Concerns in the west for the flailing Dockers, a Cats awakening in Geelong and St Kilda remain a sensation — but the best is yet to come, with two midweek blockbusters set to headline round six.
Welcome to the AFL Round-Up, where we digest the week that was.
Flatlining Freo approach point of no return
No side has been more disappointing through the first six weeks of the 2023 season than Fremantle.
Oh for the days of mid-2022, when the emergence of Fremantle as a premiership threat was looming as the story of the season. When these very same Dockers played with dare and endeavour, taking the game to the likes of Geelong and Melbourne away from Perth and eventually overwhelming them.
There is nothing overwhelming about the Dockers of 2023. So far they have been a sigh and a shrug, left behind by the likes of Adelaide, Essendon and St Kilda who look as if they are playing an entirely different sport to Justin Longmuir’s men.
The stats give an indication of Freo’s tactical concerns — they are middle of the pack on just about every metric, aside from being first for uncontested possessions, 16th for marks inside 50 and second for tackles inside 50.
They win the ball, move it at a glacial pace, let the opposition’s defence get back in numbers to kill any contest then engage in a stoppage scrap and hope for the best. Footy isn’t played like this anymore, at least not by the good teams.
But it’s more than tactics at the moment. The Dockers have found themselves distracted by subplots, some of their own making and others not.
The situation regarding Rory Lobb on Friday night was embarrassing, and though Longmuir claimed it had no bearing on the result, the Bulldogs literally kicked a goal at one point when a group of Fremantle players were off trying to rough Lobb up, not concentrating on the play at all.
A few weeks ago here we mentioned the Freo reaction in the Western Derby, when a win only secured in the last 10 minutes of a game against a side with only 16 fit players left on the ground was met with jubilant celebrations and backflips.
The days of Freo chasing symbolic victories should be long behind them. This is a team that has proven it has the talent to be racking up real wins in the here and now.
With a tough month left before the bye, there is a danger their season could be toast by the halfway point. What a tremendous waste that would be.
The Cats fly the flag at last
Is it possible that this was Geelong’s plan all along?
To engage in a sort of extended preseason for the first five weeks, safe in the knowledge the absolute worst case scenario would have them 2-3 with wins over Hawthorn and West Coast, and then launch the season properly back at Kardinia Park against Sydney in round six?
No, it’s not possible. That’s not really how these things work. But there’s no question this version of Geelong was by far the most complete, most fully-formed version we’ve seen all season.
It’s almost hard to know what to read into this game because it was such a bloodbath. Sydney’s promising start to the season has hit a roadblock, but it wasn’t just the depleted back line that copped a reaming on Saturday night.
Despite winning the clearance count, the Swans were brutalised around the ball to the point that they could hardly get their hands on it — their 284 disposals were nearly 70 fewer than their season average, and nearly 80 fewer than the Cats on the night.
Geelong’s domination of the contested ball and precise use of it by hand and foot were very 2022-esque. Fantastic games from the likes of Max Holmes, Brad Close and Gryan Miers put speed on the ball forward of centre while Patrick Dangerfield and Tom Stewart stood up for their best displays of the year so far.
But the personification of Geelong’s re-emergence came in the form of Tom Hawkins, who suddenly looked like he could move again and feasted on the undermanned and undersized Swans defenders.
We still can’t fully know if Hawkins’ performance — like Geelong’s — was symbolic of a return to power or just a good night against a woeful opposition.
Either way, as the 2022 premiership flag flew above a side suddenly bearing some resemblance to the one that earned it, it felt very much like the Cats were back.
Saints still marching on
Another week goes by, and still St Kilda sit atop the AFL ladder. Any suggestion this is a flash in the pan or symptom of some new-couch bounce can be put to rest.
Not for the first time this season — in fact, for the sixth — this St Kilda side suffocated their opponents like one of those obnoxiously large rainforest snakes.
It’s a combination of structure, tactics and unrelenting effort, all of which can be safely attributed to the work of Ross Lyon. Even the most optimistic of Saints fans couldn’t have predicted such a stark and immediate impact from their returning boss.
It’s easy to forget that the narrative around the Saints before round one was almost entirely surrounding their injury list, and the tough hand that Lyon had been dealt. That absentee list has only grown, and yet the Saints have only gotten better.
Hopes and expectations are being recalibrated week by week. What started as a year of steady improvement turned into a finals run, and by round six the top four suddenly seems like the aim.
It’s not outrageous. The Saints are the best defensive team in the league at the moment, and have their best attacking weapons still to return to the side. This story is still only at the very beginning.
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Around the grounds
The form of Jeremy Finlayson for Port Adelaide right now is both essential to his team and completely remarkable given his circumstances. He and his family are worth our greatest admiration.
Despite some pretty significant criticism, the Hawks are a few minutes over a couple of weeks away from being 3-3. They’re either incredibly good at tanking, or a young side having a serious crack while learning on the fly.
Still seems like Brisbane are yet to hit top gear, but their forward line is going to be too hot to handle for most teams even on an average day. They’re sitting pretty at 4-2.
Even in victory, the hits keep coming for the Suns. A knee injury to Touk Miller is close to the last thing they need, even in a convincing and much-needed win over North.
Ahead of a must-win game, Richmond probably didn’t need to see Gawn, Lever and Hibberd as inclusions for Melbourne. Tigers will need something special tonight to pull out of this funk.
Essendon’s ruck domination of the Demons was a huge part of their win last week, and the Pies remain short in that area. If the Bombers are to pull off an Anzac Day win, Sam Draper may need to end up with the medal around his neck at the end of the day.
In the clubhouse
Here we take stock of who is leading the race for the season’s individual awards.
Harry Sheezel is banged up, and considering he took an injured thumb and corked thigh into North’s game against the Suns it’s probably no surprise he endured the first quiet one of his career.
At the moment, his closest rival for the Rising Star looks to be St Kilda’s Mitch Owens, who is proving incredibly influential on a weekly basis. In our eyes, Owens sits ahead of Will Ashcroft and only marginally behind Sheezel at this point.
Mark of the week honours go to Marcus Bontempelli for his Friday night pack grab. Harry Himmelberg’s grab against Hawthorn last week remains our MOTY leader.
And we’ve chosen to take Charlie Cameron at his word and believe he meant his little deflecty-glance-kick goal against the Giants. It’s our goal of the week as a result, and quite possibly the new GOTY front-runner.
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