Round 13 saw more umpiring controversy, the return of the tagger, positional switches and more!
Kane Cornes has summed up his biggest takeaways under the umbrella of ‘things that should never happen in the AFL again’.
“These are the things that we should never, ever see again,” Cornes began on SEN’s Sportsday in the wake of Round 13.
Read his thoughts below.
Balta playing forward
“We should never see Noah Balta play forward ever again. Never ever do I want to see him play forward again.
“How good was he?! Stop mucking around. We all know he’s a defender.
Teams not tagging Bont & fellow superstars
“We should never see Marcus Bontempelli stand on his own ever again. If you play the Western Bulldogs, they are that reliant on Bontempelli.
“He won’t give up, he’ll keep trying like he did, like the champion he is, he’ll find a way to still impact games.
“But I guarantee he will do it easier if no one is on him, like he did with 14 and a goal in the last quarter in Round 12 versus 19 touches overall this week.
“By extension, Lachie Neale should never stand on his own. If you want to leave Lachie Neale on his own, he’ll have 38 disposals, 10 clearances and kick two goals.”
Petty playing forward/ruck
“We should never see Harrison Petty ruck and forward.
“He’s a defender, so maybe Melbourne can learn from Balta at Richmond. Petty is a defender, let’s get him back there.”
Overzealous umpires
“We should never see an umpire paying a free kick 100 metres off the ball that is not there to decide the game against Mac Andrew, when he and Max King are both fighting for position.
“It’s a genuine strength battle, it’s what we go for the footy to see and an umpire who wants to insert himself in the game decides the game 100 metres off the ball.
“We should never see that again. I’m glad the AFL admitted it was wrong, but too little too late for Gold Coast.”
Excuses for the Bulldogs
“Everyone was up in arms about the byes and teams playing fresh off the bye and it was all directed at the Western Bulldogs and how unfair it was for them.
“I’m looking at the schedule… haven’t the Western Bulldogs just played five in a row at Marvel, and haven’t left the roofed stadium in prime time fixtures. Then they’re going to have a bye then they’re going to play a team who has just played, and then they’re going to play another game at Marvel.
“They’ve got six out of seven at Marvel… go and speak to Errol Gulden and the Swans, who don’t play two games in a row at the SCG for the rest of the year.
“They do not know, Victorian teams, how good they’ve got it. Maybe the fixturing is not ideal, but it didn’t bother Hawthorn, there’s no guarantee you play a team off the bye and you’re going to lose.
“The Bulldogs have one of the great fixture wins in the whole year, six out of seven at Marvel… I never want to hear any complaints or any excuses for the Western Bulldogs and their bye.”