Amartey breaks records, but Clarko has a shocker (2024)

In Round 14 of the 2024 AFL season, Marcus Bontempelli shook off the flu (and countless Freo defenders) to have a day out, and Joel Amartey had one hell of a party, breaking records in his nine-goal performance. But one coach's decision to bench a tagger came back to haunt him. Here's whose stocks are up and down.

Our footy experts cast their eye over the week's action to find out whose stocks are up -- whether it's a coaching masterstroke or a player having a blinder -- and whose are down.

Adelaide

Stocks up: There haven't been too many positives for the Crows this season, but one aspect of their year that has been a joy to watch is the constant improvement of Mitch Hinge. The floating defender has had an excellent 2024 campaign playing as an interceptor in defence and an effective rebounder, his efforts often being let down by an at times dysfunctional forward line. Hinge had 33 disposals and eight marks against the Swans -- but for goodness sake, no giving away silly free kicks after a goal has been scored!

Stocks down: That's Adelaide's season done, everybody. They're officially three wins out of the top eight, and languishing in the bottom four with the bye this week. What does that mean? They'll be bottom four at Round 15, and while it happened to Carlton last season, this side is not good enough to pull off 10 straight wins to play in September. Such a shame for a club of which many had pretty high expectations.

Brisbane

Stocks up: There are many ways we can look for this, so honourable mentions mainly to both Hugh McCluggage and Joe Daniher, but we have to highlight Dayne Zorko and his influence off half back this season. He's in All-Australian form and, against the Saints, had 30 disposals, nine marks, nine score involvements and 755 metres gained. The Saints put the clamps on Lachie Neale, but teams can't forget about the former skipper.

Stocks down: All in all it was a solid outing for the Lions as they attempt to get their finals and premiership chances back on track, but Cam Rayner's indifferent season continued as he struggled in front of goal, with 1.3 from his four shots at goal.

Carlton

BYE

Collingwood

Stocks up: There is a reason why they get called 'Cardiac Collingwood'. The Pies are the best in the business at coming from behind to win at the last minute and it was displayed well on Sunday from a five goal fourth quarter. After a quietish first half for Nick Daicos' standards in the second half Daicos was able to break the tag, accumulating 29 disposals and 10 score involvements, steering the Pies to victory.

Stocks down: The Pies probably got lucky in this win, after a last minute miss from Zac Fisher. Top teams like Collingwood must remember to respect the opposition or else it can come to bite them. A loss today would've seen the Pies drop to the bottom eight, which is significant after the start they had this season.

Essendon

BYE

Fremantle

Stocks up: The Dockers head back to Western Australia with a loss and a missed opportunity against a fellow finals contender in losing to the Bulldogs, but Hayden Young is one player who can keep his head held high. The defender-turned-midfielder was excellent in Justin Longmuir's engine room, picking up 26 disposals, 10 inside 50s, seven clearances, six tackles, and 594 metres gained.

Stocks down: A week after several taggers played huge roles for their respective teams, the Dockers had the chance to send someone to the best player in the game. Marcus Bontempelli was incredible on Saturday afternoon, so not deploying a hard tag on him -- especially given he had the flu -- proved to be a strange call indeed.

Geelong

BYE

Gold Coast

BYE

GWS

Stocks up: After a down start to the season after bursting onto the scene as one of the recruits of the year last season, Toby Bedford may have found his position -- as a run-with player. Adam Kingsley described Bedford's job on Zak Butters and Connor Rozee as "awesome", and it's hard to disagree; he has the attributes of a good tagger, especially the tank and the hard edge. Kicking a major a cooler, too, was a great result. The swing back towards taggers continues!

Stocks down: Man, it just really isn't Toby Greene's year, is it? The champ kicked 1.5 against the Power (indicative of his side's goalkicking, in fairness) as he struggled to capitalise on decent opportunities. He can't really be blamed for one of his minors, however, as a dubious score review seemingly robbed him early in the first term.

Hawthorn

Stocks up: Well, what a time to put together your best game of the season! James Sicily led from the front on a massive occasion for not only his side, but the opposition, racking up 33 disposals, a game-high 15 marks, and 881 metres gained, completely patrolling the back half for the Hawks, whose finals chances have absolutely skyrocketed in the past two months.

Stocks down: Veterans can sometimes float in and out of games, and in and out of form, and unfortunately Jack Gunston could only manage one kick before being subbed out of the game in the third quarter... not that it hurt them on the day!

Melbourne

BYE

North Melbourne

Stocks up: Last week's win seems to be the belief North needed. The Roos booted eight goals in the first term, which is their best quarter since 2017, and although they didn't get the win, played one of their most exciting games in years. North has been missing out on influence from their main man, but Nick Larkey showed he's back, firing with nine goals in the past two weeks after a slow start to the year.

Stocks down: Despite coming so close North must remember that to get the win, four quarters of football have to be played out. Collingwood were able to overcome a 54-deficit to win the game by one point, a game in which the Kangaroos controlled for most of the day. Over the past two weeks, North Melbourne has conceded 12 final quarter goals while kicking just four themselves -- and while they got lucky last week they were burned this time around. Also, Alastair Clarkson's decision to sub off Will Phillips was a silly one, even if he was 'getting tired'. North clamped the Pies with a hard tag on Daicos, but the decision to sub Phillips off at three-quarter time and replace him with ageing, slow veteran Liam Shiels came back to haunt Clarko as Daicos began to cook.