Round 8 has come and gone, leaving us with plenty to discuss.
Former Collingwood coach and superstar Nathan Buckley has put together his takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.
On his mind this week were Melbourne’s forwards, St Kilda’s young gun, Collingwood’s ball use, Brisbane's effort and more.
Read his thoughts below:
Melbourne is right in the mix if their forwards fire
“Firstly, I want to go to the excellent win of Melbourne's against Geelong,” Buckley said on SEN Breakfast.
“We shouldn't have been surprised about the way the game was played, it was two of the top four defences in the competition.
“It was always going to be a low-scoring game, a bit of a grind, but the difference in Melbourne's performance and the reason they were going to get up or were able to get up was Bayley Fritsch and Kozzie Pickett.
“If these two guys are doing their best work in the front third for Melbourne, then Melbourne has got the ability to beat anyone in the comp because they've got a great midfield and they've got a great defence.
“When those two boys are going to work in front of the ball, they're very dangerous.
“Harrison Petty was great too … the forward third has always been the question for Melbourne … but when Fritsch is up and going, if Pickett's up and going, it makes a big difference.
“I think they're definitely in the mix.”
Wilson contest and response represents the culture Ross wants to build at St Kilda
“Number two for me is Darcy Wilson and the particular incident that happened when he and George Wardlaw ran into one another on the half-forward flank.
“I was watching it and I'm thinking that the coach and the coaching group have lost a lot of the levers that they would normally pull under this idea of wrapping players in cotton wool.
“There would have been a concussive effect in that knock both to Wardlaw and to Wilson, but Wilson was best on ground at that point.
“He ended up with 22 touches, kicked three goals too.
“I love the kid. He's going to be a gun. He runs hard, he's got aerial ability, he makes good decisions, he’s got great game awareness.
“His first eight weeks have been as rounded as any (Rising Star prospect).
“I love when Ross kept him on. As Ross Lyon said, the doctor had said, ‘He's fine, it's not a concussion’.
“I think Ross would love this opportunity. As he said, ‘We set the culture, we want to reward our players and we want to give them tough love to show them and to stretch them to find out how good they can be’.”
How Collingwood have changed their ball movement to protect their older players
“I’m going to speak about Collingwood.
“Nick Daicos was huge … but Collingwood has shifted the way that they move the ball so that they can ramp up their pressure so they can protect their aging players.
“When you get a chance to watch them over the next couple of weeks … if you watch carefully, Collingwood, they don't want to move the ball too quickly.
“They don't want the game to become ping pong footy. They don't want high transition.
“I reckon they're moving away from having to run up and back and expose their defence because they're not connecting quite as well with their forwards.
“I've got no doubt that they are understanding that Scott Pendlebury, Jeremy Howe, Steele Sidebottom and a couple of young guys that are coming in at the bottom end – those guys haven't got the legs that they used to have, but they've still got great game awareness and the young blokes have still got some sharpness and speed and real competitiveness.
“You want to bring it back to control. There are a couple of ways you can do that and the best way to control it is with your ball use … but Collingwood was able to control the transition element of the game by shifting the ball, building it up slowly and then going into congestion where they could set up their front half turnover game.
“They've allowed the least turnovers in the last month, and they're a top-four turnover defence again. That wasn't true of them in the first month.
“It's true of them in the last month since they've made this shift and their pressure's gone through the roof as a result.”
It wasn’t just Brisbane’s effort that impressed against Suns, but their tactics amid injury carnage
“Brisbane were 2-5 and coming into a must-win game.
“You lose Starcevich who's one of your best lockdown defenders, you lose McCarthy soon after to a knee, you lose Answerth to a knee to the head and then lose Gardiner all before you get to quarter time.
“But they jumped into the game early, they put a gap in the game and if you're the coach of that team in that situation, you couldn't be happier.
“It wasn't just their effort from the players (that stood out), it was the tactics that unpacked Gold Coast.
“They go man on man to prevent uncontested marks so they can turn the ball over and then bounce back.
“Brisbane took 133 uncontested marks, the most for the round, Gold Coast have been in the bottom four for allowing uncontested marks and that's double what they've been averaging for the year.
“They got absolutely smashed. Brisbane went to school, they had a plan and even on a slippery night, they moved them around, they pulled them apart and all you need in a man-on-man defence is one lazy player or one player who's not switched on.
“A great one for Brisbane to have taken the chocolates in amongst the trauma that they were going to have with injury.”
