The AFL should start sizing up in-form Brisbane defender Harris Andrews for an All-Australian blazer. Photo: AFL MEDIA
1. Could Tim Kelly win the Brownlow Medal?
And if he does – or even if he goes close – what will that do to his market value at the contract and trade tables at the end of the season?
Geelong’s boom mature-age recruit polled 13 Brownlow votes in his debut season and finished equal-second in the club’s best-and-fairest.
He currently sits atop the leaderboards for some prominent honours in 2019, including the AFL Coaches’ Association Player of the Year award.
An All-Australian blazer is well within reach for Kelly, who will again be an important piece of the Cats’ midfield puzzle in Friday night’s blockbuster clash with Richmond at the MCG.
Geelong, West Coast and Fremantle are all vying for the former South Fremantle star’s services in 2020.
However, one of the WA sides would have to cough up a hefty ransom in order to move the electrifying on-baller back to his home state.
Last year, Essendon sent two first-round draft picks to Greater Western Sydney in exchange for Dylan Shiel and a second-round pick.
At the same time, Geelong and West Coast couldn’t settle on a price for Kelly.
From the outside, a Shiel-like trade would seem fair, given Kelly’s current standing in the game and eagerness to get back to Perth for family reasons.
But “fair” isn’t always a deciding factor at the trade table.
Further complicating matters is the uncertainty surrounding out-of-contract GWS star Stephen Coniglio.
The Swan Districts product is another player who interests both WA clubs and could also give the Brownlow a shake after putting together a stellar first half of the season.
Watch this space.
2. Speaking of All-Australian blazers, the powers that be might as well start measuring up Harris Andrews for one right now.
The 22-year-old has been in outstanding form for Brisbane all season and has taken his game to another level over the past fortnight.
First, he completely shut Jesse Hogan out of the Lions’ round 10 fixture at Optus Stadium, not allowing the Fremantle spearhead a single kick.
It is the only time Hogan has gone without a kick during his 81-game career.
And last weekend, Andrews stood resolutely between Hawthorn and four premiership points as Brisbane gave its finals hopes a boost with a stirring victory at the Gabba.
Next up, Andrews has Charlie Curnow, Levi Casboult and Harry McKay in his sights.
The Carlton trio have dealt with sub-standard delivery from their teammates for most of the season and will be forced to watch Andrews pluck a string of intercept marks if that continues at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
A season-ending ankle injury suffered by luckless Fremantle defender Alex Pearce means Andrews now has one less competitor for an All-Australian backline slot.
The Lions’ leader is strong, courageous and calm in possession where lesser players panic.
Sit back and enjoy watching him develop into one of the modern game’s great defenders over the next decade.
3. The less said about it the better, given the amount of column inches and air time it’s had over the past few days.
But God forbid we have to put up with another botched score review this weekend.
A system that many fans feel is downright unnecessary is at the very least flawed.
How the review team was left without access to the necessary camera angles last week is anyone’s guess.
The AFL described it as “technical issues”. Please.
It can’t be that hard if Joe Public sitting at home on his couch could spot the issue in a matter of seconds.
Yet the result was the fifth score review error conceded by league officials in the space of 12 months.
More than $2.5 billion dollars changed hands during the last television rights deal – how about sharing the best camera angles, too?
4. Which club will Ross Lyon be coaching in 2020 and beyond?
“Ross the Boss” is contracted to Fremantle and right now he is saying all the right things about his commitment to the club he joined in controversial circumstances at the end of 2011.
But his very public meeting with key Carlton figures Stephen Silvagni and Paul Brodie this week was always going to throw up some questions about Lyon’s future, especially given the fact the Blues’ coaching hot seat is vacant after Brendon Bolton’s departure.
North Melbourne, too, is in the hunt for a new leader – and there could yet be more movement in coaching ranks.
What if highly regarded John Longmire was to leave Sydney, or if a horror back half of the season spelled the end of Alan Richardson’s tenure at St Kilda?
They’re hypotheticals, of course, but also possibilities.
High-profile coach Lyon – who wasn’t too far off being a triple-premiership mentor after near misses with St Kilda (twice) and Fremantle – is in an interesting position.
One-and-a-half seasons out from the end of his current Dockers contract, the club is in no position to make a call on the coach’s long-term future.
Fremantle’s performances and results in the first half of 2019 suggest it has improved from eight-win campaigns in each of the last two years.
But club bosses still need more time to determine whether they are genuinely on track for another shot at a maiden premiership under Lyon. That decision might not be made for another 12 months.
So, what if Carlton – or North Melbourne, for that matter – were to offer Lyon a five-year deal? Would he be tempted to return to Victoria? And where would that leave the re-stumping, re-plumbing, re-wiring Dockers?
It’s an intriguing sub-plot to the coaching merry-go-round this season.
5. We warned you last week, but the inexplicable lack of attention being paid to one of the main premiership threats means we feel the need to do it again.
There is something rising in the west. It’s big and it’s powerful – and it’s shrouded in a familiar blue and yellow hue.
West Coast flexed its considerable muscle in a second-half demolition of the Western Bulldogs and only appears to be getting better as the season goes on.
An old saying indicates that you can’t win flags at this time of year, but you can lose them. And while some of their major flag rivals have stumbled in recent weeks, the Eagles remain firmly in the hunt.
Luke Shuey, Elliot Yeo, Andrew Gaff and Dom Sheed are putting together strong seasons. Josh Kennedy and Shannon Hurn are showing no signs of slowing down at either end – Hurn’s minor hamstring injury aside – and Jack Darling has hit form again.
Darling drew comparisons to Wayne Carey when he dominated the first half of last season, and while those calls were a little over-the-top, there is no doubt the key forward is capable of tearing games apart.
He is one of a plethora of dangerous goal kickers alongside Kennedy, Liam Ryan, Willie Rioli, Jamie Cripps and Jake Waterman in a potent forward line.
West Coast hit the SCG for a date with Sydney this week before a well-earned mid-season break. And it will be full steam ahead towards September when they return in a Thursday night blockbuster against Essendon on June 20.
