The Buck Stops Here: Carlton's balance, the AFL's stance on head knocks and a season like no other
Round 20 of the 2023 AFL season has played out and Nathan Buckley has put together his five takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.
Melbourne’s heart and soul players, Carlton’s form, Toby Greene, eight-point games and the AFL’s stance on head knocks were on Buckley’s mind after Round 19 on SEN Breakfast.
Read his thoughts below:
Melbourne’s heart and soul players have reenergised side
“I’m going to go with Melbourne, the question was, who is going to kick Melbourne's goals without (Bayley) Fritsch and the forward line issues?
“What Melbourne have been able to do has been fantastic.
“They've made some courageous decisions around their team. They've realised that the direction they were heading needed to change.
“They are now one of the form teams in the competition based off the last three weeks, they've changed things significantly and their coach Simon Goodman's pretty happy.
“What I want to focus on is their heart and soul players. Max Gawn and Jack Viney … those two in particular just keep finding away when the game is on the line.
“Max Gawn just took over in this last quarter, 13 disposals, nine contested, seven clearances in a quarter….”
Buckley and Cornes discussed Gawn’s form and if the Demons should protect him ahead of finals.
READ MORE: “YOU CAN’T COOK HIM”: WHY DEMONS SHOULD CONSIDER GRUNDY TO LIGHTEN GAWN LOAD
Carlton’s balance is right and their game is in great order
“Number two is Carlton.
“Melbourne and Carlton have shown amazing resilience and the shifts in what they've been able to do in season have been impressive.
“Carlton were in the doldrums they couldn't score, they couldn't move the footy, Vossy was going to get sacked.
“They’re now keeping sides to nothing and they're scoring heavily.
“They're the number one offensive side in the comp in the last six weeks and they've maintained a top four defensive ranking.
“They have their balance right. Their game is in great order.
“There's something to say about that nine-week period where they really struggled.
“If you get out of that, it builds a resilience and a belief in the group deeper and more sustainable than potentially your good times are going to be.
“Carton are now a massive danger for whoever they face. In two weeks’ time, Carlton played Melbourne … so the potentially the two form teams in the competition come up against one another.
“Blues fans would be loving it. There’s energy, belief, contest, they’re not relying on one or two.
“The spread is as even as you’ll get.”
Toby Greene is the AFL’s best big moment player
“Toby Greene, he kicked 5.2 (against the Bulldogs) and has 49 goals for the year.
“He is the best big moment player in the competition.
“When he kicked his fifth on the weekend to be able to steal that win against the Bulldogs, I’m sure the Giants fans were loving it.
“What an inspired choice and an inspiring captain this bloke is.
“The thing I love about him is he’s never beaten. He’s a massive competitor.
READ MORE: Buckley brands GWS captain Greene the “best big moment player” in the AFL
We’re set for a huge last month in a home and away season unlike any other
“We've got a month of elimination finals coming up.
“We’ve had eight-point games for the last three or four weeks and we've got eight-point games for the next couple (of rounds).
“But the last two rounds, we're going to see elimination finals.
“I count seven of the last nine of the Round 24 games that could impact finals.
“There are so many teams that are involved and would feel just the way Luke Beveridge does about his finals chances with the Bulldogs, that it’s up to them.
“Probably down to Gold Coast on the ladder who are sitting in 14th … they would feel we've got winnable games in front of us, and our destiny is in our hands.
“Possession is nine tenths of the law … Collingwood, Port, Brisbane and Melbourne are clear … then you’ve got GWS and Carlton in sixth and seventh at the moment.
“Outside of those teams, the two next best form teams at the moment are Sydney and Richmond, they're in 10th and 11th.
“This is a season unlike any other … if you’re in there, it’s up to you.
“It’s fascinating.”
Aliir/Jones collision shows disconnect between the AFL’s in-game concussion protocols and how the MRO and Tribunal is policing head-knocks
“Everyone is going to have their say on the Aliir, Lachie Jones collision.
“My issue is not with Port Adelaide, it's not even with the focus around concussion because I think that that is legitimate and that is real and it's something that the league needs to continue to consider and deal with.
“Mine is the difference between if you have been a player who has been suspended when a player you have tackled has grazed their left ear … and you watch this event take place and you watch one of these players go back onto the field … you have every right to be absolutely livid with the AFL.
“If you have a teammate who's been suspended, if you are a club who's had a player that's been suspended, if you are a supporter who has seen a player suspended for a tackle where there has been incidental head contact to the ground and he has been suspended, he is carrying the can for the whole league and they are not following through with it.
“If head contact and head trauma is important to them and lawyers are making these decisions about, ‘We need to penalise this player to so that our threshold is up here above what everyone else in the competition believes it should be’.
“They go to the court with that and we're going to say that we hold this at a higher threshold than any other person in the competition.
“Then you allow that (the Jones/Aliir debacle) to happen.
“If I'm anyone in the competition and I'm looking at the AFL I'm saying, ‘How are you handling this?’.
“Are you coming down hard on this as hard on this at clubs and the doctors within it?
“I'm not suggesting that anything inappropriate took place. But in terms of if your protocols allow this and you're going to go and suspend players for that, then there's a disconnect in my mind.”