When I finished at the Dogs, Daniel Cross was the player I admired almost more than anyone else. If you look purely at natural talent across any side, Crossy is going to be right down the bottom end of the scale. But in terms of professionalism and putting team over the individual and doing absolutely everything you possibly can to get them most out of yourself? Daniel has taken that to a new level. He’s just so fanatical about improving so he can help the team win. It was a really interesting week, with the person who is probably more revered in the group than anyone playing his 150th game, and someone else getting the boot for causing massive distractions. There was a certain amount of irony that those two things happened in the same week, and they had a massive game. The brilliant result spoke volumes.
Josh Carr - love him or whack him?
A 10-0 record in showdowns is an amazing record to retire with. I always liken Josh to my former teammate Tony Liberatore - a bloke who you love as a teammate, but on the field he’s a player that every opposition player would love to clip given the opportunity. I reckon I was asked more about Libba than any other player in my career - people just loved to hate him, but as a teammate, he’s one of the people I loved playing with more than anyone else, because he’d do anything for the team. Josh Carr will be remembered as that sort of player - he got the most out of his ability.
Top four - locked in
The top eight is still open, but I reckon the four is done after the Dogs belted Fremantle on the weekend. At the bottom of the eight I think Sydney will go out and North will come in, but at the top, it’s just about the order they finish. Collingwood v Geelong in round 19 should settle that question, and I reckon the Magpies will win and finish on top.
Nick Riewoldt - looking good
There were some good signs for Nick on Friday night. He’s not clunking all his marks - that’s just a touch thing - but there was enough there for me, just looking at the way he ran, the way he was able to extend himself when he made leads, his second efforts. The best sign out of the game for St Kilda is they have time for Nick to get back to his best if he stays on track. That’s a huge upside for the Saints, if they can get him to where they want him come finals time.
The Demons - like a bat out of hell
What a fantastic brand of football they’re playing! I really admire Dean Bailey, who two years ago was saying that this was the style of footy that they were going to play, and despite not being capable of doing that at the time, the only way to learn was to keep doing it. Now that they’re getting all that quality into their side, you can see that what they’re trying to do is very Geelong-like. I think that in about three years’ time they’ll have the best list, and they’ll be in the best position of any club to win a flag. If you had the choice of all the sides to coach, Melbourne would be the list and the side that you’d want.
The draw - great game, horrible outcome
I really enjoyed the contest Friday night, the battle of the different coaching styles, and a lot of St Kilda games are going to be tight. But I’d really like there to be a result - four points to one of the teams. Whether it’s five extra minutes each way (similar to finals) or having a penalty-shootout-style event were you have five blokes from each team kick at goal from 45 metres, I’d really like to see the game evolve so we get a result one way or the other. It only happens a couple of times a year, but it’d be a great spectacle.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
