Four Points: De Goey bump raises questions, Tigers show bite but Dogs disappoint

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Jordan De Goey has never made it through a full season of games so on that score there was a sense of inevitability that something would come up to result in De Goey missing games. This is, though, a forgivable lapse of thinking from De Goey.

Like Kysaiah Pickett and Shane McAdam before him this year, and Tom Stewart last year, De Goey will most likely be suspended, the question is really for how many weeks.

Jordan De Goey has been sent straight to the tribunal for his bump on Elijah Hewett.Credit: Getty Images

Pickett was graded as high impact, not severe, was not a direct referral to the tribunal and got two weeks. McAdam and Stewart both got four.

De Goey’s bump wasn’t as late as Stewart’s, nor did he launch at Elijah Hewett the way Pickett and McAdam drove at their opponents. Regardless, all of those incidents are similar enough to frame the thinking around an appropriate suspension, and based on that it will likely fall in the three-to-four-week range.

Again, it will raise the idea – as it did with Stewart and others – of whether in-game penalties should apply when officials have access to reviews and can make decisions about incidents in real time.

The logic always runs in this debate that why should one team be penalised by losing a player from an illegal act, but the perpetrator’s team is not affected? After all, consider the alternative impact on their teams if De Goey, Stewart or Pickett were the victim of similar bumps in a final.

It is a fair point but – for essentially careless football acts like De Goey’s bump, which are momentary lapses in thinking– I’m not persuaded there is a place for send-off rules or sin bins. Extreme intentional acts like the big Barry Hall or Andrew Gaff punches, are a different matter. De Goey’s bump was nowhere near that category of behaviour.

It’s a familiar place for De Goey to find himself missing games. He has never made it through a season without missing matches from injury or suspension. The most he has played in a year is 21 games, but that was in 2018 when the season extended into four finals.

Beau McCreery.Credit: AFL Photos

This time his team is top of the ladder, and he has been playing the best and most consistent football of his career. He had moved into the field of favourites for the Brownlow. That is now (most likely) gone.

It is a frustration because finally this year he has been the player he has long threatened to be – a consistent, week-in, week-out A-grade star. He has played permanently on ball because his body has allowed him and because his team has allowed him. That is, he hasn’t had to play forward because no one else could regularly find the goals.

The likely De Goey suspension makes for a small shift in the look of things at Collingwood. With him potentially missing and Clayton Oliver back in for Melbourne, that is a profound change in the dynamic of the King’s Birthday clash next round in a fixture that Collingwood have owned in recent years.

Already without Steele Sidebottom, Collingwood will also probably lose the important Beau McCreery to an ankle injury and could be without Will Hoskin-Elliott, though he is less consequential after drifting to the fringes of the team. They will hope Ash Johnson’s cork settles well and Bobby Hill, who looked to roll his ankle on the final siren, is also OK.

For a game where top played bottom that was a very costly win against the Eagles in the west. Collingwood had begun to wonder how they would squeeze good players returning from injury back into the team. Now they have a better idea.

If De Goey is out it probably means Taylor Adams moves back on the ball and Nick Daicos – already the answer to problems anywhere for Collingwood – will spend more time in the midfield.

Jamie Elliott will come back in after injury for McCreery, Pat Lipinski, who hasn’t played a senior game this year with injury, will be considered.

And, yet, a quandary remains for coach Craig McRae, who said that Dan McStay was also fit again and ready to return. The query is how they fit in the player they gave the biggest contract to of their off-season, given the rapid improvement of Johnson and the career-best season of Mason Cox. He will find a way because he is a good player who straightens them up, but it is not as clear-cut as the Magpies expected it to be.

Declaration: Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC is Michael’s brother.

Tigers’ giant win

Finally, Richmond won a close one. And, yes, Jack Riewoldt kicked five, but this game was pleasingly not all about veterans (although Marlion Pickett is not that young).

Judson Clarke stood tall for the Tigers.Credit: Getty Images

Tiger Judson Clarke kicked two of the critical goals at the end, but also laid the important tackle late in the third quarter that ensured the Tigers kept their lead at the last break.

This was a fantastic game. Aaron Cadman flew to mark and goal to give the Giants the lead late in the last quarter. Kieren Briggs surprised even himself with a scrambled goal out of the ruck, Josh Fahey, in his second game, kicked off two steps from outside 50 to also give the Giants the lead. And Andrew McQualter won his first game as Richmond coach.

A classy moment, too, at the end from Tim Taranto in his post-match interview. The former Giant might not enjoy interviews at the best of times, but his downbeat demeanour hinted at a player who didn’t want to be seen celebrating getting one over his old team.

Disappointing Dogs

These were finals-shaping losses for the Dogs. With the chance to push for top-four spot a fortnight ago, they have lost to two sides below them and now lapse into danger territory from wannabe sides below them. They should be better than that.

Liam Jones was worked over by Tom Hawkins. Drawn deep to goal he was unable to intercept a single ball either in the air or on the ground. Denying the Dogs the rebound drive of one of the league’s best rebound defenders was crucial in the Cats’ win. Jones was rendered ineffectual.

Rory Lobb played on a wing again. It’s an interesting move for it evolves him into a Mark Blicavs-type utility in a side with a plethora of tall players. But Lobb kicked 36 goals last year for the Dockers, and he is playing in a side that can’t buy a goal.

And they lost Ed Richards to a hammy when he was enjoying one of the most underrated seasons of the year.

Tom De Koning goes up against Max Gawn on Friday night.Credit: Getty Images

De Koning a positive in Blue days

We have dug deep here to find a positive out of Carlton’s effort on Friday night. Someone had to. Tom De Koning was good in the ruck against Melbourne. Up against Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy, he was going to have his battles but he was Champion Data’s second highest-rated Carlton player.

He had eight contested possessions and three intercepts, three clearances and a couple of intercept marks. He also most critically had 13 hitouts to advantage, compared to Gawn’s nine and Grundy’s seven. On a bad night, he at least didn’t have a bad night.

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