We are a month into the AFL competition and I can already say that this is shaping up to be one of the most exciting years we have seen in a long time. 2022 was jam-packed enough with a down-to-the-last-day chase for the finals and a multitude of narratives overlapping throughout the season creating Drive To Survive levels of drama. I think we can top that this year.
Just look at Round 4 – some careers were kickstarted, and some looked like they were tragically coming to an end, as well as kicks after the siren, down-to-the-wire clashes, a string of large crowds despite the holiday weekend and some out-of-form teams found some normality in the way they play the game again. Again, Drive To Survive level stuff here!
Of course, I need to touch on a couple of honourable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut. Both of them come within the Easter Monday clash of Hawthorn Vs Geelong. Also, both of them, ironically surround Jeremy Cameron. For weeks, he has been the lone soldier fighting the battles in the trenches, ensuring that the Cats weren’t losing by 10 goals every week. This week, he played his usual dominant game, but the other troops in the battalion decided to chip in as well. Dangerfield was back to his brilliant best, Tom Hawkins decided to show up for the first time this year and Mitch Duncan picked up right where he left off last year and was everywhere around the ground disposing of the ball with poise and patience, something Geelong lacked in the first 3 rounds.
Sam Mitchell tried his best to stop the bleeding, but in the process, he made a critical decision that obliterated their chances of sticking with Geelong. Their most dynamic defender, captain James Sicily was put into a hard tagging role onto Jeremy Cameron. Before the tag, he had 10 touches and 2 intercept possessions, post-tag he had 4 touches and 0 interceptions, all while doing nothing to defend a man who is much bigger than him in every way. Mitchell threw something at the wall to see if it would stick and it didn’t. The floodgates only opened when the tag went on, coincidence, I think not.
The Good
Adelaide Crows Gain Some Much-Needed Momentum
Adelaide have been mostly rudderless since they were smashed by Richmond in the 2017 Grand Final, but it appears as though they have finally got things to click. The Crows that we saw on the weekend have the ability to go far in 2023. Despite their 1-3 start, I still believe that Fremantle are a finals contender this year no doubt, and a 39-point win over them is huge for Adelaide. They also managed it without two of their key players in Fogarty and Berry which speaks volumes. Izak Rankine has been the pick-up of the decade and the Suns will most certainly regret letting him go, as they have many of their previous stars. Rankine is the Shai Bolton of the Crows, a small-statured forward who can not only impact the game on the scoreboard but push up the ground, rotate into a multitude of positions and excel in all of them. Walker kicked 4 goals on the weekend, Rankine kicked 3 and Rachele also chipped in with 3. Add Fogarty and McAdam back into that forward line up next week and the Blues have a challenge on their hands.
Jordan Dawson has taken his captaincy promotion in his stride and produced yet another fantastic lead-by-example game on the weekend. He picked up 27 disposals at a staggering 96% efficiency, 13 contested possessions, 598 metres gained, five marks, six tackles and a goal to put the cherry on top. He is the man that can share the brunt of the work, instead of the Crows simply lumping everything onto the shoulders of Rory Laird, as they have done in previous years. Rory Sloane is playing some of the best football he has in years now that he doesn’t have to be the guy who directs traffic and can simply rest his old legs on the bench and produce exciting 6-8 minute patches of footy.
The next 6 weeks will define the Crows 2023 season. Carlton, Hawthorn, Collingwood, St Kilda, Western Bulldogs and Brisbane. Essentially, the Crows have the potential to do 2 things here. Go 0-6, 1-5 at best and plummet back down the table, or, they can repeat what they did on the weekend and finish 3-3 or better, thus, holding their position and proving they can play finals footy in 2023.
The Bad
Gold Coast Are In Serious Trouble
Oh, the Suns. I have always remained optimistic about their chances because the pieces are there, they always have been, but they can never seem to fit them together and see the big picture. But ultimately, their biggest Achilles heel is their overreliance on the stars.
How do teams like the Cats, Demons, Swans, Richmond etc stay so consistent? Because they are all ‘stars’. Every single player on their roster is capable of putting in a 25-touch, 2-goal game and they do, you see every other week a seemingly ‘random’ player pop up and play the game of their lives. Where is that with the Suns? It doesn’t exist. This is because they have 12 players on the field playing passenger, relying on the likes of Witts, Rowell, Anderson, Swallow, King and Miller to do just about everything. So, whenever they aren’t available via injury/suspension or they put in a poor performance the team completely falls apart.
That’s exactly what happened against the Saints.
While Miller and Anderson remained their ever-consistent selves and provided 70 touches, 18 tackles and 17 clearances between the pair of them, Rowell got neutralised, as did King. I watched the replay of the game and there was a where I was watching and thinking to myself “It’s not working, a change needs to be made somewhere.” But then I realised, there is nobody to replace them with. This is why you see these same players every week standing p, putting the team on their back and trying to claw them over the line. Unless a few other players start to put their hands up instead of sitting on them and watching from the sidelines, the Suns are doomed to finish in the bottom 4, yet again.
The Ugly
Paddy McCartin’s Career Could Be Over
What we saw on Saturday night was so incredibly sad that I feel depressed even writing this. McCartin’s resurgence was the feel-good story of 2022. He and his brother were critical components of Sydney’s Grand Final run throughout the year and it was fantastic to see them play side by side and stay injury free. We could have seen that all come crashing down before our very eyes.
Paddy McCartin went down early in the first quarter, not appearing to have had any significant trauma to the head, quite frankly, he looked like he scraped his temple along the ground at worst, yet he was out on his feet. He didn’t know where he was and appeared distressingly jelly-legged as he was helped off of the field.
I understand that this is his 10th concussion during his career. Please correct me if I am wrong, but if that is the correct number that is an incredibly worrying number. Josh Jenkins put it perfectly on SEN Crunch Time during the weekend – “We can’t quantify what it looks like for him in 10 years, in 30 years, and in 40 years.” Such little information is still known about the long-term effects of concussion, with the results and side effects just becoming worse with every new case of former athletes facing serious health issues late in life. We legitimately have no idea what these 10 concussions are going to do to his brain over the next 10, 30 and 40 years and the worst-case scenario is scary.
It is time to step in and have that difficult conversation with Paddy that could result in the boots hanging up. At the end of the day, it is up to the AFL, the Swans and of course, Paddy himself, but I personally can’t see this ending well.
If it is the end, I believe Paddy has still put together a career worthy of being proud of, despite only managing 59 games in 9 years in the system.
What did you think of the week of footy that was? Was I too harsh? Or am I bang? Comment below with your thoughts! I would love to discuss it.