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Opinion
The first two Saturday games of Round 9 proved that high scores could be achieved in one-sided games despite the shortened quarters.
North Melbourne showed that they meant business at the selection table with the omission of star forward Ben Brown and Jared Polec.
Brown, who has been a fixture in the team for the past 77 games and is the club’s 15th greatest goal scorer of all time, has been sadly out of form and has averaged only one goal per game over the first eight rounds of the season.
Polec spent the first three years of his AFL career at Brisbane before moving to Port Adelaide. He did not miss a game in his last 32 games at the Power and continued the constitutive run going at North Melbourne since his recruitment at the start of the 2019 season. He had also been out of form.
One of the two replacements chosen was Majak Daw, who had not played senior AFL since the last game of the 2018 season and that was an inspired decision.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
A crowd favourite and club favourite, Daw put in a good effort, which included a goal but more importantly raised the level of passion in the Kangaroos, who scored the highest total of points (119) in the nine rounds played so far.
Eleven different goal kickers were involved in kicking the 19 goals for the Kangaroos but only one, Shaun Higgins – who was playing his 100th game for the club after 129 for Western Bulldogs – appears on the club’s top 100 goal scorers list.
Big Adelaide forward Taylor Walker was a late scratching and Kieran Strachan debuted for the Crows.
The Saints scored four goals fewer in their game, but used only three fewer goal scorers to demolish Sydney by nearly nine goals. Once again, only one top 100 goal kicker was among the goals for the winners. Jade Gresham kicked two to move past 297-gamer Lenny Hayes and equal 1960s player Ian Rowland.
Sydney’s Tom Papley kicked one goal to move ahead of Vic Castles on the Swans’ top 100 goal scorers list.
The Saturday night game between the Eagles and Geelong turned out to be a ripper and the first single-figure margin of the round. Both sides showed they are worthy finalists and Josh Kennedy continued his comeback after some ordinary games earlier in the season.
In fact, most of the elite AFL top 100 goal scorers had a reasonable week. Kennedy led the charge with four goals, Lance Franklin, Gary Ablett and Walker did not play, Eddie Betts didn’t trouble the scorer, but Tom Hawkins, Jeremy Cameron and Luke Breust all got two and Jack Riewoldt got one.
Kennedy passed Hawk Michael Moncrieff and Melbourne’s David Neitz and drew level with Alastair Lynch (Fitzroy and Brisbane) while Breust brought up his 400th goal.
In Sunday’s games, Greater Western Sydney did what they had to and were rewarded with seventh place on the ladder and Collingwood continued their slump with some ordinary footy against a switched-on Fremantle. The Pies are now tenth and gradually slipping out of contention.
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