next year. Yes, they had their best win of the season while he was out injured. But all that aside, you can’t tell me that Melbourne’s fans and staff alike wouldn’t sleep easier knowing he has signed a new contract.
As for Paul Roos, what’s next? Some sort of director-of-coaching role at the Dees? Coaching the women’s team, maybe? Or could the AFL lure him up to Brisbane, hoping he can weave his magic once again to rescue another ailing club from the mire? Only time will tell, but he’s sure to be a wanted man.
Dons’ season a success of sorts
I’m hesitant to call a season of three wins and nineteen losses a success, but, there are special circumstances that apply here.
While they certainly would have preferred to be in the position of a normal club this year instead of having 12 players banned, the Bombers got a lot out of this season.
Three team-lifting, culture-building wins. An impressive defensive record, given the lack of personnel. And thanks to Brisbane showing just a little bit on Sunday, they still come out of it with the the No. 1 draft pick.
In my mind every season has one successful team, and 17 failures. But given the Dons’ handicap, they can be pretty proud of what they’ve achieved in 2016.
What will it take to end Hardwick?
113 points. It could have been a lot worse, really. If the Swans didn’t have a finals campaign to rest up for they might not have taken their foot off the pedal and could easily have given the all-time margin record a shake.
If that doesn’t result in a sacking for Damien Hardwick, Richmond might as well give him another contract extension. Because if Saturday’s efforts – and I use the word ‘efforts’ in the loosest sense possible – weren’t enough to sign his marching orders, what possibly could be?
There’s really nothing I can say about the Richmond situation that Cam Rose hasn’t already said better than I could. I’ll simply say this – another year of Hardwick at Punt Road is another year wasted. It’s no use having ‘stability’ when you’re just stably garbage.