Ah, Round Seven… when we truly start to sort the class from… the rest. As always, Gab Rossi has had his ear to the ground and his eyes on the footy as he brings to you the ten things he learnt after this weekend’s round of footy.
- The Power have the wood over the Saints
It pays to be a student of the game with a knack for keeping tabs on the recent records between the clubs playing off in each round when deciding which way to tip. Sitting comfortably on my couch for Friday night’s game between St Kilda and Port Adelaide, it wasn’t until late in the third quarter with the Power slightly ahead on the scoreboard that I learnt St Kilda had only managed to win one of their previous 12 encounters. The other fact that could have served me well in terms of deciding who to tip in the Round Seven opener was Port Adelaide’s last unsuccessful trip to Marvel Stadium was way back in Round 22, 2019 where they were bundled out of finals contention in a big loss to the Kangaroos.
Even with this knowledge, I may have still gone with the Saints who have been really good this year, but it certainly would’ve made that decision a lot more dubious. And so it was to be that the Power came to play and walked away with an impressive seven-point win even with a slow start trailing by three goals at quarter time.
You can see young gun Jason Horne-Francis seems very much at home playing with the Power. He was one of Port’s best, but they had a pretty even contribution across the ground and appeared to have that little more polish than the Saints on the night. A win like this is a credit to the coach who came to this game with a clear plan. He’d be delighted in the manner his players executed it, as well as the way they stood up late in the game with a desperate St Kilda coming at them. Remarkably, this puts both teams on 5-2 for the year which is something nobody would’ve predicted with any confidence. Looking at the next two games for the Power, they have a huge clash against a tough Bombers outfit at Adelaide Oval followed by the Kangaroos at Blundstone Arena. The prospect of being 7-2 with a good performance next week is real. It’s a massive turnaround from where they looked like they were heading after being 1 win from the first three games.
The Saints have the Kangaroos next week followed by what might be a tight game against the Crows in Adelaide. They’ll be ruing their two narrow losses and will be pushing hard to try and keep their momentum going with the memory of being in a very strong position midway through last year before the collapse.
- The Lions are hard to beat at home but need to improve on the road
A quick look at the Brisbane Lions through last year and into this season will show you that their form at the Gabba is a fair way from their performances on the road. Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Brisbane have played a total of 15 games at the GABBA and have notched up 13 wins. Contrast that with just nine wins out of the 17 games they have played at other venues. I guess this is hardly a revelation as most sides will benefit from a home-ground advantage, but with a crunch game coming up this week in Melbourne against the Blues, another poor showing there against a side vying for a finals berth will not only see them slipping back into the middle pack, but the disparity in form between their home and away games will again be brought into question. We saw their beginning to the season being thrashed by Port Adelaide in Round 1 at Adelaide Oval and losing to the Bulldogs at Marvel in Round 3, whilst Round 2 and Round 4 saw them beat Melbourne and Collingwood respectively at home highlighting just how much of a difference there really seems to be.
Lachie Neale is looking somewhere near his best right now, so hopefully he can bring that to Marvel on Friday night, and despite the good win, Charlie Cameron was held to just two goals. One gets the feeling that Carlton will need to keep these two under control to have a chance of taking the points.
I’m starting to believe the situation at Fremantle is dire. A quick look at their next month of games suggests they may hit the halfway mark of the season with three wins at best, a far cry from where they were at this stage last year. They look set to take the biggest tumble of any side this season and it’s a little puzzling as to what has gone wrong. They just don’t seem to have the competitive edge to go with most teams. With games coming up against Hawthorn, Sydney, Geelong and Melbourne, I’m afraid there’s more pain to come.
The Dockers found a way to hit the scoreboard last year but they now look like they’ve reverted to their old ways of being a low-scoring side that relies on defence. Sadly they’re also conceding scores at the other end. I knew there was an issue when they lost at home to the Kangaroos in Round 2. I don’t know if they can turn this around. And the coaching team don’t really seem to have a clue how to fix their problems right now.
- If you hate Toby Greene, you’re not a true football lover
There are all sorts of characters in AFL football, and many of them polarise the fans. Jason Akermanis immediately comes to mind as a prime example. Most admired his immense talent while rolling their eyes at his antics. Whilst I wouldn’t put Toby Greene’s demeanour in quite the same flamboyant class as Aker, the man’s prodigious talent is on par although the reasons he is disliked by many may vary slightly. I reckon it could stem from those incidents where he would stick his foot out dangerously in marking contests. The perception is that he is dirty on the field, but it’s also his demeanour I think that rankles many.
He does come across as that annoying little weasel in the school playground who’ll get in your face at lunchtime, and boy does he have a face you just want to slap! But the man can play. He’s a genuine star. And you won’t get a clearer example of a game being won off one man’s boot this year than this one. He kicked two of the final four goals of the game including a freak soccer from a tight angle and the matchwinner with just 42 seconds left on the clock. He willed his team over the line as a good captain does, and now their season has a pulse.
Sydney looked to have this game in their keeping leading by 24 points 12 minutes into the final term. They seemed very much in control of the game and none of us saw the Giants’ revival coming, and seemingly neither did the Swans’ coaching box. Sydney now find themselves in a very shaky position sitting in 11th position with a 3-4 record. They would’ve been hoping for a season of redemption after their horror Grand Final performance, but they’re now looking like an ordinary team that have really beaten no teams of note. Their victories have come against the Suns, Hawks and Tigers. It’s far from a hopeless scenario, but they are in genuine danger of slipping back further and really don’t look strong against the better teams so far. Next week they take on the Pies in Melbourne. They may be able to bank a couple of wins after that against the Dockers and Kangaroos, and then they face Carlton at the SCG. They’ll need to win 3 of their next 4 to keep their season alive I feel. Tough times ahead, and this was a bad loss.
- The Bulldogs were the first team not to activate their sub this year
I’m not sure I’m a huge fan of this sub-rule. Why not just extend the bench by one and be done with the BS? I’m fairly certain that most coaches would be happy with that, not to mention the ridiculous rule where they need to omit a player first before renaming said player as the sub on game day. That almost seems petty.
But, for what it’s worth, in every game this year, the sub has been activated. That is, of course, until this one. The poor bloke to miss out on some game time was Toby McLean. I wonder if other sides will follow suit moving forward.
As for the Bulldogs, they were troubled by the Hawks who last week were referred to as plucky while this week they’ve been described as gallant. It all means the same to me, and that is that they’re not a great side who get plaudits for not losing by too much. Bontempelli celebrated his 200th game with a 29-point victory with Naughton booting four in a solid game. They head to Manuka Oval next week to take on the Giants followed by a crunch game against the Blues in Round 9.
Hawthorn are typical of younger sides in a rebuild phase who often go with sides early and eventually fall away late. In recent weeks they’ve come very close to a win without succeeding, so maybe their second win for the season isn’t too far away. Who knows? It might even come next week against Fremantle in Perth, but if that were to happen, I daresay the recently built Optus Stadium may fall into disrepair after the Dockers fans have a meltdown should that actually occur. The Hawks will definitely see that game as an opportunity, and rightly so. Will Day is in great form with 30 touches and a goal. Hopefully Mitch Lewis can step up after being wayward with 1.4 in this game. The Hawks midfield were on top in the first half. They’re not playing terribly. It just needs to be sustained for longer. I think the patience in Sam Mitchell may be rewarded in time.
- The Demons should’ve invoked the mercy rule
The halftime scoreline in Saturday night’s clash between Melbourne and North Melbourne made for some pretty hard reading, especially if you’re a Roos fan. The margin was already at 66 points after the Demons banged on the first six goals of the game. The margin had blown out to three figures in the final term before the Kangaroos kicked the final three goals of the match to avoid the humiliation of a 100+ point loss. It’s little comfort though, as North Melbourne look well off the pace now after their two surprising early wins.
One positive is they have unearthed a genuine star in Harry Sheezel. He dragged in another 30 touches and is a real standout for the Kangaroos. He seems a very humble lad with a good head on his shoulders, but I wonder if North Melbourne’s lack of success in the present will see him being offered the world to go to a destination club? Maybe watching Horne-Francis copping the ire of opposing fans for what they feel was his show of disloyalty may dissuade him from going down that path, but we all know he will be targeted. Perhaps the prospect of being under the great Alastair Clarkson in his development phase might also keep him at Arden Street.
After thumping the Kangaroos by 90 points, the Demons now boast the highest percentage in the competition and find themselves up near the top of the ladder once more. Perhaps many feel that is their rightful place, but they have shown some vulnerability at times this year. Their next four weeks should see them bank another three or more wins which will set them up nicely for a tilt at the big one. Clayton Oliver (37 touches) and Christian Petracca (35 touches) dominated play and will probably cost each other a Brownlow medal as they continually make the umpires’ job difficult to know who to give the three votes to. The Demons finished the game with 22 majors from 12 different goalkickers. It was a procession akin to a training drill in many ways. North Melbourne also had a few injuries during the game which made life even more difficult, the most notable being the youngster Comben who appears to have a serious leg fracture which will require surgery. The last thing the Kangaroos need right now is a long injury list.
- Curnow’s not ready to surrender the Coleman to Cameron just yet
It was obvious early that Charlie Curnow might be in for a big night. The undermanned West Coast defence had Tom Barrass looking after Harry McKay which meant the job of trying to keep Curnow under control was left to the less experienced 44-gamer in Josh Rotham in the absence of the injured star Jeremy McGovern. By three-quarter time, Charlie had matched his previous best with seven goals and a change was made with Barrass going to him in the last quarter. He finished with nine and there were a few fleeting chances at a tenth agonisingly passing him by.
Coming into this round he had slipped behind Jeremy Cameron by six goals in the Coleman race. After this round the two are tied on 30 in what potentially could be a season where we see, for the first time in a long time, a player kick 100 goals.
Whilst Blues fans won’t be getting carried away with what was a 108-point win against a team that has been decimated by injury for the past two years, they’ll no doubt draw comfort in the merciless manner they played throughout the four quarters, particularly the final term which saw them boot 9 goals in a strong finish. Blues fans would have to cast their minds back to Round 1 in 2011 for the last time they won by a 3-figure margin. Even though we know the Eagles are well below their best, you can understand why Carlton supporters enjoyed this one. The Blues have a horror stretch over the next six weeks. They’ll be doing very well to win three or four of those. The first test is against Brisbane at Marvel this Friday. Based on their form from Round 5 & 6, procuring wins during their tough run seemed questionable, but perhaps after this huge win, they may have regained some confidence. Carlton were once that lowly bottom-dwelling team that would play teams in slumps back into form. Thankfully this might be a case of the Eagles playing Carlton back into form after two mediocre performances. Time will tell.
- Our worst fears about the resurgence of Geelong have been realised
If you cast your mind back to just four weeks ago, you would’ve seen the Geelong Football Club sitting stone cold motherless last on the ladder after a humiliating loss to the Suns and suffering the indignation of being the sole team who hadn’t chalked up a win for the year. Things weren’t looking the best, and the usual talk of dynasties coming to an end were running rampant through media circles. I’m sure most of us knew the Cats would get back on the winners’ list soon enough, and they most certainly have in emphatic fashion. The question still centred on who they had beaten, as all the sides they had won games against are sitting outside the 8, but this could arguably be the first genuine scalp they’ve taken for the year.
The Bombers have been pretty good, so to come out and put 6.2 on the board before they had troubled the scorers sent an ominous message to the rest of the competition. Interestingly, Tom Hawkins only managed three goals in those first three losses but has booted 19 goals in the last four weeks including a career-high eight on Sunday. Jeremy Cameron got to play second fiddle to Hawkins for a change, but the two of them on fire will provide plenty of headaches for opposition defences for the remainder of the year. In his 17th season approaching his 35th birthday, there’s still no imminent sign of the end for the Tomahawk.
Essendon got jumped by a very good Geelong team on Sunday. After the initial onslaught they fought hard and competed well, but could never really get inside that 4+ goal buffer that the Cats enjoyed for most of the day. It was exciting to see Sam Weideman finish with five goals in what was his best game for his new club. We’re hoping to see him flourish with Essendon after struggling to find his feet with Melbourne. This will give him more confidence moving forward. Jake Stringer is in good form as well kicking 4 goals. Essendon’s midfield is functioning well under Brad Scott and Darcy Parish had another 38 touches in a solid performance. It was a 28-point loss in a high-scoring game in the end, and the Bombers will no doubt rue their sluggish first quarter. However, the reality is they’ve now lost two in a row and their grip on the Top 8 is slipping. Next week doesn’t get any easier for them either as they head to Adelaide to play the in-form Power. That could be one of those 8 point games people talk about.
- It’s official: Richmond have a Marvel Stadium curse
Damien Hardwick may be regretting that time he expressed his disdain for Tigers home games being played at Marvel Stadium. In the last two seasons, the Tigers have failed to win a game at the Docklands venue, although they’ve only played there four times during that period. They lost to St Kilda there in Round 3, 2022, and drew with the Dockers in Round 19 of that same year. However, in Round 18 last season, the Tigers handed the bottom-placed North Melbourne the second of their miserly two wins for the year at Marvel. Whilst the Tigers have not had their best year this season, most of us believed they would end their run of four-straight losses against the Gold Coast Suns this week who have played some good footy this year but haven’t really impressed away from Metricon.
It wasn’t helped by Richmond’s wastefulness in front of goal, but it does seem inexplicable that the Tigers really don’t seem to enjoy their alternate home ground. It seems like the Tigers, for now anyway, are under some sort of hoodoo when playing at Marvel. Or maybe they’re just not very good right now?
For the Suns, the win included another good day for Ben King who finished with four. Gold Coast’s improved form of late is due in part to the return of their captain Jarrod Witts. If you don’t see many Suns games this year, please do yourself a favour and take the time to watch one to see what Witts brings to the ruck contest. His hitouts to advantage are as good as anybody going around right now. They’re a much better side when he’s there. The other notable part of this win was that it was achieved without the brilliant Touk Miller who will be out for an extended period with a knee injury. The Suns will have their work cut out for them if they want to play finals, and that starts with a tough assignment against the Demons next week, but this win will mean a lot to the club. As for the Tigers, they came from a fair way back last year and played finals, but having lost five in a row and sitting in 16th place on the ladder, it might be time to stick a fork into the Tigers for this year. I think they might be done, and there may be a player or two that may have played one season too many.
- Seriously Collingwood? This isn’t funny any more
With Adelaide clinging to a seven-point lead, 27 minutes into the final quarter, John Noble goaled on the run from 45m to bring the margin back to just one point. What followed from that was a frantic final two minutes which saw a rushed behind level the scores followed by a Steele Sidebottom set shot for a behind which put the Pies ahead for the first time in the entirety of the match with just 23 seconds left on the clock.
They did it again, folks!
And nobody watching the game at home would’ve been surprised at all. Snatching victory is their specialty. I don’t think Brad Pitt could break as many hearts as this mob. Perhaps a strategy some clubs may adopt to avoid this scenario in the future is to allow Collingwood to take the lead earlier in the game. This may throw their mindset out of whack enough for them to lose their mojo and possibly the game. It may seem silly, but none of the conventional methods seem to be working, so it’s worth a shot I say.
As far as Brownlow watch goes, while Nick Daicos was solid in this game with 27 touches, he wasn’t the standout player he has been in recent weeks.
The Crows will be bleeding from this loss. Not only did they lead for 99.5% of the match, they kicked 7.16 in a wayward display around goals with Josh Rachele the worst offender booting just 4 behinds. Jordan Dawson lead the way again with 30 touches but was clearly in shock after the final siren. If Adelaide won this game there would have been 6 teams at the top of the ladder all with 20 points. That would’ve been something else, and may have opened up the season like never before. The Crows are still clinging to eighth spot with their four wins and take on the Cats in Geelong followed by the Saints at Adelaide Oval in Round 9. They really needed this win based on what they have coming up, and a couple more losses could really derail their season. It will be interesting to see how they respond. I believe the Crows have already exceeded expectations, but I’m sure they won’t be satisfied with merely doing that.
- How nice is it to see full forwards kicking big bags?
Having grown up on footy in the 80s and 90s, watching full forwards such as Jason Dunstall and Tony Lockett kicking bags of goals on a regular basis was the norm. In fact, in both of those decades, the Coleman Medal winner kicked in excess of 100 goals on no less than seven out of those ten year blocks. This centred around full forwards such as the aforementioned who would spend most of their time on the field close to goal and were often the focal point of many attacks. These days, it’s almost as though the traditional full forward position is a thing of the past and sides prefer to be more unpredictable with their forays forward opting for multiple target options. It sounds fair and reasonable, but how much fun was it watching Charlie bag nine on Saturday night and desperately trying to get his tenth late in the game? It certainly made for interesting viewing in an otherwise lopsided and potentially boring game.
And we saw Tom Hawkins with six goals on the board by half time then finishing with eight in a career-best haul at almost 35 years of age no less! Since the turn of the century, the 100-goal mark has been surpassed on just two occasions. Fraser Gehrig kicked 103 goals in 2004, and Lance Franklin 103 in 2008. This means it is coming up to 15 years since it has happened, and recent winners have been as low as 58 (Harry McKay in 2021) and 64 (Charlie Curnow in 2022). Tom Hawkins won the medal with 49 in 2020, but that was a shortened season.
As stated earlier in this article, both Curnow and Cameron could give that 100 goal mark a shake. After seven games they are sitting on 30 goals apiece, averaging a little over four goals per game. If they stay fit and keep up this trajectory, they’ll go awfully close. But even if they hit 80 or 90, that’s already a lot higher than it has been and I would enjoy seeing that. Kicking big bags of goals is in the same league as the high-marking aspect of our game. It’s good to see it make an appearance from time to time.
