Each week of the 2026 AFL season, ESPN.com.au's Jake Michaels looks at six big talking points.
This week's Six Points features (statistically) the most reliable kick for goal, why the blowtorch should be on Alastair Clarkson, something rare I dislike about Nick Daicos, and a somewhat worrying Scott Pendlebury 433 realisation.
1. Which AFL player would you want taking a shot, with your life on the line?
It's a question you've likely either posed, been asked, or, at the very least, considered for even a fleeting moment somewhere along the line. But who would you actually entrust if such a ludicrous hypothetical scenario was presented to you?
There are two ways to look at this. Is it the classic 40m out, directly in front set shot? Or is it a completely random spot somewhere inside the 50m arc? For years I argued it would be Luke Breust who I'd want taking my kick if I didn't know where it was from. He was a sharpshooter who almost never let the Hawks down. But with Breust no longer in the game, it's time to find someone else to save my life. And this time, I'm turning to the stats.
With the help of Champion Data, I've looked at both of those aforementioned scenarios to try and end this debate once and for all. Over the past five years, the most reliable set shot for goal from the corridor at a range of 40-50m (with at least 20 attempts) has been ... drum roll ... Oscar Allen! Here's the top five:
But how about my other scenario? The one where you don't know the spot they'll be kicking from. In order to find the answer to this question we looked at the players who have most outperformed expected scores from their shots at goal. In short, who scores more than they're expected to from the shots taken, compared to the league average? Unlike the first situation, this one includes both set shots and shots on the run. Once again, we looked at the past five years worth of data.
It looks like the answer is Taylor Walker. The Crows veteran has long been lauded for his accuracy at range, but he also rarely fluffs his lines from in close. So next time you're having this debate in the pub, throw up 'Tex' and you can use these stats to back him up.
2. The heat simply must be turned up on Alastair Clarkson
You know what you don't hear much of these days? The "Clarko's a genius!" claim that used to be thrown around almost weekly during his successful tenure at the Hawks.
Of course, that's largely because North Melbourne has almost exclusively languished in the bottom six during Alastair Clarkson's three-and-a-half year stint at the helm. Since joining the Kangaroos, Clarkson has amassed a 15-1-53 record and just about become forgotten in 'footy's best modern day coach' debate.
It seems to be one step forward, two steps backwards for the Kangaroos. Just about every time the club looks to have made some serious strides, it goes and lets itself down with an insipid performance, such as last weekend's dismal effort against the Crows. And while casual fans may look at North Melbourne in the bottom half of the ladder and think 'that's about right', this young, talented list, with this fixture, and supposedly this coach, should probably be achieving a lot more.
I'm not saying all of the blame for North Melbourne's struggles should fall on Clarkson. Far from it. There's the entire playing ground, the board, his assistant coaches, fitness staff, and list management team that deserve a rightful slice of the blame pie. But if a large portion of football media wanted to seemingly attribute a great deal of the credit from Hawthorn's dynasty to Clarkson, then why aren't we being consistent and attributing similar levels of blame on him when things aren't panning out at his new club de?
At the end of the day, Clarkson's the same coach, with the same credentials, and same philosophy. He's now got even more experience.
But since completing the Hawthorn threepeat in 2015, Clarkson has coached 196 games for zero finals wins. His overall coaching win percentage now sits at 53.49, lower than Nathan Buckley, Ross Lyon, Justin Longmuir, Simon Goodwin, and Luke Beveridge. A decade ago you'd have convinced yourself that 17 clubs would sack their coach on the spot to get Clarkson through the door. I wonder what that number would be today...
3. This was utter rubbish from Nick Daicos
If I had a dollar for every time I've been labelled a Nick Daicos fanboy -- or worse -- I'd probably be halfway to affording a trip to Gather Round 2027!
He's the best player in the competition. Plain and simple. You can make cases for two or three others, but there's nobody you'd want at your club more for the next decade. Okay, now that's out of the way, on to what I didn't like. Attempting to milk a 50m penalty during Collingwood's clash with Sydney last Friday night was an ordinary look from the superstar:
Shout out to the umpire for not paying this. Despite what Alastair Lynch says, it's not smart play at all - it's an attempt to milk a 50 and should never be rewarded.#AFLSwansPies pic.twitter.com/3goMipICLo
— The Mongrel Punt (@themongrelpunt) May 15, 2026
Technically he's not doing anything against the rules here, but do we really want to see players attempting to coerce the umpires into paying unnecessary 50m penalties? We don't. It must be said, Daicos isn't the only culprit of this sort of behaviour, so it's not solely an attack on him. But we need to get this out of the game.
4. It will be a sellout, but there won't be enough eyes on Scott Pendlebury in his milestone game
What do you mean, Jake? There will easily be 90,000 fans at the MCG on Saturday afternoon when Collingwood hosts West Coast, and club champion Scott Pendlebury celebrates game No. 433.
Well, yes, I'm sure there will be. In fact, any attendance beginning with even an '8' will feel a little light for this landmark occasion. Instead, I'm talking about the television audience.
Of course, Saturday's slate is now exclusively owned by Fox Footy, meaning Pendlebury's record-breaking game will not be broadcast on free-to-air television. It's a significant blow for the thousands of Collingwood fans -- scratch that, footy fans -- who perhaps don't own pay television subscriptions, and thus could potentially miss out on watching the game.
Could the AFL have done more to ensure it was on free-to-air? Not really. Even if the league had fixtured the Magpies to play exclusively on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays between, say, rounds seven and 12, what's to say Pendlebury doesn't suffer an injury in the early weeks that pushes this milestone game further down the road. The Magpies can't avoid Saturday all year!
I'm not saying a record-breaking AFL game such as this should be added to Australia's anti-siphoning list. Ultimately, this was the dangerous lotto Seven played when it gave up the rights to Saturday's games on the most recent broadcast deal.
5. Something quirky I noticed
I spent last weekend up in Brisbane, covering the NRL's Magic Round -- the original, and many will argue better version of Gather Round -- for the first time. By the time I departed Queensland, I had two major takeaways about the weekend's all-in-one-place footy bonanza.
READ: Magic Round vs. Gather Round -- which is better?
First, the contrast in demographic between the two events is truly extraordinary. While those attending Gather Round are primarily families and children, Magic Round feels very much exclusively an adults-only event.
Second, Rugby League fans wear their club jumpers way more than AFL fans do. In footy, there seems to be this unspoken rule that if you're old enough to drive, it's lame to wear your club jumper outside of maybe game day. That's certainly not the case in the other code.
6. My favourite stat of the week
Geelong's Shaun Mannagh played one of the greatest quarters you're ever likely to see last Thursday evening against Brisbane.
In the third term, Mannagh had 12 disposals (the most he's ever had in a single quarter), booted three goals (again, the most of his career in a single quarter), and racked up 283 metres gained. He finished his night with the rare 30-disposal, five-goal double. Here's the exclusive list of players that have done so in the last 18 years:
