Beyond The Headlines
It feels like this is a pretty straightforward game to review. GWS played largely the same game throughout, with average success in the first half (hence the two-point margin) and then the law of averages kicked in and the result straightened out after halftime. Not the most insightful or interesting way to frame anything but sometimes that’s how football matches go.
The one thing that swung the game, though, was the discrepancy between top end talent and the other guys. The name brand guys stood up for both teams. Miller and Rowell toiled in the guts. Witts and Briggs had a captivating battle in the ruck. It’s hard to distil what Lukosius did in a sentence so there’ll be more on that later, as there will with Sam Collins.
On the other side of the pitch, GWS’ household names also played to their level, but they got more out of their ‘other guys’. Greene was himself. Josh Kelly was sublime. Sam Taylor’s getting a paragraph. It was, as it has been, the contributions around them that got them over the line here. That being said, at the start of the season GWS were still working themselves out, as Gold Coast are now. Steven King’s only been in charge for two games, and look what Adam Kingsley’s done with his boys over the season.
GWS’ Newfound Versatility
Twice this season, I’ve found myself writing about GWS’ modularity and what that means for them. Watching them today, it’s become part of their identity as they’ve become a more settled 22, and that’s been unlocked by having Harry Himmelberg in defence. Himmelberg into defence opened up a spot in the forward line for someone like Toby Bedford or Brent Daniels, who were pests masquerading as wingers. That, in turn, allowed Lachie Whitfield the wing, unlocking his damaging run/carry/kick on the run, all while ensuring their defensive solidity wasn’t challenged. It also opened up air space for Toby Greene, a man who never needs heaps. It felt like a decision from Kingsley to challenge the idea that you have to have two (or three) talls, letting them run with a more traditional two talls and four pests. It’s helpful when one of those pests is Toby Greene, obviously, but still…
In doing so, the players they shifted into what seem like more natural positions retained the knowledge they learnt when they weren’t playing where they are now. Daniels and Bedford still charge up the ground. Whitfield’s more defensively aware. It’s made GWS a more capable team in more situations and that feels like a big reason for their recent success.
The Intercept-Off
At the end of the first quarter, Sam Collins had five intercept marks. By the end of the fourth, Sam Taylor had ten. These are two of the premier air traffic controllers of the AFL in a somewhat perverse head to head, with both teams signalling to opposition midfields that they weren’t to be trifled with. How said opposing midfields countered that was probably the game’s other major battleground.
Ben King was Sam Taylor’s direct opponent.
Ben King had four disposals.
He was worn like a glove. When you’re a key back, it’s expected of you that you can either shut down your direct opponent or play intercept marker, but you rarely see both. Taylor was able to do both because of the support around him, but when he got exploited, it looked like a genuine path to victory.
Lukosius was the key. He played most of the game as kind of a forward and kind of a mid, and when he could get Taylor to follow him out – and ideally Cumming as well – it left either of King or Casboult available for a contested mark against a lesser player. Idun, Buckley, that kind of guy. If that didn’t come off, Taylor’s probably still too far from home to be a real defensive threat and then the mice will play. It worked twice noticeably and led directly to two goals, but the couldn’t work often enough because their other forwards weren’t a constant enough threat to keep GWS’ back six honest as a total unit. But you can see the vision.
Collins faced an inverse of the same problem. 11 marks total, of which at least nine were intercepts. Five intercepts in the first quarter but only added four across the rest of the game. GWS figured out that going long wouldn’t help, instead keeping their eyes down and avoiding his intercept threat. Greene’s three could’ve been six, but it also shows up in the counting stats. They made their inside 50s more valuable- 15 goals from 49, or just better than one in three. Gold Coast had nine from their 53, which is about 17%. It also feels noteworthy that Collins didn’t take many uncontested grabs, which indicates he wasn’t involved in general play or build up at all. Different approaches dictated by different squads.
Who Are The Cavalry?
I watch way less VFL than I’d like, but from the naked eye it looks like there are some blokes you’d be thinking about. Gold Coast’s VFL side have the best percentage, scored the most points, allowed the second fewest, and have the two leading goalscorers. The VFL isn’t the AFL, of course, but surely there are players there who are at least worth giving a crack in their starting team?
Brodie McLaughlin and Chris Burgess have 38 and 37 goals respectively, but have combined for a grand total of zero AFL games. I’m not here to tell Steven King how to do his job, but this game invoked the horror of his namesake at times. Blooding players from the twos also incentivises the other players in the twos that there’s a pipeline from VFL to AFL. It feels like an obvious win/win from here, but that’s also probably why I’m not the coach of the Gold Coast Suns. Among other reasons.
GWS Have a Ruckman Now
This is more down to personal biases, but Kieran Briggs has flown under the radar for me this season. On the Fox call of the game, he was touted as a potential All-Australian, which sparked a mid-game rabbit hole – when was the last time GWS had an above average ruckman?
The answer isn’t never, but the answer is also kind of never. Their all time leaders in hit outs (and, accordingly, time spent as a ruckman) are Mumford, Jonathan Giles, Rory Lobb, Matt Flynn, Dawson Simpson, and Kieren Briggs. I’m on record on this very site touting my distaste for Shane Mumford, but he’s the best ruckmen they’ve ever had. Also came in late career, and his most notable contributions were pinch hitting as a part time coach between the ages of 33 and 35. Giles only played 51 games, Lobb played his best footy after leaving the Giants (and not really as a ruckman), Matt Flynn’s Wikipedia page is four sentences long. Dawson Simpson might be a man I made up for comedic effect.
The point is that GWS have had the success they’ve had without ever having a top 10 ruckman. Now they’ve got someone who at least matched Jarrod Witts, who’s in the All-Australian conversation,at least whenever he’s fit. It’s not a breakout game per se, but it shows that this team – and this club – still have another gear to click in to.
And This One’s For the AFL
If they did the TV schedule at the start of each round, this is a game that would’ve received better billing than Sunday arvo. A Gold Coast team who’ve been flirting with a maiden finals appearance all season against a GWS side who are as hot as any in the competition right now, in a match with genuine ramifications on the finals race?
That’s the stuff they’d love down at AFL House. A win here would’ve put Gold Coast level with GWS, two points back from three teams tied on 38 points. An opportunity for the AFL to have a showcase between two sides they have a vested interest in succeeding. Instead, it’s in the timeslot that’s likely to draw the least eyeballs.
Obviously that’s not how the game played out, or the Sunday slate, for that matter, but it has to be frustrating for these two teams specifically to cop the brunt of a schedule that’s based at least in part on historic prestige. I’m also not advocating for the games to be given allotments at the top of each round. That’d be ridiculous. It just seems unfair that this game, one they’d obviously push harder if given the chance, winds up relatively buried on the schedule.
In short, GWS are scary and in incredible form, but there are shades of GWS at the start of the season in Gold Coast now. If Steven King invoked his namesake today, as above, then Adam Kingsley invoked his. This performance brought to mind the ‘unbelievable chicken, awesome chips’ promised by the Canberran cult fast food chain.