What Lessons Did We Learn From AFL Round 2?

Round 2 of the 2023 AFL season continued to keep everyone guessing with some shock results and a return to form for some powerhouses.

While new coaches seem to be succeeding without much misery, the reigning premiers, Geelong, are left licking their wounds, with the Cats' likelihood of winning the premiership dropping to 11.5%.

Here are a few things we learnt from Round 2.

READ: Is Collingwood the Best Team in the AFL?

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

It's a rare occurrence to see the lights go out in the middle of a contest, although any WWE fans would have quietly hoped for an appearance from The Undertaker.

The Lions looked superb against an undermanned Demons team, led by second-gamer Will Ashcroft, who picked up 31 disposals, nine clearances, a goal assist and a goal, to earn himself the Rising Star nomination for the round of footy.

Dayne Zorko had a stellar game in his return, finishing with 22 disposals, nine marks, four tackles, two goals and two goal assists in just 54% of game time, while the Daniher/Cameron/Bailey combination produced eight goals.

Yet once the lights went out and were turned back on, the Lions' leaky defensive fears were once again brought into play, with the Demons piling on five goals in the final 10 minutes to make Brisbane's win far more narrow than it ought to have been.

Whether the Lions did enough to convince everyone of their legitimacy in defeating a Gawn and May-less Demons remains to be seen. Our predictive model has the Lions as the eighth most likely team to win the flag at 6.1%, while the Demons sit in second place at 13.7%.

Still, a win was absolutely necessary for Brisbane after a disappointing showing in Round 1, and for two new recruits in Ashcroft and Josh Dunkley to be the dominant midfielders on the ground was a promising sign.

The Bulldogs Are in a World of Hurt

It's not an overreaction to suggest that the Bulldogs are in complete and utter strife in 2023.

They only had 37 inside 50s, had 48 less disposals and 13 less tackles than St Kilda in Saturday night's 51-point loss, not hitting the lead at any stage and looking uncompetitive for most of the contest.

Tim English continued his stellar start to the season as one of the only shining lights for the Bulldogs, finishing with 21 disposals, 26 hit-outs, eight marks, five tackles, five clearances and a goal, but he played a lone hand in keeping the Bulldogs competitive.

There were some high hopes for the team heading into the season, adding Rory Lobb and Liam Jones to the squad, while the internal midfield depth was seen as enough to cover the loss of Josh Dunkley, but the Bulldogs' chance of winning the flag has decreased significantly to just a 1.4% per our model.

The Bulldogs face a tough match-up this week against the Lions, which will go a long way to showing where both teams are at.

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

It's taken a third club for Will Setterfield to finally start to realise some of his first-round potential and he is having a big say in what the Bombers are doing to start 2023.

Finishing off the final fortnight of last season at Carlton as an inside midfielder, the 25-year-old has slotted in perfectly into Essendon's midfield as a big-bodied extractor who attacks the opposition and spreads to the outside.

Essendon is now a 40.6% chance of making the top eight, according to our AFL futures model.

Setterfield is averaging 27 disposals, eight tackles, seven marks and a goal per game through the opening fortnight has games against weakened St Kilda and GWS midfields in the next fortnight.

Will Setterfield 👊

28 disposals.
9 tackles.
5 clearances.
1 goal. pic.twitter.com/QfHIJuzBAT

— Essendon FC (@essendonfc) March 26, 2023

It's only the third time in his career that Setterfield has collected more than 20 disposals in two consecutive games in the same season, while his 10 inside 50s against the Suns were a clear career-high.

At 192 centimetres, the former Giant and Blue adds an extra layer to Essendon's midfield and although unlikely, the continuation of such good form would rate him highly in the club's best-and-fairest setting.

MORE: 2023 AFL Player Rankings

Sydney Youth Don't Believe in Grand Final Hangover

For those predicting a Swans drop-off, Sydney's 81-point win over the lowly Hawks following a big win over Gold Coast will have a few nervous.

Without stalwarts Lance Franklin and Sam Reid, breakout games to Logan McDonald (five goals) and Joel Amartey (four goals) stood out grandly as the heirs apparent to the throne. Amartey's performance stood out particularly, adding 11 disposals and nine marks in just 50% of game time.

Errol Gulden (28 disposals, seven marks) and Ollie Florent (25 disposals, four inside 50s) provided strong outside run, while Gulden also led the team for pressure acts (28), ahead of James Rowbottom (24).

The real test starts here for Sydney according to our AFL Schedule Difficulty model, with the team facing the toughest month of fixtures – they travel to play the Demons before hosting Port Adelaide before playing Richmond during Gather Round, while a trip to Geelong rounds out the litmus test.

(Photo by Brendon Thorne/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)