Unspoken ‘domino effect’ of Giant trades; ‘fantastic’ Tas coach option emerges: Talking Pts

While many have focused on Richmond’s trade acquisitions, there’s been a silver lining for the Giants.

Plus why a Fox Footy pundits believes Nathan Buckley would be a great Tasmania coach, Carlton’s twin tower conundrum and the draft prospects the bottom teams can get excited about.

The big issues from Round 8 of the 2023 AFL season analysed in Talking Points!

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‘DOMINO EFFECT’ OF GIANT TRADES LAID BARE

Much of the discussion around Richmond and the Giants’ trade dealings last year has centre around the Tigers and whether they overpaid – both draft and contract wise – for Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper.

But there’s been a “domino effect”, as dual Bombers best and fairest winner Scott Lucas dubbed it, at the Giants that has led to the genuine emergence of their 22-year-old star.

In letting Taranto and Hopper join the Tigers, the Giants were compensated with three first-round picks and a second-rounder.

The deals, however, also opened up cap space and greater in-match opportunities for Tom Green, who on Saturday night played a colossal game that suggested he could become one of the AFL’s best players.

The fact Green is the grandson of Richmond champion Michael Green for years led to speculation about his footy future, even though the big-bodied on-baller was a Giants academy product. After all, Hopper was also a Giants academy graduate.

But Green in February – four months after Taranto and Hopper joined Richmond – re-signed with the Giants until at least the end of the 2027 season, which takes him through to his free agency year.

Since signing that contract, Green has starred and thrived under new coach Adam Kingsley. He entered Saturday night’s game as ranked fourth in the league for average disposals (32.5) and 11th for contested possessions (13.3). He’s also averaged career-high score involvements (7.6), clearances (6.4) and tackles (6.0).

The Giants on Saturday night lost their ninth straight game at Manuka Oval, going down to the Bulldogs by 15 points. Although Canberra product Green did everything in his power to break his club’s losing streak.

Green played with maturity beyond his years against the star-studded Bulldogs midfield, finishing 38 disposals, 14 contested possessions, nine clearances and eight tackles.

But what was best about Green’s game was his ability to hit the scoreboard. He kicked the Giants’ first goal of the game then kicked two telling goals in the final quarter to give his side a sniff. He finished with 10 score involvements.

“He nearly turned it into a match-turning performance,” Bulldogs games record-holder Brad Johnson told Fox Footy post-match.

“What he did at the start of the last quarter was some of the best footy I’ve seen him play. Under pressure, having to stand up and lead the midfield to an opportunity to put themselves in a winning position.”

Green’s strong start to his 2023 campaign has come as little surprise to Lucas, who believes the Giants-Tigers trades last year should be a win-win situation for both teams.

“It’s the domino effect we talk about and how trades can potentially work for everyone,” Lucas told SEN’s Sunday Crunch Time.

“They (Taranto and Hopper) were excellent performers on Saturday (against West Coast), two critically pivotal players in Richmond getting a win.

“But what it’s opened up with the Giants for Tom Green … he’s getting greater midfield minutes, he was dropped last year, which when you think on reflection is crazy, but he was outstanding last night.

“Perhaps the story of the game, was his performance and he almost got them there and not a lot went right for the Giants, but I just think that that (midfield opportunity has) opened up for him.

“You also have Taranto and Hopper that are performing extremely well for Richmond and it’s not their fault (the Tigers are struggling).”

Lucas, who is also a player agent with Phoenix Management Group, believes Taranto and Hopper’s departures played a role in Green signing a four-year contract extension earlier this year.

“He’s a young star, he would have been looking at opportunities in the midfield and the money that’s created (with Taranto and Hopper leaving),” Lucas said.

“His management group would have seen where he fits within the team and what they’re going forward and that’s how you create the value.

“They would have known the exposure he would get to the midfield this year and knowing how good a player he will be.”

RIGHT TIMING MAKES BUCKS ‘FANTASTIC OPTION’ TO COACH TASMANIA

It was Tasmania’s time to shine last week as the state was finally awarded a licence for an AFL team.

Now the hard work begins before they enter the competition in time for season 2028.

There are key appointments they need to get right: The president, the chief executive, the list manager, the football manager and the head of player welfare.

Then there is the coach — and there are names and options being thrown around to be the inaugural coach of the newest franchise.

Current coaches Chris Fagan and dual Geelong Premiership coach Chris Scott were suggested by the Herald Sun’s Mark Robinson on AFL 360 as current coaches who could be headhunted from their current clubs to fill the role.

But triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown put forward former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley as a legitimate option to be the first coach of the new team.

Buckley finished his tenure at Collingwood in 2021 after 10 years in the job, coaching at the club he won a Brownlow Medal and is considered an all-time great at.

Having re-joined the media post coaching, Buckley has been linked to nearly every coaching vacancy since he left the top job at the AIA Centre. Buckley has repeatedly ruled himself out of the running for different positions and stated he isn’t interested in stepping back into the world of an AFL senior coach in the immediate future.

But Brown believes that the proposed timing of Tasmania’s entry to the competition could make Buckley “a fantastic option” to coach the team for its inaugural season and guide it through its early years in the competition.

Brown said on Fox Footy that Buckley “generally just wants a spell” from coaching, but suggested Buckley would be an AFL senior coach again.

“I think when the time comes and he’s ready for it, I think he’ll go again,” Brown said. “Because I think the competitive juices will get the better of him and I think he’ll do as good a job as he did the first time around, if not better, because no doubt you learn the second time around.”

“I think he’ll be a fantastic option as the Tasmanian coach in 2028.”

BLUES’ TWIN TALL CONUNDRUM

Carlton is facing no shortage of conundrums in the short-term, but the ruck contract conundrum is one that will continue to get more pressing with each passing week.

Both Marc Pittonet and Tom De Koning are out of contract at season’s end, with no shortage of suitors for both, although De Koning is clearly the more high-profile fish in the trade market.

The Blues cannot afford to lose both, but equally they can’t afford to overpay for both, with club CEO Brian Cook admitting as much regarding De Koning on 3AW.

“He is a required player, he is 23, he’s a ruckman who is still learning the trade,” he said.

“We want him and the issue is can we keep him on our list given the top-heavy nature (of our list payment structure)?”

When not injured, Pittonet has established himself as one of the most effective tap rucks in the competition, with the 26-year-old ranked best in the AFL for hit-out to advantage percentage.

He came into the side in Round 2 and hasn’t left since, with the hope now that he can string together a full season of football without injury.

Talks between Pittonet’s management and Carlton will gather steam over the next fortnight, while De Koning’s future is still some way off being cleared.

For Pittonet, his value is clear.

“He’s playing good footy and a good time to do it as well,” Brad Johnson told Fox Footy on Saturday night.

“He’s got some continuity in his performance, which is allowing his standards to rise week in, week out, he’s not playing, out injured for a few weeks, struggling to come back in and then having to find form consistently throughout the year. That’s the positive at the moment.

“If Carlton are putting the contract on the table, I’d grab the pen and I’d sign it straight away because I think that’s where his future lies.”

While Pittonet is an established product in what he brings, De Koning has more untapped potential at 23 and, arguably, a higher ceiling.

It’s a double-edged sword for the Blues and rival clubs in that they’re paying on potential rather than output, with De Koning unable to truly make a spot in the senior side his own before he was rested and then concussed in a VFL match last week.

“It’s a lot of money to pay someone on potential,” Jordan Lewis warned on Fox Footy on Friday.

“But we’ve seen it time and time again, that clubs dip into players like this and back their own system in to get the best of the player – it doesn’t necessarily work.”

The Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph revealed on Friday night de Koning could command as much as $600,000 a year in his next deal with the Blues and potentially more from rivals.

How much one should pay based on potential as opposed to current output is a tricky conundrum, particularly with key position players.

It’s a balancing act Carlton will be considering behind closed doors.

TOP PROSPECT’S AWESOME VFL OUTING AS ‘WIZARD’ STUNS WITH ‘AMAZING’ BAG

Eight rounds down and several teams’ finals hopes are shot

But if your team appears destined for an early draft pick, a couple of gem young guns will be up for grabs, as they displayed on the weekend.

Hawthorn, West Coast and North Melbourne’s disappointing seasons continued on the weekend, losing to Fremantle, Richmond and St Kilda respectively.

The three clubs, according to Fox Footy pundits, were the three most popular wooden spoon tips pre-season. Two months into the season and that’s how it’s playing out.

The silver lining for these clubs – as it is for any club that features near the bottom of the ladder in this equalisation-focused competition – is the young talent they could snap up in November.

Bendigo Pioneers’ Harley Reid is the clear No. 1 favourite at this stage of the year. And he only enhanced that reputation with an impressive performance at VFL level on the weekend.

In his second game for Carlton’s reserves side, Reid again looked comfortable against big bodies, finishing with 21 disposals, nine tackles, eight marks and five inside 50s.

Reid, who’s been compared to Tigers superstar Dustin Martin, can play across any line — and win games from any line. He has great power at stoppages, is a beautiful kick and hits the scoreboard consistently. But what sets Reid apart from the Tigers superstar is he has terrific overhead marking ability, either as a forward inside 50 or as an intercepting defender.

Eastern Ranges’ Nick ‘Wizard’ Watson – a mercurial forward with innate goal sense, high-flying ability, elite groundball work and indisputable swagger – is as eye-catching a player as they come. And that was the case on the weekend when he lined up for Caulfield Grammar

AFL Media’s Cal Twomey reported Watson kicked 7.5 against Melbourne Grammar, with four of those goals – and a spectacular mark – coming in the first quarter. One recruiter told foxfooty.com.au Watson’s performance was “amazing”.

Watson is surging up draft boards. But at 170cm, some recruiters believe it’d be a courageous call to select Watson with a top-five pick. Yet he’s barely put a foot wrong in his draft campaign and his attitude – both on and off the field – has been impressive.

Meanwhile, Claremont’s 195cm prospect Daniel Curtin – one of WA’s top hopes this year who’s in the top-five mix – had 26 disposals, 10 tackles and six inside 50s in the WAFL colts playing as a midfielder after a few quiet weeks as a forward. Peel Thunder’s Clay Hall (190cm) also starred in the WAFL colts, booting 1.1 from 23 disposals and 13 tackles, while teammate Mitch Edwards also booted one goal from 17 disposals, seven marks and a whopping 47 hit-outs.

So while your AFL team mightn’t be going great at the moment, there’s always hope for the future.

WHY PIES STAR SHOULD BE ALL-AUS SKIPPER

Darcy Moore has barely put a foot wrong since taking over the Collingwood captaincy.

And according to an Australian Football Hall of Fame member, he should be the All-Australian skipper.

Moore was again pivotal for the Magpies in their hard-fought win over Sydney, finishing with 20 disposals, 11 intercepts (four intercept marks), nine spoils and seven rebound 50s, all while going at 75 per cent by foot.

Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown said Moore, who was an All-Australian in 2020, would be “close to the All-Australian captain if you picked the team right now”.

Asked if he agreed with the decision, triple All-Australian Nick Dal Santo told Fox Footy: “I can’t see anyone that would be in front of him.

“He’s been as good and honest a key defender in the competition in the first eight weeks, he’s led the group as the best team in the competition – he’s the leader, he’s out front – so I can’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be.

“He speaks with a calmness and I think he has that same influence on the group as a player through that backline. He never seems like he’s rushed.

“He’s so organised, he’s so competitive when the balls in the area and I just think that ripples through the group off the half-back line.”