Cal-culations: Dogs' despair, Blues must deliver answers, Saints need to re-sign young gun

AFL.com.au's Callum Twomey takes a look at the questions Carlton must answer, the Bomber who should tag Nick Daicos and more in Cal-culations

DOGS' DESPAIR

THE MOUNTAIN just got a whole lot harder to climb for the Western Bulldogs.

Sam Darcy hadn't torn a game apart yet this year, kicking 12 goals in the opening five weeks, but the Dogs' emerging superstar had done more than enough as the spearhead of his team.

Now Luke Beveridge will have to work a miracle to climb the premiership mountain this season without Darcy.

Teams throughout history have overcome the loss of key players to win premierships – West Coast did it without Nic Naitanui and Andrew Gaff in 2018, Richmond won it without Alex Rance in 2019 and Geelong missed Max Holmes in 2022 – but the Dogs without Darcy has robbed them of their second superman.

His ACL injury will leave as big a hole as imaginable for the Bulldogs' flag hopes, on top of the knee injury to Tim English that saw him miss Friday night's belting at the hands of Geelong and then other setbacks to Tom Liberatore (concussion) and defenders Rory Lobb and James O'Donnell (hamstring).

Aaron Naughton has had an excellent start to 2026 and will now shoulder the load, not forgetting this forward half two years ago had Darcy and 2020 No.1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan in it as key posts.

The Dogs' chase for Zak Butters is as strong and dedicated as we have seen and there's no doubt the Port superstar would elevate any team, but they also have other list holes to fill.

Geelong superstar Jeremy Cameron's 10-goal haul and Hawthorn forward Mitch Lewis' big say in the previous week's win over the Dogs has added doubt to how they can stop the power forwards and is why they threw millions at St Kilda backman Cal Wilkie last year.

And the absence of English has also exposed a lack of depth in the ruck, with Darcy thrown in there to start Friday night and Louis Emmett not yet ready to hold the fort.

The Bulldogs were the hottest team of the first three rounds of the season and have time to make plans without Darcy. But his magnet is irreplaceable and the bid for a top-four finish just became immeasurably harder.

BLUES' SEARCH MUST DELIVER ANSWERS

CARLTON is on a search for answers. They are answers that the AFL and AFL Players Association is also sweating on.

If the fallout since Thursday night has had a welfare focus from the Blues, then the next few days will prove critical in the club's understanding of what happened to Elijah Hollands on Thursday night and why Carlton permitted him to play – let alone a third of game time in the last quarter – when chief executive Graham Wright confirmed the club knew the 23-year-old was "struggling" during the clash with Collingwood.

The questions are obvious: Did any players raise concerns for or with Hollands? If not, why not? Did the coaches' box not recognise the issues at hand? If not, why not? Did anyone on the bench, including senior coach Michael Voss, not notice that Hollands was exhibiting unusual and erratic behaviour during the game? If not, why not? Did Hollands recognise his troubles through the game?

And how were all of those things clear to fans in the back stands of the MCG but not seen – or at least not acted upon – by Carlton?

Such is the forensic tracking of players' in-game by coaches, fitness and conditioning staff and even GPS data, it remains perplexing that it was able to unfold in real time without intervention.

Wright conceded on Sunday that as the club deals with Hollands' mental health episode, these are questions he and the Blues were not yet able to answer.

The AFL has requested Carlton provide the outcome of its review to the League as it conducts its own investigation into Hollands' fitness to play in the game. And whilst Hollands has already been ruled out of next week's game, it is hard to think more processes and protocols won't be added to pre-game and during matches for clubs to ensure a similar case does not happen again.

SURE AS BUTTER

THERE was nothing surer than Zak Butters putting in a team-stirring performance on Saturday.

After a Tribunal verdict that went against him – one that still confounds the football world and wider public and resumes with Monday's Appeals Board hearing – Butters was able to do what he does best; play with absolute ferocity and intensity and try to drag his team to a win. He and Jason Horne-Francis nearly did just that.

For mine, Butters is a top-two player in the AFL and is performing like it this year - he was the highest ranked player on the ground (a Player Ratings score of 23.7) and gathered 35 disposals, five clearances and a goal. Where other players' performances have wavered in big contract years under heightened speculation, Butters' form has only lifted. How he was not an All-Australian last year is still bemusing.

Horne-Francis was also excellent with 28 disposals and 2.2, and the pair nearly lifted Port to its best win of the year.

Hawthorn has been troubled by Port Adelaide in Sam Mitchell's tenure.

Before Saturday, the Hawks had won two of five games against the Power under Mitchell and if not for a wayward kick from the usually ultra reliable Mitch Georgiades in the dying moments, then it would've been 2-4.

Instead, the Nick Watson-led Hawks have won five straight games in a season for the second time since 2018 and importantly have found players picking up form, including key forward Mitch Lewis, who was again important against the Power.

DEES ON THE BOUNCE

STEVEN King was almost in shock after Melbourne's loss to Essendon last week.

He said his team looked lethargic, but the response against Brisbane would tell the story if it was a one-off or an issue to be worried about.

The response said more than enough, as the Dees pulled off a Sunday stunner.

Melbourne made four changes for the clash with the Lions, with Christian Salem (204 career games) and Jake Melksham (250) injured, Tom McDonald (252) omitted and Xavier Lindsay (23) managed. Together, they accounted for 729 games experience out of the side.

In came Max Heath, Matt Jefferson, Bailey Laurie and debutant Xavier Taylor – with a combined tally of 24 appearances before Sunday.

King's Dees delivered against the reigning back-to-back premiers, holding on by two points in a thriller at the MCG. Young gun Harvey Langford had 27 disposals and three goals, while Koltyn Tholstrup, the Picketts and Kade Chandler (three goals) had big moments when it mattered.

Melbourne has now reached triple figures four times in the first six games this season having managed that mark just five times for the entirety of last season.

WHY SAINTS MUST KEEP THIS YOUNGSTER

DARCY Wilson is in no rush to re-sign at St Kilda. But St Kilda should be in a rush to re-sign him.

He has a stack of Victorian clubs chasing him and is one of only a small handful of first-round picks from the 2023 draft yet to ink an extension.

His game on Saturday night showed he is a player the Saints can't afford to lose.

Wilson was thrown a different challenge against the Crows, playing as a centre bounce midfielder for basically the first time in his 47-game career.

Before the clash with Adelaide, Wilson had attended two centre bounces. He was in there for 12 against the Crows and despite not landing a clearance, he had one of his best games in Saints colours, finishing with 24 disposals and two goals.

Wilson's elite running capacity and ability to find the ball make him a valuable commodity and he has shown he can regularly hit the scoreboard as well, offering something different to their mix. He was ranked St Kilda's second best player in the one-point defeat, behind co-captain Jack Sinclair.

The Saints are 2-4 and are a better team than they were last year, but need to prove that with wins over West Coast and Carlton in the next two weeks to keep touch with the finals-contending teams who have broken away in the top rungs of the ladder.

WHY ESSENDON SKIPPER SHOULD BE GIVEN FOOTY'S HARDEST JOB

WHATEVER Carlton's plan was for Nick Daicos in the fourth quarter on Thursday night, it didn't work.

There's a lesson there for Essendon this week as the Bombers return to Victoria without the four points against Gold Coast but with more self-belief that they are putting the pieces together.

Andrew McGrath should be the man sent to Daicos to curb his influence. He was given the task against Melbourne firestarter Kysaiah Pickett in Gather Round and although Pickett threatened at times, he was quelled in others.

Essendon has previously tried Jye Caldwell and Sam Durham in different run-with or negating roles on Daicos, but has found its best midfield mix in the past two weeks with Caldwell in there and Durham playing across half-forward.

The Bombers have won only one of the past seven and two of the past 11 Anzac Day games, including the 2024 draw, and have been the victims of Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and latterly Daicos running amok.

But their past fortnight against the Demons and Suns has shown a different style with lots more kicking in their game and a confidence to control the tempo. They beat the much heralded Gold Coast midfield 37 to 29 in clearances and 20 to 15 in centre clearances in Saturday's shootout, with Darcy Parish backing up his game against Melbourne with another excellent showing.

Ultimately Essendon's capacity to limit Daicos' influence will be a significant factor in the result in this Saturday's next edition of the storied Anzac Day game.

And for those who asked, Daicos' effort against Carlton would have ranked inside his top-five games.

CHANGES ON THE WAY

CLUBS have done their best lobbying. But the AFL's new draft bidding rules are still expected to be introduced for this year.

Some of the clubs' last-ditch pitches to the League to pause changes have been part of the several delays in confirmation, and some tweaks have continued to be worked through.

But, after Greg Swann said a fortnight ago the rules were "definitely" changing this year, the strong expectation still remains that these new bidding rules will be in for the 2026 draft.

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