Fremantle must throw the kitchen sink at Cam McCarthy
As it panned out, Friday night’s preliminary final was entirely predictable. The Dockers earned a green tick for pressure, effort and intensity but their lack of scoring power – their Achilles heel for as long as Ross Lyon has been in charge – meant they didn’t have enough firepower to topple the reigning premiers.
It leaves Lyon entering his fifth season as Fremantle coach facing something of a crisis. Skipper Matthew Pavlich battled late in the year and was barely sighted on Friday night, with speculation that he may call time on his magnificent 334-game career. Young Matt Taberner was out of his depth in the heat of September action and Chris Mayne capped off a so-so season by his standards by inexplicably spraying an easy shot in the first quarter, which would have given his side a three goal to zip start.
With reported target Jay Schulz last week deciding to remain at Port Adelaide, the Dockers simply must throw the kitchen sink at Giant Cam McCarthy. The second year forward, who booted 35 goals this season, has requested a trade home to Western Australia. He’s under contract so the Giants are playing hardball, but just ask Tom Boyd how that worked out last year. McCarthy may not be the difference between Fremantle winning or losing the flag in 2016, but would be a big coup for a club that unsuccessfully tried to lure Travis Cloke and Schulz in recent years and simply can’t expect to beat the better sides in the finals with such a lack of firepower.
Dockers fans can console themselves with the hope that red-hot favourite Nat Fyfe – so gallant on one leg on Friday night – takes home the club’s first Brownlow on Monday evening. It would be a small victory in a season that promised so much but delivered so little.
Red time Hawks lead the way
Hawthorn snatched the lead halfway through the first quarter after the Dockers’ hot start and were never headed. But that’s not to say the Hawks were in cruise control for the rest of the night. Fremantle made it a tight, tough scrap and closed to within two goals in each quarter, but just couldn’t nail the crucial shots to get them closer (see Jonathan Griffin at half-time, and Michael Barlow and Michael Walters in the last quarter).
But those days when the Hawks seemed mentally fragile in their 10-game losing streak to the Cats feel like a long time ago now. As three consecutive preliminary final wins by less than a goal (2012-2014) show, this Hawks team striving for immortality just knows what to do when a game is on the line.
Two of Friday’s defining moments came from cool-as-ice set shots by Hawthorn players, silencing the deafening roar of the Dockers fans. First, Jarryd Roughead calmly slotted a goal from a tight angle late in the second quarter after Fremantle had been pressing. Half an hour later, Matthew Suckling had an even bigger moment. Receiving a free kick from an errant Nat Fyfe trip just beyond 50m, and with the Dockers less than two goals down as the three quarter time siren blared, Suckling struck the ball cleanly and powerfully to sail over half a dozen opponents on the mark and into the crowd. It gave his side a 17-point lead that proved unassailable, not to mention all the momentum.
Suckling’s was arguably the biggest kick for the Hawks since Isaac Smith’s similarly massive bomb in the last quarter of the 2013 grand final. Both had the same result on the scoreboard, and the same net result of breaking Fremantle hearts.
Sharrod Wellingham’s redemption is almost complete
When West Coast gave up a prized first-round draft pick for former Magpie Sharrod Wellingham at the end of 2012, they did so expecting the 2010 premiership player would immediately add depth, class and experience to the Eagles’ midfield.
Things didn’t quite go as planned. Wellingham’s first two seasons at West Coast were marred by injuries and poor form, the latter responsible for him being dropped from the side twice in 2014. In the newspapers over the weekend, Wellingham revealed he almost gave the game away during a mid-season sojourn to Bali last year. Adam Simpson must thank his lucky stars he didn’t. Given a new role in the backline this season, Wellingham has rebounded with the most consistent season of his eight-year career.
He saved perhaps his best game in Eagles colours for the preliminary final. Wellingham was one of the key West Coast players to steady the ship early, after the Kangaroos jumped out of the blocks with the first three goals of the game. His efficiency of 78% was telling given the Kangaroos’ superb pressure; his run and carry vital. When the Eagles finally got their game going, he pushed up the field to nail a clutch third-quarter goal and had a hand in a couple of others. He finished with a team-high 27 touches, four inside-50s and a chance to claim a second premiership medal on Saturday.
The Eagles’ stratospheric rise from ninth in 2014 to grand finalists this season has been on the back of career-best years from a number of players such as Wellingham, Jamie Cripps, Elliott Yeo, Brad Sheppard and Andrew Gaff who have thrived under Simpson’s tutelage. The coach was justifiably keen to play down the notion that Saturday presents a “free hit” at a premiership given the low expectations on the Eagles six months ago. What’s one more mountain to climb when they’ve already climbed so many?
North Melbourne can challenge next season
In the end, it all caught up with North Melbourne. The Kangaroos were forced to play catch-up all season after dropping seven of their first 13 games, leaving them battling to simply make the eight and handing them back-to-back finals road trips.
That they won two finals from eighth position is a huge achievement, but just as satisfying in the wash-up was how they jumped the Eagles. Twelve months ago North Melbourne was humiliated by the Swans in the penultimate game, but this time around it was the Kangaroos making the running. They held a 20-point lead at quarter-time and a slender one at the main break, before being overrun. That first half showed why the Kangaroos can challenge in 2016, if they can win enough games to book a top four berth. They have the game’s best ruckman, a deep midfield and a forward line that can trouble most defences. Former Bulldog Shaun Higgins was a revelation in his first season in blue and white, and will be joined by the equally classy Daniel Wells (who managed just two games this year) in 2016. Ben Jacobs turned himself into an also-ran into one of the league’s best taggers and made life miserable for Luke Shuey on Saturday, an injury-free Robbie Tarrant showed why Brad Scott had persisted with him for so long and Brent Harvey continued to run around like a teenager on his way to passing the 400-game milestone.
What the Kangaroos need to target is another outside runner. The lightning-fast Shaun Atley was superb early when North Melbourne was on top, but faded after half time. The team is sorted for grunt and toughness – it’s one of the reasons they’ve won four of their last six finals – but just needs a little more polish and X-factor. Get that right, and stay focused for the home and away season, and they can go even further.
It’s going to be a high scoring grand final
Throw your shutdown tactics out the window – the league’s two highest scoring teams are going head to head for the 2015 premiership. The Hawks and Eagles have been on a collision course for the first Saturday in October since that classic round 19 encounter in the west, when some Shaun Burgoyne brilliance lifted the Hawks over the line. West Coast turned the tables in the qualifying final, minus Matt Priddis too, but it’s an entirely different proposition tackling the reigning champs at the ‘G.
There are so many storylines set to unfold on Saturday – least of all in the coaching box. Adam Simpson was an assistant under Alistair Clarkson when the Hawks beat the Dockers for the 2013 flag; it’s remarkable to ponder that he has got his Eagles into a grand final just two years later and that Hawthorn haven’t missed one since.
On paper, it should be a ripper. Both teams have incredible multi-pronged forward lines, and the Hawks may be further strengthened by the return of Jack Gunston. West Coast have the edge in marking targets with both Nic Naitanui and Callum Sinclair capable of resting forward to great effect but Hawthorn’s smalls in Cyril Rioli, Luke Breust and Paul Puopolo are so hard to match up on.
The midfield will boast at least one Brownlow medalist – two if Sam Mitchell takes Charlie home on Monday night – and there’s class all over the field for both sides.
Immortality for the Hawks or a fairytale realised for the Eagles? Only five sleeps until we find out.
