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There were stages this year where I didn’t think I would be writing any more of these reviews, but the footy is back and Australia is a better country for it.
I’ll preface this by saying it was the season reopening round after an unusual preparation, the skill level was poor and therefore I don’t know how much to take out of it.
Regardless, we will go through the big winners, the big losers, the star performers, and the players that need to lift next week.
The winners: Gold Coast
The suns shocked the football world at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night when they belted an out of touch Eagles outfit by 44 points after basically doubling their score.
Gold Coast simply wanted to win more than the Eagles, beating them in contested possession and then being much more clinical when going forward. The Suns only had four more scoring shots than the Eagles but scored 14.6 compared to the Eagles 6.10.
Matt Rowell, who we will talk about more later, was fantastic when recording 26 disposals and two goals in a clear best on ground performance in only his second game of league football.
Most importantly for the Suns, the senior players stood up. Sam Day, who is about to turn 28, was fantastic with 18 disposals and two goals, whilst the likes of Lachie Weller (24 disposals), Brayden Fiorini (21 disposals), and Touk Miller (22 disposals) led the charge for the Suns.
With a horrible looking Adelaide to come next week, and then a middle of the road Fremantle side, the Suns could realistically be 3-1 and looking to surprise the football public with a run at September action.
Ben King. (Photo by Graham Denholm/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
St Kilda
The pressure was always going to be on the loser of the Saints and Bulldogs’ Sunday night clash, and it was the Saints who came out victorious in what was a dominant display.
The new-look Saints played an entertaining brand of football, using short kicks and quick handball chains to move the ball quickly into their forward line which obviously gave their forwards the best chance of scoring. This was evident by the Saints recording 204 kicks to the Bulldogs 142, and then forcing the Dogs to try and handball their way out of trouble which put them under all sorts of pressure.
The new recruits came to the fore when Brett Ratten needed them too. Zak Jones was the best afield with 29 disposals, a goal, and six score involvements. Daniel Butler was also arguably in the top five players on the ground with 14 disposals, 2 goals, and eight score involvements.
I wouldn’t be writing off the Saints in the next couple of weeks against Collingwood and Richmond but considering those two teams are the favourites for the premiership they couldn’t lose on Sunday and then be 0-4, as it would have been their season over.
North Melbourne
The Kangaroos were potentially the biggest winners of the weekend, although probably the one with the least amount of fanfare.
They talk about the ‘shinboner spirit’ all the time down at Arden Street and it hasn’t been on display like it was on Sunday afternoon for a very long time.
Coming up against reigning grand finalists in the Giants, North Melbourne just dominated them around the contest. They won the clearance battle by eight, had 62 more disposals than the Giants did, and again, were much more clinical going forward, kicking 12.8 compared to the Giants 8.12.
Todd Goldstein looked like he was back to his best, monstering Sam Jacobs in the ruck as well as grabbing 19 disposals around the ground and it was again the leaders who stood up.
Shaun Higgins was fantastic, recording 28 disposals, along with Jared Polec (23 disposals and a huge goal in the final term), and Robbie Tarrant, who was arguably best on ground when gathering 18 disposals and keeping last years Coleman Medalist in Jeremy Cameron to one goal.
The Roos are now 2-0 and with Sydney, Hawthorn, and the Bulldogs to come, they could easily be 5-0 and dreaming of going deep into September.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The losers: Hawthorn
The benefit of playing on Friday night is that by the time Monday comes, your game is forgotten about. However, I’m not letting the Hawks off with their second-half display against the Cats.
They were completely dominated in that second half and the stats tell most of the story. Geelong had 90 more disposals than the Hawks, 14 more Inside 50s, and a whopping 18 more clearances.
Nine out of the top ten disposal getters on the ground were Geelong players, with Tom Mitchell the only Hawk midfielder that could walk off the ground relatively content with his performance.
Hawthorn was talked up as a premiership contender by the football media coming into this season, but that wasn’t even the performance of a top twelve team.
Jaeger O’Meara comes back into the side next week which will help bolster their midfield, but with Richmond, North Melbourne, and Greater Western Sydney to come in the next three weeks they could easily find themselves 1-4.
Jaeger O’Meara of the Hawthorn Hawks (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
Adelaide
What a fall from grace in a period of three years it has been for the Crows. They haven’t seen finals action since the 2017 Grand Final – and it doesn’t look like they will be for a while.
Usually, the hiring of a new coach fires a team up, but that performance, in a Showdown, nonetheless, was horrific. Port Adelaide had 100 more disposals than Adelaide, had 27 more Inside 50s, won the clearance battle by nine, and had 92 more uncontested possessions which points to a lack of effort.
Much like the Hawthorn game, only one Adelaide player featured in the top ten fantasy scorers on the ground and that was the ruckman in Reilly O’Brien.
The Crows still haven’t fixed their lack of leg speed, making it near on impossible to be able to spread properly from the contest. And Against a young and quick Port Adelaide outfit, it was on display for all to see.
Adelaide travels up to the Queensland Hub this week and faces Gold Coast and Brisbane in the next two weeks in games that they simply must win to keep their season alive. It might be rebuild time in South Australia.
Western Bulldogs
They were arguably the biggest losers in the round and the media criticism will come thick and fast, and deservedly so.
The Dogs were expected to beat the Saints after many including them in their top four this season, but after a horrendous round one display when losing to Collingwood by 52 points, they backed that up with another terrible showing when losing by 39 points against the Saints.
The Dogs had two good players on the entire field on Sunday night and those two were Josh Dunkley and Bailey Smith who both look likely to improve yet again in 2020.
The leaders were appalling. Marcus Bontempelli had his colours lowered in his second game as captain, whilst Jack Macrae, Matthew Suckling, and Jason Johannisen were all well down.
Young Tim English was dominated in the ruck by Paddy Ryder and Rowan Marshall, and that led to the Bulldogs being bullied around the contest.
The will to win wasn’t there for the Dogs and if they don’t resurrect what looks like a sinking ship against the Giants and the Swans in the next fortnight, their season will be over before it even began.
Star performers
Matthew Rowell
The number one pick of last year’s draft was the story out of the reopening round of the season. Sometimes, you watch a young player and just know they are going to be champions of the game, and this guy is one of them.
He is ready-made for AFL football, which obviously made him more appealing for a struggling Gold Coast side, and he has the poise of guys like Trent Cotchin and Scott Pendlebury already, which is amazing for a guy playing his second game.
He will be the captain of the Gold Coast before too long and one of the best players in the competition by 2022. He is the real deal and we will all enjoy watching him for many years to come.
Nick Vlastuin
What an underrated player this superstar Tiger defender is. He reminds me of Luke Hodge so much that it is unbelievable.
When the Tigers were under pressure in the first quarter, he was like a brick wall, seeing off countless Collingwood attacks to keep the margin to within five goals at quarter time.
He started his ascendancy to brilliance in the 2017 grand final when he bullied Taylor Walker for most of the game, and he hasn’t looked back since.
The stats don’t tell the story regarding how good he is but If you ask any Richmond player or coach, they will tell you that he is one of the most important players in the side.
He is brilliant by foot and I haven’t seen him lose a one versus one for a very long time. He should have been All Australian last year and with a few more performances like that, he will be in the conversation again.
Nick Vlastuin of the Tigers. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Rhys Stanley
He has found himself on the ‘needs to lift’ category a few times has the Geelong big man, but he was sensational on Friday night against the ruck combination of Jonathon Ceglar and Ben McEvoy.
Stanley kicked two goals, along with 14 disposals and 26 hit outs. It was a much-needed performance from him after being in and out of the side last year, along with back up ruckman Darcy Forte waiting in the wings with any poor performance.
Stanley is the Cats’ most important player. The only reason they didn’t win the Qualifying final last year was because they didn’t have the confidence in him to beat Grundy, but with some more performances like that one, the Cats major weakness becomes a strength against most teams and then a Premiership begins to look more likely than ever.
Needs to lift
Alastair Clarkson
He has never found himself in this category the great man, but a spade must be called a spade and he was well and truly out-coached on Friday night by Chris Scott.
Admittedly, Geelong are probably a better team than Hawthorn is, but the decision to let Kaiden Brand go last year (who is no superstar but can do a job) and then move Ben McEvoy to center-half back-beggar’s belief.
The recruitment of guys like Jon Patton, Tom Scully, and Chad Wingard must be questioned as it is taking a spot away from a young player.
Where do the Hawks think they are at is the question? If they think they are a premiership contender, the coaching has been poor for a couple of years, and if they don’t think they are, why recruit these players?
Jeremy McGovern
It’s fair to say it was a weekend to forget for the All Australian Eagle. He switched around on different players throughout the game, and all of them beat him.
Alan Sexton was unlucky when kicking 0.3, whilst Sam Day had 18 disposals and kicked two goals, and Ben King looked incredibly dangerous all day.
The big issue I have is that he got himself suspended purely out of frustration. He milked the Sexton hit for everything it was worth, before getting up and punching him in the face, before pushing him into the boundary fence in two minutes of pure madness.
He has let his team down in more ways than one and Hub life for Jeremy in the next week could be difficult. Stay out of Adam Simpson’s way!
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