Round 2 Review

2. Errol Gulden (136). Who would’ve picked this from the 32nd pick in last year’s draft? Just another crafty game between the midfield and up forward, ultimately finishing with 22 touches, 7 marks and 1 goal!

3. Jake Lloyd (124). Back to his best with 26 touches at 88% DE roaming around the backline, can lock him in for this sort of performance on a regular basis.

4.Rory Laird (121). Was looking like a 80-ish score was coming his way at half-time but a big second half bumped him up. Had 30 touches (14 contested) and 10 clearances to lead the Crows midfield.

5. Braeden Campbell (118). As impressive as Gulden was, Campbell also deserves some love for his second round ton. Had 25 disposals (21 kicks) and over 700 metres gained while running around in the midfield.

Other 100+ scores: Tom McCartin (110), Luke Parker (104), Isaac Heeney (102)

Disappointment: Sitting in 6% of teams, Reilly O’Brien backed up his 55 last week with a 51 this week from just 10 touches and 24 hitouts. He’ll be very cheap soon, but some improvement will need to be seen before considering him.

Rookies: Gulden and Campbell have already had their time in the limelight, but another couple of Sydney youngsters have not. Warner was busy playing at half-forward in his bright pink boots, finishing up with 2 goals, 20 touches and an impressive 90 points, with McDonald (69) backed up last week’s effort with 2 goals, 11 disposals and 8 marks. For the Crows, midfielder Berry (69) had 10 tackles, 7 touches and 4 behinds (oh what it could have been), while Rowe (19) was lucky to not get the disappointment score here, he only had 8 touches.

Injuries: No subs used in this game, but Papley did cop a knee to the ribs very late in the contest.

Port Adelaide 18.11.119 defeated Essendon 9.11.65

1. Zak Butters (163). Easily the best game of his young career, Butters took a good step forward to a potential breakout campaign with his 36 disposal (14 contested), 6 tackle, 1 goal game. 

2. Dan Houston (156). Used the ball well (96%) off half-back while gaining 657 metres for his side from 25 touches. Another breakout contender.
3. Jordan Ridley (136). Had his breakout year in 2020 and looks like the trend will continue after an opening round score of 125 was backed up by this. Ran at 90% from his 32 disposal (23 kick) effort, while also hauling in 7 marks.

4. Scott Lycett (123). The trend of bigger ruck scores in round 2 continued with Port’s moustached big man. 26 hitouts coupled with 21 touches, 6 marks and a goal all contributed to his score.

5. Travis Boak (120). Started slow but finished with a head of steam. 30 touches (17 contested) to go along with 9 clearances, all signs pointing towards him being a safe pick once again.

Other 100+ scores: Ollie Wines (104), Charlie Dixon/Steven Motlop (100)

Disappointment: Could make a case for almost every Essendon player here. McGrath (74) wasn’t what coaches wanted that brought him in for Rowell.

Rookies: Harrison Jones was impressive in round 1 but his 4 touches only equated to 5 points this week. Cox had 13 possessions and kicked 1 goal for his 42 points playing in the forward line, with fellow young forward Cahill (15) could lose money from his 161K price tag. The news was better for Port rookie Bergman, who had 15 touches and 7 marks for a round 2 score of 58.

Injuries: Some big Supercoach injuries to come out of this game, with midpricers Draper (23) and Caldwell (66) picking up ankle and hamstring problems in the third quarter. Another issue for Essendon was the left knee issue of gun mid Dylan Shiel, who was seen on crutches at the end of the game. Prior to play, Essendon lost Heppell and Port Adelaide’s Todd Marshall who both had back concerns.

St Kilda 11.7.73 defeated by Melbourne 12.19.91

1. Max Gawn (137). Thanks to a huge second half, Gawn repaid the faith with a solid hitout that included 40 hitouts, 17 disposals and a couple of tackles. Plenty of taps to advantage as one would expect too.

2. Clayton Oliver/Dougal Howard (133). Typical Oliver, 37 touches (21 contested) to go along with 11 clearances, 6 tackles and 500+ metres gained. Dougal Howard’s score on the other hand was an outlier in terms of his overall career scores, finishing with a career high in disposals (29) and kicks (23). Also had 8 marks and I reckon about 6 of those were intercepts, a great game for him.

3. Jack Steele (123). The Saints skipper was at his best in this game, kicking 3 goals from his 24 touches (14 contested) to go along with his other in and under work of 6 tackles and 4 clearances.

4. Christian Salem (122). Roaming across half-back, Salem provided the sort of game we know he is capable of but hasn’t shown consistently. Had 30 touches (22 kicks) with 10 marks and a solid DE of 83%.

5. Seb Ross (117). A couple of years ago he was an ultra consistent midfielder who had a couple of 100+ seasons. He showed glimpses this weekend that he hasn’t lost it, running around the midfield pretty freely to grab 28 touches with no clangers at all. Is only 417K and averaged 98+ from 2016-19.

Other 100+ scores: Callum Wilkie (112), Jade Gresham (104), Jack Billings/Alex Neal Bullen (101)

Disappointment: After coming over from Richmond, hopes were high that Jack Higgins would be a decent stepping stone for season 2021, but Saturday night didn’t reap any awards unfortunately, he only registered 28 points.

Rookies: James Jordon (82) has been fantastic over the first couple of weeks and will see a decent price increase after his 20 touch, 9 tackle game, as will Saint defender Thomas Highmore, who used his 9 disposals well (88%), and also laid 5 tackles. Budget ruckman Hunter had 10 touches, 5 tackles and 14 hitouts and deserved a bit more than 35 points.

Injuries: Unlucky defender Jimmy Webster was subbed out in the third term with a jaw concern, paving way for sub Bytel to get some game time.

Gold Coast (14.14.98) defeated North Melbourne (5.9.39)

1. Touk Miller (131). The tough midfielder from the Suns produced a great game in the middle of the ground, finishing the night with 31 disposals, 8 tackles and 500 metres gained for his side.

2. Jed Anderson (123). Returning to the team, Anderson was the only North player to crack the ton, with a lot of that score coming courtesy of his 14 tackles, as well as his contested possessions (17 of 27).

3. Noah Anderson (119). Goes a little bit forgotten considering he was drafted behind Rowell, but has put together an excellent 20 odd games now for the Suns, this week gaining a career high in disposals (35) to go along with 9 marks.

4. Jarrod Witts (115). At around 500K, Witts was a semi-popular pick and has been serviceable thus far with this score following a 75 in round 1. 19 touches (10 contested), 4 tackles, 6 clearances and 33 hitouts were his stats.

5. Jack Bowes (114). Has shown plenty of potential in the last couple of years and seems to be delivering thus far in 2021, with this 31 disposal game backing up his 146 from round 1.

Other 100+ scores: Jack Lukosuis (110), Sam Collins (107), Darcy MacPherson (104), Brandon Ellis (103)

Disappointment: Backing up 112 is hard but unfortunately a score of 40 from Stephenson takes the cake here. Might have been due to Anderson returning but spent a lot of the second half up forward.

Rookies: Charlie Lazzaro and Tom Powell returned scores of 53 and 75 for their owners on Saturday night, which should see them both increase over the coming weeks. Lachie Young at 202K also played well, backing up his 85 from last week with a 15 touch, 66 point game.

Injuries: Unfortunately for the Suns, young backman Budarick went down with what appears to be an ACL injury, while key forward Day also finished the night on crutches for his left knee concern. North forward Mahoney also clocked out early after suffering an ankle injury.

Hawthorn (7.7.49) defeated by Richmond (11.12.78)

1. Jarman Impey (123). At 202K he’ll make plenty of money with these type of scores. Had 22 touches and 5 marks but more importantly ran at 95% DE to have the highest score of the game.

2. Dustin Martin/Jayden Short (120). A couple of Tigers tied up for second place here. Martin had 28 touches, 1 goal and 500+ metres gained, while Short was brilliant with his 22 touches (95% DE) off half-back.

3. Changkouth Jiath (119). Tipped for a breakout year and delivered in this game for the Hawks, he had 25 touches (10 contested) and 8 marks roaming around at half-back.

4. Tom Mitchell (109). One of the most traded in players this week, Mitchell repaid the faith with a 37 touch performance that was slightly hindered by 25 handballs and only 170 metres gained.

5. Blake Hardwick (103). 31 disposals (27 kicks) with 15 marks and 500+ metres gained probably deserves more than this score, but with only 3 contested touches, it seems more fair.

Other 100+ scores: Zilch

Disappointment: 45% DE to go along with 6 clangers from 24 touches meant Tom Phillips could have scored a lot more than 56.

Rookies: Jacob Koschitzke (38) kicked his first goal in league footy from one of his 9 touches, while also hauling down 6 marks, while small forward Brockman performed much better this week, kicking 2 goals, having 12 disposals and taking 8 marks for his score of 77.

Injuries: Young Will Day (55) was looking fantastic once again but was struck down by a nasty looking ankle injury during the third quarter.

Western Bulldogs (14.16.100) defeated West Coast (14.9.93)

1. Marcus Bontempelli (145). Brought his own footy in the first half until being tagged by Nelson. Finished the game with the sealing goal, ultimately kicking 3 of them from his 30 touches that ran at 93% DE.

2. Jack Macrae (137). 41 touches (15 contested), with 9 clearances and nearly 600 metres gained, the guy is a Supercoach gun and lock for top 8 midfielder.

3. Josh Dunkley (132). Talking about guns, Dunkley looks likely for the number 1 forward spot after his first few weeks, this week his score came courtesy of: 25 touches (88% DE), 12 contested possessions, 1 goal and 9 tackles.

4. Nic Naitanui (131). His ruck work was sublime and I’d guess around half his points came from hitouts to advantage. Overall 40 hitouts, 11 clearances, 13 disposals and 14 contested possessions.

5. Shannon Hurn (117). Father time isn’t holding Hurn back in 2021, and with the new kick in rules, he is seemingly benefiting the most. Had 25 touches (23 kicks), 7 marks and ran at 100% DE. Four games away from the Eagles games record now.

Other 100+ scores: Jaime Cripps (113), Aaron Naughton (112), Taylor Duryea (106), Tom Liberatore/Tom Barrass (100)

Disappointment: For the POD that many a coach thought Gaff was, his 69 point return would have been extremely frustrating.

Rookies: Both Dogs bargain based rookies played alright and should hold their spots, with both McNeil and Scott having 9 touches a piece for their returns of 55 and 23. Eagles forward Jermaine Jones (68) kicked 3 goals and is 182K.

Injuries: The only concern was Oscar Allen’s shoulder but he returned to the game.

Fremantle (11.21.87) defeated GWS (7.14.56)

1. David Mundy (134). Talking about father time, Mundy has been in it for a couple of years now but shows no signs of slowing down. Had 35 disposals (15 contested), as well as 5 tackles and 6 clearances.

2. Andrew Brayshaw (132). Broke out last year and that trajectory only seems to be going up. Led the Dockers inside midfield unit with a 32 touch performance that also included 2 goals.

3. Adam Cerra (120). The smooth skilled former number 5 pick had a team high 557 metres gained with his 28 touch game. Looks ready to take the next step and average 100+.

4. Sam Switkowski (110). Scored 95 last week which was a career best score, only to up it 7 days later. Had 16 touches (9 contested) with 8 marks and 2 goals playing a forward role.

5. Lachlan Schultz (105). Another forward pocket who pulled out a career best score in this game, he kicked 3 goals from 20 touches and 6 tackles.

Other 100+ scores: Luke Ryan (101), Isaac Cumming (100)

Disappointment: If you brought in Taranto for Rowell, his score of 67 wouldn’t have been a great way to finish the round.

Rookies: Big men Matthew Flynn and Lloyd Meek were once again pretty good for scores of 78 and 82 respectively. Dockers debutant Heath Chapman had 12 touches and 3 marks for his 42 points, while second gamer Tanner Bruhn didn’t get a lot of the pill for his score of 32. Another second gamer who actually made his debut in 2019 was Zac Sproule, who kicked 2 goals from 7 touches and scored 33 points, he sits at 123K in the forward line.

Injuries: Huge news surrounding Nat Fyfe, who was subbed off during 3QT due to a concussion, meaning he’ll miss next week. Emerging defender Brennan Cox had sore ribs and finished the game iced up.