Some players scream September. They might not have played in September yet but you know by the way they play they are September players.
They are not all the same types. Some are like Keith Miller, the ones who treat the game as a child does and assume their edge over the rest of the field as the natural sporting order. They play with swagger; the bigger the consequence, the higher the speed, the more it arouses them to perform in a way that Gold Coast in Cairns or Freo at Etihad does not. They still play well in these games, but that is just like training.
Replay
Dusty Martin is plainly a Keith Miller, good all the time but better when it matters. Gary Ablett is another. Neither has had an outstanding season but could have very good end of seasons. How ‘poor’ Martin’s year has been has been overstated while Ablett’s has been appropriate for his age, where consistency flags but his best can be concentrated into moments that matter in big games.
Buddy is a Keith Miller. Toby Greene is a Keith Miller.
Jordan De Goey and Christian Petracca look like they could be Keith Millers so at the moment are more Shane Watsons, good prospects heralded to be the next Millers but still works in progress. De Goey looks more immediately likely to take the Miller step next than Petracca.
Then there are others who are more like a Steve Waugh. These are the hard week-in week-out types who give no-one an edge whether it’s pre-season in Wonthaggi or grand final day. Luke Hodge was one of those. Joel Selwood, Patty Dangerfield and Scott Pendlebury are Steve Waughs, just elite every week.
Trent Cotchin and Alex Rance are more Waugh than Miller, so too Clayton Oliver and Josh Kelly. Gawn and Grundy have a lot of Waugh about them.
Then there are the Pat Cummins types. These are the big hopes that just can’t get a break with injury but if they strike it right could clean up in an Ashes.
Adam Treloar is a Pat Cummins, he’s been out half the year but fitness in the nets might be enough to earn him the new ball. His teammate Darcy Moore might be a Cummins but presently he makes Cummins look physically robust.
Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling are Cummins players. In fact with the two of them are more a Pat Cummins -James Pattinson opening attack. West Coast in finals week one could both be back in and bring to the Eagles the point of difference to all other finals sides. For a period in the first half of the year Darling was the most dominant forward in the competition before he got injured and Kennedy blended perfectly with him before his shin injury (believed to be a small fracture). Richmond is the only side that looks to have the blend of tall defenders to blunt their impact if they get out there.
Toby Greene could as easily be a Pat Cummins as a Keith Miller for if he gets back he is a game changer for the Giants.
Then finally there are the Aaron Finches. These are the types that are a bit hit and miss but could do anything and turn a game. If they are a footballer they are a small forward. Liam Ryan shapes as a Finch that could turn the finals in a quarter. Ben Ronke is another.
Jaidyn Stephenson has been too consistent to be a Finch but he has that spritz in his game that can turn a contest. Paul Puopolo, more than Luke Breust who is a Waugh in a small forwards body, has that ability to be a September star.
ALL GUNS BLAZING
Two teams carry more momentum than any others into the finals. And now they play one another.
Melbourne on a roll takes on rollicking Geelong. The Demons not only play a final, they will host it.
When you have momentum, momentum is all that matters. So Geelong have momentum and it doesn’t matter how bad the teams were they beat, nor where they played them – it matters only that they smashed them and that they played how they know they can play. That is a good reminder right now. Oh and Dangerfield starred, that is a good reminder.
Melbourne has probably more important momentum because right now they have self-belief where a fortnight ago they had self-doubt. They beat West Coast in Perth. The fact there was no Kennedy, and Darling was knocked out matters not a jot when a win against a good team on their turf is at stake. Then they did it more aggressively, more assertively against GWS. If they were drinking their own bathwater with their celebrations then clearly they didn’t choke on it.
BIGGEST LOSERS
The battle for the biggest loser a very keen competition.
Carlton managed to find a way to go backwards even on last year. Just the two wins this year.
That takes some doing. Injuries have been significant only in the sense that unlike teams with longer lists of better players out of their teams Carlton have very few good players so could afford to miss none. Allowing GWS to run away with the game when they had only 16 on the ground, and 17 for a large chunk was a new low.
Port mustered a late season push to take Carlton’s crown. They managed to go from fourth to lose six of their last seven to herald their frailty.
Carlton at least started the year knowing they were poor Port spent most of the year playing well then just turned belly up.
But what of Adelaide? Grand final last year, Bryce Gibbs in and then just disappointment that followed.
HAWKS GO IRISH
Conor Nash is unusual even by the standards of Irish players.
New tack: Conor Nash puts the boot in for Hawthorn.
Typically the Irish players have found their place in the modern game behind the ball running at the game in straight lines off half-back and kicking the ball beautifully.
From Taidgh Keneally to Pearce Hanley, Marty Clarke to Zach Tuohy and Conor McKenna, dashing off half back and using the ball with equal parts power as touch is the natural place the Irish have found in the game.
Nash doesn’t do any of that. He is the exception. He is a big forward not a back flanker and he doesn’t kick it very well. Yet he remains a very good prospect.
Tommy Walsh tried to make it as a marking forward, and found the position too much. Nash is different. He is more intuitively a forward as he competes well in the air and on the ground, and has learned the spots to be. Being taught by Roughy and Jack Gunston would help.
He also enjoys the physical contact. His half-tackle, half-bump assault on the ball late in the last against the Swans was pivotal in the win. The hit saw the ball spill free, and it ultimately ended up with Luke Bruest’s skidding mark in the goal square. That doesn’t happen without Nash’s hit.
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