As an opinion writer I like to think I’m open to being proven wrong, and while I don’t always stick to that as much as I probably could, I will say that Nathan Buckley and Collingwood have proven me wrong this year.
At the start of the season I thought there was just about no way the team would be a finals threat and could even be in the running for the bottom four. After all, they’d lost one of their biggest stars in Dayne Beams, and seemed to be running out of quality depth.
Their early season form was the first indicator. Now, they didn’t beat too many good teams early, but they were able to very consistently beat the poor teams, which does show that they’re a rung above that level.
However what’s really surprised me and prompted this change of opinion is Collingwood’s ability to beat or at least come close to the sides who are in finals contention. Their wins over North Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney were both very impressive, and their ability to push Fremantle right until the last 10 or so minutes on Thursday night was probably their best effort yet.
While I don’t think they’re a premiership contender just yet – and they may even still slip out of finals if their second half of the year goes ill – what is clear is that their side still boasts an excellent amount of talent. It’s not just the star players, but they’ve found some role players who really know how to play the role.
On top of that, Nathan Buckley, a coach I thought might not see out the year, has proven that he very much can get the team working together towards a goal, and that his tactical prowess can stand up in big games. It’s been a long road, but it seems that his efforts to push out the ‘rat pack’ and install his own new world order has been successful.
With three top 10 picks from the last two years still yet to debut and more youth to come in as time goes on, I don’t see any reason why the Pies shouldn’t be in premiership contention within a couple of years.
Phil Walsh – yea or nay?
Here’s one I’m still undecided on myself. What do we think of this Phil Walsh bloke? Twelve rounds in he looks capable of taking Adelaide back to finals footy, but does anyone else reckon that a 7-5 record is still underperforming, given the quality of talent they have available?
The Crows still seem a few paces off really challenging for a flag but either way I think the success or failure of this season and, in a larger sense the sacking of Brenton Sanderson and appointment of Walsh, will be decided by whether or not they can get Patrick Dangerfield to sign a piece of paper.
At least for neutral fans we can celebrate the fact that, with prime entertainers like Kevin Sheedy, Mark Thompson and Mick Malthouse all gathering dust on the sidelines nowadays, Walsh has stepped in as our go-to guy for a bizarre press conference.
It started with his repeated use of the phrase ‘man conversations’ but really took off this week when he compared Adelaide’s season to a Van Gogh painting. Noting the beauty in the frustration of Van Gogh, Walsh said he hoped Crows fans can still find something beautiful in their frustrating form of late – arguably one of the oddest footy metaphors ever made.
All I can say is that if frustrating is what Walsh is going for, he nailed it with Adelaide’s hot-and-cold performance against Brisbane on the weekend. I’m looking forward to Starry Night on next year’s AFC membership cards.
Jabs and war dances
All you need to do to make social media explode at the moment if you’re an AFL personality is make some sort of new reference to the ongoing peptides saga at Essendon, and boom! You’ll see the old arguments argued for the thousandth time.
That’s exactly what happened on Saturday when footage was caught of Sam Mitchell having a bit of a sledge at the Essendon players by pretending to jab himself with a needle in the fourth quarter.
Now, I can agree that there’s been something of an overreaction by the many who would gladly have Mitchell locked in a set of stocks in front of Windy Hill, where disenchanted Essendon members could pelt him with rotten tomatoes.
The footy field, after all, isn’t like the rest of the world – it’s a place where you can knock a man out cold and still be good mates after he comes to.
I’d still say that Mitchell’s sledge was in poor taste, especially given the predominate view that the players have been the biggest victims of the supplement saga. Whether or not he crossed the line, he was at least within sight of it.
But Mitchell’s sledge isn’t what bothers me. We all do things we might regret in the heat of the moment, and him having said as much himself, why not just move on?
No, what bothers me is to see thousands of people celebrating Mitchell’s sledge online when just a few weeks before they were calling Adam Goodes’ goal celebration ‘offensive’ and ‘violent’.
And if you think I’m making a stretch in comparing the two, I’ll let you know I’ve seen more than a few people joking about making Sam Mitchell the next Australian of the Year.
Maybe it’s not a massive issue but all things considered, it bothers me that our sport has a following happy to throw a parade for a man who sledges his opponents with a taunt like this, but condemns a man standing up to celebrate his culture.
Members versus mascots – a bizarre tangent
This observation comes courtesy of one of my Twitter followers who randomly pointed out, following the recent Richmond announcement that they had signed up 70,000 members, that the number of actual tigers left in world (estimated around 3200) is massively outnumbered by the number of Tigers fans.
Okay, it’s not strictly speaking a football observation, but it got me on an odd train of thought. How many clubs can say the same about their mascots and member base?
I’ll leave out the Saints, Demons and Giants, who all have to grapple with theological or fantastical issues to answer that question, and the less said about ‘Blues’ and ‘Power’ the better. Aside from that, I think maybe the Suns are the only team who could also make the claim, and even that depends on semantics.
At any rate, here’s hoping that Richmond fans aren’t soon following an extinct mascot. If you’re in the mood for donating to a good cause, why not help out the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)? Here’s a link.
Josh
Expert
A lot of my comments here feel a bit frivolous after Walsh's death less than a week after publishing. I hope it's clear that no disrespect was intended. I wrote some more about Walsh after he died - http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/07/04/a-death-in-the-family-vale-phil-walsh/
peter chrisp
Guest
Well i have to agree about Jessie White were his best days behind him not as though i followed Sydney your thoughts are so true Josh E, i guess with that in mind he's had a couple of great games, as we have a number of pretty good VFL Collingwod players who no doubt are itching to get a game in the "big league" could one of them take his place? Although it's a tough call i think the next couple of games we are perhaps going to give Ben Reid a go? Don't get me wrong all Pie's supporters would like to see him back or we keep in Jessie in the hope he will improve?
Josh
Expert
Well said, me too.
Josh
Expert
Even at that stage I remember some of my Swans mates begging to have him taken off their hands. He just doesn't seem switched on as a player to me - doesn't make the right decisions, doesn't make himself dangerous. Defenders are comfortable running off him to double-team Cloke.
Macca
Guest
Pieman - I will say that White's best games of his career were in that 2013 finals series where he racked up 16, 20 & 20 possessions, 5 6 & 9 marks but only managed the 1 goal. The 20 possession 6 mark game against the blues in the wet in Sydney did look to have the hall marks of a breakout game but alas it hasn't come to pass.
Pieman
Guest
Thanks Macca. Shame. Watching Jesse is like watching a train wreck happen before your eyes. But you can't help wanting the best for him.
Macca
Guest
Pieman in Whites last year at Sydney he played 15 games and averaged 12.7 disposals, 4.8 marks, 1.7 tackles and 1.3 goals per game. So far this year he has played 12 games to average 11.8 disposals, 4.7 marks, 1.8 tackles and 1.5 goals. I would suggest he is playing as well as he ever has - just that his best isn't that good.
Pieman
Guest
True about the Hawks, it's their choice how they play. But I like a bit more class and honesty from a team.
Pieman
Guest
I really do feel for poor old Jesse White. He has a red hot go.... but always seems to be out of synch. Shame, his last year at the Swans was a cracker. Now you just sense his days are numbered. Love to seem him crack the code though.
Josh
Expert
Heh. Well said there Paul. If anyone can complain to have a worse record with players leaving lately than the Crows, it's the Lions. What makes it all the remarkable for the Crows though is that they're in a traditional footy state. I agree, I think if the Crows stick by Walsh, he can probably take them to some good times - for all his bizarre press conferences, he seems a talented coach, and once he works out the kinks in his side I think they'll be good. Aside from Thompson none of their important players will retire any time soon, either. The Crows definitely have the ability to turn Dangerfield leaving into a positive, if they play their hands right. Just look at how well Collingwood have done out of last year's Beams trade. I suppose more what I'm getting at is, it'll mean they still haven't solved the problem of why talented players keep walking out on their club. It can't all be "homesickness".
Josh
Expert
True the teams the Pies have defeated are all out of the eight at the moment, but teams like GWS were actually in there when you played them - so that might skew things upwards. Agreed, despite a great record there's still an uphill battle to get into finals for Collingwood this year, though personally I think the Pies will sneak in, probably in seventh or eighth. From there I'd be surprised to see them get a finals win, but they've surprised me before this year, so why not again? Even if the Pies were to go flat and struggle out the second half of the season, I think you could still look at 2015 as a positive. For mine, it's shown that the Pies are a fair way ahead of the other rebuilding sides in the competition, and that their young talent knows how to win.
Josh
Expert
You're right Macca and most of those points cropped up in my head while writing this piece. I agree, the two issues don't make for a perfect comparison, but what I'm trying to do here really is compare the social media reaction to both, and given that both received a huge amount of social media reaction, I think that makes them comparable for that purpose.
Josh
Expert
Ah, but what if we include Dockers, the pants?
Josh
Expert
Backline is definitely one of Adelaide's big problems Katfish. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think any of their defenders at the moment have played anywhere near 100 games yet. Talia as we all know is a rock, but aside from him, the other guys are still learning their craft.
Josh
Expert
Cheers Ned. I actually agree with you quite a bit here - to go into it more depth, I think I would say that Adelaide has lot of talent in their top end, but they run out fairly quickly after this. As a brief list of players - Patrick Dangerfield, Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson, Brodie Smith (not so much this year, but last), Daniel Talia, Sam Jacobs, Taylor Walker, Eddie Betts. These eight blokes are, I think, all at the very top of the AFL in terms of the positions they play, or at least close to. These guys are all top quality players in my mind, but even a top quality player is still just one quality player, and I think their depth runs out very quickly. (Brad Crouch is one who could fit into this category as well, if he were fit). Guys like David Mackay, Matthew Wright, Nathan van Berlo, Mitch Grigg, Jarryd Lyons etc etc - you usually see at least 3-4 of those kind of guys in the side for Adelaide each week and I think that's one of the reasons they 'underperform' in my view. Sometimes, the worst six players in your side are a lot more important than the best six. The main cause I think is that the Crows have lost a LOT of talented players over the last few years. Look away if you're a crows fan because I'm talking about guys like Nathan Bock, Phil Davis, Kurt Tippett, Jack Gunston, Bernie Vince - and I might be missing a few. Not to mention two first and two second round picks as part of the Tippett scandal. If you had those five blokes and some more young kids running around at West Lakes, I think they'd be a premiership threat. Re the Pies: yep, so long as they keep developing the sky is the limit I think. For mine I think their main focus over the next few years HAS to be finding some good young talls to support Travis Cloke. Darcy Moore might end up playing that role - might end up as more of a backman - but the fact is, they desperately need some support for him to help take the pressure off, and blokes like Jesse White just aren't going to cut it.
Josh
Expert
Cheers Dan, I agree with you very much there. I reckon Eddie would've been too busy having a giggle to worry about anything else!
Josh
Expert
Cheers Dougie. I suppose the point I'm not too sure on there with you is whether or not Goodes' war dance really qualifies as a political message. To my mind it was fairly politically ambiguous, other than saying "yes I'm indigenous, and I'm proud of it", and is that really a political point? On one hand you could say that, given what a hot political topic indigenous culture/rights etc is in Australia, that virtually anything indigenous carries with it some political undertones - a bit like how Mardi Gras will always have a political feel to it, at least until gay marriage is legalised in Australia - but then we're asking indigenous players to never celebrate their culture on the footy field, which definitely feels a step too far. It'd be also worth noting that a lot of AFL clubs incorporated the Recognise logo as part of their guernseys - I remember that North Melbourne did, at least - which is a significantly more overtly political statement than Goodes' war dance. I don't recall seeing anyone too bothered by this, though it wasn't really brought up in the media much. Bob Murphy has great taste in T-Shirts.
Paul D
Roar Guru
"players just seem to keep walking out of there" You realize I support Brisbane Lions right...sorry, but I can't feel sympathy for any other club on the departure front right now. Anyways, that aside, I think a lot of people think the Crows should be doing better – I’m inclined to agree, for what it’s worth. The first game they had against North Melbourne at the start of the season showed when they’re on they can really stick it to the top teams, Norf were simply obliterated. That being said, I’m prepared to give Walsh the benefit of the doubt, and I’m sure Adelaide will too – ultimately they need to remember why they recruited him in the first place, all the reasons he impressed them. Apparently during his final interview where he had to essentially break down a quarter of football from a coaching point of view and describe what was happening as the action unfolded absolutely blew the panel away, he did it all off the cuff and without any preparation required – and nailed it, hence why he’s got the gig. So he clearly knows his footy, and he’s certainly a hard nut. I think Adelaide have the right man now – and Sanderson was definitely the wrong man, given he’d lost the support of the players. Provided Walsh can take the group with him and get the most out of them, I don’t see why they can’t challenge in the next few seasons. Can’t agree that Dangerfield leaving will be a crisis. They’ll get a great draft pick as compensation (since any deal to get him out of there will have to be huuuuuge to stop the Crows matching it via restricted free agency, and the size of the deal your exiting player gets impacts the compensation.) It will also free up a large amount of salary cap space for the crows to maybe do some shopping of their own on the free agency market – with Reilly departing start of the season, Podsiadly retiring, and your usual swathe of delistings they’ll be well placed to bring in some talent. I see it similar to Hawthorn when Buddy left, they’re already putting in place alternatives to just relying heavily on Danger to win them games. Sure, it’ll sting a bit when he goes, but they will recover and keep developing from there.
Josh
Expert
Cheers Pieman. For what it's worth I don't mind Eddie, he has his entertaining moments, and you'd be hard pressed to find a man more passionate about his club. That said, he really does have a bad habit of putting his foot in his mouth, especially when it comes to Adam Goodes - he's definitely got a few things to work on in that area. That old proverb is a good one, and one I flirt with every week when I write this column... It's been a strange turn of events at Hawthorn. I went into last year's decider cheering them on as a neutral, and was happy to do so, and I think at the end of 2014 you would've been hard pressed to find a footballer more universally respected than Luke Hodge. In the time since we have seen some really stupid suspensions, some (rumoured) sledges about Mitch Clark's depression, and now this. There's unsociable footy and there's just unsociable, I kind of wonder if the Hawks have lost sight of that line somewhere along the way - at any rate, it's up to them how they play the game, and it doesn't seem to be damaging their formline any.
Josh
Expert
Good points Paul. I definitely am a hard marker, and might have a little bit of Jared Petrenko related PTSD still lying around in my psyche. For me I think this is the case, I look at how close Adelaide came to a Grand Final appearance in 2012 and ask why haven't they played finals since? Really, with a 7-5 record, they're no guarantee to get their this year, and could very easily drop off. They're doing fine, but they SHOULD be doing better, I think. When the Sanderson sacking happened it seemed to me at least that the Crows were aware they were headed down a bad path. For one reason or another it was clear to them that sticking with Sanderson would mean Paddy leaving was virtually a sure thing, and there'd be no guarantees on Sloane, Walker and Douglas either. I think the decision to sack Sanderson and hire Walsh was a deliberate strategy to secure those signatures, so that's why I'm judging it on those merits - it's got 3/4 so far but we've known all along really that Danger was going to be the tough nut. I agree, you really can't judge a bloke on half a season, which is why I'm still undecided. After all it usually takes a new coach a while to settle in - look at how much Adam Simpson has improved in his second year, or how much Ross Lyon improved in the second half of his first year at Freo. There is, more than likely, improvement yet to come. While I agree Dangerfield leaving would not be the end of the world for the Crows, I think it'd be a massive blow, especially when you consider the fact that players just seem to keep walking out of there. If they had their current list right now plus all the blokes who've left in the last five-six years, they'd probably be flag favourites. But if Dangerfield leaves, he'll be the biggest talent of the lot, and it might spell the beginning of a genuine crisis at the AFC.