I like to be hard in my critique of players and I thought Taylor Walker's effort against Collingwood was below par but credit where it's due, he was huge in Adelaide's upset over Sydney and was the only key forward in my round five Team of the Week, brought to you by AccorHotels.
In a great round for captains, 'Tex' was brilliant. Other skippers to fire were: Joel Selwood, who was immense against Port Adelaide, Phil Davis, who was massive in the draw with St Kilda, Nat Fyfe, who produced the performance of the round, while Patrick Cripps had the role with no Marc Murphy and excelled.
For any coaches trying to figure out how to stop midfield jets like Selwood or Fyfe, here's an idea. Play a tagger. It's negligent of coaches to not have any taggers on their list. If Touk Miller and Ben Jacobs didn't do what they did for Gold Coast and North Melbourne respectively, their teams probably lose.
Among the unlucky players was another captain in Scott Pendlebury.
Lance Franklin kicked just one goal, and that was because of Daniel Talia, who was great and just missed out on selection, while the Crow's teammates Rory Atkins and Sam Jacobs were also stiff.
Richmond fans might be surprised to see Kane Lambert as the only Tiger. Take it as a compliment. They were so even I couldn't pick the standouts. It's testament to the side Damien Hardwick has built.
Nathan Wilson has been an awesome recruit for Fremantle. North Melbourne is thriving because of its key pillars and Robbie Tarrant was huge against Hawthorn with 16 marks. An underrated one is Harris Andrews, who kept Gold Coast's Tom Lynch quiet and had 14 one-percenters. Miller kept Brisbane's best player, Dayne Zorko, to 10 disposals. The desperation from Davis to not give up in the final play against St Kilda epitomised his attitude and Tom Doedee helped keep Franklin quiet.
If Adelaide's best and fairest was awarded today, Paul Seedsman would be on the podium. The criticism about Cripps was he handballed too much – he's fixed that up. For Adam Treloar, just look at the stats: 34 disposals, 13 score involvements, two goals and one Anzac Medal. Jarrod Witts beat a gun ruckman in Stefan Martin, so he was in. Fyfe's numbers (43 disposals, 13 clearances) were amazing but you need to watch him to appreciate his brilliance. The game from Selwood, along with Horlin-Smith, allowed Patrick Dangerfield to go forward, which was important in Hawkins' absence.
The best player this year has been Steele Sidebottom. He's unstoppable. Walker was fantastic. Calf troubles are tough to overcome but over the past fortnight, Brett Deledio has shown he has done that. Robbie Gray has been building this year and demanded a spot with his continued form. In a small forward line, I've put five-goal star Michael Walters in the goalsquare – only Fyfe was better than him against the Western Bulldogs. Lambert did the dirty work in the guts and slotted two goals as well.
Another who goes under the radar is Seb Ross who had a great all-round game. Everyone was speaking about Tom Mitchell, who is apparently untaggable, but Jacobs nullified him and won 19 disposals himself. Ben Cunnington and Jack Ziebell are the heart and soul at North Melbourne and he showed why against the Hawks. Seeing Andrew Gaff play more of an inside role, picking up an equal team-high six clearances, was great.
