Round 14 Review

Geelong (12.11.89) defeated Western Bulldogs (11.12.78)

1. Marcus Bontempelli (143). The games highest priced player showed exactly why he owns that tag with a stellar performance that included 30 touches (17 contested), 8 clearances, 7 tackles, 1 goal and a team high 641 metres gained.

2. Sam Menegola (130). Just his second ton of the year this one. Kicked 2 very important goals from his 27 touches (17 contested), while also running at a very good 81% DE.

3. Tom Liberatore (126). The games best clearance player had another 11 of them on Friday night, while he also contributed 1 goal, 30 touches (20 contested) and 8 tackles to his statline.

4. Joel Selwood (121). Another captains game from Selwood saw him finish with 29 touches (17 contested), 10 clearances, 1 goal and 6 tackles. Averaging 107 with 8 tons.

5. Tom Stewart (120). No idea how he didn’t score at least 150 as he took 10 intercept marks on the night (13 all up), as well as gaining 697 metres from 27 touches at 77% DE. Anyway, guess we’ll have to accept 120 and move on.

Other 100+ scores: Mark Blicavs (116), Bailey Williams (110), Isaac Smith (104), Caleb Daniel (100)

Disappointment: While there were a couple of premium forwards who couldn’t manage even 60, the score of 97 from Macrae gets the nod here, mainly because its his first score under triple figures for 2021.

Rookies: No real rookies in this game but cash-cows Scott (66) and Weightman (60) both played well, kicking 3 goals between them and shouldn’t be in much danger of losing their spots.

Injuries: A rib injury put a premature end to Naughton’s evening, while in big Supercoach news Duncan had a knee concern that looks set to sideline him for some time. Hawkins also spent some extended time on the bench for a neck concern but played on.

Gold Coast (4.7.31) defeated by Port Adelaide (12.9.81)

1. Aliir Aliir/Williem Drew (122). A tie at the top with Aliir scoring his first ton since round 7 thanks to 20 touches at 85% DE off half-back, while Drew has shown some real scoring potential this year, this fourth ton coming from 27 touches (16 contested), 7 tackles, 10 clearances and 92% DE.

2. Charlie Dixon (118). Big Charlie has been on a roll lately, scoring a ton in five out of his last six games. This one was courtesy of 16 touches, 5 marks, 5 tackles and 2 goals.

3. Ollie Wines/Steven Motlop (117). Wines can’t stop finding the ball at the moment, this week notching a career high in disposals (43) to go along with 6 tackles ad 700 metres gained. He was held back by 11 clangers though. Motlop played his best game of the year to finish with 26 touches and 2 goals.

4. Miles Bergman (115). The first ton of Bergman’s career came from 23 touches at 95% DE as he played a role at half-back. Also threw in 6 tackles and 7 marks to reward anyone who has held him.

5. Touk Miller/Karl Amon (107). The outstanding form of Miller continued as he gathered 31 touches (15 contested) with 9 tackles and 7 clearances in the Suns midfield, while the underrated Amon ran loose all day to have 26 touches, 557 metres gained and kick 1 goal.

Other 100+ scores: Jack Lukosius (101)

Disappointment: Travis Boak scored 76 from 25 touches and 7 tackles, which is worst return of the year.

Rookies: Bergman has already been mentioned, so that only leaves the slow-burners in Flanders (47) and Smith (56) to get a mention, as well as a mulleted defender in…

Injuries: Lachie Jones (29), who had his hamstring iced up in the third quarter which may see him miss some time. Superstar and 250 gamer Robbie Gray unfortunately suffered a knee injury in his milestone match.

North Melbourne (6.9.45) defeated by Brisbane (9.14.68)

1. Lachie Neale (156). He’s scored two tons in eight games this year but is averaging 102, highlighting his super high ceiling. Had 30 touches (19 contested) at 80% DE as well as 10 tackles, 10 clearances and 1 goal. Still didn’t hit his BE but this will be the last week to get him.

2. Jarryd Lyons (141). Another huge game from Lyons who finished with 36 touches (14 contested) with 12 tackles and 540 metres gained for his twelfth ton of the year.

3. Jy Simpkin (136). Four tons on five weeks see’s his average rise to a career high 96. Had another stellar game in the middle with 31 touches (17 contested) and 9 clearances, seems to have really enjoyed Cunnington returning to the team.

4. Jack Ziebell (134). Has been a little quiet since his awesome early season run of scores but this week he returned to the top 5 thanks to 32 touches of the footy that resulted in 770 metres gained.

5. Zac Bailey (133). Bailey kept the big scores coming in this game as he churned out his best career score from 29 touches and 1 goal floating between the middle and up forward.

Other 100+ scores: Lincoln McCarthy (121), Ben Cunnington (110), Grant Birchall (101), Aaron Hall (100)

Disappointment: I’m sure some people looked at Goldstein as an option for Grundy, so his score of 76 was pretty unwelcome, while the often unheralded Harris Andrews, who is averaging 91, scored just 67, his second worst of the year.

Rookies: The only North rookie left in the team is Powell, who continues to find the ball (13 touches) and lay tackles (7), but unfortunately he committed 5 clangers to score 47. Cash cows Robertson (55) and Madden (60) hit their breakevens, as did Prior (44).

Injuries: No subs used here so fingers crossed no one comes out with anything later on!

GWS (16.6.102) defeated Carlton (9.12.66)

1. Lachie Whitfield (126). Repaid the faith after last week with a typical Whitfield performance on the outside, ultimately collecting 26 touches, 10 marks and a game high 629 metres gained.

2. Toby Greene (125). Greene was once again super as he worked his way into a possible premium forward, this week kicking 4 goals from 20 touches as well as receiving a report for an off the ball hit to round out his game.

3. Jeremy Finlayson (121). Kicked 5 goals up forward for his second ton of the season, while also hauling in 10 marks and registering 13 disposals.

4. Matthew Kennedy (115). Seems to have a game like this every year before either an injury or poor form see’s him back in the reserves. Had 27 touches with no clangers to be the best of the Carlton midfield.

5. Matthew De Boer (114). Played a ripping game to collect 16 touches of the pill as well as 12 tackles, but as usual his best work came from shutting down a certain player of the opposition team….

Other 100+ scores: Isaac Cumming (113), Tim Taranto (111), Jacob Hopper (108), Marc Pittonet (107), Josh Kelly (101)

Disappointment: As mentioned above, De Boer shut down a certain Carlton premium, and no prizes for guessing it was Sam Walsh, who was held to 20 touches and 71 points. Fellow midfielder Cripps scored the same as Walsh, while recruit Williams could only land 68.

Rookies: Largely untalked about for most of the season, Connor Idun had played all but one game so far and with more price increases to come after his 93, one would be pretty pleased with his 214K starting price. Carlton rookie Owies (66) kicked his usual 2 goals for the game, while Stocker (73) had the best game of his young career, setting career highs in multiple categories as well as Supercoach score. Paddy Dow (61) is back in the team and looked a little more settled, but you shouldn’t consider trading him back in.

Injuries: Another rookie in Parks was subbed off with a corkie in the third quarter, but that wasn’t before he could commit 4 clangers for a score of 2.

Hawthorn (10.13.73) defeated by Essendon (13.8.86)

1. Jake Stringer (180). The highest score of Stringers career came on Sunday afternoon as he slotted 4 goals from a career best 29 touches. Also did the hard yeards with 18 contested touches, 7 tackles and 6 clearances, while also having 689 metres gained.

2. Nick Hind (136). Another career high score in this game came from Hind, who ran all day off the back-flank to record 25 touches and slott 1 goal. Went one better than Stringer though with a game-high 725 metres gained.

3. Sam Draper (126). The third guy to have career highs in this game was the young Essendon ruckman who recorded career bests in almost every major stat: 15 disposals, 6 marks and 9 clearances to name a few.

4. Jaeger O’Meara (124). His fifth ton of the year pushed his average to a career best 102. Had 31 touches in the middle of the ground (15 contested), with 6 clearances and 6 tackles to go with it.

5. Luke Bruest (119). The brilliant Bruest notched his first ton of 2021 thanks to 3 goals, 14 touches and 5 tackles to round out the five.

Other 100+ scores: Ben McEvoy (116), Darcy Parish (115), Tom Mitchell (114), Jordan Ridley(111), Jarman Impey (109), Blake Hardwick (102), Dyson Heppell (101), Harry Jones (100)

Disappointment: There was some real interest in Kyle Langford this week and for good reason, which makes his return of 72 not a great way to end the round.

Rookies: Harry Jones secured the best score of his young career with a 14 touch effort that included 2 goals and 8 marks that resulted in 100 points, but after that the cash-cow scores dropped away pretty rapidly. Koschitzke was good enough for 3 goals and 73 points, while first gamer Bramble produced 54 from 9 touches, but it was then rounded out by very disappointing scores of 46 from Cahill, 37 from Cox, 26 from Perkins and lastly just 24 from the most traded in player this week, Newcombe.

Injuries: No subs used but I saw some posts that Jiath hurt his knee very late in the game, keep an eye out for the injury list.