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Sport Nation
What Achilles heel?: The six things we learnt during Gather Round
Jaiden Sciberras • April 13th, 2025 7:50 pm
Gather Round has come and gone, with the festival of football perfectly encapsulating everything we love about the world's greatest game.
From the beautiful surrounds of South Australia, highlighted by the smashing debut of the Barossa and the coming together of football fans from far and wide, Round 5 was a showcase of football beyond the painted grass.
With that being said, we've kept our focus on the grass, collating six things that we learnt from this year's Gather Round action.
Gather Round belongs in South Australia
When it comes to celebrating our great sport, none do it better than South Australia.
With the third instalment of Gather Round wrapping up, Adelaide and its surrounds have once again delivered one of the great weekends on the AFL calendar.
Headed by SA Premier Peter Malinauskas, the state is looking to extend its rights to host the event, with the likes of Tasmania and Western Australia looking to nick an agreement.
As the deal with the state approaches its expiration in 2026, it’s fair to say that South Australia should remain the home of Gather Round for the foreseeable future.
From the challenge of the skinny Norwood Oval to the beauty of the debuting Barossa Park and the rich history of the Adelaide Oval, the state’s wonderful offering hosts with perfection.
With a deep football history and culture, strong fixturing, and the state’s location making for easy access to all across the country, South Australia has built a festival of football like no other.
Sign the contract.
Some players are simply ageless…
More often than not, the stars of our game begin to slow down with time, easing into a lesser on-field role while playing a major role as a leader behind the scenes.
That’s not the case for Patrick Dangerfield.
At 35 years of age, Danger returned to his old stomping ground and anchored his Geelong side to a scalp against one of the in-form sides of the competition in Adelaide.
The former Brownlow Medallist collected 16 disposals and booted four goals, including two in the final term to put the nail in the coffin on the Cats’ 19-point come-from-behind win over the Crows.
Since his move up forward, Danger has kicked multiple goals in all but one game this season, amassing 11 goals thus far to go with an average of 16 touches, three clearances and seven score involvements.
For reference, Danger is the fourth oldest player to take to the field in 2025, operating amongst an elite crop of ageless stars in Scott Pendlebury, Travis Boak, Dayne Zorko and Callan Ward.
Forget the young guys, the uncles of the competition have plenty left in the tank.
Nick Daicos has overcome his Achilles heel
With Collingwood set for a challenge against the Sydney Swans, star Pie Nick Daicos was tasked with his biggest challenge of the season thus far.
The 22-year-old has been heavily criticised in the past for his inability to overcome the tag. Falling victim to the likes of Finn Maginness, Toby Bedford and James Jordan, it seemed as though the star was in for a long day when Jordan once again lined up beside Daicos at the first bounce.
For reference, James Jordan has taken some severe scalps across the season - holding Fremantle’s Caleb Serong to just 19 touches and Brisbane’s Lachie Neale to just 10 – however Daicos proved a different challenge.
In a top-shelf showing, Daicos mounted a whopping 34 disposals, nine tackles and nine clearances at strong efficiency as the Pies claimed a five-goal win over last season’s grand finalists.
Instrumental in the win, this contest marks Daicos' most dominant showing under the heavy tag.
If the young gun can continue to thrive even while copping severe attention, there might genuinely be no plausible way to halt Nick Daicos.
No Joe, no worries!
When Joe Daniher called time on his illustrious career following the Lions’ triumphant Grand Final victory in 2024, a notable gap formed within Chris Fagan’s forward half army.
Down their number one forward option who was instrumental in Brisbane’s September run, it was hard to picture just how the Lions forward line would take shape in their title defence.
Now at five wins from five, Fagan’s men have silenced any doubters, proving week in and week out that Brisbane remain the team to beat in 2025.
After the Western Bulldogs blew out to a five-goal lead at half time, the Lions kicked a ridiculous 14 goals in the second half to nail a come-from-behind victory for the fourth time in five games.
With Eric Hipwood, Logan Morris and Zac Bailey combining for 12 goals in the contest, the Lions became just the second side behind the Crows to have three or more players with double digit goals on the season.
Further adding to their phenomenal start, the Lions’ 14 goal-per-game average exceeds their average of 13 a game from their premiership season.
The challenge that Fagan faced entering the year has proved to be a strength. Consider these first five games a warning for what could certainly be the second coming of a historical Lions dynasty.
The Big Cohuna is every chance at some serious neckwear
When we think about the best goal kickers in the AFL, a handful of household names typically come to mind.
Jeremy Cameron, Charlie Curnow, Jesse Hogan, Nick Larkey and Ben King often lead all comers, with the Crows three-headed monster and the unicorn in Sam Darcy emerging as the major storylines in 2025.
It’s about time that Josh Treacy is mentioned in the same vein.
Fremantle patched their slow start to the season, claiming a 61-point domination over the Tigers to mark three wins on the trot. Headlining their victory, Treacy kicked a bag of six to propel himself to 17 majors on the season.
After booting 45 goals last season, the 22-year-old has taken his game to another level, averaging over three goals a game at nearly 70 per cent accuracy to find himself level with King at the top of the Coleman Medal race.
Yes, his bag of six did come against the lowly Tigers, but keep in mind the record of Curnow and Hogan against bottom end sides often proves the difference come the season’s end.
Besides, Treacy’s bag of four against the Swans and three against the Dogs would suggest his game has every factor required to take home the coveted medal.
With sticky mitts, a consistent action and an eagerness to compete, keep watch of the emerging star.
It’s a big week for the Demons
Melbourne have found themselves in a real hole.
Winless through five games in 2025, scoring at a rate only bettering the Eagles, the Demons appear to be running out of ideas.
While the Demons managed to dominate the clearance battle in their clash with Essendon, resulting in +8 in the inside 50 count, a measly 59 points left Melbourne well short as they fell by 39 points at Adelaide Oval.
Where to next for the Demons?
Great question. Both David Schwarz and Mark Bickley believe that the issues run far deeper than the on-field struggles, claiming that the club may need to start asking serious questions of the playing group.
Do the players have what it takes to return the club to its former competitive glory? The midfield group had their best game this year, however there is a major disconnection between the midfield and their incredibly underwhelming forward line.
With the club's leaders putting in underwhelming performances, and the young core not providing the depth required to compete, things will need to change fast if Melbourne want any hope of bringing further success in the near future.
Home contests against Fremantle and Richmond followed West Coast at Optus Stadium seems like a relatively favourable set of fixtures, yet the burden of a winless start could weigh heavily on the minds of all at the club.
Zero and five is disastrous. Zero and six is worse. All eyes on Melbourne.
