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What a way to finish the round!
Another week of footy action is done and dusted – and if you watched any of Adelaide and Brisbane’s thrilling Mother’s Day draw, you’ll know the best was saved until last.
Not that the eight matches that preceded it were short of drama – we had Geelong and Melbourne’s epic comebacks to fall a kick short of Port Adelaide and Carlton respectively, Essendon storming into premiership contention with a devastating second half to shred GWS, and Hawthorn continuing their own upsurge – and St Kilda’s downward spiral.
There has also been plenty of debate over dangerous tackles, the league’s own concussion protocols and the ‘insufficient intent’ free kick rule – so nothing new there.
Footy, eh? Can’t beat it.
Jeremy Cameron being allowed to remain on field in the dying stages of Geelong’s lost to Port Adelaide could best be described as a really poor look for the game.
In an era where the AFL has been doing everything in its power to try and minimise concussion wherever possible, to the point of suspending players for heads hitting the ground in otherwise perfect tackles, for Cameron to not come from the ground for a 15-minute head injury assessment seems to fly in the face of all that the league is trying to achieve – and for entirely clear reasons given the state of the game.
It should be irrelevant that Cameron waved the doctors away and was clearly insistent on playing on – players are naturally going to behave in this way, and while there have been notable exceptions – Brent Daniels taking himself off after a head knock in last year’s preliminary final, for example –
The fallout in the following 24 hours only enhanced all that: we not only learned that Cameron had reported symptoms of delayed concussion stemming from the knock, but that the AFL was satisfied with how Geelong had handled the situation.
Sorry, but if what the Cats, and Cameron himself, did is hunky-dory with the AFL, then no, they’re not taking concussion seriously enough, and yes, their rules need urgent fixing.
I’m a big believer that bringing in an independent doctor to assess such incidents isn’t a necessity – the same thing has regularly caused controversy in the NRL in recent years, with players often forced from the field bewildered due to that doctor spotting minor head contact that they may not have even realised occurred.
If that means 15 minutes off the ground at a crucial stage of the game, and is found to be nothing, then there will be an uproar – especially if, say, it happens in a final.
All the same, just like what happened at Port Adelaide last year – who the league DID choose to fine for their conduct in sending Aliir Aliir back out onto the field in the Showdown, something has to give, because it’s hard to trust that clubs are acting in the best interest of players’ long-term health when incidents like the Cameron one occur at suspicious times in close games.
There’s a better solution I have in mind: the AFL allows it to remain at clubs’ discretion, but with strict, outcome-based penalties. That means heavy fines for first offences if a player is allowed to remain on-field without a SCAT5 test following a head knock, and I’d argue could even result in the loss of premiership points for subsequent infringements.
I’m not sure the Cats, even late in a thrilling game, would run the risk of keeping a player on after a head knock if the consequence of him later reporting concussion symptoms could cost them points.
After nine rounds last year, there were three teams in the top eight – the Western Bulldogs, Geelong and Adelaide – who went on to miss finals.
I can’t see something similar happening this year. In fact, I’d be surprised if any of the current top eight were absent in September, after Collingwood finally entered on Sunday following their latest commanding win.
After a sluggish start, not helped by the fact they played two of the current top five to begin the season, the Pies’ ship has well and truly steadied, and while the quality of their opposition in a banged-up Eagles didn’t exactly give them a fierce challenge, the fast, manic style of football is back.
To kick a triple-figure score minus so many first-choice forwards, and with one of their makeshift options in Jeremy Howe sidelined for the last three quarters, is a mighty impressive effort from the reigning premiers, whose draw with Essendon is their only non-victory since starting 0-3.
That it’s only enough for eighth is a sign of the quality ahead of them, too: four teams currently sit just two premiership points ahead of them, while the impressive Essendon are themselves two points clear of that.
Of that group, Carlton have been involved in a huge amount of thrillers this year but their wins over Melbourne and GWS in particular show their quality. They’re, however, the most vulnerable to drop out, with seven more games, including next week’s blockbuster clash with Sydney, against their fellow top-eight teams – they’ll probably fall to ninth if they lose to the Swans and Fremantle take care of an out of sorts St Kilda, though that latter fixture is far from certain.
Of the teams outside, plenty will still consider themselves a live chance; but I’m not totally convinced about Fremantle’s bona fides against the very best, Gold Coast have been consistently awful away from home this year, the Western Bulldogs’ monstrous percentage will likely normalise ahead of a nightmarish next month, and both Brisbane and Adelaide have a lot of catching up to do – especially now.
The current top eight will need to be on their guard; but after nine rounds, I don’t think you can dispute that they’re the best eight teams in it.
Let’s get two things straight right off the bat.
One: the dangerous tackle free kick given to Brodie Kemp against Jacob van Rooyen on Thursday night was a shocker, one born of the league’s desperation to eliminate all head knocks without thinking of the consequences of their tactics as much as it was umpire error.
Umpires are clearly instructed to blow the whistle the second they see a player’s head hit the ground in a tackle: the current interpretation is that the onus is on the tackler to make sure, at any cost, that that is avoided.
That becomes hard, though, when the player being tackled’s momentum, deliberate or otherwise, is what takes them forward and makes a perfect tackle a dangerous one.
In a nutshell, that’s what happened to van Rooyen on Thursday night, as it did to Brayden Maynard when he tackled another Blue in Matt Owies in Round 8. Both tacklers did nothing wrong, but were undone by rules leaving a loophole for players to take advantage of.
Two: Kemp did not, as has been widely suggested in both the media and among the fans, take a dive to win that dangerous tackle free. Brian Taylor’s assessment in the immediate aftermath was both over-the-top and completely wrong.
Watch it closely and you’ll see that, after being tackled from behind by van Rooyen which forces his momentum forward, Kemp’s left knee jackknifes into the ground: this adds to the whiplash effect of the tackle and shunts him even more dramatically forward. It’s basic physics.
To be honest, while the tackle certainly wasn’t a dangerous one, I reckon there was a case for it being in the back!
Naturally, there will be calls to introduce another caveat into the laws regarding dangerous tackles, where if the player being tackled contributes in a meaningful way to it becoming dangerous, no free kick will be paid – the same way players who initiate high contact aren’t rewarded.
I’m not sure anyone advocating for this fully understands the consequences, though: it’s going to be utterly impossible for umpires to determine which tackles are legitimately dangerous and which ones have been manipulated, it’s not going to stop players with no other alternative from trying their luck, and lost it all of it will be the one thing we footy fans crave most from umpires – consistency.
It doesn’t always work as intended, but I’m fine with the current ruling: if you’re tackling a player, you’ve got to make damn sure their head doesn’t hit the ground. It’s the same way you’ve got to ensure your tackle doesn’t slip high, or fall into their back.
There are always going to be unlucky incidents – Maynard’s, in my view, was far more egregious than van Rooyen’s – but if we think adding another layer of complexity is going to fix the problem and not create even more of them, then we’ve got another think coming.
Collingwood’s push this week to introduce premiership rings in addition to medals as a way of honouring the extended squad of a flag-winning team is completely understandable.
Clubs and players have long felt it unfair that only the 23 that front up on grand final day are given footy’s ultimate prize, and want a way to acknowledge those that contributed plenty to get them there. A number of Pies players and officials made it very clear after winning the flag last year that John Noble, despite being dropped on finals eve, deserved recognition.
All the same, there’s no way the creation of premiership rings – at an exorbitant price if early estimates can be believed – will be anything but utterly pointless.
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A few years ago, I wrote about why giving premiership medals to an entire squad, or at least those who have played enough games, was a horrible idea. My feelings about premiership rings are even more profound: I simply don’t believe the unluckiest players to miss out on a flag, the ones their teammates specifically want to have celebrated, will get anything out of a second-class keepsake.
The significance of a premiership medal is in what it represents: that you were part of a team that won a grand final. That you got to hoist the premiership cup around the MCG, celebrate with your closest mates on the hallowed turf, get a massive cheer from your loyal fans as you walked up onto the dais to receive your prize. The feeling of exhausted elation after busting a gut for four quarters on the biggest and most gruelling stage of all to claim your prize.
Would a premiership ring have made the pain and anger Taylor Adams felt after not being selected for last year’s grand final, having not been trusted when he declared his fitness, a pain so severe he requested and received a trade at the earliest opportunity, any less intense?
Would John Noble look at a ring as anything other than a permanent reminder of that heartbreaking moment when Craig McRae told him he was no longer in the Magpies’ best 22 at the pointy end of the season after barely missing a game for four years?
The issue here is that this push for recognition of non-premiership players is being driven by the teammates of the players who missed out, not the players themselves. And that’s fair enough – they want their mates to feel part of it all, and believe they played a big role in getting the team in the position to win the grand final.
The other issue I have, similar to premiership medals, is that awarding rings to an entire squad totally dilutes their significance when you have players who made minimal contributions at AFL level receiving them thanks to the good fortune of being on the list of the team that won the flag.
If the Pies want a medal, or a ring, for Noble, then Jakob Ryan gets one too for playing half a game then getting concussed in a late-season loss to Brisbane when the minor premiership was already sealed. I think most people realise how pointless this would be, which is why I’m seeing caveats thrown around that players have to play a certain amount of games in a season to receive one – and that’s the worst solution of all, because there’s always going to be someone, like in the current situation, who just misses the cut-off.
Having premiership medals, and premiership medals alone, is fine: they are so coveted because they are the hardest prize of all to obtain. Many great champions have never claimed one, and heartbreak stories are common – they just add to their appeal.
If clubs want to honour players who watched a grand final victory from the sidelines, then there’s nothing stopping them from doing so independently. But to ask the AFL to spent thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars on the dictionary definition of a meaningless gift would be utterly, utterly pointless.
Bulldogs head coach Luke Beveridge gives his medal to the injured Robert Murphy during the 2016 AFL Grand Final. (Photo by Michael Dodge/AFL Media/Getty Images)
If you’re going to rewatch one game across the first nine rounds of season 2024, I’d highly recommend it be the one that just finished off the round.
Adelaide’s draw with Brisbane had absolutely everything you could want as a neutral supporter.
The stakes could scarcely have been higher for this stage of the season – the loser was set to be two and a half wins and percentage outside the eight – and while talk of it being an early elimination final was slightly over the top, the fact this was a veritable eight-point game between two in-form teams desperate to continue their good recent runs.
But the game that followed was a stone cold classic worth the hype. It had everything: moments of dazzling skill, chaotic brain fades, perpetual momentum swings, and a last quarter for the ages with both sides fighting hammer and tong for the precious, precious points.
It was high-scoring, but not without some brilliant defensive moments – Jack Payne’s contested mark after outpointing Taylor Walker on the last line in the final minutes the best example. At no point did either side get a lead that felt insurmountable, but at the same time both had periods where they felt in total control.
The final five minutes were finals-like, and that’s no exaggeration: both teams desperate to will the ball forward and find a score, any score, with which to take the lead.
And no – the greatness of this game is in no way diminished by the lack of a winner, and nor would it be enhanced by extra time. In fact, those desperate last 30 seconds, with the Crows fighting tooth and nail to keep the Lions at bay and Brisbane throwing the kitchen sink at their attacking 50, would probably not have unfolded with quite so much passion if both teams had had the safety net of an additional period to decide matters.
Footy rarely gets better than what went down at the Adelaide Oval. If you didn’t watch it, put it on when you get a chance this week. You won’t regret it.
It was foretold that this day would one day arrive.
The last 20 years have been pretty good for us Victorians: for the first time in the history of the VFL/AFL, both Carlton and Essendon have been consistently terrible.
The Blues won wooden spoon after wooden spoon in the 2000s and late 2010s, winning just two finals (and one of them can be excused, because it was beating Richmond in 2013 after they finished ninth in the funniest footy result of all time). The Bombers avoided those lows, but couldn’t even manage one of those peaks: September 4 this year will mark two decades since they last won a final.
I’m not sure we’ve fully realised how good we’ve had it for so many years: tolerating our Bomber-supporting friends’ brief stints of happiness when it seems like the years of suffering are at an end knowing the inevitable fall is mere weeks away, cracking brown paper bag jokes at Blues fans’ expense, and most of all, not having to hear the endless cries from the media, and on social media, about how theirs is the biggest club in the city, nay, the land.
For years, the only supporters we’ve had to worry about have been Collingwood’s: Richmond had a four-year stint of glory, sure, but you couldn’t really begrudge them jumping on the bandwagon after more than 30 years of misery. That’s why it’s hard to not be at least the tiniest bit thrilled for Bombers fans experiencing the joys of barracking for a team on the rise.
Still… this is exceptionally cruel from the footy gods. Essendon being good again? Sure, okay, it’s been long enough for them. But Carlton being good as well at the same time? In a year where Collingwood are the reigning premiers and looking like they’ve rediscovered their mojo?
It’s time to batten down the hatches, my fellow Victorians: where once the danger of the town being overrun by one of the powerhouses was pretty much only the Magpies’ domain, now it’s looking like a three in eight chance when September arrives.
And I can’t be the only one absolutely dreading the thought – and praying that it’s not MY team that gives the Bombers that first finals victory in 20 years that is feeling increasingly inevitable.
Jake Stringer celebrates a goal. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)
Random thoughts
– I’ve seen a lot of hate for the countdown clock and calls to bring back the ‘five-minute warning’ on broadcasts – am I the only one who actually likes it as it is now?
– There’s always a moment with every young player when you realise they’re going to make it. This is Alwyn Davey Jr’s.
– Marcus Bontempelli had 32 disposals, 10 clearances, 14 score involvements and kicked two goals and I genuinely left the MCG thinking he was a bit quieter than usual.
– I’m a mean, shallow bastard, but… did the Pies really need to bring out those bunches of flowers to their mums out on the ground? Couldn’t that have been done in the rooms?
– Did a witch curse Richmond over the summer? The injury toll has been catastrophic, and most have been genuinely unlucky.
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