The AFL world is still catching its breath after a truly remarkable opening weekend of finals.
Plus how Taranto’s monster deal sets a task for rivals, Craig McRae’s questioning of umpiring and the Tigers’ “costly” mistake.
Catch up on the big AFL issues after week one of finals in Talking Points!
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BEST EVER FINALS SERIES IN ‘UNBELIEVABLE’ WEEKEND
And breathe footy fans!
What an incredible first weekend of finals with four classics, where most of us can probably say it’s the craziest round of the post-season we’ve ever seen.
Finals are always tough and tight and a different beast to the regular season — but this weekend was a whole new breed. Every game was bonkers and unique in its own right in a wild 72 hours of action from start to finish.
It all started in a do-or-die elimination final on Thursday night when Brisbane defeated Richmond at a rowdy sellout Gabba by two points in a thrilling affair that included brutal injuries, a last-minute goal, and of course, a dramatic score review amid a chaotic finish to the match.
The win will go down as one of the Lions’ most famous under Chris Fagan as they improved their finals record to 2-5 under him and knocked a red-hot Tigers outfit out of the finals many tipped as a flag smokie.
At that stage, many predicted the entire finals series had peaked with its opening match.
But next came a bruising slog between heavyweights Melbourne and Sydney at the MCG in front of just under 80,000 at the MCG. The Demons looked like putting away the Swans at stages as both sides traded blows.
That was until Sydney turned up the heat in the second half in an incredible defensive performance to put the reigning premiers away. It marked perhaps the biggest twist of the weekend that turned the finals series on its head as the Swans advanced to a home preliminary final, while 2021 Norm Smith medallist Christian Petracca sustained a hairline leg fracture.
Of course, this was all before the main event — a blockbuster showdown between Victorian powerhouses Collingwood and Geelong in front of over 91,525 fans at a ruckus MCG — the biggest AFL crowd this season.
It lived up to the hype and then some in a brutal and manic battle that was so epic at stages it felt like a grand final in arguably the game of the year as the Pies took it right up to the flag favourites. Like Thursday night, it came down the very late stages of the game where the Cats had the answers to exorcise their qualifying finals demons of recent times and claim their prelim final berth.
It also continued Collingwood’s notorious run of close games, and did we really expect anything but?
An insane Fremantle comeback over the Western Bulldogs wrapped up the weekend in a knockout elimination final in Perth with a club a record 58,982 fans in attendance at Optus Stadium.
But the home crowd was quickly silenced as the Dogs kicked five unanswered goals in the first term to subsequently race out to a 41-point lead as the game looked over early.
There was a feeling of, ‘we were due for a blowout this weekend,’ until Fremantle came storming back into the contest, dominating from late in the second quarter to ultimate complete an unthinkable 54-point turnaround — the AFL’s biggest finals turnaround in 29 years — and end the Dogs’ season.
It was a weekend that had nearly everything in truly spectacular finals showcase — and maybe one we we’ll never see again. Over to you week two.
TARANTO DEAL SETS TASK FOR RIVAL CLUBS
Garry Lyon probably summed up most of the footy world’s reaction when hearing of the offer Tim Taranto would accept from Richmond.
“Seven years?! We’ve almost fallen off our chairs!”
Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph revealed this week the Tigers had won out in the race for Taranto’s services (flagged by foxfooty.com.au in July) via a monster deal worth roughly $750,000 per season for seven years.
The 24-year-old’s deal is perhaps the latest example of rival clubs having to pay overs to get players to defect – either in terms of salary or long-term security.
It must be noted there are other factors in deals such as Taranto’s, key among them the ability to shift money between seasons as needed and the likely prospect of the Total Player Payments cap rising over the course of such a tenure.
In any case, it sets a high watermark for clubs hoping to lure someone like Josh Dunkley away from the Western Bulldogs.
Both are similar in age and in role as a midfielder-forward and, going purely on 2022 averages, Dunkley is the more valuable footballer in terms of output.
While precedent and like-for-like deals are far from assured in the trade period, clubs like Port Adelaide – who are actively discussing the prospect of acquiring Dunkley via a trade – now face a fascinating conundrum given the precedent set by Taranto’s deal.
“If you’re Josh Dunkley, you’re looking at what the other midfielders are getting,” Kane Cornes said on Channel Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“He’s a better player than Tim Taranto, who’s got seven years at $750,000 (a season).
“That’s the sort of money you’ve got to pay to get a player out of their club, it’s going to cost them a lot.
“I wouldn’t be paying any midfielder that’s not Dustin Martin or the absolute top echelon $750,000 a year for seven years.”
The Power loom as active players in the coming trade period, with Junior Rioli set to conduct a medical at the club as he contemplates a move from West Coast to take what Channel Nine reporter Corey Norris reported to be a “very, very attractive” offer.
It seems like the age of the long-term mega deal is upon the AFL world, but whether it’s a viable or sustainable trend will be the ultimate question.
MCRAE SAYS MANIC PIES WEREN’T REWARDED
It’s not often you see Collingwood coach Craig McRae get too worked up — or take aim at how games are officiated.
But the first year Magpies boss said his side wasn’t rewarded for its tackling after the club’s six-point qualifying final loss to Geelong.
Collingwood brought manic pressure to the contest, recording 85 tackles — its third-best count for the year — to Geelong’s 70, while the Pies pressure rating for the contest was 195 — their sixth-best this season.
But as is normally the case during finals footy, the umpires put the whistle away and let the play run free for most of the day, with Geelong narrowly winning the free kick count 14-13.
The Magpies faithful were vocal in letting their thoughts be known on several decisions after crunching tackles by booing loudly.
And speaking to reporters post-match, McRae was left equally unimpressed with some of the decisions.
“We didn’t get rewarded for our tackles — I don’t know if that’s something we’ll look at and the AFL will look at. I thought we had a lot of awesome tackles that didn’t get rewarded,” he said.
“Isn’t it funny that you run someone down from behind and you don’t get rewarded but then someone just drags it in underneath you and it is holding the ball?”
“That doesn’t sit well with me.”
McRae revealed the Pies had taken inspiration from the Swans’ boundless heat in their win over Melbourne on Saturday night as a “role model” for how he wanted his troops to go about it in a big game.
Despite voicing his grievance, the Collingwood coach said he’s “not here to change rules.”
“They (umpires) get some right and wrong, I’ve said that many times,” he said.
“Anyone watching at home thought we tackled really well I would have thought.”
‘ARROGANT’ TIGERS’ ‘COSTLY’ MISTAKE
Dual All-Australian Kane Cornes has lamented Richmond’s “arrogant” and “costly” decision not to put more attention into Lions star Lachie Neale in Thursday night’s elimination final.
Neale was best-on-ground in the Gabba clash in a colossal performance, racking up 39 disposals, 21 contested possessions, a career-best 15 clearances — the second-most ever in a final and nine score involvements in 95 per cent time on ground.
The 2020 Brownlow medallist’s masterclass helped will his side to a big win over the Tigers and in the process end their season.
Speaking on AFL Media’s The Round So Far, Cornes believes Richmond coach Damien Hardwick would be regretting his decision to not tag Neale after clubs have had success in shutting him down in recent weeks.
“I want you to notice how little body contact there is around the game’s best clearance player at these stoppages,” Cornes said while highlighting vision of Neale’s dominance.
“It’s an arrogant performance from a Richmond midfield who backs their own structure in, and didn’t realise or want to know that if you nullify Lachie Neale, you pretty much win the game — that’s been the evident of this year.
“They needed to study the tape of St Kilda’s (Marcus) Windhager who kept him to 16 disposals, (James) Harmes and (Angus) Brayshaw (tagging him) the week before (against Melbourne) — he got a lot of the footy but not any sort of damage like he’s doing here.
“Phenomenal individual performance, but how you can have 44 list spots and not have one dedicated to a tagger it just continues to blow my mind. Essentially that cost Richmond as much as a goal review cost them.”
