Round 5 of the 2023 AFL season has played out and Nathan Buckley has put together his five takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.
Teams valuing defence, Richmond’s struggles, Adelaide being the real deal and credit to Essendon were on Buckley’s mind in Round 5 on SEN Breakfast.
Read his thoughts below:
Teams valuing defence-first football
“There’s been great focus on offensive and attacking footy, but what I can tell you and what we all know in inner sanctums, in clubs and coaching groups is that great defence unlocks everything in your game plan.
“We saw that with St Kilda and Collingwood to finish Gather Round with two coaches who value defence first.
“These are two sides who have moved the ball particularly well throughout the year. Both of these sides defend turnover better than any other team in the competition, they’re one and two. They’ve only given away 52 shots each from turnover.
“Brisbane are third, conceding 58 shots from turnover.
“Carlton’s defensive profile is really solid across the first five rounds. So maybe that’s something that they can lean back on whilst they’re not playing their best footy, at the moment.
“Essendon and Sydney round out the top six.
“The bottom four is Hawthorn, GWS, Geelong and North Melbourne. So Geelong need to improve their defensive profile if they want to climb back up to the lofty heights of last year.”
How St Kilda have exceeded expectations
“They’ve exceeded my expectations and anyone else’s, I would expect, by a mile.
“What they have built and are building is re-produceable in every way and it’s built off the back of a really clear focus around pressure on the ball, defence behind the ball and their back two-thirds ball movement is excellent.
“When they improve their capacity to finish that last kick they’ll pop to another level.
“It’s built on pressure. Craig McRae spoke about it, what it feels like when you play against a team like that, that’s the biggest test in footy is when you come up against a team that has great pressure on the ball and great structure behind it.
“That’s what the best teams will throw at you.”
2023 just isn’t Richmond’s year
“I think the supporters and everyone else need to readjust our expectations of them.
“I think they’ve been coached exceptionally well. I think they’ve been true to themselves, the messaging would be really consistent about the way they want them to play.
“But in the last eight quarters, they’ve kicked 15 goals in two of those quarters, and only eight goals in the other six.
“There’s a big difference between their capacity to score when they execute their kicking or their handball or their simple basics in the game, and when they don’t.
“They’ve just got kids playing that aren’t ready to play in winning teams. That’s not to say they’re not having a go, but there’s just too many of them. (Noah) Cumberland, (Tylar) Young, Maurice Rioli, (Tyler) Sonsie, (Rhyan) Mansell, (Samson) Ryan, (Brad) Miller, (Hugo) Ralphsmith, (Judson) Clarke all played in the side on the weekend. All have got talent and things they can offer the team but there’s just too many at once.
“I don’t think it’s an excuse at all, but I think that the way that Richmond went into this season, their top half looked amazing, they recruited (Tim) Taranto and (Jacob) Hopper, they brought in some players, tried to address a need through the midfield and there’s no doubt they have done that.
“But they’ve just lost too many of their players that they’ve relied on and some of their experienced players have dropped off before they thought they would.
“The expectations need to shift. Damien Hardwick isn’t coaching for success this year, his language has changed slightly. The leaders in the side need to make that adjustment as well because I saw an element of frustration in the way they went about it on the weekend.
“If they continue not to deal with or understand the reality of the situation that they’re in, then that frustration will continue and it won’t be great for the development of the young players.”
The Crows are the real deal
“They were able to take Carlton to the cleaners quite convincingly in an amazing first-quarter burst, then finished the game off just as strongly.
The effort has always been there and they’ve played wth a great intensity. They lost a lot of games by close margins early last year and I thought they lost some of that spark and intensity as the year wore on.
“They are the number one scoring side when they go inside 50, they connect better than any other team. They’re second at scores from stoppage, they’re fifth at scoring efficiency on turnover.
“Their big improvement area is still how they defend turnover against, where they’re 10th.
“They’re potentially the cleanest, hardest side in the little circle (in the centre).
“Adelaide are the real deal, I love the way they’re going about it.”
Exceptional Jordan Dawson
“He has been an exceptional story over the last 18 months going to the club and now being the skipper.
“He himself has come of age along with his football team.
“He is an extremely uncomplicated player. With what he’s been able to do over the last couple of weeks, he’s put himself in the (Marcus) Bontempelli, (Scott) Pendlebury role. The big-bodied midfielder who can lean in and win clearances, or affects the opposition’s best clearance winner, and then hurts you by being better in transition and turnover.
“Defending and putting his head over it when he needs to, but his execution by foot has been amazing.
“He’s had 27 inside 50s for the year, 21 of those have gone to his teammates’ advantage for 11 goals (six behinds). That’s a 63 per cent score rate which is number one in the competition.
“His performance (against Carlton) was through the roof and how he carries himself is a great example to his teammates.”
Brad Scott deserves credit
“I’m going to give massive props to Essendon and to their midfield.
“I think Brad Scott deserves credit for what he’s building down there.
“Essendon games are the highest free-flowing games in the competition. They go end to end as number one in the comp in the first five weeks, they are the third worst at defending ball use from the opposition’s defensive 50 to forward 50.
“But they’re defending top four when it goes inside their D50 which is a massive improvement.
“Essendon’s mids have always been scrutinised and criticised. (Darcy) Parish, (Zach) Merrett and (Dylan) Shiel are three highly-scrutinised players over the length of their careers, they’ve been picked apart and their negatives have been highlighted.
“Nobody has worked harder than those guys. They are three players that are working extremely hard. They’re getting high numbers but are tipping in to get back to support their back six.
“In the turnover game they’re defending fifth best, they’re attacking best, and they’ve still got improvement in them.
“All credit to what Essendon has been able to build and Anzac Day (against Collingwood) proves to be a beauty.”
Listen to The Buck Stops Here below: