Twelve rounds down (or is it 13?), 12 to go. The 2024 AFL season is flying past, and so quickly it's sometimes hard to keep track of it all. Need a half-time refresher? We're here to help. The issues, the people, the flops, the fun. Here's my mid-season gongs. Don't agree? Don't care. Only the truly fitting win these very special awards.
The 'Yep, it's those guys again' award
Hands up anyone silly enough to think Sydney's 2022 performance was a flash in the pan? Come on, the Swans have been "buttering up" for the best part of 30 years now, and while they might have officially finished 2023 eighth, that was after a horror run with injuries and after having been as low as 15th on the ladder 14 rounds in. Now, even with the likes of team leaders Callum Mills and Luke Parker literally spectators all year, Sydney is clearly the best team of the half-season. Beautifully-balanced across the park and in terms of list age, the Swans are No.1 for both defence and attack, and have three of the top dozen players in the AFL Coaches award in Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner and Errol Gulden. At the halfway mark, six points clear on top of the ladder and with a game in hand, Sydney couldn't possibly be better-placed.
The 'It's only a flesh wound' award
Monty Python's famous Black Knight might actually be half a chance to get a game for Richmond this week if he can kick a football given the Tigers' ridiculous run with injuries, one which has now claimed one of the few bright lights out of a dismal 2024, impressive forward Mykelti Lefau, the fifth Tiger alone to go down with an ACL this season. The 150-odd players injured so far this season equates to about 20 per cent of the entire AFL playing population, Richmond and Carlton the hardest hit in terms of games missed by their best players. Just five Tigers have played every game this season, compared to15 Sydney players. Not surprisingly, the Swans also find themselves top of the premiership ladder. There's a variety of theories and solutions being floated to this emerging big issue. Longer pre-seasons, shorter seasons, shorter games, shorter training sessions, longer breaks, more breaks, etc. etc. That should on its own tell you the science on this stuff is pretty contested. What isn't is that it's fitness or otherwise come the pointy end of this season which is going to have as big a say, perhaps more so, than any other factor in determining the 2024 premiership.
The 'That escalated quickly' award
Yep, he's a beauty all right, no question. But West Coast tyro Harley Reid seems to have gone from highly-touted No.1 draft pick to Eagles' brightest hope for the future, to one of the best debutants we've seen to cultural phenomenon worthy of his own newspaper page on a daily basis, with remarkable speed. And now he's ineligible for the Rising Star after a two-game suspension, just wait for the "Free Harley" justice campaign. Personally, I'm not sure Reid's season, as impressive as it's been, is any better than that of Collingwood's Nick Daicos in 2022. Yep, that long ago. What's that about attention spans these days?
The 'Weren't they supposed to be premiers?' award
That's certainly how Brisbane looked ...well, at least with seven minutes remaining of the first half of the Lions' "Opening Round" clash with Carlton, when they led by a whopping 46 points. Two things then happened. First, the Blues kicked a couple of late goals to go into half-time with a sniff. Then, literally on the siren, critical running half-back Keidean Coleman did his knee, not to return for the season. And since then for Brisbane, it's been pretty much all downhill. Coleman is just one of four Lions done for the year with ACLs (Lincoln McCarthy, Darcy Gardiner and recruit Tom Doedee the others). The Lions have lost to the likes of Fremantle and Hawthorn and only drawn against Adelaide. Their conversion is among the worst in the AFL. And they've gone from the second-heaviest scoring team in the competition to a mediocre 10th. Two-and-a-half games outside the top eight, Brisbane has a massive task in the second half of the season simply to play finals, let alone be challenging for flags.
The 'University' award
This isn't to rub anyone's nose in it, and it's not like North Melbourne doesn't have at least some hope for the future in the shape of some prodigiously-talented youngsters like Harry Sheezel, George Wardlaw and Colby McKercher. But the facts are that the Roos right now are right down there among the worst-performed couple of teams of the entire AFL era. North Melbourne has won just one of its past 32 games since its surprise two wins to start 2023. And even that victory, in the final game last season, came at some cost, via the chance to pick Harley Reid in the national draft. That's as bad as the worst streaks infant teams Gold Coast and GWS compiled during their first two seasons in the AFL. Next in the pantheon of defeat comes Fitzroy of 1995-96 (one win in 36 games) and Sydney of 1992-94 (one win in 37 games). It's dire company to be keeping, and to top it off the Roos have had their share of off-field dramas as well (see Tarryn Thomas and Alastair Clarkson). Just a speck or two of light at the end of a very long tunnel would be nice.
Note: University, incidentally, between 1911-14 won just one of its last 71 games in the VFL, so there's a way to go yet before North gets quite that bad.
The 'Making it up as they go' award
Still not sure just how I feel about the AFL's dramatic revamp of the holding the ball interpretation. Yes, things had reached the point of ridiculous by the time Gold Coast's Mac Andrew had swung Carlton's Charlie Curnow around so many times the other weekend his greatest danger wasn't being pinged for a free kick but made nauseous with motion sickness. But why did it take a couple of coaches (Damien Hardwick and Michael Voss) speaking out to force the AFL's hand? And should we really be changing tack to this degree during the course of a season? I tend to think there might have been a bit of an over-correction in this first round post-tightening up. Hopefully, the "truth" the umpires are looking for, meaning the correct balance between rewarding the ball-winner and the tackler, lies somewhere in between.
The 'Not sure how, but they are' award
Yes, we keep hearing Essendon really isn't that good, and that the Bombers aren't a genuine "second on the ladder" team. And that may in the long run this season prove to be the case, too. But there's a bigger game afoot here that perhaps only long-suffering Bomber fans can fully appreciate. And it's about eking out exactly the same sorts of wins which aren't knocking the critics' socks off. Indeed, even competitive losses like that against Gold Coast on Sunday evening. Gritty, unspectacular but effective football, the sort Essendon hasn't played for a long time on a consistent basis, which is more often than not becoming the norm in a team driven by the likes of not just super-skipper Zach Merrett, but hard-working, industrious types like Andy McGrath, Jye Caldwell, Sam Durham and Archie Perkins. The Bombers talked about a blue-collar ethic for years without ever really delivering, but the model coach Brad Scott is making sustainable is fuelled by just that ethos. It may not be acknowledged until that sort of ladder position is held for a lot longer than 12 rounds, but if you're a Bomber who's been through the last couple of decades, who cares?
The 'Wrap it up please' award
OK, so this one is for all of you who view your AFL football primarily on the small screen rather than in person. Yes, we can quibble about commentators, boundary riders, camera work and direction, but can we at least all agree it's time Toyota wrapped up those country footy ads? Seriously, we've spent a good year watching the opposition ruckman crap himself at the bounce because an old codger flashed some bad dentistry at him. Is there any chance we can actually find out what happened, let them get back to the bar and give the rest of us a bloody break?
You can read more of Rohan Connolly's work at FOOTYOLOGY.