What a Gun-Ston: Neither team nor player could have expected this level of investment return

Jack Gunston should have been waving to the crowd and disappearing into fading MCG light like Luke Breust.

Gunston turns 34 in October. Which in normal times is quite old for a footballer but in this era of Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Dangerfield, Zorko and Walker he might yet have another couple of years left in him.

Given he has just had the best goal return of any of his 16 seasons with his 60 eclipsing the 58 from 2014 there is no doubt he has more years left in him than ever felt likely when he returned to the Hawks. At that stage and with the state of their list build it felt like Hawthorn almost reluctantly acquiesced to the plea of their premiership player to help him out with a return after his brief Brisbane hiatus.

That might be unkind but it is also true neither Hawthorn nor Gunston could have anticipated this level of return on investment.

Melbourne are an iffy proposition at the moment, under a caretaker coach and with so much uncertainty after a year of disappointment so you can’t read too much into the latest win. But this has been season-long form for Gunston. Furthermore he was on Steven May who is tough one on one at any time.

Ordinarily you would call Gunston a third tall forward but this year he has not been. If anything the Hawks’ tallest forward, Mabior Chol, plays as a third tall forward who likes to get up the ground and to double back on balls out the back of the pack.

It was Gunston who on Saturday was presenting and leading like the first choice target. Calsher Dear will be that player but currently he is still finding his moments to assert himself and not commanding every ball that sallies forward. Gunston does.

Logically it still feels hard to envision Hawthorn being able to beat the best other teams without Will Day in their team but the way the Hawks are playing – the way they dismantled Collingwood, the way they opened up Melbourne and the way their forward line is orbiting around Gunston – it would be unwise to assume too much.

Crow throws and the free kick that wasn’t: Adelaide’s luck turns

Of course it was a free kick. And of course it was a silly inconsequential moment that shouldn’t necessarily be a free kick, but that is AFL football, a world where the silly and inconsequential have grave consequence.

Riley Thilthorpe should have been penalised for kicking the ball away from the boundary umpire. It didn’t waste game time, but the rule is there. It was also so blatant it was harder to figure out why it wasn’t paid than wonder why it would be paid.

It was the least of the perplexing moments of a weird game. A more bizarre boundary line moment came when a free kick was paid to Mitch Hinge for insufficient intent to keep the ball in play when he had been the one to nudge the ball over the line. The ball was toed accidentally out of play as Hinge and Steele Sidebottom ran towards the slippery ball. The umpires were sure someone hadn’t shown enough intent, they just had no idea who. So they debated it among themselves and settled on Sidebottom. It would seem apparent that if you don’t know who did something it is hard to argue you were sure of their level of intent.

The intent of the insufficient intent rule is worthy, but had unintended consequences. Sometimes you can get your intent all bottoms up. The umps showed insufficient intent to understand the conditions. As an aside the same thing happened on Sunday in the second term at the SCG when Bailey Smith was tackled over the boundary and handballed the ball as best he could back in play only for it to spike right. He was pinged. It put you in mind of Greg Swann’s chook lotto comment about ruck frees.

But I digress. With Thilthorpe the rules say it was a free kick even though he was probably trying to soccer flick the ball up to the boundary ump and got it wrong. In games where frees are paid for not handing the ball to the umpire it was strange no to pay a free.

It did not cost the game, it exemplified the game.

Ben Keays’ pass to Isaac Cumming in the goal square was a straight NRL throw. Which was mainly weird because he shouldn’t have needed to do it, and they would have scored anyway. Cumming amusingly said on Sunday that when the ball was in mid-air coming to him he assumed the whistle would go for a throw. Mark Keane’s throws are less surprising given his first sport of choice and late adoption of AFL.

That there are four umpires now and none saw the throws should be surprising but isn’t.

Another odd thing. Adelaide’s first goal came after a moment that did not draw a free kick, but could have easily seen Tex Walker suspended (he wasn’t cited by the MRO). He pushed Brayden Maynard in the back into a pack in an action that has, for some reason, become commonplace this year. It saw Dylan Shiel suspended last week. So he might be reported but not penalised in the game.

This was the sort of match this was. These moments are not listed to imply mischief or injustice as all fans complain about frees after every game, and besides Adelaide have suffered more from clunker decisions than others (missing the finals after the score review fiasco two years ago) they are noted because they were such a collection of crazy spot fires.

This match should have been about the footy. It was the team that was top for most of the year, but is now spiralling out of the four, playing the team that has romped past them to top spot. It was the Crows confronting a team they had not beaten since Charlie Cameron, Mitch McGovern, Jake Lever and Eddie Betts were all in the team (2016).

It was played in front of the second-biggest AFL crowd ever at the Adelaide Oval, it was tight and tense, and statistics proved utterly misleading. The number of highlights were as rare as goals. And yet it was gripping.

It settled that Adelaide are a very good team, defensively very sound (Keane was excellent) and despite far fewer entries their forwards looked far more threatening than Collingwood. Forward 50s was a lopsided statistic, but also misleading. All it reflected was where the ball spent most of its time and not a measure of attacking threat.

The match did not settle where Collingwood are at the moment. They were better than they had been but they are still a long way from where they were and where they need to be.

Hill To Climb

Collingwood are highly unlikely to win the flag without Bobby Hill and Jeremy Howe back in the team.

Hill whose mix of personal issues, illness and now fitness have seen him miss most of the second half of the year was the conspicuous absence and probable difference in a cluttered forward line where no one could find space or the creativity to conjure something. Hill would have done that.

Craig McRae’s was vague on when he would return.

Howe’s importance is underlined with every game he misses. The defence was good against the crows but they are still better organised with Howe there.

This was the Magpies’ fifth loss in six games but also their fourth loss this season by a goal of less for a team that previously seemed to wonder why you would win by a big score if you could win by a little one.

What remains troubling for Collingwood was Darcy Moore again going to ground in chases and being outmarked. Brody Mihocek dropped two chest marks inside 50 in the third quarter. Beau McCreery missed his foot kicking a ball. Dan McStay was unsighted. Dan Houston’s form again didn’t turn.

Walsh reminder

Before his latest comeback game there was a question of whether it was worth bringing Sam Walsh back into the team for dead rubber games. What is the point? The season is done and Walsh has had such a wretched time with injury perhaps it was better to worry about next season and put him in cotton wool for the remaining games.

It was good Carlton didn’t. Walsh played like he was getting a year of frustration out.

He was sending a reminder to himself and the team of what they have missed. He had speed run and carry, that clever side step was there, the time and the patience. He didn’t look like he was playing angry, but he looked like he was playing with desperate intent.

It was such a reminder of the pieces that have been missing. A side that can’t transition the ball and match the best repeat running teams gets their best run and carry player back in and what do you know?

A player who has struggled with his body – it was only his 13th game of the year – there was more upside in getting him playing and carrying that enthusiasm and momentum into the pre-season.

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.