After the siren: The last-man-standing seasonAshley Browne
afl.com.au
Aug 13, 2018 ASK many people in footy and they'll tell you that the perfect length of the season is 17 games. Each team plays the other once and then we have the finals.
Perhaps you would add an 18th game so that the great rivalry matches get showcased twice each season.
Increasingly, the 22-game season, even with the mid-season bye and the mini-break before the finals, has become a war of attrition. The "fifth quarter" used to be what David Parkin called the post-match media conferences. Now it is the Monday morning medical scans.
This year in particular, it might be the clubs with the most available players, rather than the most talented lists, that will most be in contention come the pointy end of the season.
Richmond is the best team in the competition and the deserved premiership favourite, but the feature of the past two seasons is just how intact its playing list has been. The Tigers just don't suffer injuries to their better players.
Richmond's big four – Trent Cotchin, Alex Rance, Dustin Martin and Jack Riewoldt – have missed six games between them over the past two years. No.1 ruckman Toby Nankervis has missed two games, while other key players such as David Astbury (one), Kane Lambert (one), Shane Edwards (five) and Josh Caddy (five) get on the park most weeks.
Only Bachar Houli (13 games missed in the past two years), Nick Vlastuin (12) and Daniel Rioli (12 missed, all this year) have had some issue with continuity, and all will be cherry ripe for September.
Contrast that with the growing and crippling injury lists of some of their flag rivals. Jeremy McGovern's goal after the siren for West Coast on Sunday might have all but delivered the Eagles a top-two finish, but they enter the finals without their No.1 ruckman Nic Naitanui and with their dual Coleman medallist spearhead Josh Kennedy proppy. Andrew Gaff is their best midfielder and he won't be playing, either.
Saturday evening's affair was calamitous for Port and not just on the scoreboard. Charlie Dixon joins Hamish Hartlett with a season-ending injury. Paddy Ryder (hip flexor) is in doubt for the season-defining clash with Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday. Hips are nasty conditions to carry through the rest of the season, particularly for ruckmen.
Greater Western Sydney is the team that many believe has the ability to go toe-to-toe with the Tigers. But it can't take a trick on the injury front and out of the weekend you can add the names Heath Shaw, Sam Reid and Josh Kelly to an injury list that already features Jonathon Patton, Brett Deledio, Tom Scully, Dawson Simpson and Sam Taylor. On the flipside, the Giants are getting a couple back, but they'll be entering the finals short-handed.
Collingwood's injury woes have been well-documented and Nathan Buckley has coached brilliantly all year to navigate the Pies through this mess. Ben Reid did a calf in the VFL on Saturday, robbing the Pies of a potential key-position reinforcement in September, with Lynden Dunn and Matt Scharenberg out for the year, Tyson Goldsack doubtful and Jeremy Howe still unavailable.
Melbourne has a fight on its hands just to play finals, but Jake Lever won't be part of any September campaign, nor will experienced defender Bernie Vince. Michael Hibberd should be back next week, while Jesse Hogan is clearly playing sore. North also faces an uphill battle to make the finals and is clearly missing outstanding lockdown midfielder Ben Jacobs, who has lingering concussion issues. North has won 24 of the past 32 matches he has played in and on Sunday, with Lachie Hunter (44 disposals), Caleb Daniel (40) and Jack Macrae (40) all getting off the chain, he was sorely missed.
Sydney was getting most of its cattle back, but the awful news out of Sunday's nine-point win over Melbourne was the likely ACL injury suffered by Alex Johnson. The Swans won't likely have Nick Smith available for the remaining two home and away matches, either. Sam Reid and Callum Mills remain notable outs.
Geelong may not have its No.1 ruckman Rhys Stanley available after he hurt his calf on the weekend. It will be improvising and hoping for the best if it does make the finals.
Interestingly, the one team that might enter September with a full list to choose from is Hawthorn. The Hawks were reasonably depleted on Saturday, but still knocked over Geelong by 11 points and Alastair Clarkson faces the enviable task of reintroducing Ben McEvoy, Jarryd Roughead, James Sicily and perhaps even Grant Birchall over the next two weeks and into the finals to a side that's now won four straight games.
Clarkson and fitness lieutenant Andrew Russell have managed the list superbly this year, but it is no coincidence that Richmond's high-performance manager Peter Burge used to work under Russell at the Hawks.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-08-13/after-the-siren-the-lastmanstanding-season
