- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Opinion
The southern football world was in something of a lather in the lead up to the Carlton versus Collingwood Thursday night clash.
With questions lingering in regards to the potency of the Collingwood forward line, their structure and potential tapering and the questions surrounding the legitimacy of the Blues as serious semi-final contenders, the written copy dedicated to the match was considerable.
The result answered some questions emphatically, failed to definitively address others and raised a few new ones that will now become heated topics of debate.
Similarly, the bump-induced suspension of Patrick Dangerfield and his Cats’ Friday night encounter with Brisbane occupied many of the week’s headlines. Both sides enter the match with a 0-1 record and the loser assured to be under the pump come Sunday morning. The odd section of copy was also dedicated to the Saints and Demons; first-round winners looking to complete a perfect start to their seasons with eight precious points after just two rounds.
The Bulldogs impressed many in Week 1, potentially deserving a little more attention as they enter a Sunday afternoon clash with West Coast and perhaps more should have been made of the importance of the Kangaroos’ trip to the Gold Coast where, once again, one side will be walking with nothing to show for a fortnight’s effort.
Flying under the radar has been Saturday afternoon’s fixture between the Swans and Crows at the SCG. But for the return of Buddy Franklin and the birth of his second child on Tuesday, it seems many have been happy to applaud both clubs for their Round 1 success before briskly returning their focus onto some of the potentially disastrous starts about to be owned by a few clubs down south.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
The Adelaide Crows shrugged off a 3-14 record in 2020 to out-enthuse the Cats in Adelaide and the Swans took the Brisbane Lions by the scruff of their neck, hurled them over their knee and spanked one of the premiership favourites to the tune of 31 points.
The two wins were far-and-away the biggest stories of the opening weekend, bar Dangerfield’s unintentional attack on the head of Adelaide’s Jake Kelly, and one of the two will sit atop or mighty close to the arrowhead of the AFL ladder come Sunday night.
Sydney managed just five wins in 2020 and neither club has played finals across the past two seasons. After a sustained and unparalleled record of finals participation before and after the turn of the most recent century, the Swans have undertaken the rebuild required and the Crows have similarly stripped the cupboard bare and begun from scratch after a dramatic capitulation in the grand final of 2017.
In Round 1, both were utterly breath-taking.
The Swans’ forward line starred with Errol Gulden taking centre stage with three goals and a Rising Star Award nomination, Sam Wicks managed two majors of his own and Chad Warner and Braeden Campbell looked comfortably at home against top-class opposition.
In addition, it was hard to even find the words to encapsulate the potential present in Logan McDonald after his debut and the prospect of handling him and Franklin together will be a frightful one for opposition defences.
It was a similar story for the Crows. Jordan Butts did brilliantly against Tom Hawkins, James Rowe and Sam Berry made impressive debuts and Ned McHenry continued to remind everyone just how talented and influential he can be.
It was a day for the kids at the Adelaide Oval and the Gabba. One where two of the heavyweights took their medicine and the results set up what should be the most talked-about match-up this weekend. Two teams whose pressure, speed and enthusiasm were elite.
Instead, Melbourne has been obsessed with a bump, the cumbersome and unstructured Pies and a Carlton team that must surely now walk the walk consistently.
Each of the eight remaining matches this weekend hold significant interest, yet the youthful clash between the Swans and Crows with Franklin and Tex Walker bravely representing the generation prior might well be the talk of the town come Monday.
Hopefully it is of such quality that the after match discussion is able to outweigh the endless debate around the next tribunal charge, suspension or Melbourne-based team verging on crisis. The game does far better when that is the case.