The Buck Stops Here: Ward was stiff to be banned, Sydney's mistake and contrasting coach comments
There's just two games left in Round 6 and Nathan Buckley has put together his five takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.
On the agenda, Buckley gave his thoughts on the Callan Ward sling tackle on Lachie Neale, a flailing Grand Finallist, the importance of the 'big dogs' up forward, a raging St Kilda outfit and more.
Read his thoughts below:
We need to talk about sling tackles
“Callan Ward has been offered a one-match ban which is consistent with what we’ve seen throughout the season to date,” Buckley began on SEN Breakfast.
“But for me, it’s time to stop suspending players or an action that actually doesn’t result in an injury (in sling tackles).
“There’s been a lot of commentary about it… there’s been an adverse and over-the-top reaction to it and it’ll balance up soon enough.
“But it’s definitely something I reckon we need to look at.
“Lachie Neale is not an inexperienced player, he’s been in these skirmishes (before). He allowed his body weight to rise which makes it easier to go down, he actually allowed his legs to come together and I wish we could still put players up for their evidence because if you asked him, ‘did you contribute to going down’, I’m sure he would say yes.
“If there’s a Nathan Broad or Tom Green-type action that causes concussion and injury, then we should hit them hard the way they have been hit hard.
“But if it’s not causing head trauma, I don’t think we should be suspending players for this.”
Sydney’s coaching staff didn’t give the player their best chance
“We heard Chris Fagan talk about giving his players a mulligan in Round 1, I reckon the players are going to have to give the Swans’ coaching staff a mulligan for the game on the weekend.
“I think the Swans had one arm tied behind their back with their key defensive stocks (out), they were looking for innovative ways to handle Hawkins and Cameron.
“The way they decided to do it was to put an extra man behind the ball. The two things that did was it gave Geelong an advantage running off their half-back line and took (Callum) Mills out of the middle, one of their better midfielders.
“And the second one, it actually made it hard for the to get the ball in their front half.
“I think it showed a lack of faith in their midfield and forward setup to be able to go and do damage against the Cats team and I think that is something that was flawed.
“I think the Swans coaching staff and John Longmire will put their hand up in front of the players and say we didn’t get that right, we didn’t give you the best chance to win.
“I reckon that will be a really important part of the Swans coming together, and I’ve got no doubt… they’ll be able to continue with this just as a blip.”
Every team needs a forward 50 ruckman beast
“Everyone needs a forward 50 stoppage bull or beast to take forward 50 ball ups or throw ins, it’s a real opportunity in the game and Tom Hawkins has probably lead the way.
“It’s a bit of a glitch in the matrix when you get forward 50 stoppages. You’re 150 metres from the opposition goal and you’re 20-30 from your own, it’s a free hit.
“Hawkins, Taylor Walker did it and got a free kick (on the weekend), (Charlie) Dixon has done it, Tom Lynch has done it.
“But if you don’t have that big beast that is prepared to bend the rules and potentially give a free kick away… it puts the opposition player under so much pressure.
“Sometimes you might have a makeshift ruckman in there who has to come up against this player who finds himself in this circumstance more often than not.
“There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain. It’s a bit of a free hit for that player going into the contest.”
Lyon’s created change incredibly quick at the Saints
“I want to start with the positive and that is St Kilda.
“Being hard to beat is a pretty good way to win footy.
“I just love the way Ross Lyon analyses the game (in his post-match press conference), it’s very specific, as opposed to what Vossy threw up…
“Ross was spot on. Their turnover game is in great shape. At the end of this round, they’ve given up just 25 goals from turnover for the first six rounds there will be ten teams who have given up more than 40 on turnover.
“They’ve kicked over 50 goals on turnover themselves, and only the Lions and Geelong have matched that, potentially Melbourne and Essendon go past 50 goals, so they’ll be one of five teams who have kicked over 50 goals from turnover.
“We’ve got to remember, last year the St Kilda team was no.3 in defence and no.4 in attack at this time of the year, they were 5-1 at the same time.
“You talk to all the St Kilda people, it feels different.
“By the end of Tuesday, they’ll have had 100 less points scored against them than any other team in the competition.
“They’re at 357 and no one will be within 100 points of them, so defensively, what Ross has built in a very short space of time, he’s taken elements of a team that played really well for the first half of last year and he’s provided a greater structure and it seems like a greater spine to what they do.
“The proof is yet to be seen because they’ve been in this position before, last year. But any wise judge would not back against Ross to continue to improve this side.
“They’re doing amazing things and their forward line, (Tim) Membrey comes back in, (Max) King’s not far away.”
Plenty of work to do at the Blues
“The biggest difference in Carlton this year to last year is expectation. Their turnover game is nearly identical, they’re scoring a little less stoppage but defensively they’re a little more solid.
“They’re not handling their personnel losses as they did last year, but there’s no doubt the wolves are at the door with Carlton this year.
“Just on Vossy’s (Michael Voss) comments there (in his post-match press conference) versus Ross, it’s real easy to be specific when you’ve won a game of footy, I think some coaches get into press conferences and the don’t want to be specific about what didn’t work for them, but that’s probably exactly when you need to be.
“I think Vossy was vague there deliberately… he and the coaching group would have some specific areas, he’d know exactly what it is. Whether it's the speed of the last kick or whether they need to possess the ball a bit more through attacking mid, whether they’re getting a good enough contest when it goes inside.
“He’d know specifics on that, but I think sometimes coaches – and I’ve been in this position – you don’t want to give away the specifics because you feel like you’re welcoming more specific criticism, but I think what you do when you stay vague, it invites all manner of specific criticism.”