Round 6 Winners and Losers

Round 6 is done and dusted and only one undefeated team remains. It will be remembered for giving us some great games, some horrible games and Joshua Bootsma.

Winners

West Coast Eagles

Winners because they are the last remaining undefeated team. Losers because their entire list is going to be out with injury by round 9.

Adelaide Crows

After round 3 the Crows made my loser list after they put in a poor performance against the Hawks in what was their first real test.  It seems we may have to re-evaluate the Crows again after they beat the previously undefeated Sydney and maintained their incredible record over the Swans.

Here is what we do know about the Crows:

• They lead the league in contested possessions, and are yet to lose the contested possession battle in any game this year.
• In Sam Jacobs they have their first quality ruckman since Shaun Rehn.
• With Taylor Walker and Kurt Tippett they have one of the most potent tall forward duos in the league. Only Tom Hawkins and James Podsiadly have combined for more goals to date.
• Patrick Dangerfield is continuing his ascent into ‘absolute gun’ territory. Rory Sloane is in the front passenger’s seat.

What we don’t know is if they have the ability to match it with the best sides consistently.  The good news is we’ll find out sooner rather than later. Their next 3 games are against Geelong, Carlton and Collingwood.

On the other hand it was a disappointing night for the Swans, who won big in the tackle and inside 50 counts but not on the scoreboard. Adam Goodes had kicked 5 goals and looked the match winner before he was sidelined in the final quarter due to injury. Speedster Lewis Jetta had a career night with 27 touches and 2 goals. The usual suspects in Bolton, Kennedy and O’Keeffe put in their usual hard nights work. The disappointment of the night though was Sam Reid, who was blanketed by Daniel Talia.

Harley Bennell

Wow. Someone needed to stand up while Gazza was out and it seems Bennell was more than happy to oblige.

Bennell followed up his 21 disposal, 3 goal game against North Melbourne in round 5 with a 37 touch, 3 goal performance in an agonising loss to Fremantle. Not many nineteen year old footballers can claim to have reached those heights. Not many of any age can.

Ryan Griffen

The Doggies lost on Friday night, but Griffen put in one of his trademark ‘just a friendly reminder that I can be really, really good’ performances. He had 33 touches, 2 goals, 8 clearances and was just everywhere.

Griffen’s very best is on the same ‘very best’ tier as the competition’s elite. The problem is how often it happens compared to the likes of Ablett and Judd. It isn’t that his other games are bad, it’s just he doesn’t grab the game with both hands, turn to his teammates and say ‘come with me if you want to live’ as often as they do. He did that on Friday night. They didn’t get the win, but they were very competitive against a much better side, and a lot of that had to do with Griffen.

Brent Stanton

I can’t wait for the next X-Men: Origins film, because I am itching to know how it is Stanton got his magnetism powers. Volunteered for a military experiment run by a general with a hidden agenda? Accidentally got locked in a chemistry lab when an experiment went horribly wrong? Taking photos for the school paper when he got bitten by something? From another planet?

The Cyril Rioli and Buddy Franklin Show

11 goals and 7 behinds between these two on Saturday night. They scored more than Brisbane, Port Adelaide and the Giants this weekend.

6 of those behinds belong to Franklin, who now boasts the awesomely inaccurate figures of 16 goals and 24 behinds. Is there protocol for fan behaviour when a player reaches the 100 behinds mark in a season?

Joshua Bootsma

Bootsma had 7 touches in his debut game. I know this because every time he touched the ball the Carlton faithful lost their minds.

It’s a funny phenomenon when fans seemingly arbitrarily choose an unheralded player for praise. Often it seems closely related to their last name (see Alan Toovey. You want that double o). It’s not something that can be forced either. It takes or it doesn’t, and on Sunday it took.

I’m impressed at how well it was co-ordinated as well. Obviously some folks decided they would cheer like crazy when he got the ball. This caught on faster than that 15 minute yo-yo phase an entire school goes through after one of those trick demonstrations in assembly. (Just my school?)

Losers

Port Adelaide’s second quarter

Ugh, what a train wreck.  Never before has a team looked like they cared less. The phrase ‘thoroughly outplayed’ doesn’t do the situation justice, as it implies Port Adelaide gave their all and was just outclassed.

What took place was the closest thing to a training drill you are likely to see during an AFL match. Port Adelaide would have had a better shot if they assembled a group of people who had never heard of football, because at least they would have run around a little and screamed ‘what on Earth is going on?’ I don’t think a single Port Adelaide player said anything, and they certainly didn’t do anything. At one stage Richmond had 15 inside 50s in a row.  Port should be thankful they were only playing the Tigers, because if they had put that performance in against one of the competition’s best then they could have been down by 100 at halftime.

Tom Harley (who won’t cover for Brett Kirk again)

Those who have watched Saturday afternoon footy will have come across the Brett Kirk boundary rider experience at some stage (if not, this will tell you everything you need to know). He wasn’t at this weekend’s Geelong v Melbourne game as his wife was due to give birth to, as Hamish McLachlan made clear, a “boy or girl”. I for one am glad he cleared that up and made the possibilities clear. The prospect of welcoming a new life into the world also gave the commentary crew the required license to talk about all things babies, wives and generally everything other than the football.

In his absence Tom Harley took the position on the boundary. The rest of the Saturday afternoon commentary crew were eager to make him feel comfortable in the new role. So much so they called him ‘Tom Hawkins’ as they cut to him on the boundary.

Though back to Brett Kirk. Given his very Zen approach to commentary I found myself pondering what the Kirk coaching experience would be like. I imagine it would play out along these lines.

“Hey coach. What position am I playing today?”

“Think not of what position you play on the field, but rather what position you play in life”

“….. Back Pocket?”

“I cannot give you all the answers”

“How about a hint?”

“Follow your heart. For if your heart is pure, it shall never lead you astray”

*17 players go to full forward*