Rarely have we seen a Round 1 like it in terms of throwing the early part of the season on its head.
From a personal perspective, looking at my preview series, seven of the nine winners over the weekend were rated below their opponents. You just have to laugh.
But setting aside your team colours, didn’t we just love every minute of it. This is exactly what the theatre of sport is supposed to be about.
We saw some outstanding coaching feats in Round 1.
It would be remiss not to start with Alastair Clarkson, the best of the best and the only senior coach with multiple premierships to his name. What a masterclass he put on against Adelaide.
The Crows had the five highest possession winners on the ground and seven of the top nine. They had 440 disposals to Hawthorn’s 368, but it was all for nothing. Every time the likes of the Crouch brothers, Rory Atkins, Rory Laird and Wayne Milera flicked the ball around to each other it was one more step into Clarkson’s lair.
The Adelaide forwards had no room to lead into and their playmakers had no way to move the ball forward efficiently, such was the total control of the Hawthorn defensive set-up and their pressure on the ball carrier.
And when the Crows tried to drive the ball in long, there was James Sicily to cut them off, assisted by Ben Stratton, Blake Hardwick, David Mirra and co. Adelaide actually had three more inside 50s than Hawthorn but laid 12 fewer tackles in that part of the ground.
Luke Beveridge went some way to re-establishing his credentials after a questionable time since the 2016 grand final. His team looked worse than any in the JLT Series, losing to expected cellar-dwellers Gold Coast and St Kilda.
But on Saturday night the Bulldogs were back to a style of play that took them to consecutive finals series and a flag in 2015-16, strong in contested and clearance work, with a defensive mindset also set to pressure and stop their opponents run.
Aaron Naughton, a Rising Star nominee in the backline last year, was the dominant key forward on the ground, no mean feat when Buddy Franklin is suiting up. Sam Lloyd, recruited from Richmond, was a decisive player and also among the Dogs’ best. They are ticks for strategic thinking and list management.
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge (Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Ken Hinkley and Chris Scott also had good weekends for Port Adelaide and Geelong respectively.
Hinkley debuted three teenagers and a 20-year-old and came armed with a specific gameplan to run Melbourne off their feet and physically target Max Gawn. The Power had 72 more handballs than the Demons and almost 100 more uncontested possessions.
They kept the faith even after conceding four of the first five goals. Yes, there were errors, but they stuck fat to the plan until it broke their opponents. This clash was the most physically brutal of the weekend, and for a young side to prevail was a huge feather in Hinkley’s cap.
Geelong were playing premiership favourites and last year’s grand finalist Collingwood and also handed debuts to three teenagers plus mature-ager Tom Atkins. Esava Ratugolea and Mark O’Connor had played 15 games between them and took the field as well.
The Friday night clash between the Cats and Pies was the most grinding match of the round, albeit with several momentum swings. For the Geelong youngsters to prevail in this kind of game, showing maturity beyond their years, was a big tick for Chris Scott and his development team.
Cats coach Chris Scott (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Chris Fagan walked out to the quarter-time huddle on Saturday night with his young Brisbane side 27 points down against the reigning premiers, having conceded the last five goals. To then turn this into a 44 point win was an astounding achievement.
And while the Lions were superb in the way they smashed West Coast around the ball and also ran them ragged on the outside, this was a win based on belief and a culture of resilience being built. It will do wonders for their development and lets the competition know that the Gabba is ready to become a fortress once more. There will be no easy games there this year.
We started with Alastair Clarkson and we’ll end with Ross Lyon. They are two of the three most experienced coaches in the AFL.
What a performance from Fremantle, particularly given their lead-up was dominated by the Jesse Hogan situation.
This was a performance under Ross Lyon that hadn’t been seen for many years. Similar to Hawthorn against Adelaide, the Dockers strangled North’s ball movement, made their forward line look inept and pressured the ball carriers to distraction. But the story was how well they moved the ball themselves and pounded through 21 goals from 36 scoring shots.
A Ross Lyon team playing exciting football? Not many predicted that coming into this season.
Coaches cop a lot of heat when things go wrong, as John Worsfold and Brad Scott are finding out this week. So they should be celebrated when they get it as right as they did in Round 1. The question now is which of their teams are going to sustain what they showed us.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Malcolm Blight said recently the won't take too much notice of any results until about round 4. He may be right as sides will have settled a bit by then.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Done deal then.
Fat Toad
Roar Rookie
I agree that there were areas for improvement up and down the ground and Collinwood certainly lacked midfield drive. I have already said that teams will effectively need two midfields one for the first minute or so after a centre bounce and one for the rest of the quarter. One of the things Richmond has done well over the last three seasons is to just squeeze teams until they thought they were always about to get tackled, one of their strategic strengths is the way they apply psychological pressure. The 6,6,6 set up may open the game up enough that it becomes harder for teams to apply that type of unrelenting pressure over the course of a game. I think the similarities between Collingwood and Richmond's game style may make it challenging for both teams this year..
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
The thing for me that lacked Mr Toad was inside mids. Adams and Sier were our inside bulls late last yeat and both were missing against the Cats. We will really miss Adams against the Tigers too. Pendles and Beams do a bit of inside work but I wonder who we will bring in this week for Callum Brown who struggled? Tyler Brown, Sier or Greenwood perhaps.
Birdman
Roar Rookie
Good read, Cam.
The Ghost
Guest
Coaches under the pump: Longmire and Richardson.
big four sticks
Guest
Gee I didn't know Port Melbourne (The Borough) had been promoted to the AFL.
anon
Roar Pro
Clarko did what Clarko does. He does the amazing year after year. Lyon's big win was an outlier. It remains to be seen whether he can do this week after week (let alone year after year like Clarko). Nowhere to hide for Lyon. He’s got Fyfe in his prime in the middle and a whole host of talented players (Brad Hill, Hamling, Wilson, McCarthy, Hogan, Lobb, etc) that fell in his lap from other clubs. What was going on last year when Geelong beat him by 133 points and scored 23 consecutive goals? The only real difference to that game is Conca in for Neale and the addition of Lobb.
Fat Toad
Roar Rookie
I don't think Bucks was out coached as much as poor skills and decision making cost the Pies the game. Of the 10 - 15 opportunities that Collingwood put to the sword, only half would have had to work for Collingwood to have won convincingly. (The Cats could also have put the game to bed in the last quarter if they converted three easy misses.) Based on the pre-season, the Pies' coaching staff had already identified poor kicking and decision making in the back line as an area for work prior to the game. Either team, if they won, should have walked away thinking they dodged a bullet. Despite this, from what I saw at the moment I see greater potential for the Pies over the Cats, but mostly because I see greater room for improvement with the Pies. Geelong's winning the clearances and stoppages will be a concern for the Pies and I wonder if Collingwood's mids are going to have to set up better at centre bounces and the next 90 seconds. I don't think the old set up systems will work until there are more players around the packs.
Fat Toad
Roar Rookie
I don't think I can ever remember a round 1 that was good. It is always the same menu of poor skills, poor decision making, players lacking match fitness so that skills go down as the game goes on and coaches beginning to understand their opponents new strategies. Having said that, the new 6,6,6 rules are going to change the game around pack for the first 2 minutes or so after the bounce, after that it will be back to normal with teams filling space etc. The most interest for me will be how coaches manage the switch between the post bounce 2 mins versus the rest of the game.
dontknowmuchaboutfootball
Guest
Johnno, check out this article for an overview of all teams centre bounce set ups for 2018: https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-02-19/why-666-rule-could-force-tigers-into-a-radical-shakeup Freo had an 8-6-4 set up for 1.1% of centre bounces, as compared to league leaders Adelaide and Richmond with 29.2% and 11.5% respectively, both of whom are championed as high scoring teams. What that shows (besides how regularly people let their prejudices do their seeing/thinking for them) is that the correlation between centre bounce set up and defensiveness/offensiveness of game style is pretty much non-existent.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Ratten. He's already in place.
Johnno
Guest
Jonboy......I don't agree with above. I know it is only a small sample, but I went to the Dockers/Eagles game last. Eagles home game. At every bounce the Dockers set up 6-6-6. There was no one on the defensive 50 line. These major changes in game plan don't happen over night. They take a while. What I saw at the Dockers/Eagles game was obviously the change in game plan, the setup part. What we we saw on the weekend was the next phase of quicker ball movement. I am a Dockers supporter but I'm not sure on Lyon, have my doubts. I am not sure he can stay the distance with this change although he has so far.
Cat
Roar Guru
I agree, I think its fait accompli that the job is Ratten's if he wants it. Just not convinced Saints are bold enough to actually make the call mid season.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
You could be right, Cat? However, Ratten was brought to the club for one reason: to replace Richardson should he fail miserably again this year. Personally, I thought Ratten coached Carlton quite well and is the best choice available should a club want an experienced coach. He was always competitive, which is something you cannot say about Malthouse or Bolton. Should the inevitable occur, Ratten will step in. What better way than giving him half a season to show his worth — at no cost to the club either might I add. :)
Cat
Roar Guru
Typical of Round 1 footy. Round 2 will be better but will still feature plenty of basic skill errors and players blowing up before the final siren.
Cat
Roar Guru
I'll hold my praise until I see what he does when the game isn't all on Freo's terms. Let's see what Ross does if the Docker's are a few goals down
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
The lowest average score for a first round since 1965 in fact.
Raimond
Roar Guru
It was a funny old round of football. Not a lot of high-quality stuff, except for the Dockers(!) and Brisbane after Q1.
Jonboy
Roar Rookie
As i predicted the new rules are going to make Ross Lyon LOOK like a better coach......It alleviates his negativity big time, gives the players more freedom and play a attacking style of football. Last year he always had only 3-4 forward of the play and two extra on the defensive 50m line. Very refreshing.....