Opinion AFL 2026 Round 2 - Weekend Wrap & Liked, Learnt, Hated

[dogs4life45]

Good: West Coast Winning in a stylish way.

Learnt: The Dogs can be trusted already when the heat is on at the end game. In Brisbane and Adelaide, the heat was at its highest. Composure from the senior, role, and young players has transformed the Dogs.

Bad: Essendon, North and the AFL draw. The opening round and the byes are killing the momentum of the season. I'm sure dogs and suns don't want a bye right now, and I'm sure everyone wants to be watching those 2 teams to see what they do next.

 

[LoBu]

It’s going to be a tired and grumpy Weekend Wrap this week, because Round 2 was an arduous slog. The first game was good, the second game was great, and the Eagles & North was actually a fun one to finish. The remainder were eyesores, made worse because they threw up some injuries as well.

Dogs v Crows, Friday night: Happy to have Adelaide supporters come at me here, but your side got exactly what it deserved. Why on Earth Matty Nicks thought a gameplan of kicking the ball backwards and racking up a million marks in the defensive half was a good idea for the first three quarters I will never know. Finally he unfurled the sails in the last quarter and the Crows suddenly looked like the side that won the minor premiership last year. Fancy that! Kudos to the Bulldogs for taking advantage of the early tactical errors, and then steadying late when all the momentum was against them. 3-0 now, from a fixture that could have had them 1-2 or even 0-3. Outstanding result.

I'll come at ya

I don't think this is the game plan at all, the game plan is to play on quickly by foot with a short kick. So there's been a lot of analysis this weekend saying that it's Nicky's game plan and it's rubbish, but he's saying we aren't executing. Credit to the dogs who block up the corridor, forcing our defenders to pass back around looking for the short kick, as we are not looking to go long down the wing this year.

So yes the coach needs to take responsibility, but it's in coaching the defenders like Laird to look to cut forward. Give the ball to Milera deeper when we can't get it out. The game opened up in the last for Adelaide, so the plan can work, it's just that the dogs played a zone defence starting from the middle that pushed the ball wide, which we are instructed not to do, so the players kept trying to cut back in. And yes quickly by foot, which is prone to error.

Adelaide has 5-6 first choice players injured, so we are undermanned, losing by 6 points to the on fire dogs wasn't the worst result in the world.

I honestly think the game plan will come together, it's 2 games into the year and we are 1:1 against good teams. We have a tough draw early, we need to just find wins early in the season before it really opens up by the middle of the year, and then be humming for finals.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Hated: The constant music and banshee-like female ground announcer insulting our ears at Giants Stadium. Far too loud and intrusive. Membership-cancelling level of hatred.

Yeah, I went to the Giants Hawks game at Engie a couple of weeks ago (congrats on the win BTW).

The constant sound volume was truly awful. Couldn’t have a conversation with anyone about the game, couldn’t hear yourself think.

Now part of it is I’m getting old and out of touch. But the weirdest thing about it, as you’re suggesting here, was how the hell could anyone enjoy this? From a marketing perspective it doesn’t even make sense.

And I should’ve added I was at the game with my sons, who are 24 and 20, so probably at the age the marketers are trying to appeal to. But they hated it too, having signed up for a game of footy, not some cringe concert.

It does. They genuinely think they have to copy everything from overseas - especially the US. So every facet of the "experience" that occurs there gets transplanted here. The idea that we have (or had) such a great game that it doesn't need artificial extras probably doesn't occur to them.

I would have said "AFL! Listen to the fans!" but topically enough, the AFL has shown time and again to be deaf as a post.

 

[Toump Ass]

Hated GWS' pissweak effort. Useless team.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Liked : For all the doom and gloom of the 2025 AFL drafts lack of top line quality the Duursma/CDT duo are insanely impressive so far. More exctied by our 2025 trio then any draft grouping we have gotten before 2025.

Learnt - Ben King

34

Ben King

Age

25

Ht

202cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.2

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

2.2

2star

M

3.5

4star

T

0.5

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

7.5

2star

K

5.6

2star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.3

1star

G

1.5

5star

D

6.8

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

2.4

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

0.2

3star

G

1.0

4star

will win the Coleman in a canter

Hated - Essendons lack of effort. Too early to be disspirited like they appear to be

 

[Jeremy McLovin]

Good: West Coast Winning in a stylish way.

Learnt: The Dogs can be trusted already when the heat is on at the end game. In Brisbane and Adelaide, the heat was at its highest. Composure from the senior, role, and young players has transformed the Dogs.

Bad: Essendon, North and the AFL draw. The opening round and the byes are killing the momentum of the season. I'm sure dogs and suns don't want a bye right now, and I'm sure everyone wants to be watching those 2 teams to see what they do next.

Top four teams on the ladder all have byes this week, in round ****ing 3. What a joke.

 

[Zevon]

I'll come at ya

I don't think this is the game plan at all, the game plan is to play on quickly by foot with a short kick. So there's been a lot of analysis this weekend saying that it's Nicky's game plan and it's rubbish, but he's saying we aren't executing. Credit to the dogs who block up the corridor, forcing our defenders to pass back around looking for the short kick, as we are not looking to go long down the wing this year.

So yes the coach needs to take responsibility, but it's in coaching the defenders like Laird to look to cut forward. Give the ball to Milera deeper when we can't get it out. The game opened up in the last for Adelaide, so the plan can work, it's just that the dogs played a zone defence starting from the middle that pushed the ball wide, which we are instructed not to do, so the players kept trying to cut back in. And yes quickly by foot, which is prone to error.

Adelaide has 5-6 first choice players injured, so we are undermanned, losing by 6 points to the on fire dogs wasn't the worst result in the world.

I honestly think the game plan will come together, it's 2 games into the year and we are 1:1 against good teams. We have a tough draw early, we need to just find wins early in the season before it really opens up by the middle of the year, and then be humming for finals.

Fascinating in-depth response, love it thanks. Keen to see how it comes together from here. When it worked in the last term it looked unstoppable so fingers crossed (for the Crows, not the rest of us) that was a sign of things to come.

 

[Hawksboy72]

Liked: Essendon on the bottom & in a world of hurt....100% GOOD 4 FOOTY.

Learnt: Harry Sheezal fast becoming the new Tommy Rockcliff/Tom Mitchell...pure fantasy football player.

Hated: like 99% of footy fans...the byes...

 

[LoBu]

Fascinating in-depth response, love it thanks. Keen to see how it comes together from here. When it worked in the last term it looked unstoppable so fingers crossed (for the Crows, not the rest of us) that was a sign of things to come.

Thanks, just my opinion of course, I wish we could have sneaked in the win as good teams find a way even when not executing properly - which means we are not quite a good team (i.e. we're not the top team).

It's going to be another huge test with high expectations on Adelaide when we go to Geelong this week.

 

[Mighty Eagles]

Reminder: Balance in sides are key. Too many on here just want rebuilding sides to field 23 kids. It's not sustainable and doesn't lead to better outcomes for the kids.

 

[FreddyTwoShoes]

liked: couple of close games
hated: AFL sanctioning Patrick Voss for teasing another player is mad. Voss deserves ridicule for his infantile behaviour. Player's reputations matter and his is not healthy. No need for the league to get involved.

 

[Hobbes]

Hated : Tigers may not win a game this year

Surely they have a game scheduled against Essendon.

 

[Pistol Night]

Surely they have a game scheduled against Essendon.

Dreamtime game? Essendon will be dreaming of 4 points finally

 

[scoman]

Hated: Harley Reid calling out Comben for a 'dog shot' in a post-game interview. Delusion at it's finest.

 

[Billy ray]

like: team winning again, you can only play who you are fixtured against, and i look forward to the games mid season against the teams in contention

learnt: even if you allow both of your opponents arms to be free in a tackle, you can still get cited and miss 2 weeks (B Humphrey v M Rioli)

hated: players getting bottles thrown at them. Essendon fans did this to the SUNS at Marvel (the Mac Andrew win after the siren game, but nothing happened. hopefully they re-open that case (if it was ever opened) because there was multiple bottles that night, not just the one like this past weekend.

 

[Grumpyshades]

Hated: Harley Reid calling out Comben for a 'dog shot' in a post-game interview. Delusion at it's finest.

it was a clear intended strike despite the delusion of the VFL

 

[TheKanga]

Hated: Harley Reid calling out Comben for a 'dog shot' in a post-game interview. Delusion at it's finest.

Harley reid will become one of the most unlikeable flogs in the league

 

[terrybull]

Surely they have a game scheduled against Essendon.

0-0

Judging by that game last year…

 

[Pistol Night]

it was a clear intended strike despite the delusion of the VFL

No. It was an instinctive reaction to a bloke charging at you at the last moment

 

[Grumpyshades]

No. It was an instinctive reaction to a bloke charging at you at the last moment

he knew exactly what he was doing
no surprise the vfl and the umpire standing 3m away turned a blind eye to it

 

[scoman]

he knew exactly what he was doing
no surprise the vfl and the umpire standing 3m away turned a blind eye to it

Been planning it for weeks you reckon?

 

[Jeremy McLovin]

No. It was an instinctive reaction to a bloke charging at you at the last moment

Weird how hundreds of players experience that dozens of times a game and don't start throwing elbows.

 

[scoman]

Weird how hundreds of players experience that dozens of times a game and don't start throwing elbows.

Not really. I was admiring Harley’s game on the weekend. Didn’t even care so much that he instigated the carry on at 3/4 time. Loved his little battle with Xeri. But when he started dropping the ‘dog shot’ accusations post game on live TV I realised just how much of a delusional flog he really is.

 

[Jeremy McLovin]

Not really. I was admiring Harley’s game on the weekend. Didn’t even care so much that he instigated the carry on at 3/4 time. Loved his little battle with Xeri. But when he started dropping the ‘dog shot’ accusations post game on live TV I realised just how much of a delusional flog he really is.

He's a delusional flog to think that responding to a bit of push and shove with an elbow to the face is a dog act?

 

[scoman]

He's a delusional flog to think that responding to a bit of push and shove with an elbow to the face is a dog act?

That’s not what happened.