Rohan Connolly of The Age offers a mid-season assessment of the 2009 AFL season, reporting that the game is in unchartered waters … never before in 113 years have we arrived at the halfway point of the season with not one but two teams still undefeated. Geelong and St Kilda in 2009 are proving not just to be a benchmark by which all AFL teams are measured, but are also setting a high point for football excellence that is going to take some matching. Their brilliance has been the story of the first half of this season. No wonder their impending round-14 clash, still nearly a month away, is already being scrutinised and analysed in the sort of detail usually reserved for grand finals.
Not that the rest of the season has become irrelevant, he writes. The traffic jam of contenders beneath the Saints and the Cats has ensured many twists and turns yet, with six teams on 6-5 records and 11th-placed Essendon only a game outside the top four. It's been fast, furious and often thrilling, a clutch of games coming down to virtually the last kick, literally in the case of Brad Johnson's post-siren miss for the Western Bulldogs against Geelong in round nine, arguably the game of the year to date.
There's plenty of competition for that tag though classics like that unforgettable Anzac Day, when Essendon came from 14 points down against Collingwood with a tick over four minutes left on the clock, rookie David Zaharakis sealing a famous win. There was the old-fashioned shoot-out at the MCG in round six, too, Hawthorn's Jarryd Roughead and Carlton's Brendan Fevola both bagging eight goals, the latter missing a chance right at the death to give his side victory. Individually, the biggest stars have shone, Gary Ablett, Chris Judd and Nick Riewoldt all in sublime form, and Cyril Rioli and Andrew Lovett wowing the crowds with their smarts and pace.
There's another key player who's played no small part in the excitement of football in 2009, too, a piece of legislation called the rushed-behind rule, already proving perhaps the best change to the rules since the introduction of a free kick for out-of-bounds on-the-full 40 years ago. Despite much pre-season hand-wringing, defenders adapted quickly to the removal of their "get out of jail free" card, with only two free kicks paid against such infringements in 88 games, and disposal efficiency in the defensive 50 having fallen only ever-so-slightly, from 84.2 per cent last year to 83.6 this season. There's a greater buzz now when defenders are pressed hard up against their own goal, tackles in the forward 50 have increased from an average of 16 to 19, and small forwards who can chase, tackle and kick goals like Rioli, Eddie Betts, Stephen Milne and Mathew Stokes have become even more valuable.
It's been great to watch, far better than many feared in March after a series of drab NAB Cup games, and after most clubs had spent plenty of time working on defensive zoning. Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade was one who believed increasingly defensive, low-scoring games could be here to stay. "I don't think this will evolve, I think we'll be stuck with this for a while," he said then. "There will be a lot of zoning and, at times, it will get ugly. There will be more possessions, more handballs and less goals."
Indeed, there have been more possessions (372 to 355), handballs (174 to 155) and fewer goals (13.6 to 14.2) so far this year compared with last, as teams have tried to pick their way through the maze that the rolling defensive zone can present. But has the football been uglier? Hardly. St Kilda and Geelong are clearly the two best defensive teams in the AFL. But they're not shabby kicking a score either, the Cats the competition's highest-scoring team, the Saints ranked third behind the Western Bulldogs. Those three happen to fill the top three spots on the ladder, all playing football that's pretty easy on the eye. Which means that if the second half of 2009 pans out in a similar vein, even supporters whose teams fall by the wayside are going to have someone else worth watching.
ROOS WANTS DEBATE ON SUBSTITUTE RULE
Sydney coach Paul Roos (pictured) says it's time the AFL had a serious look at introducing a substitute system to help cope with injuries during matches, according to The Age. "One thing today, with the amount of money, the jobs on the line whether it be coaches or players or whatever, it's probably time we need to explore it," Roos said on Wednesday at the SCG. " ... If you lose two (players early) it's almost impossible to win. I don't think anyone wants to see games decided by players injured. It's just unfair. It does happen a fair bit so I think it is time to open that debate, with the amount of money involved in footy."
Three members of the AFL's eight-man laws committee, Fremantle skipper Matthew Pavlich, Richmond great Kevin Bartlett and players' association chief Brendon Gale, have backed calls for an injury substitute rule. The substitutes rule was trialled by the league during this year's pre-season competition.
The issue has become topical following North Melbourne's woes when they were left a player short on the field late in Saturday's loss to St Kilda. The Kangaroos led early but fell away under the weight of their injury toll, eventually going down by 46 points. Coach Dean Laidley cited the match as a "prime example" of the case for clubs to be allowed injury substitutes in addition to the existing four interchange players. "If you're a coach and you lost two players in the first half like Dean (Laidley) did," Roos said " ... I think he would probably acknowledge St Kilda were just too good but there have been games that were won and lost on injury and I don't think we should see that."
Brisbane coach Michael Voss has joined Collingwood's Mick Malthouse and Fremantle mentor Mark Harvey in calling for a new rule on substitutes. If there was a widespread push for a new rule then the league would investigate the idea, AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said on Tuesday. In the pre-season trial, clubs were allowed two designated substitutes as well as six interchange players.
RICHO FUTURE DECIDED AT END OF THE YEAR
At a function for Richmond past players yesterday, the AFL's oldest current gladiator, Matthew Richardson, suggested he might not yet be ready to join their number, according to Dan Silkstone of The Age. With talk of a cleanout of senior Tigers at Punt Road next year and the departure this week of former captain Kane Johnson, Richardson's future is set to be a hot topic for the remainder of the season. Despite Richardson's advancing years and a hamstring injury that has kept him out since round six, support is strong at Tigerland for the big man to go on. Club president Gary March said on radio last weekend that he hoped Richardson would continue in 2010. But the man himself said yesterday he would not make a decision until year's end. "I've been trying to focus on getting over the injury first and foremost," 34-year-old Richardson said. "At the end of the year we'll sit down and make decisions … who's to say that I'm even going to get over this injury? I hope that I will and I'm confident that I will but these are all decisions. Whatever decision is made it will be about the best interests of the footy club. It won't be about me."
Richardson said Terry Wallace's resignation had offered the club a new start. "No one wanted to end up in this situation mid-year, where we are changing coaches," he said. "But we have to move on and be realistic … I'm confident Jade (Rawlings) will do a good job." After surgery last month, the big Tiger's rehabilitation is proceeding ahead of schedule. "I'm hoping to get out there by the end of the year and do my bit," he said.
Richardson has resumed jogging and will return to full sprinting within the next three weeks. Between two and three weeks of full training would then be needed before a match-day return. "I reckon I'm ahead of schedule with my rehab and, realistically, I've got a month of football in me before the end of the year," he said.
Richardson admitted the appointment of his 31-year-old brother-in-law as interim coach had been an interesting development but expressed confidence his personal relationship with Rawlings would be easily managed. "He has done a good job at Coburg and has the respect of the senior players." he said. "I think everyone is comfortable with the decision." Asked about Rawlings' coaching style, Richardson nominated team discipline as a focus. "It's a team game and he'll really coach that way … keep things simple; there's no point re-inventing the wheel halfway through the year." And is Rawlings capable of taking to task a brother-in-law who is three years older and vastly more decorated as a player? "Jade was the forward-line coach last year … I was treated just like everyone else," Richardson said. "Just because he's married to my sister, that's his private life, but his job is to coach and he coached me like he coached everyone else. If I deserve a bake he gives it to me. We're all big enough men to know where each other stands."
VICKERY SET TO DEBUT
To complete a week of generational change, Richmond has followed the sacking of its coach and the farewelling of a retiring former captain by yesterday announcing that its most prized 2008 draft pick will make his debut this week. Michael Gleeson of The Age reports today that Ty Vickery, the ruck and forward about whom much of the future at Punt Road is founded, will play his first AFL match against West Coast on Saturday night in a game in which the Eagles might introduce their top pick, Nicholas Natanui. The dreadlocked pair taken at pick two (Natanui) and eight (Vickery) could be pitted against one another, deflecting some attention from the fact Ben Cousins will be playing against his old side for the first time. Football manager Ross Monaghan said it was timely that Vickery was starting now, but his form had been strong in the VFL for more than a month. "He had a breakthrough game on Anzac Day for Coburg when he had eight shots at goal and he has been really consistent since then," Monaghan said. "We are obviously really pleased for Ty, we got him at pick eight because a 200-centimetre ruckman who can go forward was exactly what we have needed. He started the season a bit slowly and took a while to find his feet at senior level in the VFL, but he has really come on in the last month or so. He is still only 80 kilos but his body is strong, even though it is not the maximum size it is going to be. He has a strong body with a good work ethic, so we obviously think he is ready."
West Coast has indicated Naitanui is likely to make his debut but is yet to officially confirm the decision. If Natanui does play, it will mean that nine of the top 10 draft picks from last year will have made their debuts, with just the No. 10 pick, Adelaide recruit Phil Davis, yet to play this year.
TIGERS OF OLD WANT MALTHOUSE
There was a clear message yesterday from the legends of Richmond … get Mick Malthouse. The Age reports today that Mal Brown and Tommy Hafey were star attractions at a function to promote the 50th birthday of the club's past players' association, and were pushing for the club not to focus totally on a new-found zest for youth. Hafey raised half an eyebrow at this week's appointment of 31-year-old Jade Rawlings as interim coach. "He's obviously impressed the people who have made that appointment, because I thought there was a few people who could have taken over," he said. Though he pronounced Rawlings a "good fella", Hafey's preference for 2010 was clear. "I'd go for Michael Malthouse of all the people likely to be available," he said. "We need the best available. We've made so many mistakes in recent times. We've got to make certain we get this right."
Brown said the Tigers needed to be daring and go for an appointment that would excite the club's supporters. "Take some risks," he said. "Richmond has become, over 29 years, the beige football club. It has done nothing colourful, nothing from left field, until they got Ben Cousins." The Western Australian hard man described Rawlings as "a very fine young man", but added: "At the end of the day, Malthouse has coached Collingwood even better than he coached the Eagles, and if he's available the club have to sit down and work out where they are going."
Again bucking conventional wisdom, Hafey cautioned against a cleanout of senior players at year's end. "I wouldn't think there would have to be massive changes," he said. "The coach would need to see everybody, the new coach … before they start making decisions. I think some of them could be very, very useful."
Both wanted to see Matthew Richardson go on for another year. "He is obviously our best player," Hafey said. "And I think he probably will be next year and the year after." Brown, especially, was keen to see another year from Cousins, a player who he said "has pulverised opinion".
ADAM SIMPSON: 300 GAMES
Mike Sheahan of the Herald Sun, in feature on North Melbourne’s Adam Simpson ahead of his 300th AFL game this weekend, writes today: “When Denis Pagan saw Adam Simpson at the MCG on Monday, he said: "That bloke's been the glue that held the joint together." The former North Melbourne coach is, just like everyone else with an understanding of recent history at Arden St, a Simpson fan. The pair share a special bond: two premierships - 1996 and '99.
Simpson, who will play his 300th game for the Roos in Adelaide on Sunday, is the sole survivor from the '96 team that beat Sydney. Swan Michael O'Loughlin is the only other player left from the 42 who contested the Grand Final 13 years ago. Dean Laidley and Paul Roos both played that day, and now coach their old clubs.
Like Pagan before him, Simpson grew up a Carlton supporter, a Stephen Silvagni disciple. He was taken at No. 14 in the 1993 national draft after playing in the Northern Knights under-18 premiership team. Teammates Chris Johnson and Angelo Lekkas also went in the top 20 that year.
Simpson had played on a young gun from the Western Jets in the TAC grand final on the MCG, a fresh-faced kid named Brad Johnson. The two 17-year-old wingers in that fixture both were to play 300 AFL games. "I was really fortunate to come to a club that was on the cusp of a great era," he told the Herald Sun yesterday.
Simpson, 33, says his career has come in two distinct chapters: the 1990s, the premierships, Pagan's coaching; the 2000s and the club's struggle to stay in Melbourne and stay vibrant, under Laidley. "I was along for the ride for the most part of the '90s," he says. "Then, when the 2000s hit, you looked round and all the older blokes were going."
That's when he became a leader, spiritually and literally. He won the best-and-fairest in 2002, Pagan's last year, and was captain under Laidley from 2004-08. "It's been a tough time, but I reckon we're just starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel."
There is genuine excitement about the crop of youngsters unveiled in the past 18 months. And while there has been no real success in recent years, he is full of praise for Laidley. "He's been through everything the players have been through; he's had to deal with a lot of things outside his actual coaching role," Simpson said. "The stuff we've had to deal with, I don't think players at other clubs realise . . . it does make you a lot more rounded, I suppose." He was talking facilities, sponsorship, membership and the eternal debate about relocation.
Simpson is proud of the way the player group has survived without fracture, despite the problems. "I remember in 2006 we were 2-9 and then the players' room got burnt down. We got together and spoke about how we were going to handle the second half of the year. We got through a difficult year without ever once fracturing as a group. We were pretty proud of that. We never went into that selfish mode."
It's all about team for Simpson. In truth, he seems uneasy about joining the 300 club. About whether he belongs. "I think some players are over-rated and get spoken about way too much, and some players are under-rated and fly under the radar, and I know which one I'd rather be. "I'm actually quite comfortable to have got to where I am without too much fanfare."
Yet, like Adelaide's Tyson Edwards a week ago, he will be warmly embraced by his colleagues in the 300 Club. He is brave, tough, reliable, faithful, and knows how to find the footy. "I know I'm not as polished as some other players; that doesn't worry me. I think I've been pretty consistent and pretty durable. Probably missed (only) seven, eight, nine games, and I played 60-odd reserves games. Just get out there and do your job and hope that people say you've been reliable. That's all."
BURGOYNE OUT ‘INDEFINITELY’
The immediate future of Shaun Burgoyne is in doubt, with the Port Adelaide midfielder suffering from bone bruising to his left knee, reports Michelangello Rucci of The Adelaide Advertiser. Port is unable to predict when Burgoyne will resume in the AFL, he writes today. Port football manager Peter Rohde yesterday gave an update on Burgoyne's injury saga, which began on April 12. There was no structural damage, Rohde said. But there is no surgery or procedure available to ease the pain Burgoyne senses when he runs. Nor is there any answer for an increasingly frustrated match committee wanting Burgoyne back in its limited midfield.
SWANS, DAVIS IN FINANCIAL DISPUTE
The Sydney Swans and their 2005 premiership hero Nick Davis are in a protracted and potentially explosive dispute relating to his parting with the club last year, according to the Herald Sun. Damian Barrett reports that Davis is seeking a financial settlement believed to be about $200,000. Any payout would need to be recorded by the Swans in their salary cap. Davis' manager, Chrys Xipolitas, and AFL Players Association operations manager Matt Finnis confirmed the matter had reached the mediation stage of the official AFLPA grievance procedures. Davis' joint manager Lance Thompson and Swans football general manager Andrew Ireland yesterday claimed the issue was close to resolution after months of debate. But that was far from the case as recently as early this week, and seemed to have become the official position of the groups only as a result of the Herald Sun making it known to them it was investigating the dispute, including an explosive claim relating to Davis' final contract and which had lawyers ready to act.
The Herald Sun also believes Davis' management was initially arguing that Davis was actually contracted for the 2009 season, and that he even had an option on 2010, Barrett reports. But Thompson, Davis and Ireland yesterday said the dispute was now being negotiated purely on injury payments. Davis wants recompense for a dislocated knee suffered while playing for the Swans reserves in the local league in July last year.
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