AFL 2022 Round 2: Buddy 1000, Hawks stun Port, MCG false alarm, Saints win in the west

Lance Franklin became only the sixth player in AFL history to score 1,000 goals, sparking wild scenes at the SCG, as Sydney beat an inaccurate kicking Geelong.

The big moment arrived in the final quarter when ‘Buddy’ bagged his fourth of the evening to reach this amazing milestone. Fans from all sides of a packed stadium ran on to the ground to share the ‘once in a lifetime’ achievement with their hero and the celebrations lasted for just over 36 minutes before play could finally resume.

Embed from Getty Images

Speaking to Channel Seven, the 35-year-old said “Pretty good. It was nice to get it done. It’s been playing on my mind a little bit. The one last week was disappointing. To bounce back and get it tonight was good. Something I will cherish forever.”

He added “It was an amazing moment. It really was. A lot of hard work to get there; been playing for 18 years. A lot of hard work to get there but I wouldn’t be able to get there without having great teammates around me to provide those assists.”

Admittedly it might be early in the campaign but you can forgive Carlton supporters for starting to get excited that this might the year they make finals in over a decade.

Charlie Curnow (pictured below) booted five majors as the Blues kicked their biggest half-time score since 2014 and then showed the other side of their game with a resilient second half showing to see off the Western Bulldogs and go two-zip for the first time since 2012.

Embed from Getty Images

There is no doubting the result of the round and a shock that very few saw coming as Hawthorn put on a scintillating display to thrash Port Adelaide on their home deck.

Forward Mitch Lewis kicked a career-high five majors as the Hawks led for the whole evening, increasing their advantage at every change, and ran out 64-point winners.

It really has been a great start for new coach Sam Mitchell who was full of praise for his players; he said “The belief in our group is slowly growing and certainly we know that our best can match it with those top teams now. But we’re by no means a finished product; we’ve got plenty of work to do on our own game.”

He continued “We only had 46 inside 50s and were able to kick 19 goals; it’s unlikely you do that every week. Individual performances were pleasing but from a collective point of view, I thought our front half looked dangerous for the majority of the day.”

For a second consecutive week, Brisbane had to recover from a slow opening but got stronger as the match progressed to get the job done against Essendon.

A disappointing afternoon for the Bombers was compounded by the news that influential midfielder Zak Merrett will need surgery, following scans, after suffering an ankle syndesmosis that is likely to keep him on the sidelines for up to two months.

Collingwood had twelve different goalkickers as they led for nearly the whole afternoon enroute to a compressive victory over Adelaide at a sunny MCG.

The game had to be held up early in the second when a message was played over the stadium’s loudspeakers instructing all patrons to immediately leave the venue.

Embed from Getty Images

Thankfully it turned out to be a false alarm with the emergency evacuation system having been automatically triggered by a small fire, in a food outlet, on level four.

Norm Smith Medallist Christian Petracca was at his best with a career-high 41 disposals while AFL Rising Star Luke Jackson and midfielder Clayton Oliver played key roles and there was an early GOTY contender from forward Kysaiah Pickett.

Despite missing a number of key players, including star man Dustin Martin (pictured below), Richmond still had too much as they romped to a 36-point triumph over GWS.

The 30-year-old has been granted time away from the club to deal with personal issues. Coach Damien Hardwick was quick to shut down questions as to when he is likely to return; he said “Do we want to see him playing? Yeah, but it is what it is. It’s a personal issue and we leave it at that. Dustin has repaid this club 10 times over.”

Embed from Getty Images

St.Kilda answered their critics in the best possible way as they travelled west to secure their first ever triumph at Optus Stadium by getting up over Fremantle.

Max King and Jack Higgins combined to score eight of the Saints nine goals as part of a strong performance, after half-time, in what proved to be a low-scoring affair.

Nick Larkey booted six snags as North Melbourne got their first success of the year on the board in defeating a depleted West Coast side at Marvel Stadium.

The Eagles arrived in Victoria with coach Adam Simpson forced into making a VFL/AFL record 14 changes; 12 of them due to health and safety protocols.