Eight quick takes from the AFL weekend: Round 5

Don’t worry. I haven’t lost my marbles. I know Round 5 isn’t over yet. But if I don’t write up some quick takes on a Sunday night, what will I do with myself? And what will you read? So here we are.

How deep do West Coast’s scars run?
For the second time since they were embarrassed in the 2015 AFL grand final, West Coast entered their match against Hawthorn at the MCG as the favourites to take a win.

For the second time, they were humiliated, putting in a completely uncompetitive performance and ultimately going down by more than eight goals.

Much was made during the week of their poor record away from home, and no doubt that is a bit of a factor.

But it can’t explain this – getting slammed by a previously 0-4 team who had lost their last two matches by a combined 172 points.

The Hawks were always going to bounce back a little at some stage this season and are certainly better than what they’ve shown in the last two weeks.

Kudos to them for doing so in style, and to captain Jarryd Roughead for booting his 500th AFL goal. They’ve bought themselves at least a brief reprieve from the many questions being asked over them in recent weeks.

But now West Coast can expect to feel the heat. Their team is stuffed with underperforming players and mentally they haven’t had their heads in the game bar a few odd fixtures here and there since that fateful day at the end of 2015.

What is needed to reboot this club? I was hoping Sam Mitchell’s arrival might do it, but it hasn’t. Is Adam Simpson doing enough as coach? Is Shannon Hurn, as captain?

Some brutal honesty amongst teammates, like that which birthed a Geelong dynasty almost precisely ten years ago, is badly needed.

Forget fade-outs, North are losing games at the selection table
North Melbourne have lost three of their last four games by less than a goal, and all of them after surrendering leads of more than four goals at one stage or another.

It’s a serious problem and not one that is new – it happened to the club countless times in 2013, and their record in close matches under Brad Scott is poor to say the least.

That said, the Roos are sporting a much less experienced team these days than they have in the past, and it’s not surprising that they are playing inconsistent footy or wilting in clutch moments.

That’s part of being young and while it is a gut-wrenching experience to go through as a fan, the positive has to be that the team is consistently putting itself in winning positions against good opposition, even if they can’t finish it off.

What is not acceptable at the moment, however, is how North Melbourne is handicapping itself at the selection table every week by continuing to select players who are woefully out of form.

Andrew Swallow has been pushed out of the Roos’ midfield and made to play more time up forward – but he has kicked 1.7 since the start of 2016 and his disposal isn’t up to scratch.

Lindsay Thomas provides a bit of tackling pressure in the forward line but has kicked 2.6 for the year and on Saturday night gave away no less than three free kicks.

Braydon Preuss was left out of the team this week despite the Roos going up against the best opposition ruckman in the competition not currently nursing a hamstring injury. Laughable.

Despite being a young list North have this year had a stated focus on being competitive and that has meant playing experience over youth at times.

That’s fair enough, but at the moment it’s the experienced players letting the team down, not the youth.

If the Roos are serious about being competitive, it’s time to give some of the old stagers a spell in the VFL, and back the kids in with the confidence they deserve.

St Kilda need a superstar
My gut feel this week was that if St Kilda could get more goals than behinds they would be too good for the Cats, but, well, I was wrong.

The one thing that you can never write off happening with Geelong is a superstar performance from one or both of Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield to inspire them over the line.

43 disposals, nine clearances, nine tackles, a goal and two goal assists – Joel Selwood had arguably the best game of his career or close to numbers-wise, and Dangerfield charmed in with a handy 31 touches and two goals.

That’s the kind of player St Kilda just don’t have at the moment. Sometimes Jack Steven can be superstar-lite, and of course Nick Riewoldt is still a game changer, but they must move past expecting him to win a match for them.

Is there a player on the list who can become that guy? Or do the Saints need to offer up every spare cent they’ve got to Nat Fyfe or Dustin Martin?

Either way, they’re going to keep finding themselves getting slammed by the superstars until they get one of their own.

Brad Crouch’s return is another big boost for the Crows
You could be forgiven for forgetting what an excellent young talent Brad Crouch is. Since the start of his career he’s been overshadowed by fellow mini-drafter Jaeger O’Meara, and in recent years, like Jaeger, has struggled with injury.

However, it’s fair to say he was one of the most impressive youngsters in the competition when he first made his debut, and if Saturday’s return game against Gold Coast is anything to go by, his talent has not deserted him yet.

33 touches and eight tackles – he was a little rusty at times but there’s no doubting he knows how to find the footy. He, brother Matt, and Rory Sloane make a damned scary centre bounce team for the Crows.

We already know that the widespread concerns about the supposed thinness of Adelaide’s midfield at the start of the season were much ado about nothing.

But with an elite talent like Crouch ready to come in and perhaps finally deliver on the promise he once showed, the Crows’ case for a third flag is only getting stronger.

Carlton can say goodbye to Friday nights
Port Adelaide and Carlton didn’t look like an exciting Friday night match up when it came up on the fixture and, surprise surprise, it wasn’t.

Sure, there are plenty of Carlton fans out there in the world and putting them on for a Friday night game is a straighforward way to try and draw numbers, but not even Blues fans wanted to watch that.

When it comes to scheduling primetime games the AFL ought to realise that it will get a better audience from engaged neutrals than it will by appealling only to a single large fanbase.

It’s an especially poor move when you consider that this is what was put up against the launch of the A-League finals – surely if there was a week to gift the Blues a Friday night game, this wasn’t it.

At the moment the Blues just aren’t competitive all that often and when they are it’s usually a low-scoring scrap, not good watching. They’re not worth including in the AFL’s showcase slot.

Hipwood’s heroics could make Schache no big loss
Despite being very positive about moving to Brisbane when he was first drafted there, Josh Schache is yet to sign a contract with the Lions beyond this year and that surely must be a growing concern.

However, watching the Lions take it right up to the reigning premiers on Saturday afternoon, one could’ve been forgiven for thinking Schache wouldn’t be too much missed.

Schache had only six touches and didn’t trouble the scoreboard, while his partner in crime Eric Hipwood was excellent early, kicking 3.2 for the day.

Of course, Schache is a developing tall in just his second year, and judging that type of player on a performance this early in his career is bound to leave one looking red-faced.

Still, Richmond are the club reportedly interested, and the Tigers have two first round picks this year.

The Lions will have a high pick of their own this year, plus Port Adelaide’s already traded in. Add in two from Richmond and the knowledge they’d still have Hipwood – I can think of worse positions to be in.

The Bulldogs need to get their bite back
The Western Bulldogs are a 4-1 side and sitting well inside the top eight, certainly in the mix for a top four spot, but it’d be a mistake to think they’re motoring along well.

Their last three results have been a shock loss to Fremantle in Perth, a seat-of-their-pants win over North Melbourne, and a stressful but ultimately comfortable victory over Brisbane on Saturday.

Those teams all fit in the average to bad range at the moment. Fremantle might be a little better but could easily be a 1-4 side if the dice had fallen a little differently, so maybe not.

They didn’t look great against Collingwood either and their win against Sydney is becoming less impressive the longer the Swans’ slump continues.

The short version is: they’re a bit out of sorts at the moment. To their credit, they’re still getting wins on the board.

As we learned last year, they certainly can find another level when the situation warrants it. With a trip to Canberra to play GWS looming on Friday night, they’ll want to do so very quickly.

Sydney belongs to the Giants
When the GWS Giants first entered the competition it was laughable to imagine them ever beating “big brother”.

They did it much quicker than anyone expected – ruining Lance Franklin’s first game for the Swans in 2014 in a dramatic affair that was suitably accompanied by a mid-game thunderstorm.

The Swans still held sway for a little while after that, and while they lost a final to the Giants last year, they survived longer in the competition and still had that over them.

Now they have nothing. The most recent winner at Spotless? The Giants. At ANZ? The Giants. At the SCG? We all saw it on Saturday night.

The Giants might not yet have the kind of off-field presence that can match the power they show on the field, and it’ll be a long time before they boast membership numbers or crowds that compare with those of their cross town rivals.

But with Sydney’s form waning and the Giants’ star rising, in on-field terms there can be no doubt – this city belongs to the orange and charcoal.

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