Let’s have a look at the winners and losers of Round 22.
Not a column for those who need their Kleenex – stop sending me complaints. Your tears are like wine to me.
THE WINNERS
ISAAC HEENEY
The Sydney albino played one of the best quarters of the year on Friday night, lifting his Swans (with the help of Chad Warner) over the Magpies and all but ending Collingwood’s chance to defend their premiership.
Heeney was everywhere, winning the footy, taking contested grabs, and slotting a goal as he recaptured the form that made him the Brownlow favourite early in the year.
I’m not sure anyone has played a better thirty minutes of footy this year.
OSCAR ALLEN
It’s been a tough year for the Medium-Sized O, but there is always a silver lining.
One of those linings was the emergence of Jake Waterman as a legitimate key forward. And in the game against the Kangaroos, Oscar seized a moment of his own, with a game winner from the pocket to pinch a win on the road.
A couple of the boys at The Mongrel have been arguing for years about Oscar Allen v Aaron Naughton, and which would be the better player.
With his five goal game this week, Oscar gave a timely reminder that he is still an elite forward for the Eagles.
AARON CADMAN
It was a good weekend for emerging forwards, and with the Giants needing something special to get over the top of the Lions, it was Aaron Cadman stepping to the fore.
He kicked three final quarter goals to combine with Darcy Jones (two goals) when GWS needed someone to stand up.
Cadman has big wraps on him – being a number one pick comes with its pitfalls, but forwards take a little while, and at 20, we may have just received a glimpse into the future of the Giants forward line.
MAC ANDREW
Hero? Villain?
Both?
What a night for Mac Andrew, who did a bit of everything, brought the heat onto himself, and then stood up when the game demanded he do so.
You cannot ask for much more than the way he attacked the footy, clunked the big contested mark, and slotted a goal after the siren to give the Suns their first away win all season.
Sometimes, you can watch a game and see a boy become a man – we saw that as the 20-year-old did what the Suns have been waiting for Ben King to do for ages.
Take a bow, Mac.
THE FOG
I’m a Darcy Fogarty fan – an unabashed admirer of the Crows’ forward beast and this season has been the one that he has repaid my unwavering faith… which may have started to waver at one point, now that I think about it.
Anyway, the Crows took care of the Dogs in emphatic style this weekend, with The Fog slotting five big ones. At 24, he has been given the time to grow into the role with Tex Walker drawing all the heat, but you get the feeling Darcy Fogarty’s time to be The Man is now here.
THE LOSERS
CRAIG MCRAE
I hate when coaches make excuses and place blame elsewhere.
Described the umpiring as a circus, as it clearly didn’t go the way he wanted… this time. Was unhappy about no 50 metre penalty being paid against Tom McCartin in the final minute of the game for running over the mark, even though he coaches a team that benefitted greatly from a very similar decision early in the year when TWO Collingwood players ran over the mark against North Melbourne, and were not penalised.
But it would have been paid at the MCG, right? Basically intimating the Pies (who play how many games at the MCG?) get a pretty good run at the venue.
Enjoy September off, Fly.
AFL MEDIA
Heard anything about the ‘head high contact’ that Andrew Brayshaw made on Tanner Bruhn?
If you had tuned into the coverage the night of the game, you would have thought Brayshaw had deliberately got into position to collect Bruhn, such was the discussion about what was, in all honesty, an innocuous moment in the game. However, in an astonishing, and all-too-rare moment of common sense, the MRO decided there was nothing to see there.
All that talk – all that discussion about a possibility of a suspension, and really, there was nothing in it, just as anyone who viewed the incident could see.
I understand these blokes are there to comment on stories, but as if Geelong winning on the road and Freo now looking touch-and-go to make finals wasn’t enough of a story, they had to go for something additional.
And it was unnecessary crap.
JAKE STRINGER
I’d like to pinch a line from my fellow Mongrel, The Slugger’s Game Review of this one.
Basically, if you want to be the man, then you have to be THE MAN. And when you’re not, you have to accept the criticism that comes with it.
Agreed.
Stringer has been strutting around for years like he’s god’s gift to footy, and when the time came to deliver something, himself, The Package got lost in the mail.
He finished the game against the Suns with three behinds in the last quarter – the worst of the Bombers when it came to hitting the scoreboard.
Not the best way to get another fat contract.
MICHAEL VOSS
No venom in this one – I genuinely felt sorry for Vossy, having to coach a team that was falling apart in front of him.
And then you have the commentators saying that he and the rest of his coaching panel should be more positive when the players came to the bench…
Blokes, they were getting hammered and they just lost the best forward they’ve had since Fev was up and flying. Give the bloke a break!
Voss now has to rally the troops at Carlton in time for the last fortnight. They play the Eagles and Saints, and with their walking wounded list, nothing is certain, and finals are looking touch and go.
Got any more winners or losers?
I had Rowan Marshall on the shortlist for winners. Ben Keays, Josh Weddle, Jason Horne-Francis, Patrick Dangerfield, and Sam Taylor, as well.