Who does it say more about?
The results of Round 5 can say plenty, whether it be about the winners or the losers.
SEN Breakfast’s Kane Cornes and Nathan Buckley went through each of the games across Gather Round and discussed which team the result said more about.
Adelaide (118) - (62) Carlton
Buckley: “Adelaide for me.
“The jury is still out on Carlton, they’ve got a way to go, their defensive profile is okay.
“But Adelaide for me, they were just so clean and hard inside.
“They’ve got some young blokes that are really coming on so I love that.”
Fremantle (100) - (90) Gold Coast
Cornes: “This is really difficult, but I’m going to go the positive angle.
“Fremantle kicked 100 points, and when the game was on the line in the last quarter, they had some of their star players stand up.
“I hadn’t seen Sean Darcy play a good game all year and he played well, Luke Jackson is starting to turn the corner a little bit, Caleb Serong with 14 disposals (in the last quarter) and Lachie Schulz is an underrated player in the game.
“With Jye Amiss, have they finally found their replacement for Matthew Pavlich? I’m going to say yes.
Richmond (78) - (122) Sydney
Buckley: “I’m going to say Richmond.
“Is the era over? Clearly, they’re not the same team and they were never going to be.
“They won three flags in four years, they have been remarkable and I love Damien Hardwick.
“But they were humbled, especially as the game wore on … the Tigers for me are going to struggle for the rest of the year for most of it.”
Brisbane (152) - (77) North Melbourne
Cornes: “It says more about North Melbourne.
“I’m not sure what defensive structure Alastair Clarkson is trying to get and whether it’s the right one for a young, rebuilding group.
“To guard space and zoning, it’s not working, it looked like they gave up.
“To concede 33 easy marks inside 50, a lot of them were that, it just says to me they’re essentially not bringing the effort that was there for the first two weeks under Alastair Clarkson.
“Every record was essentially broken – 116 points off turnover, 33 marks inside 50 – the midfield strength they supposedly have got absolutely smashed.
“It’s not Clarko’s cluster anymore, it’s Clarko’s catastrophe.”
Essendon (104) - (77) Melbourne
Buckley: “It said more about Essendon, no doubt.
“Melbourne, I think their best football is pretty good, so for Essendon to stand up and play the way they did was excellent.
“They play the most expansive game style in the competition, which can open them up defensively, but they’ve defended their back 50 really well.
“They’re the most effective team by hand and foot at 75 per cent … they’re hitting targets at the moment and they’re scoring really well off the back of it.
“They’ve been really impressive in the first five rounds.”
Port Adelaide (70) - (56) Western Bulldogs
Cornes: “I could have gone either way here, but I’ll go Port Adelaide.
“They’ve had the hardest draw of any team in the competition.
“To be 3-2 at this stage after beating Brisbane - who were a Preliminary finalist last year, losing to Collingwood - who were a Preliminary finalist last year, losing to Adelaide - who are the red-hot team in the competition along with Collingwood, beating Sydney away – who played in a Grand Final last year and knocking off the Western Bulldogs – who played finals (is impressive).
“All the pressure Ken (Hinkley) was under two weeks ago (has dissipated).
“For the team to be able to respond as they did, get some of their really talented players back into form, I think it was a fantastic result in really trying conditions.”
Geelong (136) - (89) West Coast
Buckley: “It says more about the Eagles.
“Geelong kicked 12 goals in a row from the middle of the first to the middle of the second quarter, it was all one-way traffic and witches hats at times.
“Adam Simpson has discussed his role and responsibility to build their next competitive team, they’re still trying to do that.
“You get a bit of leeway with that, but the club is aligned with where they’re going and the coach knows he is there for development.
“They came back pretty well in the second half, but it just shows you where West Coast are.”
GWS (77) - (75) Hawthorn
Cornes: “It probably says more about the Giants.
“They’re not great, are they? We probably knew that but they’ve lost to West Coast, they’ve beaten Adelaide – and if not for inaccuracy they probably would have lost in Round 1.
“Adam Kingsley looks really frustrated and if you don’t get amazing games from the senior players, and we know the names, then what is underneath?
“(Toby) Greene was enormous yesterday but underneath the level of A-grade players they’ve got, then what is there?
“But if it wasn’t for some Harry Himmelberg brilliance a couple of times, they would have lost to Hawthorn and been 1-4 after five rounds.
“I’ll go with GWS, albeit I was really impressed with how the young Hawthorn players responded after the third quarter last week.”
Collingwood (70) - (64) St Kilda
Buckley: “I think it says more about St Kilda over Collingwood.
“The Saints, they just kept plugging away and their system stands up.
“Ross has been around the block a heap of times, he knows exactly what he’s doing.
“He’s got this group humming and set up the way that he wants to.
“Now he finds out and can make decisions of which players to trust, where to put them, how to use them and what buttons to press as you go along.
“He’s set them up really well in the early stages, really quickly and I think St Kilda will be a really hard team to beat for the rest of his tenure.”