Every Tuesday on The Agenda Setters, our AFL experts Luke Hodge and Dale Thomas reveal what they’re buying, holding and selling in the aftermath of the weekend’s football.
In Round 9, Geelong out the clamps on Collingwood, the Giants climbed over Essendon, and a waterboy for Brisbane’s Academy team got himself in a spot of bother.
So what are we buying and what are selling this week? Check it out below …
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Hodge: Buying Clayton Oliver
Luke Hodge has been impressed with the form of former Demon Clayton Oliver, who is backing up his move to GWS with some impressive numbers. Oliver is No.1 at the Giants for score involvements, contested possession, tackles, groundballs, and clearances. He is also second for average disposals per game. “Kane (Cornes) is not going to be happy with this,” Hodge said. “I know Kane wanted to get rid of him last year, thought he wasn’t worth the cash.” Hodge highlighted Oliver’s “score involvements”, a metric Cornes’ values higher than possessions. “I know that you love that. He’s sitting No.1, and he’s doing the defensive side as well. He’s doing the tackling. So my buy is (Oliver), especially when they’re paying half his salary,” Cornes applauded the call, saying “well picked up”.
Thomas: Buying Ryan Lester
Brisbane veteran Ryan Lester is seemingly getting better with age, despite being on the fringes for many a year. He was star on the weekend, prompting Lions coach Chris Fagan to reveal that it was Hodge who made the call to lock Lester into a half-back role, the move that has helped transform his game. “I’m buying someone that you know very well, and that’s Ryan Lester.,” Thomas said. “I think the game that he played on the weekend, alongside Harris Andrews, now as a clear interceptor, he’s become a pivotal part (of Brisbane) … “As always, Hodge, he was right.” Hodge responded: “Thank you for getting my email and showing that (Fagan) clip.”
Hodge: Holding St Kilda’s recruits
Pressure is mounting on St Kilda’s high-profile recruits who are yet to set the world on fire in a team that is languishing in 11th on the ladder. The Saints play Richmond this week, but after that it gets very hot in the kitchen, with games against top-four teams Fremantle, Hawthorn and Sydney on the horizon. The bad news for St Kilda is that they are walking into that gauntlet without superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, who has a calf injury, while injury-cursed forward Max King is still some time away and durable defender Callum Wilkie has a back issue.”These guys who have come in on big coin,” Hodge said, while showing Champion Data’s ratings that have Tom De Koning “below average”, and Sam Flanders, Jack Silvagni and Liam Ryan all on “average”. “Sam Flanders had a really good game last week,” Hodge said. “SOS (Silvagni) is there but what I really want to see from them, they’ve got a really tough few weeks coming up … so what we want to see with Nas out, we need to see these new recruits on big coin really standing up because Ross is going to need them.”
Thomas: Holding Collingwood
Thomas believes it’s a tad premature to jump off Collingwood … for the moment. The former Pies star says everyone thinks Collingwood are too old and “the cliff’s coming” but Thomas thinks they’re not far off it. Thomas ran vision of Collingwood during the third quarter against Geelong when they were kept goalless as the Cats broke the game open. “They weren’t quite good enough. But have a look at some of the missed opportunities again. You tell me that you can’t find a way to watch this tape and find reason to give the ball through the corridor,” Thomas said. “They are this far off … these are missed opportunities in a game when it comes down to momentum and momentum shifts. They’re just off. I don’t think the cliff is here yet.”
Hodge: Selling being a Brisbane Academy waterboy
Being a waterboy for the Brisbane Lions Academy team is evidently not a job for the faint-hearted. Hodge showed vision of poor young waterboy Ollie Watts who happened to be mic’d up as he delivered water to the team in a recent game against the Gippsland Power. Unfortunately for Ollie, the bottles were thrown back to him, with one collecting him directly on the head. “Oh, s*** … Oh, s***, I’m bleeding,” he could be heard saying as left the field, before adding: “Blood rule, send him off. We’ve copped the cut to the head.” As it turned out, Ollie required stitches. “Do you know the worst part about it? His brother (Archie) kicked three goals in the first quarter during that game and his parents didn’t see it because they were inside looking after their younger son … Bad luck with that, Ollie, but stick to it. You’ll be back next week.”
Thomas: Selling Grippo
‘Grippo’ is a product many players use to make their hands sticky to, naturally, enhance their grip on the football. But not all players use it, and Thomas admits he was never a fan during his playing days. “Lots of players do it. I was never one. I was more a little bit of dirt on the hand and away you go,” Thomas said while issuing a ‘Grippo’ warning. Thomas showed vision of Richmond veteran Nathan Broad, who fluffed a kick during the game against Adelaide, only to immediately start wiping his hand on the MCG turf. “Experienced player. Kicks one inside forward 50. The ball nearly doesn’t get to his foot. Still goes in … (but) have a look down here,” he said, while pointing to the bottom of the screen where Broad was cleaning his hand on the grass. “He spends the next 10 seconds getting the Grippo off his hand. It was almost like the old Velcro ball you played with that didn’t quite get there. So a little bit less Grippo for you, Nathan, and you might get one spinning right.”
