Inspiring star on ‘short’ two-man list; biggest list flaw exposed in ‘lifeless’ Suns slide — Will Schofield

Like his Crows coach, I’m in complete awe of what Jordan Dawson is doing on the footy field this season, considering his circumstances.

The Adelaide captain missed two games following the tragic passing of his brother in April. Since his return, he’s shown inspirational courage and resilience.

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I have some sort of understanding of what Jordan is going through. I lost my old man to a heart attack in 2012 and played for the Eagles a couple of days later. I was young at the time and, on reflection, didn’t handle it the best. I also lost my brother to cancer two years ago. So I’ve always hoped Jordan has had the support to give him the love he needs.

It’s why Dawson’s recent output speaks to how strong footy clubs can be and how football can provide a distraction from real life.

Since returning to Adelaide’s side, Dawson has been in the top-seven rated players in all five games, including last week’s ridiculous performance against the Western Bulldogs.

The footy Dawson is playing is unbelievable. And he’s doing it while dealing with personal grief – two polar opposite things that not many would be able to balance. Few players in the league can put an entire side on their back – which is what Dawson is doing. Maybe him and Marcus Bontempelli … the list is short.

You have to remember Dawson, too, was made Adelaide skipper after just one year on the Crows’ list. To be named captain after less than 12 months with a group means you’re a special individual, because it means the entire group has to go: ‘Well, you’re the best person out of 45 players to lead us into the future.’ It clearly speaks to his character more than his ability – because there’s a lot of good players in Adelaide.

And there’d be a long list of brilliant AFL players that were traded and didn’t go on to captain their side a year later.

Dawson is a supremely talented footballer. But it’s who he is as a person, clearly, and his mental strength that shine brightest on the field.

SIGNS OF EAGLES GROWTH … BUT ‘BIN’ THESE STATS

Meanwhile, West Coast continues to show signs of progress.

Yes, the Eagles have won more games (four) and have a better percentage (72.7%) compared to this time last year. But it’s all about the way they’ve been playing.

I didn’t have a major problem with the 128-point Round 4 loss to Sydney, just because of where the Swans are on the ladder and their clear premiership credentials. The loss to St Kilda, though, was a shocker. To go interstate lose to a side that, at that time, had done nothing and had question marks over their finals credentials by over 100 points was damning.

It felt like that Round 7 loss was a “toes up” moment for West Coast. They had internal meetings, player meetings and some real hard truths laid out after that game.

Since then, the Eagles have been a different side. They’re more competitive and they’re harder to play against.

They haven’t won every game, but they’ve had close losses to the likes of Collingwood, Richmond, Port Adelaide and North Melbourne – all games they could’ve won. Even the loss to the Tigers, just purely on the eye, you could tell they were already a far better side. So if you’re a fan, pundit or player, you’re now walking away from Eagles games thinking ‘this is good enough to compete’, because of their defensive intent, competitiveness and ruthlessness.

You’d think they’ll eventually learn how to win, but they’re also learning how to be a competitive side – because they haven’t been one for many years.

Coach Andrew McQualter must get some of the credit. He’s a good coach who’s done some things this year that have impacted games in a positive manner.

McQualter has set the standards and implemented the game plan. But ultimately the improvement has come from players buying in and executing it.

Bailey Williams kind of mirrors West Coast’s season. He initially wasn’t in the side and didn’t look like being picked because Matt Flynn was ahead of him. But he got a chance.

As a ruck, when you’re not a superstar like Max Gawn or Luke Jackson or Brodie Grundy or Nic Naitanui, just be competitive. Just be Bailey Williams, compete and give your mids a 50-50 chance at worst. That’s what he’s done. And everything flows from that. If you can halve your position, you’re giving your team a chance.

But at this stage of the Eagles’ development, it’s not about percentage, win-loss, scores for and against. All those stats can get in the bin for the moment, because this group needs to continue to learn how to be competitive and hard to play against.

RYAN FLYIN’ AGAIN

Now some love for my old teammate Liam Ryan, who’s averaging a career-high 2.5 goals per game. He’s booted 14 majors in the past three weeks.

What I’m enjoying about Ryan’s rise since landing at St Kilda is it looks like he’s playing the same deep forward role at Subiaco, which ultimately saw him plucked out of the WAFL and drafted to the Eagles nine years ago.

Ross Lyon might’ve recognised Ryan’s deep-forward potential because that’s the role that made him such a dangerous player at Subiaco. I certainly did. He took three Mark of the Year contenders on my head in the same WAFL season in 2017. I reckon he had eight of the top 10 contenders that year. It’s just what he does.

He also kicked a sh*tload of goals – 73 from 23 games to be exact – just playing out of the goalsquare. He was a nightmare for a defender.

When you get to the AFL, you need to be able to play higher and use your workrate – and he’s been a workrate player before. But now Ryan is back to playing deeper, which is his natural habitat.

It doesn’t matter how old he is, there’s not many defenders in the league that want to be matching up on Liam Ryan deep in the forward line. He’s still quick, he’s still explosive and he can still jump on your head from a metre away.

With the Saints pushing for a wildcard spot, he’s going to be a dangerous player for them.

‘LIFELESS’ SUNS SLIDE EXPLAINED

You’d be pulling your hair out if you were Damien Hardwick.

The 2026 Gold Coast list is far better on paper than Richmond’s during the triple premiership era – and I don’t say that lightly.

What Hardwick did with Richmond and what the players were able to do to create a footy dynasty was remarkable. They had Dustin Martin, Alex Rance, Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin and added Tom Lynch, but they had a bucketload of role players who just wanted to screw their guts up and do what they needed to do for their team.

The Suns have Noah Anderson, Brownlow Medallist Matt Rowell and added Christian Petracca to the midfield. They’ve got Ben King and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan – if it can all come together for him – in the forward line. They’ve got Sam Collins and Mac Andrew down back.

There’s not much more talent you could add to that group. Yet there’s no performance.

That comes down to the rest of the Suns’ list around that talent. There’s not enough players screwing their guts up saying ‘I need to be a role player’. It means the team is easy to play against.

The Suns, so far, are the most disappointing team of the AFL season.

Two parts to their form slide that intrigue me.

Firstly, maybe Hardwick got the group wrong. He has whacked them publicly multiple times, but do they actually respond to stern, strong public bashings? Maybe they don’t.

Maybe they’re more glass half-full and Hardwick has needed to pull back to give them a bit of love – because not every group’s the same and you can’t bend them into being something they’re not. Maybe Anderson, Rowell and Petracca need a carrot, not the stick. Only Hardwick would know that.

And then there’s dealing with expectations, both internal and external.

When the Suns beat Freo and finally won a final at the end of last year, fair to say I’ve seen more subdued celebrations from sides after winning a flag. Clearly, it was a big moment for the footy club. It was a huge weight off the entire group’s back. You want to let them celebrate it.

Maybe as a collective they haven’t handled it the best. Maybe because they’ve climbed high up the mountain and made finals – which they’d never previously done – they haven’t been able to handle the ‘what next’.

There have been plenty of sides and playing groups that have been like that. I was probably part of one of one at West Coast. We won the premiership in 2018 then struggled to ever get back to that sort of form. We’d climbed Everest, put the flag at the top … but in footy, you don’t get to stop. You’ve got to find the next Everest.

Maybe this is just a year where the Suns can’t pull it together. Maybe the pressure valve came off too far and they’re going to have to spend this year getting back into form to go bigger year next year.

They’ve got enough talent to turn it around. But right now, they look lifeless and, from what I can see, there’s not much soul in the club. Finding that spark again might be the biggest challenge Hardwick faces.

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