Round 11 of the 2023 AFL season has played out and Nathan Buckley has put together his five takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.
Carlton's talls, intercept defenders, Luke Jackson and teams playing for their coach were on Buckley’s mind after Round 11 on SEN Breakfast.
Read his thoughts below:
Carlton’s coaching isn’t the issue, it’s star players not performing at their best
“Everyone has been talking about Carlton, everyone will talk about Carlton, but I want to look at it a different way.
“Let's imagine that you watch that game in isolation without any lead-in, without any knowledge of where the teams were. I think that you would see that there was a great effort by both sides, and I think it was a high intensity game.
“The Swans were a little cleaner than Carlton was, and Carlton's big fellas were wasteful.
“To hear Vossy (Michael Voss) after the game, it wasn't surprising to hear him talking about those elements that we saw and ignoring the big noise.
“But his big fellas in (Harry) McKay and (Charlie) Curnow and just weren't able to get it done with their chances.
“I think Voss was succinct after the game with the way that he broke the performance down, they played a side that lost the Grand Final last year after being one of the two best teams in the competition in 2022.
“Both of those sides were desperate to win, and I thought the effort was commensurate with that from both sides.
“Carton went inside 59 times inside 50 to 52, contested ball was largely even … but largely it comes down to the big fellas, they had too many dropped marks and too many missed shots on goal.
“Otherwise, they win that game of footy and then all of a sudden, they're starting to sort of ride it up a little bit.
“But the coaching isn't the issue, it’s the best players not performing at their best.
“At the moment, Harry McKay is out of form, sadly, and it's really hurting Carlton’s prospects.”
Sicily’s huge game proves the importance of intercept defenders
“At number two I'm going to double down on intercept defenders.
“I spoke a little bit about Darcy Moore about his game last week.
“But we saw another performance from an intercept defender in James Sicily in Hawthorn's great come-from-behind win against the Saints.
“I think the best teams in the competition, the best teams in modern football rely on intercept.
“I don't think that there's teams that are performing at their best without really strong intercept games in the back half or a kick behind wherever the ball is.
“Right now, Collingwood have got it. They're without Jeremy Howe, but they're doing it with Darcy Moore and others.
“Hawthorn's best performance has come off the back of a Sicily doing what he does.
“Port Adelaide for all of their personnel issues, Aliir Aliir still wins big moments and turns what looks like defence into an attacking opportunity.
“I just reckon it's a massive part of modern footy and if you don't have it, you're on the back foot and it's really hard to play winning footy.”
Gold Coast are playing for their coach
“At number three, Gold Coast and Port Adelaide are playing for their coach and I'm going to focus on the Suns.
“For Stuart Dew it was accepted that this year would run out and that he'd probably lose his job.
“But the fact is that his team are digging in, they went up to Darwin, they've beaten a Western Bulldogs side who are in-form.
“His (Dew’s) language has been, ‘I'm here, the players are here for me, they’ve signed on because they're here for me’.
“His language is really positive, their performances have been better and they play Adelaide up in Darwin (on Saturday).
“They won both of their games in Darwin last year and I spoke about it last year potentially becoming a competitive advantage, a bit of a fortress for them.
“I'd love to see if they could get up there to play three or four or five games it would make a bit of a difference.
“But they've beaten one of the form teams in the competition in Bulldogs and they played another form team in the competition in Adelaide.
“Can they lock down this growth that they've got?
“They're still behind the eight ball, they’re 5-6, but they have responded.
“I just think their players are playing for their coach just Port Adelaide are for Ken Hinkley.”
Luke Jackson was excellent against his former teammates
“Number four is Luke Jackson.
“I saw him obviously close-up in the game (in Fremantle’s coaching box) versus Melbourne.
“It's a great way to judge a player on how he handles coming up against his old teammates and his performance was excellent.
“When the game needed someone to stand up and to really challenge, his work in and around stoppages was great, his aerial work was great.
“(If Fremantle want to keep both Sean Darcy and Jackson) it depends how valuable they are as aerial threats in front of the ball and not just as forwards but forward of it to create a contest for long down the lines to then speed up off and I think Freo need that.
“(Josh) Treacy is still a young player, (Jye) Amiss is showing signs that is going to be great and he had a really strong game, especially in the big moments.
“But I still think they need a second or they need another tall aerial target.
“I think those two still work in tandem. It is a consideration on where you spend your money, but they could well be the best ruck duo going around over the next couple of years because I do rate Sean Darcy as well.
“But it's a fair ask and it's a fair question, but it's pretty quick off the back of one game.”
Looking forward to Magpies v Crows at the ‘G in Round 15
“My last one is actually projecting forward.
“I've been big on Adelaide and obviously Collingwood are the form side at the moment.
“Obviously for the Adelaide win against Brisbane was huge and Matty Nicks deserves all sorts of credit for what he's been able to build over the last three or four years.
“He's got a young group that are prepared to go the whole way with him.
“They (Adelaide) didn't do it (beat Brisbane) with everything going in their favour, but I am projecting.
“We get to the other side of the byes on the 25th of June, we're looking at Round 15 and on Sunday at 1.10pm Collingwood play Adelaide at the MCG.
“Both are off the bye the week before, so they're both rested and sharp.
“(Izak) Rankine versus (Isaac) Quaynor, (Taylor) Walker versus (Darcy) Moore, (Ben) Keays versus Nick Daicos and expect he'd get some attention there, (Rory) Sloane versus (Tom) Mitchell or (Taylor) Adams, (Brody) Mihocek versus (Nick) Murray … (Josh) Rachele somewhere there versus (John) Noble and (Jack) Crisp versus (Rory) Laird.
“The matchups will be everywhere and at that point, depending what happens with Adelaide and Gold Coast this week, I'd expect Adelaide to be 8-5, Collingwood probably 11-1 (after Round 12).
“I reckon we'll be looking at a top-four matchup.
“I for one looking forward to that in a month.”
Listen to The Buck Stops Here below: