The Buck Stops Here: The Pies are back, West Coast's power of belief, Dons are looking good & more
Round 6 is done and dusted and there is plenty to unpack... again.
Former Collingwood coach and superstar Nathan Buckley has put together his takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.
On his mind this week are the Magpies, the Eagles, the Bombers and more.
Read his thoughts below:
Collingwood’s are back... thanks to their high forwards
“I thought the selfless attitude of their high forwards was significant,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“The work rate can be a thankless task at times. It's one of the toughest roles in the game to play.
“Bobby Hill was the example for his teammates and the way that he went about it. He had 15 touches, kicked a goal himself but had four direct goal assists.
“They had that much supply and access and it looked like he was handing them out for fun.
“I suppose this is where Mason Cox and his role comes in. He was excellent. He and Brody Mihocek in front of the ball, Darcy Cameron in front of the ball, they provide a target to go to which allows the ground level players to go to work.
“Lachie Schultz probably played one of his better games. Pat Lipinski, who's the highest forward and nearly a midfielder, kicked four, Beau McCreery runs around, and had 11 touches and kicked a goal himself. Jamie Elliott, dangerous player, kicked a goal himself, and then Reef McInnes who came in as the sub.
“So all of the high forwards had a taste of it on the scoreboard, but they share the work. It was spoken about Geelong's high forwards and how significant they were a couple of years back to win a flag.
“Collingwood have recruited so well and three of those guys have come in through trades, Hill, Schultz and Lipinski. McCreery was through through the draft and just brings that real speed and intensity.
“Jack Ginnivan is not missed when you see that group because it's deep and you're not going to rely on one of those guys to play out of the box every week because there's so many of them that share the load.”
“I think Collingwood are back.”
Why momentum is key
“The modern day game is awesome, I love the way that it can ebb and flow, and the ability to take advantage of your momentum and then to have mechanisms to hold it up is crucial.
“We saw that yesterday (Sunday), in particular, with Sydney and Gold Coast. We saw it with Carlton and GWS as well.
“I’ll start with Michael Voss and Carlton, talking about the growth as a team.
“So Charlie Curnow is starting to go back to halt an opposition momentum and there's different ways to do it. A man behind which is what Carlton have done with Curnow and even when he's in one on one contests, all of a sudden, you've got one of your best aerial players, your most talented players behind the ball when the opposition are running towards theirs more often than not.
“Another one is congestion stoppage. If you think that you need to do that or you can try and play a kick-mark game with your offence, or you can do all three, but that's trying to maintain control of an opposition offence.
“When GWS had a run of their own, they kicked six goals in a row before Curnow went back at the end of the second quarter and 'Vossy' spoke about how important that was and then Carlton went on a run of eight goals, but from the middle of the third quarter, Harry McKay and Charlie got going.
“They kicked five goals in a row between them. They hadn't kicked a goal at that point and bang, bang, bang, bang, bang and then the game is well and truly on and then they continue the momentum to get another three.
“We saw Collingwood with Port. Port kick six of the first seven, but then Collingwood kick 11 of the next 12.
“It’s this momentum game. Can you fill your boots when you have momentum?
“That's probably the question on Fremantle now.
“But are they a side that can fill their boots when they have momentum? They keep the opposition in games at the moment because they really don't make the most of it when they have it.”
The Eagles and the power of belief
“West Coast Eagles and the power of belief. Is it the young kid (Harley Reid)?
“Is it that they can see the light at the end of the tunnel a little bit?
“Harley Reid's a real case in point. Is he the catalyst between what they were and what they could be?
“He reminded me of the way Leigh Matthews used to take marks. He was really good at knowing where the momentum was coming from, jump into it and let it come back to the ball. It was a very good mark.
“Then he had a goal assist from a stoppage moments later and then kicked a goal himself.
“So two goals and a direct goal assist in three or four minutes from Harley Reid and then burst out of the first centre bounce of the second quarter and looked like he was going to finish a goal again.
“So that momentum and that spark it fuels purpose, belief and happiness.
“How much happier do West Coast look at the moment.”
Doubts on Geelong’s form
“Geelong are the last unbeaten team at 6-0.
“They've got some solid games coming up. The game against Carlton next week will be an absolute beauty.
“They've got Melbourne the week after that and then Port Adelaide down at Geelong.
“So they’ll be three contests I'll be really looking forward to.
“I’m not putting the slows on them at all, but we need to understand that you need to look at the opposition.
“All conditions, all opponents well coached. They're a defence-first side, they stack the back half and they've always done this, they're the best defensive side in the comp again.
“We talk about Geelong as an offensive threat and they're now slingshotting a little bit more, but they'll stack their back half and when we talk about momentum, that makes it hard to score heavily against.
“They beat St Kilda who have only won two games. Adelaide have only won one game. Hawthorn just won their first game. The Bulldogs have won 50 per cent of their games. North haven't won one. Brisbane have won two.
“Their combined opponents have only won nine games in 36. There's your but.
“Apropos of nothing, they've taken all conditions, all opponents on at this point. We will find out the point, the ‘pointy-end-ability’ of them and they've been able to mix and match
“We will find out about their true premiership bona fides when they play against better opposition.”
Essendon are looking good
“I want to go back to the Bombers.
“I just think their performances at the moment, they are 4-2 against the 3-3 Collingwood side who are reigning premiers.
“It sets up ANZAC Day for me and I just think Bombers fans should be up and about.
“The last couple of wins have been huge. I've spoken about Sammy Durham until I'm blue in the face. What a great, young fellow to come in and a great attitude to be able to build this new Bombers, this new team around, he plays with the edge.
“So eventually we'll stop talking about that because it'll become assumed. He and Zach Merritt, the young and the old, Jye Caldwell has done really well.
“I love Harrison Jones at the front and he will stay in the side when Peter Wright comes back in. It'll be for one of Sam Draper or Todd Goldstein, it can't be for Jones. It's not going to be for Kyle Langford or Jake Stringer.
“For a football club to be having to make these hard calls on choosing two great options or two of three great options and then being able to make the decision on what's best for the team right here right now.
“Ben McKay behind the ball's been great and they've been doing this without their most important player in my mind and that's Jordan Ridley. How much better is that defence going to be when he goes into it.
“The question mark here is, have they added defence and team defence to their list of weapons?
“Adelaide from 30 rebounds, just the two scores, just one goal. So that was part of Essendon’s performance.
“If I'm a fan, I'm loving that and I want to see that more because if we can add that to our makeup, add that string to our bow, then I'd be even happier.
“I think they're, they're on the way, they're looking good.”
Listen to the full chat below:
