Collingwood’s emerging talent has shone through – but it was too little, too late for their premiership defence.
And the reality of Richmond’s rebuild has hit as hard as ever, as a 20-year call looms amid trade chaos.
The big issues from Round 24 of the 2024 AFL season analysed in Talking Points!
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PIC EXPOSES LOOMING ‘BLANKET BOMB’ TRADE CHAOS AS TIGERS FACE 20-YEAR CALL
As eight teams enter finals season, 10 others flip their focuses to the silly season.
And there will be no bigger off-field player and more newsworthy club over the coming months than Richmond.
For the Tigers’ raft of calls threaten to blow the off-season up, as they’ll dictate the rhythm of the trade period and, therefore, the draft.
A 28-point loss to Gold Coast on Saturday ensured Richmond finished the 2024 season with its first wooden spoon since 2007 and its worst winning season on record. It comes amid a true changing of the guard, with premiership trio Dustin Martin, Dylan Grimes and Marlion Pickett all retiring.
As pointed out on the Fox Footy coverage at half-time of the Tigers-Suns game, only seven players from Richmond’s drought-breaking 2017 premiership team remain at the club: Daniel Rioli, Jack Graham, Dion Prestia, Nick Vlastuin, Nathan Broad, Toby Nankervis and Kamdyn McIntosh.
Yet that could be cut to five in a month’s time.
“It feels like yesterday we were celebrating that premiership drought, but we are seven to eight years on from that now,” triple premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt told Fox Footy.
“The next dynasty and generation of Tigers will need to start to evolve – and that will start at the draft, it will start with some players that are at the club at the moment and Adem Yze has the reins to try and get the club back there again.”
The silver lining in all this for the Tigers is they now hold Pick 1. It’s the first time they’ve held the prized draft selection since 2004 when they took a young gun from Kyabram in Brett Deledio.
But there’s a scenario in which the Tigers enter November’s national draft with as many as six first-round selections.
Premiership quartet Liam Baker, Jack Graham, Shai Bolton and Daniel Rioli have all been strongly linked to rival clubs.
Free agents Baker and Graham are yet to make calls on their respective futures amid interest from opposition teams. And the industry expectation is when an off-contract player waits this long before committing, they’re most likely going to leave.
Bolton and Rioli are both still under contract, so the Tigers could stand firm and hold the players to their deals. Bolton has a preference to return to WA if a trade can be orchestrated – Fremantle would be the likely landing spot – while Rioli has been heavily linked to the Suns.
“I look at that and they’re your next generation players,” Riewoldt said.
“Shai Bolton’s your superstar who would walk into the shoes of the great No. 4 (Martin). Potentially Liam Baker is your next captain and his vice-captain, you would think, would also be Jack Graham.
“You lose good players, but are the Tigers losing their next dynasty of leadership, which they’ll need through this next period if they are to head to the draft?”
Considering their contract status and talent, both Bolton and Rioli could net Richmond two first-round draft picks from Fremantle and Gold Coast, who both hold three top-20 selections at this stage. And the industry expectation is the Tigers would receive a first-round compensation pick for losing Baker to a WA-based club.
On top of the Tigers’ natural opening selection (Pick 1), that would all give them six first-round selections in one of the most talented and deepest AFL drafts in recent history.
And that’s all before the potential of trading their array of second, third and fourth-round picks to clubs like Brisbane, Gold Coast and Essendon, who’ll all need to acquire more picks to match bids on academy/father-son prospects.
So how hard do the Tigers fight to keep so many key players who might want out?
Do they take a short-term hit and concede they’ll likely be worse in 2025 in order to acquire a suite of picks to help set up a genuine rebuild well before Tasmania’s entry into the competition?
The balance is delicate.
Asked if the Tigers could afford to lose all four players, Riewoldt said: “If they’ve expressed (a desire) to leave, you sort of have to facilitate it. Go back to the draft before Tasmania come into the competition and make sure you get good talent in.”
It’s a view also held by Dermott Brereton – although the five-time premiership Hawk warns Sam Mitchell’s Hawks might’ve redefined the rebuild grace period for AFL clubs in the modern era.
“They (the Tigers) need to ‘blanket bomb’ the draft if they want to make another era,” Brereton told Fox Footy.
“The thing is there’s a window of tolerance if you completely bottom-out, but that window closes now on the back of what Sam Mitchell’s been able to do. Clubs will become less tolerant of being down for too long. If Hawthorn can do it in two-and-a-half years, they’re going to expect roughly the same.
“I would still let whoever wants to go and blanket bomb the draft to get the best out of the talent you can in the next two drafts.”
The Tigers this week will hold exit interviews with players, who’ll provide clarity around their future intentions.
Over to you, Tigers list team.
‘A good chance for a fresh start’ | 01:28
PIES’ NEXT WAVE SHINES… BUT DID IT TAKE TOO LONG?
It might’ve taken until Collingwood’s last game of the season, but the regeneration of the club was in plain sight against Melbourne.
Indeed, the next wave of Craig McRae’s Magpies all stood up together and in a meaningful way – arguably for the first time in 2024 – in promising signs for the future.
It was headlined by second-gamer Ed Allan racking up 21 disposals with nine score involvements, six tackles and a goal, with the former Pick 19 even entrusted with the starting centre bounce.
“So pleasing tonight to see Ed Allan,” McRae said post-match.
“Probably turned his last four or five weeks around at VFL level and really spiked – nine or 10 possessions more, clearances and contested possessions – all the numbers.
“Then go out and do it out there and transfer that form to AFL has given us all a bit of excitement (to say): ‘Hang on a minute, this young kid is coming.’
“Which hopefully spurs him on to want more of that and comes back bigger and hungrier.”
Allan wasn’t alone.
Former cricketer Wil Parker also kicked his first goal amid a career-best 17 disposals and nine intercepts, while Finlay Macrae had 11 touches in just over 50 per cent game time and Joe Richards and Charlie Dean also looked at home at the level.
In fact, Allan (No. 2), Parker (No. 7) and Richards (No. 12) were among the highest rated players on the ground.
Port Adelaide has clearly identified Richards as a player with talent, having reportedly tabled a four-year deal to the out-of-contract small forward.
Granted, Richards isn’t as young as the others — with the mature-aged recruit set to turn 25 later this year — but he still has a lot of footy left in him.
“Some pleasing signs – Wil Parker, Joey Richards played a lot of footy, Charlie Dean did a job tonight,” Macrae added on Friday night.
Emerging stars give Pies hope in 2025? | 00:55
“Throughout the year everyone got exposed, we learned a lot about our list, which is important to reset and go forward.”
It wasn’t the usual suspects per se dominating for Collingwood – even if Nick and Josh Daicos, just 21 and 25 respectively themselves, combined for 80 disposals – but a youthful exuberance clearly shining through.
And while the Pies unveiled nine fresh faces this year – including six AFL debutants, which is the equal most in the competition – not many of them have really stood out as key building blocks for the future nor did any stay in the side for a significant period.
It included Macrae and Reef McInness going into this season with high hopes internally to have breakout seasons and entrench themselves in the 23, but they ended up playing just nine games each.
Plus, a lot of the new Pies unearthed weren’t necessarily brought in by design amid a heavy injury toll.
The regeneration process would’ve ideally been more organic and is important for this ageing Collingwood list in its bid to avoid dropping further down the ladder.
And so the emergence of youth was arguably more valuable than the four points last Friday night given how the reigning premiers are placed.
They have the oldest list in the competition, which has prompted criticism on whether they should’ve taken so many veterans into 2025.
There’s also been question marks on the quality of their young talent and how many potential A-graders are coming through.
But there was a lot to like on Friday night.
Saints legend Leigh Montagna acknowledged the Pies didn’t have the luxury to embrace blooding youngsters while playing catch up for the majority of 2024, but urged McRae to do so next year at the expense of the veterans.
“The opportunity to expose some of the youngsters is probably something they should’ve done earlier in the season,“ Montagna said on Fox Footy’s The First Crack.
“I know they were playing catch up week to week to play finals.
“But when you look at the performances (of their youngsters against Melbourne)… there’s some shining lights there that maybe they have to continue with next year.
“That might be at the expense of some of the overs 30s that have been so good for so long. But they can’t keep going back to the well with the same group of players, I think they need to continue to evolve.
“Maybe that was a good look for Craig McRae in the last game of the season.”
Will a new coach recharge Eagles? | 00:35
HAS JARRAD SCHOFIELD LOST THE JOB HE NEVER ACTUALLY HAD?
Saturday afternoon’s shellacking did nothing to strengthen interim coach Jarrad Schofield’s chances of securing the full-time job as West Coast’s top dog.
So bad was the leaking of goals in the first term amid Geelong’s 18-goal first half that Schofield was forced to swing key forward Jake Waterman into defence – undoubtedly a move many would see as an absolute last resort.
“‘Easy’ doesn’t do it justice; it was ridiculously easy (for Geelong),” AFL Hall of Fame Legend Jason Dunstall told Fox Footy during the second term.
“Any danger of some pressure?” he added on the back of Jeremy Cameron’s sixth goal before half time.
Maybe, all the pressure that was missing from his playing group at Kardinia Park is instead sitting over Schofield’s head.
Inexplicably, the Eagles trailed by 100 points at half-time, having already conceded 114 points by the main break.
And while they may have won the second half (by seven points), it didn’t void Schofield and co intense scrutiny towards the back end of the final quarter from Western Bulldogs great Brad Johnson.
“I think there’s some players that are showing a little bit, and there’s some that have got a lot of work to do,” Johnson explained.
“They’ve got 12 months to really show the West Coast Eagles and the coaching staff what they can do in this competition.
“It’s a really delicate situation think at the moment for West Coast, and what direction they take going forward with the players that they’ve got.
Johnson’s analysis is certainly warranted, with well-documented concerns over the club list’s youth outside emerging star and first-year player Harley Reid.
And while how this result directly affects Schofield’s push for the top job remains to be seen, there’s no doubt that without the likes of Tom Barrass (who looks very likely to have played his final game at the club) and Jeremy McGovern down in defence, the Eagles look far, far away from the complete product.
Put simply, their inability to compete consistently at a respectable level throughout the last several seasons is wearing thin on many – and while Schofield’s role in all of this is very minor to date, he now may be the one who ultimately pays the price.
Speaking further on his longevity at the club as head coach post-game, Johnson and Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton exchanged conflicting dialogue.
“The prospect coach there, I think he’s lost he job in the last two weeks,” Brereton revealed.
Johnson: I don’t think he has; yes, it’s an audition, but (he’s been) thrust into it as well, so I think he’s shown a little bit of what he can do, but he hasn’t shown the whole basket.
Brereton: Isn’t that on the coach to get the emotion up so they do turn up?
Johnson: (They) probably would’ve had the same result, being at the end of the season (and) where they’re at as a club.
Schofield – rightly – laid some blame on his players after the loss in his post-match press conference, with some simply “not following” directives given before the first bounce even took place.
“We gave tasks to individuals and they didn’t follow, and when you give a task to someone and they don’t execute their role, then you’re searching for other players to step up in a space they really shouldn’t have had to,” Schofield said after last Saturday’s humiliating 93-point loss – perhaps also alluding to Waterman’s forced role change.
“We lost our way in terms of our overall system on the ground. And when you lose that connection, the game can get away from you, and then you’re trying to fight hard to come back from that.
“It just shows that we have got a lot of work to do as a football club.”
With arguably the top six initial contenders for the West Coast coaching role all ruling themselves out (Dean Cox, Ashley Hansen, Jaymie Graham, Nathan Buckley, Josh Carr and Daniel Giansiracusa), Schofield looked the heavy favourite after back-to-back wins over Gold Coast and North Melbourne only a fortnight ago.
But now, a recency bias and fear of not hiring externally – rightly or wrongly – now might mean Schofield has lost the job he never had.
‘Disappointed’ Schofield chats positives | 10:12
‘THE ERA IS OVER’ FOR DEMONS… OR IS IT?
Melbourne’s three years on the back of their 2021 premiership may well need to be studied at an academic level.
Breaking a 57-year premiership drought with a grand final win over the Western Bulldogs in Perth amid a global pandemic, the Demons were truly on top of the world after conquering arguably the toughest season ever for AFL clubs.
From that point on though, it has been a greasy, slippery slope down the rankings that has now seen them endure two straight sets finals exits and a finish in the bottom five this year.
And it’s prompted dual North Melbourne premiership player David King to put a line through them indefinitely while they sort out both their on and off-field issues.
“They’ve got an off-season they have to get right … the era, is over – age is undefeated,” King boldly stated.
“The thirst to rebuild is upon them; they’ve got great leaders in Gawn and Viney that will be there to take them through wherever they go.”
So much publicity has already surrounded a trio of their midfielders; two stars in Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver and an exceptional team man Alex Neal-Bullen – who will next year be playing for a South Australian-based team for personal reasons.
Time for Dees to rebuild the list? | 00:39
And while the Demons are more than happy to get Neal-Bullen back to his home state, the club is adamant Oliver and Petracca will be at the club to see out their long-term contracts well into the back end of the decade.
“Who knows what’s happening with Petracca, Oliver (and) Neal-Bullen … they’ve (Melbourne) got to get it right, because if they don’t, otherwise they’ll wallow in middle table – and they’re too good for that,” King continued.
“They’ve been a great football club for four to five years, but now, the big decisions are in front of them.”
Beyond Neal-Bullen’s move and Petracca’s injury scare that has played a part in his “disillusion”, a lot has been made of Oliver’s form in 2024 – no doubt well below his usual best.
The three-time All-Australian has looked lethargic at times; perhaps as a result of his compromised pre-season as he spent time away from the main group during parts of last summer.
Speaking on Fox Footy Live after the Demons’ season-ending match against Collingwood last Friday night, Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton had one message for Oliver – get fit.
“Lose weight. Become an explosive player out the front side of the pack, because at the moment, he’s fighting for the exit out the back of the pack … he’s got no punishment on his disposals now,” Brereton recommended.
It’s a long off-season ahead for all involved at Melbourne, but now allegedly staring down the barrel of a rebuild, it’s now or never for Simon Goodwin’s Demons.
Source Agencies
