If five straight days of footy isn’t the right way to spend your long weekend, I don’t know what is. To wrap it up, here’s my quick takes from the round.
Where have Hawthorn’s heros gone?
I mean sure, we know where Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis are, but there are a lot of Hawthorn players who despite getting named every week have been hardly heard from.
If a smashing from Gold Coast last week merited no better response than another uncompetitive performance against Geelong on Easter Monday it has to be asked who is offering leadership at the Hawks.
Jarryd Roughead’s fairytale captaincy has turned into an absolute nightmare and too many blokes who we thought were elite seem to have fit more in the “looks good in a good team” category.
The Hawks are riding the bumps at the moment but there’s no grinning involved, and it’s becoming hard to guess where something to lift this team could possibly come from.
Good Friday footy is here to stay
How did it take the AFL 25 years to be convinced that a day everyone in the country has off (or ostensibly should) might be a good day to put a footy match one?
The atmosphere at Etihad Stadium for the first of what will hopefully be many clashes between North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs was as good or better than any game I have attended there.
There’s no doubt that Good Friday footy is an absolute must going forward, the only question being how it should continue to be formatted.
I don’t mind the idea of changing it up a bit, but only if we also agree to change up ANZAC Day, Easter Monday, the season opener, et cetera et cetera. And we all know that won’t happen.
If the AFL allows big clubs to keep annual marquee matches but forces North and the Dogs to shuffle on after one year it’ll be just another sign that there are different rules at league HQ for clubs depending on how much money they make.
I wouldn’t be a fan of adding another game to the day either, the blockbuster concept will only work if it remains standalone. But make it a night game, not a twilight fixture, going forward.
Also, a massive hand has to be given to both clubs for the effort they made to get behind the fundraising aspect of the fixture and remind us all of how important it is for footy to give back to the community.
Did clubs miss the boat on Tom Rockliff?
Tom Rockliff had a look at his options last off-season and there never really seemed to be anyone too keen – seemingly for lack of any better option to take, he decided to stick with Brisbane.
33 disposals, 21 contested possessions, 15 clearances and 11 tackles, at 80+ per cent disposal efficiency – those were Rocky’s numbers on the weekend, and gee there’s a few clubs who could use that.
Instead now though you’d think with Rockliff being named the vice-captain at the Lions and seeming to have found his best form again he will probably reject free agency and re-sign with the club he has always played with passion for.
17 other AFL clubs should be red-faced over this one. They’ve missed a big fish.
The Pies need a lot Moore from Darcy
There was a fair bit of chatter on Friday when final teams for Sunday were revealed and it was shown that No.1 pick Patrick McCartin didn’t make the cut for St Kilda.
However that’s more a sign of the good forward options the Saints have outside McCartin than it is any kind of damning indicment of his career to this stage.
There’s no need to play him when he’s out of form or try to force his development, and instead they can do the best thing for him which is to send him to the lower level and let him build confidence.
Not so Collingwood, who have tied the future of their forward line to Darcy Moore and only Darcy Moore, who so far has had no impact to speak of on the 2017 season.
In four matches he has kicked a single goal and laid just four tackles. In a side that had anything remotely resembling forward-line depth, he would be playing VFL.
That’s not meant to be a criticism of Darcy, though, he’s a third-year player who is being asked to be the big guy in a forward line that wants to play finals, which is ludicrous.
It’s a hugely unrealistic amount of pressure to put on a player who has shown flashes of talent but only that so far in his career, and the longterm effects on his development may be catastrophic.
Fremantle have flicked the switch
Writing off Fremantle briefly became the national pastime after their horror Round 2 loss to Port Adelaide and I can’t pretend I thought any differently to the majority of pundits.
However, the Dockers deserve a boatload of credit for the way they have responded over the past two weeks, with a thriller win over Melbourne on Saturday telling us that last week was not a one-game wonder.
Lachie Neale played arguably the best game of an already excellent career, and David Mundy has fired back into his best form over the last fortnight. Cam McCarthy needs to work on his accuracy but kicked the winning goal, so no complaints.
How long will it last? Only time will tell, but Dockers fans have good reason to be smiling.
The only downer for them on the weekend was the unfortunate news regarding Harley Bennell. Fingers crossed he gets the help he clearly needs, because he could be the difference for this team and it would be a shame to see his immense talent go to waste.
Bye-bye Brad? Tell ’em they’re dreaming
The bizarre third-man-up free kick paid to the Bulldogs on Good Friday wasn’t the strangest thing I saw all day, no, it was North Melbourne fans musing about sacking Brad Scott on Twitter after the match.
You must be kidding me right? The team fell just a few points short of beating the reigning premiers. If they had kicked one more goal fans would have been praising his name.
Any North fan who didn’t expect an 0-4 start to the year given it started with matches against the Eagles, Cats, Giants and Dogs was kidding themselves. Plenty of teams will lose to all four of those sides this year.
Yes, Brad is probably a bit too conservative with his choices at the selection table, and yes, North’s poor record in close matches under him will leave us all with Vietnam-style flashbacks for years to come.
But personally I am looking at this first four weeks as being well above expectations, even if it is disappointing not to have gotten any reward for the effort put in. Let the Roos play some teams closer to their level and the results will come.
Jack Darling needs a new role
It’s bizarre how Jack Darling, a player who kicked an outstanding 53 goals in just the second year of his career, is now bordering on superfluous at the West Coast Eagles.
To be fair, he did that in a year when Josh J Kennedy was absent due to an ACL injury, and hasn’t had the luxury of being the No.1 forward target since.
However, it’d be fair to say that ever since his iconic (for all the wrong reasons) dropped mark in the 2015 AFL Grand Final, Darling just hasn’t been the same.
With him missing as a late withdrawal on Thursday night and Jeremy McGovern sent forward, the Eagles seemed to function a lot better, and probably played their best game of the year to date.
What’s clear from that is that it is time they put more effort into trialling Darling in other parts of the ground – he played midfield as an underager and that’s the logical place to start.
The Eagles have enough forward talent, and the handy versatility of McGovern, that they can afford to experiment with Darling, and hopefully revitalise his career.
Fiorini should be the Rising Star fave
31 touches, six clearances and two goal assists – damn good numbers for a mature midfielder at the peak of his powers, ridiculous stuff from a kid playing his fourth AFL game.
Brayden Fiorini may not be a household name just yet, having been hidden away up on the Gold Coast, but you can expect him to be soon.
It’d be staggering if anyone else gets the nod as the Rising Star nominee this week and despite the Ken Sakata-led Sam Powell-Pepper fan club, he deserves to be the early favourite to take out the whole thing.
Quick shout out to Anthony Wingard, who loves Fiorni more than Fiorini’s parents do, and will tell me off on Twitter if I don’t mention him here.
[latest_videos_strip category=”afl” name=”AFL”]
Jon Patton will be 2017’s most-improved
Jon Patton’s excellent form late in the 2016 season got him some regular mentions in my talking points and he gets another here after kicking a bag against Port Adelaide.
In what was a tight match until the last term, having a player like Patton who could present a difficult match-up for the Port Adelaide defence proved a winner.
It’s kind of a shame that the AFL doesn’t have an annual “most improved player” award because if it did I would be pretty confident that Patton can take it home this year.
That said, if Brandon Matera keeps up like he has over the last two weeks then he would be a very strong challenger as well.
Don Freo
Guest
You'd better read the Round 5 expert predictions. The Fuschia boys go for it big time there. It's like a conversation between Doug Hawkins and Travis Cloke...or not.
Brendon the 1st
Guest
Wish everyone talked like that in real life.
Bruce
Guest
The umpires stood tall for them in the 2012 prelim against the crows, the 2014 prelim against port and the 2015 prelim against freo. Stttteeeevviiiicc.....stteeevvviiiccc.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Agreed that the 1 player a week system is flawed. You wind up with players getting a sort of 'lifetime achievement' award for the season where as you say they wind up nominating a player who think they deserves a nod for his overall efforts the moment they do anything slightly above average in the back half of the season. Rising Star award is a bit of a joke anyway. It lost all credibility when Taylor won it ahead of the Bont. 2 years on and one is being talked about as a future Brownlow winner and the other is still a short dumpy lazy little sod
Macca
Guest
In a lot of respects the 1 nomination per week is a flawed system - it leas to situations where last week Brandan Parfitt gets the nomination for 23 possessions but Fiorini misses this week with 31 and then late in the year when some player who has been great all year but still hasn't been nominated be round 20 they get a nomination for one of their worst performances for the year. Perhaps they need to move to a system where multiple or no players can be nominated each week - or perhaps the nominate a group of players every X weeks.
Philby
Guest
Re Fiorini, rising star - well, no, it was, surprise, surprise...number 1 draft pick McGrath. Which is just lazy work on the part of whoever decides these things. Similar to last year in round 20 when Richmond's Oleg Markov got 26 possessions, 12 marks, 10 rebound 50s and 4 inside 50s. As he was not a high profile recruit, he too, missed out.
Perry Bridge
Guest
re the MCG Keep mindful last year - 2016 - Hawthorn went out in straight sets - at the MCG - vs Geel (home Kardinia Park and Docklands) and Bulldogs (home Docklands). In 2015 - the Hawks lost first up in Perth, then a home final win over Adelaide at the 'G and then a road trip win over the Dockers in Perth - that was probably the one there - if home ground come the pointy end was such an issue then the Dockers really should have gobbled up the Hawks there!! Certainly the Eagles enjoyed the home ground against North. In 2014 - the Hawks rocked up to the 'G and won everything. The Swans - they'd peaked in the prelim final whereas Hawthorn had had to scraped and battle against an inaccurate Port who really should've won (29 to 22 scores). The Swans were spent and got blown away - was the travel the issue? In 2013 - the Hawks again did the job at the MCG over the Swans (fair enough, home final in week 1) and Geelong (fair enough, home prelim final - against Geelong - who ironically had LOST their home Kardinia Park Qual Final to Fremantle - so, again, home ground advantage can be over stated). I might suggest a couple of things - 2015 Hawthorn did it the hard way - I hated them winning a threepeat - but - they showed just how good they were come September. They'd scraped through the previous 2 elim finals but the away win over the Dockers was there most conclusive Prelim win - ironically enough. Home advantage come finals can appear a little overstated. Perhaps some sides have thought - like a wind behind their back - that they could take the game a little more easily - to their cost. At any rate - the MCG it is - there are big contracts saying so - but yes, those contracts are somewhat VFL/Vic based. 100,000 for the big day is a good spectacle and a nice boast. However - it certainly does benefit the traditional Vic clubs to run their Melbourne based events on GF day (my club North famously has done so for 40 years with the official grand final breakfast).
Milo
Roar Rookie
Agree, makes sense to have NM & WB play on Good Friday given the traditional RCH appeal and the clubs' geographical location to that. Good to see both bought into that this year and the game was close so hope it can continue to grow. Although arguably Carlton and Melbourne could say that they're closer than Footscray to the RCH, both those clubs have their own special games. Carlton gets the opener and a lot of hype around its clashes with Collingwood especially and Essendon, while Melbourne gets the QB Monday and is working to make ANZAC Eve traditional with Richmond. Just a question - with the above, the EM clash just gone, the so called Battle of the Bridge, Q Clash, SA & WA Derbies, where does that leave the Saints?
Perry Bridge
Guest
#joe b What people tend to miss re the 'stand alone event' type games is that it's almost a necessity in Melbourne to balance out that the interstate clubs all get a guaranteed home local derby each year. No matter what - 2 showdowns, 2 derbies, 2 Q-clashes, 2 battles of the bridge (or whatever it is). Clubs like North have been squeezed out of everything - used to be the champions of the Friday night - that was never going to last - fair enough - but, nothing in return. No guaranteed H&A battle of the Marshmallows (v Ess) for example. Nothing. So - while I have been annoyed over the years at Essendon and Collingwood having Anzac Day to themselves - I see some merit in it (although Coll then also get Queens B'day). Ess and Rich have made something of the "Dreamtime at the 'G" - and the AFL really needs to allow 2 clubs to make something of Good Friday (RCH appeal) rather than a rotation that would see a lot of token gestures each year by different clubs rather than on going established relationships.
Bretto
Guest
Good call Mango. I'd be over the moon if my team had won four GFs in the last 10 years. All good things must come to an end. And the Hawks have been very good things for a long time.
Paul D
Roar Guru
You're right it will never be settled. Also, the Lions were better
Steve009
Roar Rookie
Mitchell and Lewis made alot of those young players around him look a little better than they were. (Hodge as well)
Don Freo
Guest
I think his bruise will give them a reason to "rest" him. His last 3 games have been weak. Duggan is the better player right now.
andyl12
Guest
I'm only debating AFL-era sides here Dougie. Of the AFL-era sides only Brisbane and the Adelaide 97-98 team won more than one flag in a row, which is a basic criterion for having the best era. And we all know why Adelaide's 97-98 team doesn't rank alongside the Hawthorn era. Regarding the Brisbane threepeat, even if you forget about their salary cap & draft concessions, they didn't win a fourth flag in their era, they didn't reach five straight prelims and they didn't reach seven straight finals series. Maybe you'll argue that their best footy would have beaten our best footy, but that argument can never be settled while we have so many rule changes and so much tactical change in the game.
gameofmarks
Roar Guru
Agree with you Josh about Darling. I expect he will play in the WAFL this week as the Hawks forward line is not that tall and Simpson can continue to experiment with McGovern up forward, rather than send him back to defence. I expect Jetta will get another call up if Simpson is true to form and sends Duggan back to the WAFL after a serviceable game in the midfield. Unfortunately, if Mitchell gets up in time for the Hawks game, there will not be enough room in the midfield for Duggan and I can't see him playing any other role at the moment.
Paul D
Roar Guru
I'm with you Dougie, on sheer results that Hawks team has to be the greatest. 7 grand finals in a row, 4 premierships - and as you say, simply bulging with stars all across the park.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
I reckon the Hawks team of the 1980's was far better and I'd rate the Brisbane three-peat side better as well. I'd even rate the Geelong side from the same era better (i.e. Ablett, Bartel, Stevie J, Chapman, Scarlett, Ling, Hawkins, Enright, Corey, Kelly, Milburn, Ottens, etc.), although have to acknowledge they fell one premiership short of their potential. The Hawks recent team was extremely well coached, but didn't have many all-time greats in it. Crawford and Sam Mitchell would be the only walk-up starts in Hawthorn's greatest ever team, plus maybe Hodge and Burgoyne would be considered. Roughhead, Lake, Gibson, Lewis, Cyril, etc. wouldn't get a look in. The 1980's teams included Leigh Matthews, Dermie, Dunstall, Tuck, Buckenara, Platten, Langford, Mew, Ayres and Wallace, plus decent players like Dipper, Eade, Kennedy, Pritchard, Collins and Greene. The Hawks current / recent team doesn't come close really.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
I coached against Fiorrini in junior football and he was an unusually crafty, clever, slippery, damaging customer in a side that gave him license to move position himself to shake tags. Very good, but well behind the best at that point. I also coached against Jade Gresham of St Kilda, who was more orthodox and easier to foresee an AFL career beckoned. Good luck to Fiorrini; I never thought he would be good enough to play AFL and I'm impressed with how well he's started his career.
Ryan H
Guest
Does anyone really watch replays of old premierships? All about the now. 0-4.
Macca
Guest
Yeah because Freo only get players through the draft.