‘They are nowhere’: Glaring issue Cats must fix; man behind AFL ‘Disneyland’: Talking Pts

It’s early in the season, but Collingwood’s form on and off the field is drawing attention from the footy world.

The umpire dissent rule, meanwhile, is back in the spotlight.

The big issues from Round 3 of the 2023 AFL season analysed in Talking Points!

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‘A THING OF BEAUTY’: HOW PIES COACH INSPIRED AFL’S ‘DISNEYLAND’

As Collingwood walked off the MCG turf on Friday night after their third straight victory, five-time All-Australian Garry Lyon on Fox Footy noted the massive smiles on the faces of every player.

Brownlow Medallist Nathan Buckley – who coached a lot of those Pies players – pointed out those same smiles were blatant when the players emerged from the race before the first bounce.

Yes, winning games helps. But the infectious energy and positive vibes at Collingwood after three rounds are impossible to ignore.

“People often say Disneyland is the happiest place on earth … But the happiest place on earth Monday to Friday is Collingwood’s headquarters – and then on Saturday’s or Sunday’s or Friday nights, it’s the MCG when the Pies are playing,” triple All-Australian Nick Dal Santo told Fox Footy Live.

“Their balance between attack and defence — the way they celebrate and embrace and the challenge of both getting the ball off the opposition, then try and ram it right back down their throat and score — it is a thing of beauty at the moment.”

The Magpies on Friday night improved their record to 3-0 for the first time since 2011 thanks to a 14-point win over a depleted Richmond outfit.

Coincidentally, Collingwood’s sheer delight this season has been reminiscent of the merry scenes at Richmond during the club’s premiership era. Coincidentally, Magpies senior coach Craig McRae was an assistant coach at the Tigers during that time.

Star Magpies recruit Tom Mitchell post-game said “enjoyment” was a major theme among the playing group. And McRae was driving it, encouraging his troops to play with a no-fear attitude.

“‘Fly’ probably leads by example. He wants us to make mistakes,” Mitchell told Fox Footy. “There’s no pressure to go out there and make mistakes – he encourages them.

“It just lightens the anxiety and the mood within the group because we know we’re going to make them at some point and we almost laugh about it and move on to the next contest.”

A humble Buckley, who parted ways with the Magpies midway through the 2021 season, said McRae’s approach to coaching suited Collingwood’s player group.

“Their attitude looks to be around enjoyment. Obviously winning helps that, but I mean they’re laughing and carrying on before the game,” Buckley told Fox Footy. “That was exactly what Richmond were when they were winning flags.

“The connection among this group has been established for a number of years … but Craig McRae’s nature is even a stronger fit for this Collingwood group and has taken them to another level again, especially taking away the anxiety to make mistakes.

“What he does naturally is probably what I and we did a little earlier unnaturally. He’s just taken it to another level.”

McRae’s ex-Brisbane teammate Jonathan Brown said the Magpies coach’s style was identical to how he approached footy as a player.

“It helps when its authentic from the leader. That’s ‘Fly’s’ personality. He’s a fun, loving guy who‘s a very close, very caring, very connected person. He coaches that way. He was big on that when he first started the role that he wanted to be authentic,” Brown told Fox Footy.

“He has coached to his personality – and I think that shines through with the players.

“(Assistant coach) Justin Leppitsch is a very jovial character. So before games he was always mucking around and annoying the hell out of you in the locker room – and Fly’s like that too.

“These senior leaders at that club, they permeate through the group.”

As noteworthy as McRae’s coaching style is, his demeanour when addressing the media – and, in turn, Collingwood’s fans – is just as impressive.

Asked how much improvement his 3-0 Magpies had left in them, McRae told reporters post-game: “We don’t live in a finished space. There’s no cap on it.

“We live in a growth mindset. I’d like to think our best days are tomorrow. Why would we put a ceiling on ourselves or look for perfection? It’s a word I actually don’t like, trying to be ‘perfect’, because it means you’re finished.

“We’re far from that. We’ve got a long way to go.”

Yes, flags aren’t won in the first month of the season. But the Collingwood verve at the moment is rare in AFL circles.

So embrace it while you’ve got it, Collingwood fans – because your coach and players certainly are.

‘CHANGED THE CLUB’: WHY BOLD LIST MOVES HAVE CROWS PRIMED TO BE ‘SERIOUS PLAYER’

It seems Adelaide’s bold list moves are finally starting to pay off.

The AFL world has kept a close eye on the Crows’ off-season strategy ever since the exodus of players in the late 2010s.

With Jake Lever, Mitch McGovern, Charlie Cameron, Josh Jenkins, Hugh Greenwood and Alex Keath all being traded to rival clubs, the Crows have prioritised the draft over the past five years to help rebuild the club.

Some of those draft decisions, though, have drawn criticism, with several of their first-round draftees struggling to make an immediate impact in the AFL.

But some of those maligned players are starting to emerge at the top level, while their two big trade recruits of the past two off-seasons are clearly having an impact at West Lakes.

Riley Thilthorpe (Pick 2) and Luke Pedlar (Pick 11), who were taken by the Crows with their first two selections in the 2020 draft, kicked eight goals between them in Adelaide’s breathtaking Saturday night Showdown win over Port Adelaide. Thilthorpe booted an equal career-high five majors, while Pedlar showed off his powerful left boot to finish with three goals.

Both players have had their injury concerns over their first few seasons on the Crows’ list. And when they had played, they’d been inconsistent.

But Thilthorpe and Pedlar’s respective displays on Saturday night should not only cement their spots in Adelaide’s best 22, it should’ve given Crows fans signs they’ll be serious players for the club over the coming years.

Then there was Josh Rachele – the Pick 6 from the 2021 draft that’s quickly becoming one of the most exciting maximum-damage players in the AFL. Of the 19-year-old’s 18 disposals on Saturday night, eight of them turned into a Crows score – including a goal for himself.

Even the much-maligned Chayce Jones, who was taken with Pick 9 in 2018, was crucial after being subbed into the game late in the third quarter, booting one goal from nine disposals.

And in his first Showdown, Max Michalanney – the Crows’ father-son pick from the first round of the 2022 draft – rose to the occasion in the third quarter by attacking a contest with Power forward Todd Marshall without fear or failure and copping a heavy hit. Michalanney would go on to finish with 12 disposals, a kicking efficiency of 100 per cent, five tackles, five intercepts and four score involvements.

The Crows didn’t use all of their early draft selections, trading away first-round picks in order to acquire Jordan Dawson from the Swans (2021) and Izak Rankine from the Suns (2022).

On Saturday night, new captain Dawson claimed his second Showdown Medal, while Rankine was stiff not to win it himself with a breathtaking four-goal, 17-disposal display.

After closely monitoring Rankine’s progress across 48 games in three seasons with the Suns, the Crows pounced with a blockbuster trade centred around the club’s Pick 5 that landed the gifted forward-midfielder they had long coveted.

His four-goal effort against the Power was his best in Adelaide colours and came off the back of a two-goal performance in the Round 2 defeat by Richmond.

Rankine’s two fourth-quarter goals were breathtaking. First a snap after one of the cleanest crumbs you’ll see before a classy set-shot goal on the siren.

“Hand to foot in an instant. You’ve got him covered then you haven’t … What a wizard,” dual premiership Kangaroo David King told Fox Footy.

“This guy has changed the football club.”

Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy added: “He’s going to drag a lot of players through the gate at Adelaide Oval”.

The loss to the Tigers was Rankine’s first game for his new club at Adelaide Oval, and his 50th career match, which coach Matthew Nicks suggested had carried some extra mental baggage for the 22-year-old.

“When the pressure was on, he stood up so that’s why he went so high in the draft,” Nicks said.

“You could just see it in his eyes before the first bounce that he was ready to go. He came out of the blocks pretty fast.

“Along with Jordan Dawson, they’re a couple of acquisitions that have really taken us to the next level.”

The Crows were one of the hardest teams to get a read on before Round 1. But if they’d kicked more accurately in the first two rounds – 12.18 in the Round 1 loss to the Giants then 10.16 in the Round 2 loss to Richmond – there’s every chance they could’ve been 3-0.

Still, the 2023 season still seems like it’ll be another year of growth for the Crows, with any finals appearance a clear bonus. But the signs are there they can be a finals challenger as early as next year.

“That man there (Nicks) is a serious AFL coach,” King said.

“I know when everything aligns talent wise, the system is there, it’s embedding into this group … They are a serious player in the years to come.”

LIONS NOW FACE UNTHINKABLE SELECTION PROSPECT AS ‘NO. 1 CONCERN’ EMERGES

A shocking Round 1 loss to Port Adelaide followed by a breathtaking statement win over Melbourne — and then a mightily frustrating and sloppy loss to the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.

If the first three rounds are anything to go by, Lions fans are in for one heck of an unpredictable rollercoaster ride in 2023.

And the most unpredictable aspect about Brisbane at the moment is its forward line – a group likened to a “box of chocolates” by dual premiership kangaroo David King on Fox Footy.

The Lions had 48 inside 50s for their match against the Western Bulldogs but managed just 7.11 as the Dogs ran out 14-point winners.

Joe Daniher was wayward, booting 0.4 — but he wasn’t the only culprit. In fact outside of Jack Gunston – who booted three third-quarter goals to keep Brisbane in the game – Brisbane’s entire forward line played well below its best.

Eric Hipwood and Charlie Cameron kicked just 2.2 between them, while Lincoln McCarthy and Zac Bailey had very little influence on the game.

“Their forward 50 is a box of chocolates right now,” King told Fox Footy post-game.

“You’ve got no idea what you’re going to get out of Daniher. You’ve got no idea what Eric is going to do week to week. They throw the ruckman forward as an act of desperation. The smalls that are meant to do the work are hit and miss – Charlie (Cameron) was well beaten tonight, we waited for (Zac) Bailey to get himself into the game and it didn’t really happen.

“So if you’ve got no security of surety with what you’re going to get with your key posts, how can you build an offence?”

Triple Coleman Medallist Jason Dunstall was particularly critical of Daniher and Hipwood. Dunstall said Daniher had “lost his confidence” kicking for goal and that Hipwood was “relying on athleticism” and still had a long way to go to improve his forward craft to fulfil his potential.

Ex-Bomber Daniher was recruited to the Lions ahead of the 2021 season after a wretched run with injury. He kicked 46 goals in his first season at Brisbane then 39 last year.

Hipwood has been a consistent goalkicker for Brisbane since joining the club ahead of the 2016 season. He’s kicked at least 24 goals in each of his previous six seasons – but nothing more than 37 majors, which came in 2018.

“He (Hipwood) needs to learn a bit more about where to position himself, how to get involved in more contests because he had no impact, Joe had no impact,” Dunstall told Fox Footy. “You play too many games like that, it’s too much pressure on the other players.”

The Lions in December stunned the AFL world when it announced Hipwood, 25, had added an extra six years to his deal, tying him to the club until at least the end of the 2029 season. It was the biggest contract offered by the Lions in almost three decades, after Alastair Lynch signed for a whopping 10 years back in 1994.

Daniher, 29, is contracted to the Lions until the end of 2025.

Both key forwards are on long-term Lions deals. But amid the Lions’ commitment, King asked on Fox Footy: “Do you have to choose between one of Daniher and Hipwood (playing in the same team)? It seems you can’t have both.”

Dunstall replied: “I reckon they must be having this discussion at different stages at Brisbane’s match committee. They must be sitting there asking: ‘Can we play them both?’ I’m sure they’re asking them to do certain things, but maybe they’re just not capable of doing it.”

Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna said the Lions’ small forwards shouldn’t escape criticism as it’s “not necessarily natural for them to get to work defensively, so they’re relying on kicking goals”.

But King said Daniher’s inconsistency and Hipwood’s questionable workrate wasn’t helping the smalls’ situation.

“If you’re not in a great spot for a reference point … then how can you crumb? How can you crumb to Eric Hipwood, who’s not even charging back to goal, not even resetting? You’ve got no hope,” King said.

“I think it’s a real concern. It’s probably Chris Fagan’s No. 1 concern.”

There’s still so much time for the Lions to flip their fortunes. Heck it’s only Round 3.

But there’s big issues to fix. And four-time Power best and fairest winner Kane Cornes on Friday morning declared on SEN Breakfast: “I’ll say it, they can’t win the flag with Daniher and Hipwood.”

‘NOTHING LIKE THE TEAM THAT WON THE FLAG’: CATS’ 47-YEAR FIRST AND RECORD STOPPAGE LOW

The Cats are depleted and, more pressingly, winless.

In fact, Geelong on Sunday became the first reigning premier in 47 years to start a season 0-3 and the first ever to finish both winless and bottom of the ladder at the end of three rounds.

Granted North Melbourne still made the Grand Final in 1976, but still no club wants to be winless after three rounds. And the last time the Cats lost their opening two matches (2015), they didn’t make finals.

The Cats’ loss on Sunday was their first to Gold Coast since 2017 and it was their lowest-ever score against Gold Coast.

“It’s been a year that no one was expecting from Geelong so far,” triple premiership forward Cameron Mooney told Fox Footy. “They’ve got a lot of work to do.

“From a distance, does their fitness look up to scratch? Are they struggling to run out games?”

Remarkably, the Cats scored just 0.1 from stoppage – their lowest ever return since Champion Data has been recording that score source.

“That is phenomenal,” Brereton said upon learning of the statistic.

While the Cats were dominated around the ball, Mooney said it was Geelong’s inability to stop the Suns’ ball movement – a flaw across the first three weeks they still haven’t addressed – that hurt most on Sunday.

“Defensively they’ve been poor with the opposition ball movement all year,” Fox Footy’s Cameron Mooney said.

“We’re only into Round 3 I know, but it’s something they need to fix up.

“Today is a perfect example of it. The way the Suns have moved the ball has been exceptional, they just can’t finish it off.”

They lost defender Sam de Koning to a nasty head clash early in the third term and couldn’t cover his absence down back.

Brereton said too much was left to star Tom Stewart in his first game back from a knee injury.

“They are depleted, the Cats, you can see the holes in their defence,” Brereton lamented.

“Their midfield isn’t the functioning slick unit that it was last year. Their forward line, without Jeremy Cameron, they are nowhere in this competition today either.”

Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes declared on AFL Nation: “They look nothing like the team that won the premiership last season and were going on all cylinders.”

UMP DISSENT REARS HEAD ONCE MORE

Had the Blues have kicked straight and won in a canter, perhaps the edge would’ve been taken off Saturday’s controversial umpire dissent free kick against Stephen Coniglio.

Instead, the match was turned on its head in the final quarter as a result of the call as Jesse Motlop kicked Carlton’s first goal since late in the second term and gave his side a lead that wasn’t relinquished.

It has left the Giants seeking clarification from the AFL and some fans asking what constitutes dissent and what the penalty should be.

For some, the onus was on Coniglio to not put himself in a position to be penalised.

“I’m OK with it because I see this stuff (players questioning umpire decisions) happen at junior level all the time,” Jonathan Brown said on Fox Footy.

“I think we need, as a community, a reminder. People will be blowing up saying it was a critical time of the game. So what? You’re a senior player, you’ve just got to be disciplined in those moments and stay calm.”

For others, the adjudication and penalty was too harsh.

“That’s big. I would’ve thought if there was some serious abuse yes, but just for throwing the arms out and saying ‘how is that not a free kick?’ That to me is a very heavy penalty to pay,” Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy.

“He didn’t even throw them right out … He put them out in front of him. It’s tough.

“I understand where we’re trying to get to with respect to umpires and I completely agree with it … but common sense.

“When you’re trying to change behaviour or a particular action, you’ve got shoot a few to get it done – and someone’s got to pay the penalty before it sinks in and there is no dissent.

“What it does do is put the players on notice.”

From the AFL’s standpoint, the stance against umpire dissent is clear and it was Coniglio who opened himself up to penalty by putting his arms out and questioning a call once it had been made.

Several instances over the weekend have seen players with outstretched arms pleading for decisions to be made, but continuing to do so once a call has been made appears to be a red line.

That reared its head again on Sunday when Will Hayward was penalised early against Melbourne, with Lachie Hunter drilling a set shot well inside 50 as a result.

Consistency is what fans and clubs are after, but the weekend’s incidents would suggest the AFL would rather go too far than fall too short in the bid to stamp out umpire dissent.