Six Points: Coaches, time to stop debutant travesty, and can Swans lead Buddy to one last fairytale?

While the football wasn’t quite as exhilarating as Round 1’s electric start to the season, Round 2 of AFL 2022 featured resurrections, litmus tests and embarrassment in equal measure – depending on who you support.

If you’re a Richmond, Carlton, Hawthorn or even a Collingwood fan, and ESPECIALLY if you go for Sydney, then it was a weekend that will leave you smiling all through Monday. But if your heart beats for GWS, Port Adelaide or the Western Bulldogs, then you’re left with serious questions of your team.

Here’s what we learned from another weekend of footy action!

1. Time for the AFL to act on ‘demeaning’ debutant medi-sub farce

Of all the negative consequences that have come from the AFL’s hastily implemented and poorly thought through medical sub rule since it was first seen at the start of 2021, the most egregious of all again reared its head on the weekend.

First, Essendon pre-season supplementary pick Tex Wanganeen, presented with his Bombers jumper by proud dad and club great Gavin, and with his family having flown from Adelaide for the occasion, was forced to make his debut as the dreaded medi-sub. He wouldn’t play a minute.

Then, seemingly failing to read the room as the Bombers’ social media feeds were awash with critical fans, Fremantle join in on the ‘fun’ by naming their own first-gamer Nathan O’Driscoll in the same role. However, he was lucky enough to appear in the final quarter following an injury to Sean Darcy.

His sensational first goal to give the Dockers a sniff in the final term was everything that first-gamers bring to the game – raw, team-lifting enthusiasm that ignites the crowd and gets neutrals up off their couches.

This isn’t the first time teams have attracted criticism for naming debutants as medical subs – Hawthorn’s then-coach Alastair Clarkson prompted choruses for the rule to be refined as early as Round 1 of last year, when Connor Downie was left unused on the pine.

This time, though, the criticism feels more likely to lead somewhere, with the media, particularly those associated with the Bombers, latching onto it. Maybe it was the Wanganeen name that did the trick.

“When Gavin Wanganeen’s out there presenting [his guernsey] to him, his family fly over – all these arrangements, yet the person doesn’t play one second of football,” Bombers legend Matthew Lloyd said on the Sunday Footy Show.

“It’s such a special moment. We can all talk about our first moment, our first kick, what the experience was like. Ask him [Tex Wanganeen], and he won’t be able to say anything.

“I think wait until they’re good enough to be in the 22 to give them their first game and that special occasion, rather than have them sit there for the whole game.”

Host Tony Jones agreed, saying it was ‘almost demeaning’ for Wanganeen junior and his family to go through.

Clubs have shown they don’t care a fig for appearances with the medi-sub – and rightly so; their job is to pick the best 23 to win a game. But if coaches aren’t going to stand up and fix a great travesty within the modern game, then it will be up to the AFL to do so.

Within reason- obviously COVID will have its say with top-up players this year – no first-gamer should have to face the real risk of a statless debut.

There are two obvious solutions – either ban teams outright from picking debutants in the role, which would be difficult to enforce; or expand the rules to allow teams to use their sub whenever they wish (y’know, like that other rule that was trialled and quickly removed) regardless of an injury.

Of course, my preference would be for the league to just scrap the rule altogether, given it has repeatedly been proved to have failed in its original design – how often do we now see players medi-subbed out of the game yet rock up ready to go a week later? But we all know that’s just wishful thinking.

Former Essendon player Gavin Wanganeen presents his son, Tex Wanganeen, with his Bombers jumper. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

2. Bad kicking = bad football – and not just in front of goal

Modern footy is all about efficiency.

In a game where smothering pressure is now the bare minimum, and players from full-back to full-forward forced to run until they’re knackered, the most priceless attribute in footy is to be able to make the most of your chances.

Most obviously, that comes in front of goal – several sides this weekend could be rightly said to have kicked themselves out of the game with their failures to find the big sticks. Three teams – the Bulldogs on Thursday night, Geelong on Friday and Essendon on Saturday – had more scoring shots than their opponents only to lose.

Carlton’s kicking for goal on Thursday was the most impressive of the three victors in those games – some of Charlie Curnow’s shots, both in general play and from set shots, were nothing short of outstanding.

Hawthorn, the round’s most impressive winner, put on a masterclass in efficiency all over the field as they stunned Port Adelaide. The Hawks booted thirteen straight goals from set shots as part of 19.6 for the night, despite losing the disposal count by nearly 100 and the inside 50s 58-46. Every single disposal was made to count by the men in brown and gold.

On the flip side, the Power and Adelaide were both wretched by foot, repeatedly turning the ball over or, best case scenario, launching aimless forward kicks with no hope of generating a score.

Port’s woes were most readily dissected in the aftermath, but it’s a crime that the Crows were so poor despite having two of the best kicks going around in Jordan Dawson and Brodie Smith running off half-back.

Kicking for goal might be more or less a toss of the coin deal, unless you can manufacture a way to get the ball in the hands of your best set shot more often than not. Even the best have nights with the yips, after all.

But in general play, make mistakes at your own peril.

3. To tag or not to tag? The answer is Berry simple

After a Round 1 dominated by the game’s premier midfielders, some coaches chose to bring back the thought-extinct run-with player across the weekend.

Others didn’t – and paid the price.

The contrast in fortunes between Brisbane and Essendon on Saturday was the prime example of the contrasting styles employed by the league’s 18 coaches. Where the Lions and Chris Fagan sent Jarrod Berry onto Zach Merrett after the Bomber’s brilliant first half, Ben Rutten opted to let Lachie Neale largely run free.

Neale would make them pay.

On Thursday night, it was a tale of two halves for Patrick Cripps, the Blues skipper nearing 500 metres gained along with 22 disposals and two goals in the first half, before being drastically curbed by Bulldog Josh Dunkley thereafter. But he’d already done more than enough for best-afield honours.

Coaches will grumble about the structural reasons why a direct tag is no longer viable in modern footy – and they’d certainly know more about it than me. But there is also a difference between sending a player to stop an opponent and do basically nothing else of value – let’s call this player Ryan C. No that’s too obvious. Let’s say R. Crowley – and basic accountability for a player with the capacity to tear you apart.

Look at Callum Mills on Friday night, who did enough in nullifying Patrick Dangerfield to keep him to 13 disposals, yet accumulated 29 himself. As tagging performances go, it was almost unimprovable, and a major reason for the Swans’ comfortable win.

4. ‘WAFL Eagles’ prove COVID won’t make this an asterisk year

How many times over the last three seasons have you heard footy fans – most commonly on the losing side – dismiss results with the ‘Oh, it’s just an asterisk year’ excuse.

Yes, COVID-19 has made mincemeat of the best-laid plans since 2020, and yes, competition integrity has often been compromised even by the AFL’s standards. Every team has felt the sting in some way, at some point.

But if West Coast, off the back of 14 changes, several top-ups and a last-minute injury scare can manage to push an admittedly very poor North Melbourne on Sunday, then there are no excuses for other teams that find themselves at the mercy of the spicy cough.

First, let’s address something right off the bat – yes, a Victorian side would have been made to play even with a COVID outbreak like the Eagles’. I seem to recall those ten were forced to hub interstate for months at a time in 2020. There’s no #VicBias at play – it’s just the way this particular cookie crumbled.

It’s going to be nigh on impossible for any side – except maybe Fremantle – to deal with COVID to the extent that the Eagles did this week, given most of the eastern states have already had their period of exploding cases. Certainly, given their already mounting injury list, surely no side will be stretched as thin as the Eagles were again.

Yet despite all that, West Coast came out with an intensity that was nothing short of admirable, and you could argue they were one Tom Barrass away from giving victory a fair shake. Six-goal Roo Nick Larkey was the one thing that proved beyond the ‘WAFL Eagles’ power to stop, and there was still more than enough AFL-calibre talent to put up one hell of a fight.

Willie Rioli and Liam Ryan seemed to relish the chance to assume roles further from goal than usual, while Jeremy McGovern was exceptional marshalling a defence that featured a first-game ruckman in Callum Jamieson. Even Bailey Williams, who’d never get this much time in the ruck with Nic Naitanui available, more than held his own despite conceding 44 hit outs to 11 against North duo Todd Goldstein and Tristan Xerri, ensuring the Eagles broke even for clearances.

Would the Eagles have won with a full roster? It’s impossible to say, because the pressure of expectation certainly affected the Roos. Then there’s the fact that lady luck wasn’t exactly smiling on North Melbourne either, with young guns Luke Davies-Uniacke and Tarryn Thomas going down with injuries after a quarter and a half respectively.

A bad run with COVID is no different to a mounting injury list – actually, it’s better, because you’ll nearly always be able to play the week after. So barring an AFLW-esque finals calamity – and surely after what happened to Collingwood’s women’s team the AFL has a contingency plan for the men – let’s cool it on the asterisk talk, please.

5. The curse of the finals mauling isn’t psychological, but tactical

Adelaide in 2017. Melbourne in 2018. GWS in 2019. Collingwood in 2020. Recent AFL seasons have regularly seen top teams fall rapidly from grace after a finals humiliation the year before.

We’ve got two contenders in 2022 – Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs, who duked it out in a preliminary final just six months ago, sit 0-2 and in varying states of disrepair.

The psychological affect of losing big in a final is more commonly spoken about, but in my view, something larger is at play – namely, that being thrashed like that on the biggest stage gives every other team a snapshot of all your glaring weaknesses in a way a narrow loss just doesn’t.

For two consecutive rounds teams have targeted the Bulldogs in the centre, and gone hell for leather once winning the ball. If it wasn’t obvious before, the Dogs’ one-paced midfield when forced to chase, and their defensive fragility when exposed by the 6-6-6 rule, have now been laid bare by Melbourne (twice) and Carlton for the rest of the footy world to use.

Forget mental scars – it’s tactically that the Bulldogs are being taken to the cleaners at the moment.

Port Adelaide, meanwhile, are in the same boat. Pressure their kickers like your life depends on it, give their forwards no space and watch them wilt. The Power racked up the stats against Hawthorn, but managed just seven goals on Saturday night. Then, just as the Bulldogs ripped them apart on the counterattack in last year’s preliminary final, so too did the Hawks take full toll of their lack of defensive intent to pile on nine goals from scoring chains starting in their defensive 50.

Sydney, perhaps the quickest team going around, are up next for the Bulldogs, who could easily be staring at a 0-3 start to the year by this time next week.

As for Port, a Showdown awaits with crosstown rivals Adelaide, who will no doubt hope their inexperienced backline can be marshalled as well as the Hawks’.

Tom Jonas of Port Adelaide leads his team off after their massive loss to Hawthorn. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

6. Scintillating Swans can lead Buddy to fairytale farewell

Lance Franklin’s 1000th goal, and the scenes that followed, was always going to be the top story out of Friday night.

But lost a bit in the chaos was a simple truth: the Swans are in this premiership race up to their eyeballs.

Brilliant in open space, tough as nails in close and superbly coached by John Longmire, Sydney’s performance at the SCG was nothing short of supreme. They exploited every weakness of Geelong’s, most obviously their lack of out and out pace on the ball and their reliance on Patrick Dangerfield for quick centre breaks, and when chances came their way, they made the most of them virtually every time.

Kicking 17.5 makes for exceptional reading, but the truth was the Swans wouldn’t have been expected to miss too many of those goals. Their forwards’ knack of getting into the right position, in particular Buddy and the outstanding Isaac Heeney, and the capacity of their midfielders to deliver it on a platter, made it all but impossible for the Cats’ defence to cope.

In contrast, when Geelong shot for goal, it was either rushed, or pushed wide enough to make accuracy no certainty. Were it not for Brad Close’s bag of four, making something out of nothing for most of them, the margin would have been even greater by the end.

What they did without the footy was just as exceptional. A perfectly tuned backline smothered the Cats’ twin towers Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins all night, with Hawkins seldom if ever allowed one on one with the still-learning Paddy McCartin (who by the way, might have had his best ever game).

Then, in midfield, Callum Mills’ tagging job on Dangerfield would have done Ling proud. Refusing to allow the champion a moment’s space at stoppages, but still confident enough to join in on the play when Sydney gained possession, he had 29 disposals while keeping Dangerfield to only 13.

GWS’ recent fortunes have taught a valuable lesson to never assume a premiership is a given, no matter how talented the list. But right now, this Swans side looks destined for greatness.

Perhaps the only question is whether they can reach their peak while Franklin is still around – imagine Buddy lighting up a grand final one last time!

Lance Franklin of the Swans celebrates kicking his 1000th AFL goal. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Random thoughts

– Collingwood have well and truly replaced the Bulldogs with the funniest banners in the comp. Huge fan.

– 33 touches and 16 marks from a bloke on one leg who looked ‘all at sea’ at half-back is a pretty decent effort from Dayne Zorko. Looking at you, Garry Lyon…

– Can someone please explain to me what has happened to Connor Rozee?

– I’ve no idea how a team with Brodie Smith and Jordan Dawson getting 37 kicks between them butchered the footy as much as Adelaide did on Saturday.

– Full credit to Jack Higgins – copped it all week, goes out and is just about best on in a famous win.

– It feels like the supposed holding the ball crackdown is already over – never change, AFL.

– It just couldn’t sum up Nathan Lyon’s career better that he picked the hour Buddy kicked his thousandth to have one of his best ever days.