Six questions to come from Round 14

The byes are now over, which means the second half of the year really clicks into gear.

With all of that, the questions, big or small, become more hotly debated. Two players proved that they were indeed worth the big bucks, a sleeping giant woke up and one team played at their very best for the first time this year. All the while the regular footy debates such as four umpires, noise of affirmation and the state of the game continued long into another week.

1. Where has that been?
What the Bombers did in the first half against West Coast was their best football since their game against Port Adelaide in Round 12 last year. They were all over West Coast from the very first minute.

While the Eagles were missing two very important players in Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling and their young and exciting kids couldn’t get going, it didn’t really matter, because for the first half of the game they hardly had the footy.

Where has that been, Essendon? On the road against the top-of-the-ladder side and the noise of affirmation and they produce their best performance of the year. Dyson Heppell, Brendon Goddard, Zach Merrett, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Cale Hooker, Michael Hurley were all outstanding.

With their big recruits all firing and their youngsters playing really exciting footy too, while Essendon face a mountain to climb to make the final eight, if they keep playing like that, this team could cause some havoc on the run home.

(Daniel Carson/AFL Media/Getty Images)

2. What is really wrong with the game?
Port Adelaide are living up to the hype their off-season free agent spree promised, with another win further pressing their top-four credentials. Despite not getting it done in prime time, Melbourne didn’t lower their colours either.

It was a low scoring game. It ebbed and flowed, and like the way modern footy is being played, it was a little bit congested and the pressure was enormous. The way that two top sides play the version of the game is exhilarating and is an exciting contest – just like Friday night was.

If you ask me what the biggest problems with the game is, it’s that it is over-coached, over-umpired and, because it is such a brutal competition in the highly pressurised and analysed, players are scared and confused to take the risk and kick long because they would rather stick to their team structure and stay in line.

(James Elsby/AFL Media/Getty Images)

3. Who is the biggest sleeping giant in the race to the finish?
That would be the Hawthorn Football Club. Sitting just outside on percentage and with an extremely favourable run home the Hawks are most definitely in the discussion for the final eight. While they accounted for Gold Coast relatively easily, it is bound to get even easier as the weeks roll on without facing a single team currently in the eight.

With Clarkson as coach and a potent on-ball brigade as they have, big things can start to happen down at Waverley as only this powerhouse of a club knows how.

(Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

4. To card or not to card?
We all love the random idiosyncrasies in our game that make it great, but one of the biggest talking points that reared its ugly head again this week is that of having a send-off rule and red cards in the AFL.

In every football discipline there is a card system where players can be sent off at the umpire’s discretion for various misdemeanours and incidents. All except the AFL. It’s a fair question. How is Jeremy Cameron allowed to stay on the field and complete the game after what he did (intentionally or not) to Harris Andrews, who as a result of Cameron’s actions could not do so himself?

We want to grow the game and promote the game as a sport that all kids want to get involved in. While they would only be saved for extreme circumstances, do instances like this one call for the introduction of the cards?

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

5. How many Roos could finish All Australian?
At the moment it is looking like a good handful. Ben Brown and Shaun Higgins are close to locks while there are plenty of others around them putting their hands up. Ben Cunnington is producing some amazing numbers this year. He has been good for a number of years but has done it more consistently this season producing big game after big game.

Another one like him to go to another level is Robbie Tarrant, someone who was in the conversation last year and unfortunately couldn’t finish off as strongly as he wanted too. It would have to be a mighty fine answer or player to deny any of those two this year. Jack Ziebell would be close as well. His new role this year as captain of that football club has helped make them more dynamic and as such are in the position they are in today.

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6. Why do you pay to go to the footy?
The result of the game was a foregone conclusion probably a couple of weeks out. Carlton supporters wanted to see a response. Collingwood fans wanted to see them continue on their merry way and munch on their biggest rivals at one of their lowest points.

While the game might have proved an ugly and mostly one-sided affair, there are some players that are worth the price of admission alone. Charlie Curnow, Patrick Cripps, Scott Pendlebury, Jordan De Goey and Jaidyn Stephenson are exactly that. For most of the day Cripps and Pendlebury went head to head, and what a battle it was just by the way with both superstar captains making a massive imprint on the game, while the youngsters in Curnow and Stephenson lit it up.

Both fresh off contract extensions, both of them make things happen when they are near the ball and both of them more than justifying the hype that they bring. They are players who you would pay to go see play, particularly in September. Stephenson will be there this year and boy are we excited to see what he can do.