IT WAS only last week that this column cautioned against the early crow – talking teams up and down based on their first 100 minutes of real football for the season.

We're not about to retract that statement, but is also hard not to draw the conclusion that two clubs in particular, St Kilda and Essendon, made the right choices in choosing their new coaches.

Alan Richardson walked into a raw and fractured football club last November and took charge while scarcely skipping a beat.

Remember the TV show Thank God You're Here? It was a bit like that.

Injuries and suspensions cruelled St Kilda's pre-season to the point where entering Saturday night's clash with Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, it was the Demons - winless in the first two games of the season every year since 2006 and riding a 16-match losing streak at the Docklands - who started firm favourites.

No Lenny Hayes. No Leigh Montagna. No Jack Steven. No Sam Fisher. However, Richardson set up a midfield that looked threadbare on paper yet worked with maximum efficiency, winning centre clearances and stoppages. And with Nick Riewoldt in tremendous form and displaying great leadership, he had just enough weapons up forward to eke out the win.

St Kilda people say the early quality they note in Richardson is that he is calm and measured. They are perfect traits for a football club that has been combustible for so long, even back to the days of Ross Lyon and the so-called 'Saints Bubble'.

This column has had some experience with Richardson's ability to make the best of a difficult situation. In 2012, he was this website's finals tactics expert with the brief to deliver a finals preview every week. Before one final, he was impossible to get hold of (it turned out he was interviewing for the coaching director's position at Port Adelaide, which he secured) and it was only late on the Thursday night that we were able to get hold of him.

"Not a problem," said Richardson. "I've got a plan." With that, he pulled over to the side of the road, briefly penned some thoughts, called back and calmly dictated a flawless 500-word match preview that an English master would have awarded a high distinction.

The build-up to that was less than ideal but the end result was excellent, which suggests that nothing fazes Richardson. So as he continues to settle into the club and the job, the Saints are in perfect hands for what will be a long and difficult path back up the ladder.

The same with the Bombers. A key reason why Mark Thompson agreed to stand in as senior coach after some initial hesitation was that the club needed some stability after turning over just about everyone else holding a senior position.

Another is that the Bombers might be quite good. Who wouldn’t want to coach Jobe Watson at his absolute peak, Paul Chapman with a point to prove and the ascending star that is Joe Daniher?

He's here for a good time, not a long time, as witnessed by his relaxed demeanour in the coaches box (all that was missing was the salad roll) and his post-match media conference that more resembled a chinwag at the pub with a bunch of mates.

Next up against Hawthorn will doubtless throw him a few more curveballs than did a wretched North Melbourne last Friday night. But like Richardson with the Saints, it is hard not to conclude that for Essendon in 2014, Thompson is the right man at the right place at the right time.


With players like Jobe Watson on his side, why wouldn't Mark Thompson want to coach? Picture: AFL Media

QUESTION TIME

How much of Hawthorn has Adam Simpson brought to West Coast?
Let's be clear about one thing for starters. Simpson inherited a pretty good side, one which for a number of reasons, underachieved big time last year. But if there was a trait from Hawthorn, where he served under Alastair Clarkson as an assistant for four years, it was the spread of goalkickers. Jack Darling, Josh Kennedy and Callum Sinclair will be the three key targets close to goal, but against the Bulldogs on Sunday night, Mark LeCras led the goalkickers with five, but midfielders Luke Shuey, Sharrod Wellingham, Matt Priddis, Andrew Gaff, Chris Masten, Scott Selwood and Matt Rosa all kicked majors. Hawthorn had 10 goalkickers against the Lions on Saturday, West Coast countered with 11 the following day. Midfielders who can push forward and kick goals are hard to counter. If they then work hard the other way, then West Coast is on its way to being a well-balanced, very good team.

Any positives for the Bulldogs? 
The best news of an otherwise dirty evening was that Shaun Higgins, the classy but injury-prone utility, kicked two goals and had 23 possessions. He played just three games last year and in some ways is the forgotten man of the Whitten Oval, but he looked good on Sunday night. While the result was a disappointment from a team point of view, Higgins would have felt some relief and a sense of satisfaction as he flew back home late Sunday night knowing that if his body treats him right, he still has plenty to offer.


 



Ashley Browne: I can't believe how many people are down on the Demons. Sure, it loomed as a winnable game, but with Mitch Clark, Jesse Hogan, Chris Dawes, Colin Garland, Max Gawn and Mark Jamar out of the side and Jack Fitzpatrick off injured, Melbourne just didn’t have enough tall timber. The Demons showed some pluck and looked good in the backline and the midfield for considerable periods and that is what supporters should be taking out of the game. Normally, it is the coach downplaying the expectations of supporters but in this case, it is the other way around. "I am trying to tell them all the time I think they are a much better team than they believe they are," Roos said on Saturday night.

So the message to Melbourne supporters is clear. Keep the faith.



AB: Your guess is as good as mine. There are now two parts to the whole drama. There is the actual ASADA investigation that may result in infraction notices served on Essendon players and officials. But that is in the hands of ASADA and will take as long as it takes. Then there's the circus around the ASADA investigation that now is now primarily focused on the future of Essendon coach James Hird. Until such time as Essendon chairman Paul Little stares down the barrel of the camera and says without qualification that Hird will return to coach the Bombers next year, this part of the saga will drag on as well. 



AB: This was more a case of Geelong winning it than Adelaide losing it. Look at which players AFL.com.au nominated as the five best players on the night for the Cats – Joel Selwood, Steve Johnson, James Kelly, Jimmy Bartel, and Andrew Mackie. They might be the five best players at the club and in a game of great quality, their class stood out at the end. Despite Geelong's hiccup in the final last year, Simonds Stadium remains the hardest away ground to win at in the AFL and I thought Adelaide's effort, considering its long injury list, was full of merit. However, the Crows face a continued tough start to the year, with Port Adelaide and the Sydney Swans in the next two weeks.



AB: Don't look for it to end any time soon. There remain four Sunday night games for the season, three of which are in Melbourne (Essendon-Carlton round four, North Melbourne-Richmond, round 12 and Collingwood-Carlton round 15) and will be played either during the school holidays or the night before a public holiday. The crowds for those and the TV ratings for the Bombers-Blues and Magpies-Blues matches will determine whether the League will persist with the timeslot going forward. With negotiations for the next TV rights deal about 12 months away, the AFL will continue to experiment with different timeslots. For that same reason, bet the house on Good Friday football next year.



AB: I thought the Lions were terrific and the final winning margin for Hawthorn of eight goals was almost unfair. They denied Hawthorn time and space to get its highly-skilled possession game going and it was only a few lapses in concentration in patches that allowed the Hawks to skip away. The same sort of endeavor and industry will earn the Lions plenty of wins this year, but they're a long way from being a basketcase.



AB: With skipper Andrew Swallow offering special comments in a radio booth (why he couldn’t watch with his teammates has me baffled) North needed the players you mentioned to show some leadership and they failed dismally. Jack Ziebell had 12 touches and Daniel Wells 11, which just isn’t good enough. Petrie was poor and unable to give North something as a back-up ruckman considering Todd Goldstein was playing with an injured shoulder. I saw North's NAB Challenge clash in Launceston where its forward line was a mess and nearly a month on, little has changed. Brad Scott needs to get it sorted and quickly.

Twitter: @afl_hashbrowne