Kane Cornes has handed down his weekly observations following the Round 8 action of the 2023 AFL season.
From a poor showing from a midfield unit, a premiership contender that has added a new element to its game, a Sun who was lucky to escape Match Review Officer scrutiny and more, see the list via SEN's Sportsday below.
1. CORNES PRAISES 18-YEAR-OLD SAINT AFTER EARNING ROUND 8 RISING STAR NOMINATION
2. Essendon’s midfield can hang their heads in shame
“They had (Sam) Draper, (Zach) Merrett, (Dylan) Shiel, (Darcy) Parish and (Will) Setterfield versus (Brynn) Teakle, (Jason) Horne-Francis – who’s played 20 games - (Connor) Rozee who’s 23 (years old), (Zak) Butters the same, (Willem) Drew and (Ollie) Wines, and the coughed up 18 shots to 10 from stoppages even though the hit outs to advantage were 18 to seven in Essendon’s favour.
“They started like a house on fire, I understand that… and the experience of that midfield, that should be their strength with the names I mentioned with a dominant ruckman versus a guy who really probably shouldn’t be playing AFL footy in Brynn Teakle.”
3. I loved what Sydney tried to do to Nick Daicos
“There’s different views and I’ve heard some say it didn’t work, you can’t tag him, he’s untaggable, look what it does to everyone else.
“I love it, I’ve been calling for it and I thought they executed it pretty well
“If you look at why Sydney lost that game, in the third quarter from the 16-minute mark to the 11-minute mark, they had so much of the ball.
“They butchered the ball like you wouldn’t believe. At one point it was 1.8 from set shots.
“You can highlight the Daicos stuff all you like, but that gave them an opportunity to be in the game. They clearly limited his influence, he has 25 disposals... (Ryan) Clarke kicked one goal off him,
“I don’t think you just chuck it out because they lost the game. Not many are gong to beat Collingwood at the MCG.”
4. Round 8 emphasised the importance of top draft picks
“And they’re all coming through year three, year four and year five, they’re emerging into superstars and they’re all top 10 picks.
“Noah Anderson, best game he’s played at AFL level, he was enormous going to head to head with (Clayton) Oliver and (Christian) Petracca.
“Rozee and Butters got the 10 and six coaches votes in that game, both top-10 draft picks. What Tom Green did (against the Westenr Bulldogs) was amazing, head-to-head with (Marcus) Bontempelli and equal best on ground for him at his age.
“Luke Jackson as well… so those teams that are developing, get as many top-10 picks you can and pick accurately and in four or five years, you’re going to have some superstar players on your books and I thought that was highlighted with some of those performances.”
5. Brisbane are a different team this year
“There’s a couple of things I want to highlight. Lachie Neale (was recently asked how he’s going to improve his game this year)… he said, ‘I want to run back and get better defensively with my positioning’.
“Nothing about touching the ball, nothing about kicking goals, nothing about individual accolades, it was getting back and filling holes to make (his) defenders' lives easier.
“They get (Josh) Dunkley… he’s had the most smothers in the AFL in the last four years. The job on (Patrick) Cripps that he did, hadn’t seen a Brisbane team do a job on the opposition's best player like that for a long time.
“Their forward half pressure, they kicked 85 points off turnovers… it’s ridiculous. They spooked Fremantle last week in the same way, but the biggest thing I wanted to highlight was the job on Saad.
“It wasn’t one person, it was everyone. He still had a bit of the ball, Saad, but every time he got free there as Brisbane player, (Lincoln) McCarthy, (Eric) Hipwood, (Jack) Gunston, it didn’t matter who it was… that said, ‘were going to make life a little bit difficult to this guy’.”
6. Mabior Chol is the luckiest man in footy this week
“I’m not sure if you saw the winging arm on (Jake) Bowey. Swinging arm, copped him high, tackle was ferocious, it was a bit ugly, yet no case to answer and (Jacob) Van Rooyen gets two weeks for an ill-timed spoil.
“Mabior Chol was very lucky to get off from the Match Review Officer.”