Another week has been and gone in the world of AFL and what on paper looked like a Round filled with one-way traffic victories managed to throw up a few surprises along the way. The Gold Coast Suns knocked off the Tigers pretty convincingly despite Touk Miller’s absence, proving that the Suns maybe do have a bit of roster depth when they’re forced to not sit on their hands and watch Rowell, Miller and Anderson do it all. Will Powell, Darcy Macpherson and Charlie Ballard were all phenomenal and if they hold their form, Gold Coast might not be as screwed as we thought they were.
Another surprise upset, that shouldn’t have come as such a surprise was Port Adelaide beating St Kilda at Marvel, just as they have done the now 12 of the last 13 times the teams have matched up against each other. Jason Horne-Francis continued to prove that the booing is just water off of a duck’s back and put in another fantastic performance that will probably only be pipped by a resurgent Travis Boak for the 3 Brownlow votes.
Elsewhere, the Giants knocked off the Swans on their home deck to send the Bloods a full game out of the Top 8 since 2020. The way in which they won was pretty poor as well. The Giants kicked 4 straight unanswered goals to steal a win that looked set in stone with 10 minutes to go. The final goal, kicked by Toby Greene of all people, because of course it was, was the most damning of all, as you know, why would you have someone locking down the Giants’ most damaging forward at the game’s most critical stoppage? But to be fair, it wasn’t just that final stoppage that cost the Swans the win. It was all stoppages, as while the Swans smashed them in the centre, it was around the ground that the Giant came into their own. 3 out of those last 4 goals came from a stoppage inside their attacking 50, which highlights how easily the Swans let the game slip away.
And while we are on the topic of last-minute wins, just quickly, what is Collingwood feeding their players??? They are all robots that don’t turn on until the last quarter but my god, you could be 60 points up at 3QTR time and the Pies will get you. It’s insane.
The Good
The Cats Are Back And Be Very Scared
Not too long ago, the Cats were the Ugly in our weekly round-up. Things were looking extremely dire for the reigning Premiers. Was their time at the top over? Were they just too old? In the last month, they have answered with a resounding ‘Not a chance in hell!’. They were lucky enough to be gifted West Coast and Hawthorn on a silver platter to be played back into form. But, in the last 2 weeks, an almost 100-point victory over the Swans and a decisive win over Essendon has confirmed that Geelong are still not to be messed with. 0-3 turned into 4-3 really quick and they don’t look like they will be slowing down anytime soon. They won 16 straight last year, can they go on a similar streak this year? It is definitely a possibility.
Danger is flying, playing the best football he has since probably his Brownlow year, Blicavs is bullying people in the ruck, Isaac Smith hasn’t gone backwards since his Norm Smith performance in last year’s Granny and best of all Cameron and Hawkins have combined for 57 goals in just 7 games. That is just a scary scary stat. The Cats are well and truly back to firing on all cylinders.
They are no longer a one-man band with Jeremy Cameron carrying the team. Although, he is still putting in freakish performances, especially since 20 touches and 3 goals would be considered a slightly ‘off’ game for big Jezza these days. Tom Hawkins has returned to his best after only 3 goals in the first 3 weeks with a career-best game on the weekend, despite being 17 years deep into his career. Hawkins had already scored four goals before the first quarter had ended and had added two more by halftime. By the beginning of the final quarter, he was aiming to achieve a new personal best of scoring eight goals in the game, which he did.
The game was iced within the first 15 minutes and the Bombers never looked likely to bridge the gap that was put on them so early. The Dons look like they can potentially play finals this year, but pray they don’t meet the Cats, otherwise, their finals win drought will continue. The Crows, Tigers, Dockers, Giants and Bulldogs await in their next 5 games, all of which are winnable and there will be no surprises if Geelong head into the bye 9-3.
The Bad
The North Hype Train Has Reached The Station
A few weeks ago, I wrote that North were the AFL version of the NRL’s Dolphins. A team that captured way more magic than they had any right to and fans have every right to be hopeful about their chances this year. That didn’t last long did it?
The appointment of Alastair Clarkson, a highly successful coach with four premiership titles under his belt, was expected to change the team’s fortunes. However, apart from that magical first month, it appears that the initial hype around his appointment has not translated into immediate success on the field. In saying that, it is essential to remember that turning a struggling team around takes time. It is unrealistic to expect immediate success, and it may take a few seasons for Clarkson to implement his vision for the team. It is only due to that aforementioned hot start to the year that we all thought that miracles had been pulled off. They haven’t and it is a stark reminder that we can never get too far ahead of ourselves in life.
In the last 3 weeks, they have lost by an average of 70 points, with the side’s effort becoming more and more pathetic with every passing week. Saturday night was never going to be pretty, we all knew that. The Demons are a club that is head and shoulders above most of the competition, let alone the Kangaroos. But, the fact that you could tell in the first 5 minutes that the Roos had already rolled over was just sad. This was the sort of stuff that Calrkson was meant to nip in the bud. The days of North doing nothing but chasing tail and playing the role of a training cone were meant to be over. Unfortunately for Roos fans everywhere, they most definitely are not. Watch the Twitter video below, it sums up the effort that the North boys dished up on the weekend. It isn’t pretty.
But, let’s be real, it was always going to be a slow process, there is no quick fix. We all just got caught up in the hype. But it is over, back to the painful reality of rebuilds we go.
The Ugly
Surely Simpson Sacked Soon?
Did you like my alliteration? I am way too proud of such an obvious tagline quite honestly. But, in all seriousness, I am shocked that Adam Simpson is still employed after the tripe that the Eagles have been dishing up for the last few years. Eagles fans can provide me with the longest list of excuses possible – Injuries, Covid, hard draws, but it all remains the same, in their last 29 games, they have won a grand total of 3 times. Wow. That stat is bleak even without the excuses. The margin for those games also averages almost 50 points, so they aren’t just losing narrowly, they’re lambs to slaughter most weeks.
Simpson and the club as a whole, have done little to try and fix this, instead, like their fans, play the woe-is-me game and whip out the excuses list every time they are questioned on the team’s torrid performances.
I know the Eagles don’t really love to change their head coach on a whim, for those of you who haven’t realised, West Coast has had just 4 head coaches in the last 32 years. Malthouse, Judge, Worsfold and Simpson. Apart from Judge’s 2 season stint, all of them have had the top job for 10 seasons or more. Simpson is currently in his 10th season and the way it’s going, it could be his last. Don’t get me wrong, clearly, Simpson knows what he is talking about, in his 9 and a bit seasons, he has taken his team to a fair share of finals series and 2 Grand Finals, 1 of which he won. But 10 years is a long time to be hearing the same voice and over time it grows stale and it is time to flip a switch and change it up.
Since the Tim Kelly trade, which has most definitely backfired, they have done little to nothing to shake up their list, spin the magnets and try and figure out how to win again. That is the reason I say Simpson deserves to go. His team plays with very little structure even when they do have their best 23 on the park and their ageing gameplan reflects their ageing roster. Clearly, things are not working, that is plain as day. Radical changes NEED to be made. They can’t go down the path of a full-on rebuild, because that’s what they’re already doing and failing at pretty badly as well mind you. Could they try and poach a big star from another club? Maybe a Kozi Pickett? But would he fix their problems straight away? Hell no. The answer lies within the coach’s box. If you’re going to rebuild, do it right. Get a whole new group of faces in the system from top to bottom, including the top job.
By the way, I am not calling for Simpson’s head just because it is the IN thing right now, I have been saying it since late 2021, early 2022. You’re allowed to lose, but not by THAT much and not THAT often.
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.