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.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
No Tom, it is an honest opinion to have, for they were done for banned supplements, and seeing you are talking of the Brownlow, well, seeing it was in that time of the abuse, it should have been taken off Jab Watson, and left vacant that year And just quietly Tom, AFL is a team game, when was the Dons last Flag? You celebrate the medals, and we will the Flags :)
Tommo
Roar Rookie
Calling Essendon cheats is such a poor football opinion to have mate. Sorry mate can you name that "pretender" who won the Brownlow? Back when our team was admittedly pretty young and inexperienced. How many Brownlow winners does Hawthorn have right now? 0. good mate
Tim
Guest
There were a fair few more out than just those two Ryan if you took the care to look As for the comments, you will hear them a lot more too, for the Dons are a combo of pretenders and cheats- always a great combo to ridicule them :)
Tommo
Roar Rookie
Yeah so agree mate, love your work
dockersfan
Guest
Yes, they were 13th for attack last year and are now 5th. Just because all teams overall are scoring less so far this year does not make your point valid.
AREH
Roar Guru
Box Hill? Give us a spell. Mitchell and Lake the only notable outs that night, along with Hodge being subbed out. Then again, he did nothing up until that point anyway. What else is wearing off are those comments. Zero out of 10 for originality and creativity. Heard it all before.
vocans
Guest
The MRP is another part of the game which has been badly affected by the tweaking with interpretations of the rules to suit current ideologies. None of it is really clear as long as they allow the bump in the rules, but interpret it out of the game. Glass on Wingard was blatantly against the rules (as he was not going for the ball, but for the player) and it was definitely reportable for the momentum behind the impact. There are 2 problems there: the MRP AND the ump on the day were nowhere to be seen. Why? God knows really, but did it have something to do with the uncertainty as to what's in and what's out. This should certainly have been out. To WIngard's credit he came back and kicked a goal and sparked a the Power.
johno
Guest
Yep - at the Cattery it is!
Tim
Guest
Im labeling you average tom, for you are average....When we played you, we basically had a Box Hill Hawks outfit in with a few senior players, and you still could not beat us. As for you beating North in the first round, sure North are 'highly touted', but what does that mean- zero, and seriously, your bragging that you beat Carlton??????? Plus these were early season performances, when 'Jab' Watson and the boys were still high on the 'peppies', they are starting to wear off now, and the reality of the dons has set in- mid table mediocrity
Cat
Roar Guru
And after those wins you got toweled up by an up and down Freo, shown up by St Kilda, and didn't score a whole lot against Collingwood. Last year Essendon averaged 97.5 points per game, this year 84.7 points per game on average, thats a big drop.
Cat
Roar Guru
15 whole points make a pantsing now? guess when your football is so dour and scores always down it might be.
Tommo
Roar Rookie
Mate Essendon are lacking at the minute because in case you hadn't noticed we had a pretty tough 18 months, which included losing our president and coach. Our depth is just fine: Bellchambers back in, Ryder goes forward and Carlisle goes back, problems solved. Are you also forgetting how we dusted up the highly touted kangas in round 1 or spanked Carlton by a century? Because I think you are if you are labelling us "average."
Cat
Roar Guru
Fremantle last year scored 2035 points from 22 rounds which averages out to 92.5 points per game Fremantle this year has scored 531 points from 6 rounds which averages out to 88.5 points per game Want to tell me again how they are scoring more this year?
dockersfan
Guest
Freo are scoring more heavily this year than last, there's no doubt about that. They're 5th for attack after sitting in the top 4 for attack over the first 5 rounds - I believe they were not in the top 8 for attack at any stage last year. To say they aren't more attacking reeks of anti-Lyon bias, of which I will acknowledge there is tons of it over east. I would also point to his time at St Kilda when Reiwoldt went down in 09, I believe they still made the top 4 without their spear head because Lyon adjusted their ball use to play wider when going forward and move the ball around more just outside 50 to make it easier to pinpoint kicks to smaller targets inside 50. So I know it's easy to bash someone (we all do it - I love Nic Nat bashing myself) but let's have some sense of both sides of the argument (Nic Nat does influence stoppages more than anyone else at West Coast).
johno
Guest
What a rubbish comment Geelong got pantsed at home by the Dockers in a final. Freo played half the season without Sandliands and Pav. They lost Bradley and Griffen early, had to play Clarke and Hannath as the ruck duo for part of the season, lost a young player Jayden Pitt due to heart issues, lost Ibbotson mid way through - who was being touted as AA material at the tim and had to nurse Luke McPharlin through the season to get him into the finals. Each team plays with injuries each year. It's the quality of a team that can keep winning despite them (like the Hawks and Cats). Freo proved this last year when they kept winning despite never being able to field a best 22. Even the evil overlord Demitriou (long may he never return) tried to screw them over by making them play in Geelong in the finals instead of at Etihad or the MCG.
Cat
Roar Guru
I think Geelong did remarkably well considering they played pretty much the entire season without a decent ruckman and were dead last in hitouts and clearances all year.
Cat
Roar Guru
Still not sold on those players making a big scoring change without also weakening the defensive structures. Silvia didn't exactly set the world on fire down at Melbourne and Gumby getting injured ... again ... isn't exactly a surprise either, even in his best season of 17 games he only booted 19 goals.
Michael huston
Guest
Fremantle are placed on the ladder just about perfectly to reflect how good a team they are. They got lucky in 2013 in a year that featured an inconsistent Geelong, an injury-riddled Sydney and the next-best team was Richmond. Enough said.
johno
Guest
The problem with Freo and Lyons wish for 2 more goals a game is that the 2 blokes he brought in to achieve this, Gumbleton and Sylvia, have not been able to take the field yet. The loss of Walters and Ballantyne, plus Maynes form, has not helped either. Apeness might be able to provide a second tall option that he needs to support Pav. While the return of Barlow hopefully means Mundy will start finding the ball in the forward half of the ground which improve delivery inside 50 considerably. I'm not pressing the panic button on Freo's season just yet.
Paul
Guest
Judd should never have played. On 360 Robbo said something like how disappointing it was that Dog's supporters were laughing at his injury. We weren't laughing at him, we were laughing at the stupid decision Carlton made.