If there was a theme to Saturday’s AFL men’s action, it was resurgence.
From North Melbourne in the early afternoon, to Richmond in front of an amped-up Tiger army under the MCG lights, the season was shook up as sides and players seemingly done for good picked themselves off the canvas and reminded us just why tipping competitions are a fool’s errand these days.
After a difficult start to the year, the biggest winners can be found out west, with the still-undermanned West Coast pulling off a famous win on the road and Fremantle proving too strong in the final quarter for GWS.
The resurrections weren’t just reserved for teams, though: an unheralded Docker staked his claim as the recruit of the year, while old hats at the Eagles proved there’s life in Adam Simpson’s men yet.
Let’s go through them all one by one, shall we?
North Melbourne, or: Footy for Beginners
After last Saturday’s humiliating loss to Brisbane, there was clearly a return to basic footballing fundamentals at Arden Street this week.
Pressure hard, tackle ferociously, run both ways, kick like you mean it and never stop trying are key tenets of a functioning team at AFL level, and North, despite eventually being pipped in a thriller by Sydney, ticked them all off perfectly.
First, the tackling. The Roos claimed a staggering nine holding the balls in the first half alone, clamping down hard on the Swans’ run-and-gun style.
Nobody exemplified the change in mindset better than Jaidyn Stephenson, who dished out eight hugs for the match in his best game yet in blue and white colours. But every single Kangaroo laid a tackle at the SCG, with the team tally of 66 a sizeable uptick on last week’s 45. And this time, they had just as much ball as the Swans, so it wasn’t as if they spent the day chasing.
Personally, I’ve felt for a while that there are several better spots for Jack Ziebell than in defence, especially with the composure and neat ball use of Aaron Hall already down there. Re-deployed up forward, the results were immediate: his strong hands, speed off the mark and great presenting left the Swans with no adequate match-up for him.
With spearhead Nick Larkey well held, the skipper was the focal point all day inside 50, with the result a five-goal haul, and surely a permanent position in attack. He’ll be a difficult task for opposition defences: strong enough to force mismatches against lighter-bodied backs, but quick enough to be a handful for talls as well.
His absence from defence also allowed Luke McDonald to fill the quarterback role he seems tailor-made for. Courageous to a fault, he often filled the void in front of on-rushing Lance Franklins and Sam Reids, pulling down nine marks. Bailey Scott, too, had one of his better games running off half-back.
The Roos simply look a better, more fluent unit through the middle with Todd Goldstein around the ball as well. Tristan Xerri has made great strides as a ruckman this year, but the veteran remains a clean ball user, runs all day and is smart in a way few ruckmen are. With 16 touches and two goals, plus an excellent (by ruckman standards) 319 metres gained, he was a genuine presence for the first time this year.
Of course, you couldn’t not mention Jason Horne-Francis, who particularly in the first half showed just why the footy world is so enraptured with him already.
Time seems to stop around the number one draft pick, who always had the composure to analyse his options before dishing off, and rarely put a foot wrong all day. With 11 contested possessions and six clearances – both team highs – he’s as hard as a cat’s head, too.
The Swans just had too much class in the end – look at Isaac Heeney’s finish in the last minute.
But this was an enormous effort from a side that looked concerningly adrift this time 7 days ago. All it took was a bit of elbow grease, a few tactical tweaks and a whole lotta heart.
West Coast, or: Good kicking = good football
Look at West Coast’s line up from Saturday afternoon and tell me they have any business beating anyone.
That’s the thing, though: just as they did against the Kangaroos two weeks ago, the Eagles, with several players still notably underdone, played far enough beyond themselves to take down Collingwood it’s rightly being hailed as one of Adam Simpson’s finest ever wins.
Their final score of 14.3 shows why, even crippled by injury or woefully out of form, you still need to beat the Eagles rather than relying on them to beat themselves. If you give them space, or time, or God forbid set shots, they will make you pay more than just about any other team going around.
So many times during this match the Magpies looked destined to take the game by the scruff of the throat and stamp out the West Coast resistance. They had 61 inside 50s to 42 – who loses from there, never mind against a team so cobbled together that Jack Darling is acting out his pre-season live for all of us to witness?
Without Andrew Gaff, Elliot Yeo, Tim Kelly, Luke Shuey and Dom Sheed – in short, just their entire first-choice midfield – the Eagles did magnificently just to match Collingwood for the hard ball (they ended up shading the contested possession stat 136-129). If they do that, then their forwards are efficient enough, and their backline solid enough, to win more often than not.
Connor West, Luke Edwards and Xavier O’Neill, alongside Jack Redden, is no one’s idea of a dominant on-ball brigade, but all relished the opportunity to keep themselves in the selection frame and attacked the ball like madmen all evening.
Pre-season supplementary picks Hugh Dixon and Patrick Naish were as crucial to the result as anyone, and are among the year’s best stories as well. Dixon was an excellent foil for Nic Naitanui, allowing him to be used in bursts against Brodie Grundy, which worked splendidly the longer the match went on. His aerial presence, with six marks, was just as notable, as was the ground he covered to provide options for teammates.
Naish, meanwhile, isn’t going anywhere for the Eagles anytime soon. The Richmond reject ran hard all day as a conduit between defence and attack, with only Alex Witherden managing more than his 458 metres gained among Eagles. Add him to the list of outstanding kickers at West Coast: when he’s got the ball, more often than not something good will follow.
The Eagles are unique in that their set-up in front of the ball is full of genuine forwards, rather than resting midfielders one rotation away from a stint on-ball. There’s a reason Liam Ryan, Josh Kennedy, Willie Rioli, Jack Darling and Jake Waterman combined for 11.1 against the Pies: their primary job is to kick goals. (Looking at you, Bulldogs…)
Josh Kennedy is well into the twilight of his career and ‘only’ had five touches at Docklands. But as long as he’s smart enough and skilled enough to do this, he’ll always be an AFL-standard player.
We’ll finish off with Darling, who may be far from his best at the moment (well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions), but like Kennedy, doesn’t need too much ball to have a sizeable impact.
Bereft a week ago, the Eagles now know that their best, even under significant COVID duress, can mix it with even quality opposition.
Richmond, or: The Tigers of old
You don’t win three premierships in four years without doing a whole lot right.
Yes, this Richmond outfit isn’t the same behemoth that reigned over the rest of the league between 2017 and 2020. Their greatest champions are fading, their ball movement not as composed, and skill errors that would have driven Damien Hardwick up the wall 18 months ago.
But the heart is still there, and after their stirring 38-point win over the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night, it’s beating just as strong as ever.
Give or take a few sloppy turnovers, this was a performance a flag-season Tigers team could hang their hats on and be proud of. For this outfit, in a state of flux between one era and the next, it was simply outstanding.
Particularly in the third quarter, after the Bulldogs mounted a surge to draw within a goal, and then on into the last quarter as the scent of a kill filled the air, the Tigers were ruthless. Tackling ferociously – Taylor Duryea might still be recovering from a crunching Tom Lynch bear-hug – willing the ball forward by hook or by crook, and with Shai Bolton in the Dustin Martin role of game-breaker, they outhunted the Dogs’ star-studded midfield brigade, and gave them a lesson in wanting it more.
Trent Cotchin isn’t the player he was, but this effort (or at least what Seven show of it) against Bailey Smith on the wing is why he’s a triple premiership captain. At a critical time in the game, he forced the turnover, outmuscled one of the hottest young talents in the game, and set up a forward foray that resulted in a goal. All without a single stat.
Put in that category, too, Liam Baker’s desperate spoil on Marcus Bontempelli inside attacking 50, setting up a simple Lynch goal. Again, not rewarded in the stat sheet, but as Baker ambled from the field, blood pouring from his face, the Tigers fans rose as one to give a deserved standing ovation.
If you thought the hunger had been dulled, think again. The spirit is still very, very willing, and the body strong enough to follow through against sides that don’t come prepared for a scrap.
The Bulldogs’ kicking embarrassed them, and cruelled any chance of victory – but the Tigers’ rampant pressure, guarding of the corridor to force trickier set shots, and expertly marshalled defence around the reborn Nathan Broad – All Australian contender, anyone? – played a bigger part in that than they’ll get much credit for.
It’s hard to overstate the impact Dion Prestia has on the Tigers’ midfield. Taken to the cleaners out of the centre in the final term against St Kilda, as well as the obliteration they endured late against Carlton, the 2019 best and fairest winner picked up as if he’d never been out.
Hard-nosed in close and hard-working on the outside, he’d finish with a team-high 30 touches, but his impact went beyond that. It’s hard to quantify, but whenever he is around the Tigers look far more threatening from stoppages.
Speaking of threatening, Shai Bolton is fast becoming a nemesis for the Dogs. They have no answer for his speed, craft and clever ball use in midfield, or his pressure, safe hands and brilliant finishing skills up forward.
His goal of the year contender will win all the plaudits, but he offers genuine pace from the stoppages, something the Dogs lack and can’t seem to stop. With 13 contested possessions and a team-high five clearances, Bolton is a double-threat: tough in the clinches, but electric on the outside. No player was better all night.
As far as symbolic moments go, though, Jack Riewoldt’s torpedo punt on the three quarter time siren, with the Dogs having struggled to hit the side of a barn door all evening, was as fitting as they come. A resurrected kick for a forward who, like the Tigers themselves, may be past their best, but still have plenty of tricks up their sleeve.
Will Brodie, or: A new beginning
Lastly, a word on Will Brodie, best afield in Fremantle’s runaway victory over GWS on Saturday evening.
In the last few years, players from Gold Coast have defied the trend that you must be a battler to not get a game in the worst side in the competition. Peter Wright in 2021 has become Brodie in 2021, and the Dockers are reaping the rewards.
The former Sun is a perfect fit for a Freo midfield stacked with neat ball users on the outside, but lacking someone at the coalface without Nat Fyfe. With 21 contested possessions and six clearances, both game-highs, Brodie allowed the likes of Andrew Brayshaw and David Mundy to focus more on distribution.
Brodie was a ball magnet as a junior, but had never fully fitted in at the Suns, who have never found a top pick they couldn’t play out of position and then offload for a fraction of the price. Playing pure midfield at the Dockers, he is thriving, and so are they.
With 11 disposals in the final term, he was as influential as anyone on the ground as the Dockers stormed away late. It’s not quite a resurrection, but it is a rebirth.
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