It’s the start of a new AFL season. New teams looking to break into the top 8 while ageing sides are desperately looking to maintain their place. What Carlton, Collingwood and Hawthorn have in common, and differentiates themselves from the rest of the league, is that while they’re adjusting to new expectations, they’re also adjusting to new coaches. 

With Micheal Voss, Craig McRae and Sam Mitchell taking the reins, let’s examine the key takeaways from their newly installed tactics and what they each brought to their new sides.

RELATED: AFL 2022- The Post Round One Anxiety Index

Carlton - Coalface dominance

After 9 long years, Carlton fans had a round 1 performance to be proud of. This feeling came off the back of an outing that Blues fans haven’t enjoyed from their side in a long time. 

Despite only winning by 27 points and having to kick 7 last quarter goals to do so, the scoreline probably flattered the Tigers. Looking at key performance indicators, the Blues demolished them in almost every aspect of the game, yet it was at the contest where Voss’ impact was most felt.

The Blues dominated the clearances from start to finish, ultimately leaving the MCG with a +18 edge. This was built off Patrick Cripps returning to his best, Adam Cerra and George Hewett fitting in like a glove and with Matt Kennedy once again functioning as the unsung hero. 

They didn’t start damaging the Tigers from these clearances until the final term, where they won all 7 of the centre bounces with 2 of their 7 last quarter goals arriving directly from a centre clearance. 3 others came from stoppages around the ground. 5 of their 7 goals in the last quarter came from an area of the ground where the Blues have been so leaky in recent times. This goes to show just how much Voss has changed the Blues over the off-season, completely overhauling a midfield that's been routinely bossed around in recent years. 

The only blemish on what was a near-perfect night was Carlton’s inaccuracy. They finished the game with 14 goals and 17 behinds and an inside 50 efficiency percentage of 48%. It’s imperative that the Blues capitalise more often on their dominance if they’re to establish themselves as a genuine finals contender. 

Punters- At TopSport the Blues are now paying $2.2 to make finals for the first time in 9 years. 

Collingwood - Embracing the imperfections 

After an incredibly turbulent 12 months at Collingwood it was almost a relief for many AFL supporters to see them in the news for a good reason. 

The pies played an inconsistent Saints side on Friday night and while it wasn't the most pretty of games, they got the job done in convincing circumstances. While they don’t have the class that some teams have, and their list has been battered by injuries over the years, they found a way to win by embracing the imperfections, which was helped mightily by new coach Craig McRae’s tactics.

The former triple premiership Lion implemented a manic way of playing which while anything but slick, was full of intensity and pressure, the likes of which at times completely overwhelmed St Kilda.

The likes of Nick Daicos and other youngsters have taken to the new system very well while Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom provided that element of class and composure when they needed to stem the flow. This also allowed the Pies small forwards to make a major impact in the game with the likes of Jamie Elliot, Jack Ginnivin, Oliver Henry and Josh Daicos all having an impact at ground level and on the scoreboard. In round 1 the Pies registered 12 tackles inside 50 as well as 12 goal assists which both ranked 3rd in the league across the round.

While there is method to the madness, the Pies do need to be careful as they could be picked apart by teams well versed at playing through pressure.

Punters- Collingwood's surprise Round 1 win took their wooden spoon price out to $21 at TopSport. 

Hawthorn - Outside efficiency 

Moving from the Pies who embraced the imperfections, Hawthorn did the exact opposite. 

Just like he was as a player, Sam Mitchell’s side was clean throughout their match against North Melbourne. There were clear tactics implemented by Sam Mitchell largely pertaining to getting the ball on the outside and using the team’s spread and high disposal efficiency to dominate the uncontested ball. 

Mitchell’s Hawks didn’t give the Roos a chance when the ball was on the outside and they did well to hold up in the contest as well. This system is built off being able to use the ball well and they did exactly that, having 74.9% disposal efficiency which was the 4th highest over the course of the round. 

They had 231 uncontested possessions, the 5th most through the round, a clear indication of their measure of success. They placed heavy emphasis on this metric, as seen by the amount of influence their ‘outside’ players had. James Sicily returned to the AFL and played brilliantly off half-back, Harry Morrison and Tom Phillips both had significant control over their wings and Liam Shiels rolled back the years, performing superbly as well. Their key players all dominated on the outside and they completely out-matched the Roos in that department. 

Despite this major success on the outside, the inside battle was one-way traffic for North Melbourne. The Hawks lost the clearance battle both around the ground and in the centre, showing how there is a clear avenue for success against the Hawks. If North were slightly more efficient in their disposals, the game could’ve ended up being a completely different story. 

Punters- At TopSport, first-round Hawk Josh Ward is paying $13 to take home this year's Rising Star award.

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