The Buck Stops Here.
Nathan Buckley has gone through his five biggest takeaways from the weekend of footy.
He has touched on Geelong, Izak Rankine, Todd Marshall, the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda.
Did heavy training block lead to flat Cats display?
Buckley: “I’ve gone with a bit of a theme today and that is largely around post-match interviews and what players and coaches might be alluding to a little bit.
“The first one was after Geelong’s win against West Coast, a much-improved performance from West Coast, but Geelong I thought looked a little bit flat and Joel (Selwood) spoke about a heavy training block after the game.”
Selwood: “We did train a little bit different. We trained heavy. We’ve got a big month coming up so there’s a little bit of planning towards that but also staying in the moment.”
Buckley: “That actually sounds like it’s a heavy training block, like a month training block.
“I reckon they trained heavy over the bye, and you’ll see sides be flat from that for one week then they’ll pop even the next week.
“And Chris Scott spoke about it as well, it’s not abnormal.”
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Izak Rankine’s improved teamwork
“I wanted to highlight Izak Rankine. I just loved his performance yesterday.
“Rankine and (Ben) Ainsworth, two players that are getting it done.
“When you look at high performing teams or teams who are in form, quite often their high forwards are the ones who are doing a lot of impact.
“Yes, we set up defensively, and yes, the midfields and maybe the tall forwards, but when sides are performing well, have a look at how well their high forwards are going.
“Ainsworth is having a sneaky great season up and back, but the thing I loved about Rankine is he’s an expressive, creative type, but he must be getting coached really well because you can see he’s starting to enjoy sharing his work with his teammates and letting them get the glory.
“It’s a scary prospect because if he continues with that creativity and he becomes a great team player as well, that’s a good sign for Gold Coast.”
Ken Hinkley’s support for Todd Marshall
Buckley: “I reckon coaches in particular sit on this when they love a particular player and they’ve backed a particular player and they come through and they play well.”
Ken Hinkley: “Some people look silly, don’t they?
“Sorry, I’ve got to enjoy that moment because I’ve felt a bit of heat for Todd for a good period of time.”
Buckley: “I think sometimes it takes players a little bit longer to come to hand and the coach and people internally will see the good in some players before everyone else does and before they pop out of the surface and start performing consistently.
“I get the sense that Todd Marshall was one of those players for Ken Hinkley and for Port Adelaide.
“He’s had some breakout some performances, but he is still yet to do it consistently.
“The point being as a coach is you don’t mind being able to tell people to eat humble pie when things go well. I don’t mind seeing or hearing that.”
Bulldogs’ ball movement in high-scoring Giants win
Buckley: “Luke Beveridge, after scoring 125 points in a high-scoring contest against GWS, came out with this in his post-match.”
Beveridge: “I knew it would be an entertaining game for the fans.
“I think both coaching groups would think that the opposition were scoring too freely and so there were elements that we weren’t pleased with defensively.
“But contributions across the board from the boys was impressive.”
Buckley: “So the Dogs gave up 105 points to GWS - it’s only the third time this year that a team has scored 100 and lost.
“I reckon ‘Bevo’ would be rapt with their offence. They moved the ball brilliantly.
“Their roll and go and their capacity to connect with their forwards, it looked like it’s something that’s been worked on over the bye.
“Typical of a coach that’s looking for better to talk about the aspect of their game they want improvement in.
“I think we’ll get some open, free flowing football in the next month.
“I’m on notice with this, I think the next month there is going to be some exciting footy.
“More open and expansive field play and ball use which I think is going to make for better viewing.”
Huge next month for the Saints
Buckley: “I’d focus on Essendon because they were really good and we’ve got to give them credit where it’s due, but St Kilda’s next month is interesting.
“They’ve got some real challenges ahead of them and they’ve just come off a loss that they weren’t expecting, and that they weren’t happy with.”
Brett Ratten: “We could use it as an excuse, but that’s just a cop out, really.
“Everyone’s got to travel, everyone has a six-day break, and everyone has a few injuries, it’s not like we were decimated by injuries.
“I think it would be a real excuse for to say that’s why we didn’t perform to the level that we should.”
Buckley: “They’ve got high expectations of themselves, they’ve been really consistent, they’ve exceeded most people’s expectations in the first half of the year.
“But they play Sydney this week, then they go Carlton, Freo, Western Bulldogs, so that’s a big month and they’re coming off their worst performance of the year.
“So the coach is saying no excuses for us, we’ve got to get it going, we’ve got to make sure that we’re putting our best out on the park.
“Saints fans are in for a very interesting ride over the next month because they need to make it happen now.
“As close as it is, if you have a quiet month, you could end up missing the big dances at the end of the home and away (season).”