The Buck Stops Here.
Nathan Buckley has explained his five key takeaways from the weekend of footy.
Bucks heaped praise on Carlton’s list management and believes a key Saint is the next no.1 forward in the competition.
1. V8 Melbourne are only playing on four cylinders
“Melbourne kicked one point from front half turnovers in the first half on the weekend and then three goals one behind in the second half,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“Now that’s not exceptional, they only had 21 front-half turnovers. They want to be a front-half turnover side, they’re not playing their brand.
“They're middle of the ladder of front-half turnovers and scoring from front-half turnovers, (so) watch out.
“Melbourne are not playing the way they want to play, they’re doing it from the back half and stoppage, but they’re going to ramp that up over the next couple of weeks.
“I think there’s better to come.”
2. Max King is the heir apparent to Tom Hawkins as the no.1 key forward in the comp
“There is no forward in the competition who has a better return for the times that he is targeted inside 50.
“Now, as a key forward, you’re more than just an inside 50 target, you’ve got to get up the ground to be an exit kick and he does that pretty well also.
“His capacity to take contested marks is huge, but when he gets inside forward 50, when St Kilda go to him, no team gets greater return for score on the board than when they go to Max King, he is the no.1 guy.
“The next guys in that are Lance Franklin, Jack Higgins, Bayley Fritsch is up there, Josh Rachele is fifth, Tom Hawkins, Matt Taberner, Brody Mihocek, Tim Membrey, they’re the top 10 of effect, when they’re the target… the team scores.
“St Kilda have three of the top ten guys that when they’re the target, their team scores.”
“Max King is no.1.”
3. The revenge of the small forward
“We’re seeing them all come to light this week in particular.
“It can be starvation corner in these roles, but we’re starting to see these guys come to light.
“Higgins kicked five, Moore kicked four in the first half on Monday, Weightman kicked five, Rachele has now kicked 12 goals for the season, he’s only four goals off the Coleman (Medal leaderboard) at the moment.
“There’s been so much talk about big units but we’re actually starting to get some heavy goalscoring opportunities from players that have played a lot of up and back, selfless defensive running, transition running, but they’re now hitting the scoreboard.”
4. Carlton list management deserves a pat
“Carlton’s centre bounce crew: Marc Pittonet, George Hewett, Adam Cerra, Matt Kennedy. All players who have come from other clubs, so Patty Cripps isn’t in there and you think what’s going to happen, but they basically have recruited really well.
“You talk about specifically a guy like Hewett, with momentum swings and opposition players that might heat up, he’s just a great player to have in a coach’s armoury.
“He can be used as a cooler when you need him, but when he’s not doing that role, he can still find it and be as damaging as any other midfielder.
“As a coach, if you can get seven out of ten out of a player and know you’re going to get that every week – seven’s marginal, you’re getting seven/eight – and if you had a player that was going to give you a nine out of ten one week then a two or a three out of ten the next, you’d much prefer, as a coach, the seven or the eights, because you know that you’re going to be able to build a team around that sort of performance.
“Geelong has probably taken the lead in this, in regards to stock picking, finding players that they need to add to their mix to stay relevant and competitive, it hasn’t got them the ultimate but I think they have shown the rest of the competition the way that you can do that really effectively, and most of that is based around having a fairly even pay structure and not paying one bloke too much, which I think is a big trap.”
5. What do you want him to say?
“There were elements that were criticizing (Ken Hinkley’s post-match comments, saying), ‘switch on mate, you’re giving your supporters false hope that they’re going to make the finals (by declaring that finals are still a possibility).
“I don’t know what a coach is supposed to say. He’s 0-5, he’s having a really hard time, he’s struggling to work out how his side can come together and you’ve got to find hope as a coach.
“You’ve got to find a reason and a method and a pathway of of the muck that you’re in and Leigh Matthews always used to say when you’re talking in a press conference you’re not talking to the public, you’re actually talking to your players.
“Your players may hear what you say, (so) you can’t say one thing in a press conference and then say something else in front of your players, so you’ve got to be consistent.
“What Ken Hinkley is saying is, ‘we’ve got to keep fighting, we have lost five matches in a row before and made finals’, so it can be done and you have to keep looking for that hope, as difficult as it is.”