A
Set short text size
A
Set the default text size
A
Set large text size
The big news this week was the retirement of Essendon’s stimulant Anthony MacDonald-Tipunguti, my Ascendon-supporting granddaughter’s favorite player.
Still only 29 – having his birthday last month – he must become one of Dons’ elite players and regularly attend the top 100 events organized by the club.
He achieved 126 games in six years, while he played 20 or more games in five of the six years.
It wasn’t enough for him to make the Bombers’ top 100 game players, but his 153 goals put him 39th in Ascendon’s Top 100 Goal Kickers, along with David Hill, a former Rookman / forward who served with the club early on. In the present century.
A ranking in the top 40 should mean that McDonald-Tipunguti will be a member of Ascendon’s top 100 for the next few decades and hopefully he will be able to enjoy the company of his fellow elite at any event at the club.
The McDonald part of the name comes from his adopted mother Jane MacDonald.
(Photo by Michael Wilson / AFL Media / Getty Images)
His departure from the AFL scene comes a week after Leon Cameron of Greater Western Sydney resigned as coach of the Giants – not surprisingly, as he was out of contract at the end of the year.
In his full eight years at GWS, he has finalized five events, including a grand finale.
He never lost to John Longmeyer (Sydney), Adam Simpson (West Coast) or Chris Fagan (Brisbane), ending the final with a slightly positive win-loss ratio (7-6).
He shared 50-50 results with Nathan Buckley (Collingwood) and Luke Beveridge (Bulldogs) and did not win against Damien Hardwick (Richmond), Chris Scott (Geelong) or Don Pike (Adelaide).
A total of 193 games as a coach have made him the 44th senior AFL / VFL coach of all time.
His departure means another new coach has risen to the plate in Round 10. Mark McVee took the reins as the eighth fill-in coach for the 2022 season – a record, of course.
A good win against West Coach Eagles means he has become the sixth successful part-timer of the year, only Matthew Knights and Scott Burns have failed to win their One of Assignment to date.
(Photo via Cameron Spencer / AFL Photos / Getty Images)
However, the most impressive ring-in coach this year is Jamie Graham of Fremantle. After an impressive win against the Dockers for the West Coast in 2018, he coached the Dockers for two games this year, giving him a great record of 3-0 wins as a senior AFL coach.
In addition to keeping Greater Western Sydney’s little final hopes alive, the game provided a highlight by giving the club two new goal kickers.
That means they now have enough goal kickers to fill the list of the top 100.
James Pitling kicked a great three goals and first gamer Jacob Wehr turned 100 with his single goal. Greg Clarke scored the first goal for the Eagles.
On the field, goal-scoring honors were shared by Carlton’s Charlie Carno and St. Killer’s Max King, both of whom snatched six goals, while Richmond’s Tom Lynch failed to add his total, allowing Carno to take over as club house leader.
Carno continues his impressive climb to the Blues’ list of top 100 goal kickers, surpassing Jack Green, Adrian Hickmott, Earl Spalding and Brian Walsh this week.
King, on the other hand, has overtaken Silvio Foschini, Gary Sidebottom and Roy Bens – champion saints of the 1920s and early 1930s.
Hawthorn and Collingwood, meanwhile, beat Brisbane and Fremantle, respectively, and added some spice to the ladder, providing a compulsive upset.