Opinion
Round 17 was the second round after the completion of that weird ‘bye month’ and I didn’t do power rankings last week because to be honest, I was still salty over Essendon’s loss to Port Adelaide.
But I’m back better than ever, eager to talk up my Bombers some more but it wasn’t just the Bombers this round. The Saints were devastated by injuries, the Suns disappointed yet again and the Pies’ frenetic run and gun style seems to be insurmountable. Read on for my Power Rankings.
It is perfunctory that the Eagles will be winning the Harley Reid cup this year. All that remains is whether or not the Eagles will go in with open eyes about the fault of their list build, and precisely what needs to be done to fix their woes.
I think the pain is yet to end for the Eagles. They went in with an elderly side thoroughly lacking in key young talent and that will require them to play hardball at the trade table if they’re to make anything of Adam Simpson’s tenure at the Eagles.
I was tempted to have the Roos even lower, particularly with the news Griffin Logue has ruptured his ACL. It has fast become a putrid season for the Kangaroos after beginning with so much hope. There was at least some semblance of highlights, with Tristan Xerri fast becoming the heir apparent to Todd Goldstein’s throne with an enormous 45 hitouts and 19 disposals, while the scion of North in Cooper Harvey was able to take an enormous five contested marks.
The Gold Coast performance on Saturday night was typified by the actions of Ben King, who couldn’t take advantage of the injury to ‘superboot’ (and former Sun) Trent McKenzie being held to a paltry one disposal before being subbed out. Now with Stuart Dew gone and Steven King in at caretaker, who knows what’s next.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
This was a tagging masterclass from Finn Maginness, holding Josh Kelly to six disposals while gathering fifteen of his own and revealing the validity of tagging in modern footy. Seamus Mitchell earned a justified rising star nomination with 20 disposals as the Hawks clearly build towards something in the near future.
I have them so low because they faced a ruck-less Carlton at home in Perth and still lost by a bucketload. The Dockers now have one win in their past five matches. The Dockers had ruck ascendancy, with Sean Darcy getting 58 hitouts (20 hitouts to advantage) and Luke Jackson ably assisting with 11 of his own, but the Dockers’ young midfield was bullied by the bigger Blues.
Now I should have the Swans lower as they dropped a vital game against the Tigers. They appear to continue the trend of sides shellacked in Grand Finals failing to make finals next year. Combined with their inaccurate draw against Geelong, this is becoming a body of work that does not reflect well for the Swans. It looks increasingly likely they wont make finals.
That was three on the trot yet they’ve only managed to beat Gold Coast, Hawthorn and now the Dockers. I am still uncertain about the Blues as they appear to only win when one of two conditions are met; the pressure is off, or you allow them to play their preferred game style. Both were available in abundance against the Dockers and Optus Stadium is fast becoming a happy hunting ground for the suddenly resurgent Blues.
Three goals to Stephen Coniglio and Jesse Hogan, with Hogan becoming one of the bargain pick ups of the century. Kieran Briggs continues to throw his weight around like the second coming of Shane Mumford for a suddenly blue collar Giants outfit. The only question I have is where is Aaron Cadman? The Giants gave up so much to get him, but he appears to be behind Jake Riccardi, Jesse Hogan and even Harry Himmelberg in the key forward depth chart.
Now the Saints do play a system which leads me to believe that I am being a little harsh on them when they dropped a game to Melbourne who are top four bound. But despite sacking their contracted coach last year, there appears to be no improvement by any metric and with another loss, they’re in danger of missing the eight altogether with Adelaide, Geelong, and Richmond all nipping at their heels.
The Tigers seem inextricably tied to this position. They’ve had something of a return to form, built off the back of a vintage Dustin Martin performances with another 30 disposals, and Tim Taranto an outside chance for the Brownlow despite his poor disposal by foot.
(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Halfway through this match on Sunday I had the homesick Crows well outside the top eight as the Bombers tore them apart. This loss means they’re now one and six away from the Adelaide oval but thanks to an easy fixture, the Crows can have a red hot crack at an unexpected finals campaign this season.
The Cats won, and that is all you can really say about this game. They needed to win if they were any chance of making a finals charge a year after their premiership. It was a cameo from Gryan Miers as he played through the midfield with 32 disposals, while Tyson Stengle continues to prove his value with five goals.
Luke Beveridge is a strange strange footballing mind. Insistent on playing category B rookies like James O’Donnell, or trading for Rory Lobb when they’ve got an embarrassment of riches at the key forward position. The Bulldogs would be agonised to fall so close to the pacemakers of the league in Collingwood as Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Aaron Naughton combined for six goals five behinds as their athleticism proved to be a handful for the defensively unaccountable Magpies.
Am I harsh to drop the Dees after a win against St Kilda? Yes, they didn’t score above eighty points and the Saints lost most of their offensive weapons to injury. The Dees have a lot of concerns as the ‘Grawndy’ experiment appears to have failed while the Dees are desperate for another key forward in the absence of Ben Brown, Tom McDonald and Bailey Fritsch. Some highlights came in the form of accurate goal kicking from Christian Petracca with five goals, yet the Dees are playing like a mid table side and with more performances like Saturday’s may end up caught in the chasing pack.
(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Am I biased? yes. But as I said at the top of this article the lid is off, folks. After falling agonisingly short against Port Adelaide (great kick from Dan Houston) to bullying the Crows up and down Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon, while Kyle Langford puts together a career year with 3 goals taking his season total to 32. Peter Wright also found his way to the score sheet with 3 goals (from 10 score involvements and 19 disposals) and the Bombers are served in good stead driven by their talismanic captain allowing his role to be subsumed by younger midfielders like Jye Caldwell, Ben Hobbs and Archie Perkins.
We cannot draw any conclusions when sides play the Eagles this year. The Lions smartly elected to bring Jack Gunston back against inferior opposition and he clearly relished the opportunity with six goals in a commanding performance. I think we can draw more conclusions this week as the Lions seek to break their MCG hoodoo against the out of form Demons at the G. I expect that if the Lions are serious about winning the flag they will smash the Dees like they did last year with their potent forward line.
The Power are still on their longest winning streak and despite some people on this site calling for his sacking, Ken Hinkley appears to be moving to a contract extension at the end of this season. The Power have put behind them the statistical anomaly of last season and despite their absences, they look to be headed towards a grand final as they form the clear top two partnership with Collingwood.
I alluded to it in my earlier comments, but the Pies appear absolute certainties for the flag this year. They kept the Bulldogs within reach before running over the top of them at the death to run out two goal winners. Jamie Elliot saw a return to form with four goals, while Nick Daicos appears to have one hand on the Brownlow with 2 goals from 29 disposals and 11 clearances. Finally, the ageless wonder Scott Pendlebury also surpassed the career disposals record with another humble 21 disposal performance.
There you have it folks. I hope my absence wasn’t too keenly felt but I wanted a break across the bye rounds and I was tempted to come back by my Bombers flying up.
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