It’s been another big week of Aussie Rules football, in both the AFLW and the JLT Community Series – I’m here with nine quick takes for you from the weekend.
AFLW
Brisbane are in the box-seat for the premiership
Here’s something you’ve been longing to hear for about a decade now, Brisbane Lions fans – you are the raging favourites to take home the premiership.
Saturday night’s match at Norwood was a three-point thriller, eventually won by the Lions on the road, and it has confirmed them as the likely hosts of the first AFLW grand final.
All they need to do now is win their remaining two matches, against the Bulldogs at home and Carlton away, and that advantage is locked away. An undefeated season is on the cards.
Oh, and just because it’s worth mentioning, the Brisbane Lions women now have two more wins to their name than the men achieved in a 22-game season last year.
Adelaide versus Melbourne next week is massive
There isn’t a match left in the fixture that’s going to have more impact on the AFLW season that Adelaide hosting Melbourne next week on Saturday night.
If Adelaide win, it’ll confirm them as a grand final team and give them a shot of hosting it, should Brisbane drop one or more of their remaining games.
If Melbourne win, it’ll mean that any of the Demons, Crows or Blues would still be a very real chance to play in the decider – and would all but lock it in as a Lions’ homegame.
Will former favourites Fremantle go winless?
There’s no bigger disappointment in the AFLW than Fremantle right now, which is kind of a shame because they really haven’t been that bad.
On Saturday they let slip another golden chance to win their first ever game, kicking 1.5 in the final term against Collingwood only to lose by a single point.
They’ve got two weeks left to notch a maiden victory, or finish the season with the same of having never gotten to sing the song.
Neither match will be easy – they play Carlton at home next week, and then Melbourne on the road after that. Can they get it done?
JLT Community Series
A pair of great Daynes can give Brisbane a bounce
The Brisbane Lions aren’t going to be an awesome team in 2017 – they won’t make finals, and they probably won’t avoid being in the bottom six.
However, they’ve been tipped by many to win the wooden spoon, and on Thursday night they validated my view that they’re a bit better than that.
Ever since they brought in Dayne Beams and Allen Christensen ahead of 2015 we’ve waited for this talented midfield to get on the park together.
Justin Lepppitsch couldn’t make it happen, but I reckon Chris Fagan can. If he does, this team will rise up the ladder – if only a few rungs.
Tim Taranto should be a Round 1 lock
It’s not easy being a young kid at the Giants, games are hard to come by, unlike when the club got started just five years ago.
However No.2 draft pick Tim Taranto’s first two pre-season performances have showed he’s ready to defy the odds and make a Round 1 debut.
He’s had an impact in both games and showed he can handle AFL football – he got slammed by Buddy Franklin on the weekend but was up and kicking a great goal not much later.
With Lachie Whitfield and Brett Deledio both absent in Round 1, I’ll be staggered if he doesn’t get a run.
A pair of Jacks to give St Kilda real Steele
It’s a pretty rare day at St Kilda that Jack Steven is only the third most impressive Jack in the team.
However that’s what happened on Saturday when the Saints sent Carlton back to the Stone Age, thanks to the excellent work of Billings and Steele.
I pumped up Billings last week so I’m not going to repeat the dose, but Steele is a player I’ve had my eye on since North Melbourne bidded to draft him.
He’s my kind of player – a hard-edged tackler, but also with a touch of class and some forward-line nous.
I’d love it if he had made his way to North, but I can’t lie – Steele and St Kilda is match made in heaven.
The Magpies need Moore of that, Mason
This year the Collingwood Magpies are launching an ambitious bid to qualify for finals without having a backline or forwardline.
They’re building their forward structure around Darcy Moore, a 21-year-old who we all agree has moxie but has kicked 33 career goals.
That’s why Mason Cox’s three-goal performance against Fremantle on Saturday would have been so heartening for Pies fans.
If he can step up and provide Collingwood with a consistent second forward option that isn’t Quinten Lynch or Jesse White, it’ll be a major boost to their finals hopes.
Zach Tuohy is All-Australian quality
How do you replace a six-time All-Australian, three-time premiership player like Corey Enright? You really don’t, but with Zach Tuohy, Geelong have gone close.
He has arguably been the most impressive player of the pre-season to date, showing how much his speed and class can offer to the Cats.
I’m not convinced the Cats are going to have a great year and truth be told I think much of it will be spent waiting for the second coming, if you know what I mean.
But Tuohy, especially if the Cats encourage him to push up the ground as much as possible, already looks like a highlight.
Is Nankervis Richmond’s new No.1?
He hasn’t played a game yet for the club, but is Toby Nankervis already Richmond’s No.1 ruck option?
He has been impressive in both of their pre-season wins so far, working in tandem with Ivan Maric during that time.
However Maric is likely to be depth only at Richmond this year. For Nankervis to get games, he’ll need to either work in tandem with Shaun Hampson, or keep him out of the side entirely.
A good rule of thumb is not to expect too much from a 22-year-old ruckman, especially one traded for pick 46. But Nankervis might be the exception.
Martin
Guest
It's going to be interesting to see who finishes top of the AFLW's ladder because nobody conceived that Brisbane would be in contention to host the Grand Final. It's going to be embarrassing for the AFL to realize a scheduling blunder with the Q-Clash on the same day.
greg trilby
Guest
The rain, the parking, scheduling at 5pm all contributed to a poor turnout, although it should be noted the average for the 8 NRL games was only 12,600, the lowest for quite awhile, so the ladies aren't going too badly when this is taken into account
Maggie
Guest
From today's MRP statement: 'It was the view of the panel that contact between Franklin and Taranto was caused by circumstances outside the control of player Franklin that could not be reasonably foreseen.'
Paul D
Roar Guru
Yeah I felt that too - the Dogs were able to kick a string of goals very quickly in the second half once they switched on, we can expect to jump to a few early leads before being smashed and overrun this year I suspect. I think the Fremantle game was like that last year - we had an early lead and wound up losing by 90 points. There have been plenty of others like that too. Teams wait and see how much effort they're going to have to put in to beat us, then dial it up till they reach that and cruise. Lot of times we're beaten by teams with one hand behind their back for periods of the game. I think we will finish ahead of Carlton. We usually beat them at the Gabba and I'm not sure where else Carlton are going to get wins except against us in Melbourne and upsetting a few teams who take them lightly.
TomC
Roar Guru
It was nice to see the Lions win on Thursday, but they were fielding a full strength team bar two or three players against something slightly better than a VFL team for the Dogs. The Lions played some good footy at times, particularly in the first half, but they just won't get the same time and space to execute their plans in the season proper. So while it was a pleasing performance, it didn't change my view that the Lions will be anchored to the bottom 2. Carlton's performance on Saturday made me think the Lions might be a bigger chance to avoid the spoon than I thought. The Blues were without arguably their best six players, so of course they lost comfortably, but no one at all stepped up in a real way. They are terribly reliant on a small group, and it wouldn't take more than a below average run with injuries for them to be uncompetitive, even against Brisbane.
Maggie
Guest
Except Buddy didn't choose to make a big hit on Taranto. Lots of misleading media about this. While Buddy is very capable of laying big bumps, on tnis occasion it was Mumford who bumped Buddy thereby pushing Buddy into Taranto. Had Taranto been injured it would have been a Mumford own goal. But I agree that Buddy is looking very good for this season.
mds1970
Roar Guru
I've commented extensively on this in the comments on another article. But whoever was doing this piece of scheduling, I'd love to have some of what they were smoking - absolutely no grip on reality. 5pm on a working night is a disaster. And Blacktown International Sportspark isn't easy to get to; it's nowhere near where anyone works. It's a good couple of kilometres from Rooty Hill, the nearest railway station, where trains don't stop frequently. And parking, even with a small crowd, is a nightmare. I was there. But with the rain bucketing down, a lot of people decided not to bother. Those who were there, because of the early start after work, came in late. There were only a few hundred when it started, and in total 2,695 came over the night; maybe 2,000 of them were there by the time the AFLW game finished. There is interest. There wasn't a bad crowd for the game against Freo on a Saturday a couple of weeks ago. But most of the interest isn't dedicated enough to knock off work early to stand in the rain.
Swannies
Guest
Buddy's hit on Taranto was a highlight. He's primed for a big season. Swans looking good.
Swanny
Guest
True. But there is not much interest in this in nsw. Might grow over time but not in Blacktown. No chance
Clarko's Knuckle Sandwich
Roar Rookie
Not nearly as much as when he was finally finished typing and could get back to his usual internet activities.
Clarko's Knuckle Sandwich
Roar Rookie
Biting satire Cuck. You seem to be capable of only processing a world where Aussie rules (and probably sport in general) remains the exclusive property of Men. Otherwise those damn Women with their dreams of being given an equal platform to grow their brand of AFL will just get in the way right? Also, if by the grace of someone sick, twisted higher power, you are married, believe me when I say that maybe procreation isn't for you. Loved your needless sarcasm though. Cheers mayyte have another frothy.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Rush hour, crap weather, difficult location for a lot of people to make it to. Or are we expecting massive crowds to turn out at 5pm on a Friday night??
Swanny
Guest
It appears that Blacktown and western Sydney have no interest in aflw. Thoughts peeps ?
Ben
Roar Guru
Mate! Can you please comment more regularly! ???
Beny Iniesta
Guest
"Fortunately I had a mate with me who benches like 50kg and he intimidated old mate into showing the game." Lol - how old was he, 14?!? Good one!
Timewaster
Guest
Great satire, thanks.
Slane
Guest
Did writing this actually amuse you?
Clarko's Knuckle Sandwich
Roar Rookie
The AFLW game between the Lions and Crows was an absolute cracker. Erin Phillips had a bit of an "almost" night but was still influential. Tayla Harris was given a bath by Chelsea Randall and showed her frustration by the end of the game. Also how tough is Eb Marinoff? Her tackles just look like they'll hurt the next day. I get the feeling these two teams will meet again in a few weeks time in the GF and both teams will have learnt a lot from it. Adelaide will make better decisions going inside forward 50 in their next meeting but likewise Brisbane's backline was sublime, they lost inside 50's 36-18 and yet still won the contest without a contribution from their most versatile tall in Harris.
Clarko's Knuckle Sandwich
Roar Rookie
Toby Nankervis is exactly what Ivan Maric provided at his best, a physical battering ram around the ground, but with added forward craft. He was often used at full-forward in the NEAFL for the Swans last year and was pretty impressive in that role. He definitely stood head and shoulders above in the NEAFL and deserves sustained opportunity at AFL level. Being an impactful ruck is tough but he'll give his all and bust some heads, which is exactly what Richmond could do with.