Round 10 of the 2023 AFL season has played out and Nathan Buckley has put together his five takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.
Brad Scott, Adam Simpson, Darcy Moore, Zak Butters and North Melbourne's youth were on Buckley’s mind after Round 10 on SEN Breakfast.
Read his thoughts below:
Scott has given Essendon the clean slate they needed
“I sat there on Saturday night, and I watched the Essendon Richmond game, and I couldn't help but feel in the last five minutes there was a sense of destiny. It looked like the Bombers were going to grind their way to that game.
“As they're coming down the race, I had this overwhelming feeling of, wow, that's a big win for them. That is a cathartic win.
“It sort of cleanses the demons and the ills of the past and it's the cleanest slate that I think Essendon have had in the last 10 years to be able to move on from the drug saga of 10 years ago, 2013 was when it sort of really started heating up and they were, they were taken out of the finals that year.
“But for right or wrong, I feel like it's taken that long for the club to get some clean air.
“Scott is a person untouched by the last 10 years, he has a clean slate himself to lead and drive this group.
“What happens is decisions are made in boardrooms and coaches rooms and then eventually it pops out the service and we all see it down the track.
“Obviously, someone at Essendon had to have had the courage to let go of the past because there was an element of their board that wanted to come back.
“They wanted to fight still. They wanted to fight for the character of James Hird, Mark Thompson … John Worsfold, and Ben Rutten and they wanted to fight for those guys' characters and they wanted to fight the AFL and fight what they saw as the unfairness that came along with that last decade.
“But I think there was enough of the board that thought we've got to cut this loose.
“I love what Essendon are building and what they have done in this short period in the first 10 rounds under Brad Scott.”
Adam Simpson has much to offer, but is he in the right situation at West Coast?
“Point two is West Coast.
“I love Adam Simpson. I think he's a great leader, he’s a great coach, he’s a great person and his characteristics and attributes are what every football club needs to get behind to follow the right balance of carrot and stick.
“But they've gone one win out of the first 10 rounds, two out of 22 in the last year and lost the last four of 2021.
“So that's three wins from 36 games.
“He's got one of the longer contracts in the caper at the moment, he’s got a four- or five-year contract and he did say, ‘We've made this decision together that I'm here to go through the dip’, to go get the list right.
“But my question is at what stage is trust lost, irrevocably, not just in the senior coach, but in leadership in general, in the direction that the club is going in?
“Potentially, the only way you can stop that is to change the personnel, not because they're not capable, but just because the circumstances around it, there's just too much mud.
“I reckon ‘Simmo’ has so much to offer, my question is, is he in the right place to offer that?
“A leader like Adam Simpson, I reckon has got plenty to offer, but only he knows deep down whether this is the right thing for him and therefore if it's the right thing for the football club.
“It's got to be in that order first because if it's not the right thing for you eventually that will bleed out and that will impact the people around you.”
Moore’s huge performance shows intercept defenders can be the most important players in the modern game
“Number three is Darcy Moore.
“I just can't ignore that performance, his game yesterday actually made me ponder what is the most important position on the field.
“If you were going out to build a squad from ground level, what's the first role that you put in?
“Steele Sidebottom was pretty happy with his performance post-match too.
Sidebottom: “I shouldn’t say it, but they kept kicking it to him and he kept marking it, I actually found myself laughing there a few times, he kept gloving it.
“It’s a pleasure to play alongside him.”
“11 intercept marks, 17 intercept possessions and it sort of does make you smile.
“Steele doesn’t take much for him to smile or laugh, that’s his default – he’ll be in a contest, and you’ll freeze frame it and it'll look like he's grinning like a Cheshire cat, so that's not abnormal.
“But that was a freakish game on and off (Charlie) Curnow who was the number one rated player for Carlton so you can argue how effectively did he do his primary role, which was arbitrarily to stop his direct opponent.
“But every time you looked at the down-the-ground vision, Darcy was in the perfect position.
“(The important positions are), goal kicking midfielders like (Dustin) Martin (Jordan) De Goey and Christian Petracca, strike forwards like Charlie Cameron, Jeremy Cameron and Charlie Curnow, accumulators like (Clayton) Oliver, Lachie Neale and (Scott) Pendlebury or intercept defenders like Moore and (Steven) May.
“I think there's an argument in the modern game today with the ability to put pressure on the ball … if you’ve got that, an intercept defender is basically a quarterback.
“He's the guy, a Darcy Moore or Steven May, I would argue that in the modern game is nearly saying those guys are more important than anything that happens in the front half.
“The reason for this, if you can intercept the contest that Darcy Moore wins could well be goals for the opposition, but you don't know if they're going to be goals.
“So, you can't say, ‘Oh, that's a minus one goal’, but you can say when someone kicks it through the goals that that's a goal or there's a score involvement. You don't say that's a score negative for the opposition, so it's harder to measure.
“But intrinsically, I feel that a player like that, that can win the ball in the air and on the ground and acts as a pivot for any rebounds that take place or any attacks that take place … I think there’s a fair argument there that’s it’s the most important role in football.”
Zak Butters' attitude shines through in his game
“Zak Butters is my fourth.
“I have to go to this, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
“Butters, he personifies that (saying) as much as any.
“It's hard not to be impressed … I don’t actually know Butters, I don't actually know his story, but this is what I glean.
“He's courageous, he's fast, he's skilful.
“He's never taken no for an answer, he's got an abrasiveness and a bite off more than you can chew and chew like hell (attitude).
“He's worked hard and long for his chances and for his growth, it wouldn't have come easy to him.
“His body shape, his size in a game for big men would have made it difficult for him as he came through the ranks, and he's grown from it.
“So, he's faced challenges and he's grown, he's adapted, he's overcome and he's still doing it.
“When you have that attitude and you realize that you can succeed and you can impose yourself.
“His decision-making is great and ability to see on half a step, to take that ball, be really clean, watch the ball all the way into his hands and yet swivel, find that next guy and move the ball on quickly and promptly and efficiently is first class.
“I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do in the next three or four years.
“The bloke goes back with the flight like he’s 100 kilos.
“He lives by the sword and he dies by the sword and we're going to get the very best out of him and he's not going to die at wondering ever.
“I love seeing individuals, people in life, not just on the footy field, that make the most of their challenges that actually turn their trauma into opportunity. I feel that he's been there.”
North Melbourne’s impressive youth
“The last one for me is North Melbourne and the youth and the focus out of that game for me isn't the interchange infringement.
“It's actually the way that the young players at North actually went about it.
“Jy Simpkin is the captain, he just turned 25 and he had 28 (disposals) and two (goals).
“(Harry) Sheezel moved up in the midfield, was that a ‘Ratts’ (Brett Ratten) thing or was that happening regardless?
“But that's interesting in itself, he had 25 (disposals) and two (goals) and taking your better ball users closer to goal.
“(George) Wardlaw, there's been enough spoken about him, nine tackles, six clearances and he got poleaxed early but then he got up and he got going and he wouldn't have known any different.
“In fact, it nearly like it energised him even further to keep going.
“Eddie Ford, had 21 and a goal in front of the ball, Bailey Scott who's been around for a while, he’s still only 22, he had 33 and a goal.
“I love Miller Bergman, I love Blake Drury that they bring energy and effort. They don't have to get high touches, but they have a real crack.
“Paul Curtis, he didn't have a lot of touches, but he's got some class, (Will) Phillips and (Tom) Powell.
“I think that if I'm a North Melbourne supporter, I don't need to win games of footy, you just need to see that effort and that attitude, and they were in that game for a long time and everyone was expecting Sydney to rebound and to come back.
“I just thought that was a great response from North. If they get that for three-quarters of their games for the rest of the year, that sort of effort, that sort of energy from the young blokes, they'll wed themselves to each other.
“That's where growth happens.”
Listen to The Buck Stops Here below: