The Buck Stops Here: The mindset to winning close games, dominant key forwards and uncompetitive outfits
Round 7 of the 2023 AFL season has played out and Nathan Buckley has put together his five takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.
Winning close games, individual brilliance, key forwards and teams playing against uncompetitive opponents were on Buckley’s mind in Round 7 on SEN Breakfast.
Read his thoughts below:
Winning close games is a mindset
“The two sides that I’ve got on the radar with this are Collingwood and Port Adelaide, I think they’ve done it extremely well.
“It's about the positivity of the best outcome rather than being worried about the worst. Collingwood and Port have done it extremely well in recent weeks.
“It's powerful when you refuse to give up this great summary of it.
“I'll go to Collingwood first, since Round 9 last year, they’re 19-4 through 23 games.
“There's been 17 of those games that have been decided by two goals or less and they've won 15 of those.
“So when it gets tight, they've found a way to win - regardless of personnel, regardless of circumstance, regardless of whether you've played great footy or you haven't.
“That's a great sign for them.
“I see the same thing in Port Adelaide and what they've done three of the last four weeks.
“They've played West Coast in the middle. But they’ve had four really good wins.
“They had that last quarter comeback against Sydney when they looked like they were out of it.
“They did it at their home deck against the Western Bulldogs and then they've backed up with it again against St Kilda.
“When it had to be done, they played their best football late in games.
“They were able to find a way with an energy and with a purpose and with a focus on the possibility of winning.
“The positive aspects of winning. I think, Collingwood go to this as well.
“It's not from a fear of losing, it's not from saving something, it's not from protecting something, it's the capacity to attack and to open up to when it’s there to be won.”
Sometimes it’s method, but sometimes an individual can drag a team over the line
“Sometimes it's not just methods, sometimes it's not just teams, sometimes an individual can drag over the line (and we saw that with Sydney v GWS).
“When that ball went down into the forward 50 and Toby Greene was actually part of getting it into that part of the ground, Dermott Brereton called on the call, ‘That's a really bad sign for Sydney because it's gonna give Toby Greene time to get down to the stoppage’.
“Now, Derm knows him pretty well has worked at the Giants.
“You don't need to have been in there to know that if he's the man, if it was going to happen, it was going to be him.
“It's not unlike sort of Michael Jordan getting the shot on the buzzer for the Chicago Bulls way back when.
“Only there's five v five and it's a lot easier to get the ball into the hands of that player in a basketball game than it is in a game of 18 v 18 in footy.
“But he just found a way.”
We won’t learn anything about the teams that play North and West Coast
“North Melbourne and West Coast, we're not going to learn a lot from the opposition in those games (against them) in this middle part of the year at the very least.
“It's already shown that they're largely uncompetitive.
“You know, Carlton and Melbourne had the jobs and did the jobs well on the weekend.
“But I don't think we learned anything about those two sides after those results.
“You're not really thinking that you're going to have learned so much about your team when you come up against uncompetitive units like North and West Coast.
“Carlton took 29 inside 50 marks to four, you know that you've got double ups in that, it's not just single entry.
“You're taking a mark inside 50 and the opposition haven't got the wherewithal to stop the next kick that goes to a better position. That's how you get to 29 to four.
“Those two sides aren't gonna give us any idea on how other teams are traveling and we're going to get some big results.”
Richmond are struggling, but we won’t see them fall into a hole
“From a difference of position with North and West Coast, Richmond have got a lot of players out.
“They’ve got one win, one draw, five losses - which is not where they would have seen themselves.
“But you can see with Richmond that and especially with the way that their coach communicates that there's still a lot of fight in them.
“He's not giving up on anything and they're going to bite, scratch and work for anything that they can get
“There's ownership of their situation there, there's an acknowledgement of the things that are going to be tough for them.
“But, what I sense in those words in that energy in the way that he's carrying himself is we won't see Richmond ever fall into a North Melbourne or a West Coast situation.
“I just think that they've got that many young players in the side at the moment, Richmond.
“They've got a couple back which help them, (Ivan) Soldo coming back in stiffens them up, but it's still his first game back.
“When (Tom) Lynch comes back in the side … Mitch Lewis for Hawthorn made Hawthorn look entirely different.
“So I think Lynch for Richmond makes that difference for them.
“I've got no doubt that they thought that they were adding (with the Taranto and Hopper trades) to see whether Cotchin, Riewoldt and potentially Lynch and Martin could be a part of some short term success.
“But I also believe that Taranto and Hopper, they see as players that are going to be part of their midfield through the next dip and then as it comes back.
“Whether that timing's right, you can only ever really judge that in retrospect.”
Competitive key forwards are crucial to winning
“The competitive beast in front of the ball is such an important role in the game.
“Tom Hawkins Round 1 health and fitness versus his Round 7 health and fitness is chalk and cheese.
“I've got no doubt that clearly the rest of the team around him helps him do what he does, but I reckon he was at a four out of 10 in the first couple of rounds.
“Geelong weren't able to build their front half game around a guy who's been so accountable to them and so important for them.
“But now he looks like he's up and about, and funnily enough Geelong look like they're flying again.
“So, Tom Hawkins has kicked 22 goals, that’s fourth in the comp after his eight on the weekend and Jeremy Cameron's taken a lot of focus, but Tom Hawkins is an out and out star.
“I thought (Charlie) Dixon’s role, just to go through him quickly.
“I don't know whether he would have been selected in that team if you were coming up against a side who didn't have as good a defence as St Kilda because you needed to be able to go long down the line to a contest.
“I reckon Charlie Dixon played at about 70 per cent fit, but his little taps and his smothers and his tackles (were crucial).
“He just got involved at the right time and he's a bit of a spiritual, strength and force for them as well.
“Mitch Lewis for Hawthorn in his first half, nine marks, he kicked 1.4 and could have been anything.
“You just think, well, if he plays a block of six or eight games in front of that offence and with that young team, then we'll find out what Hawthorn have got the capacity of.
“Charlie Curnow obviously with his nine.
“What, what about Peter Wright for Essendon? Would he help them?
“Tom Lynch back for Richmond. Max King for St Kilda.
“What if Freo actually had one on their list? They don't have one.
“I think in the end that tall forward, he just does all the grunt work, we’re talking about the big units to do all the grunt work for their teammates.
“Mihocek is an underrated one for Collingwood, English has turned into that player as along along with Naughton for the Western Bulldogs.
“Max Gawn, they (Melbourne) are trying to turn Max Gawn into a front half, contested beast so that in the aerial situation, so that they can build a ground game in the front half off him.
“It's a fascinating watch because I don't think you can underrate the contribution of a big man in front of the ball.”
Listen to The Buck Stops Here below:
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