Each week of the 2026 AFL season, ESPN.com.au's Jake Michaels looks at six big talking points.
This week's Six Points feature a discussion on the laughable call for an Essendon assistance package, an analysis of the coaches votes Nick Daicos has received, why taunting has no place in the game, and a wild Shaun Mannagh stat.
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1. No way should Essendon be given an AFL assistance package
At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, the Bombers have been diabolical in 2026. One win from 17 games, six 10-goal losses, a percentage of 66.6 (spooky...), a coach sacking, and anchored to the bottom of the ladder. It may hardly be sticking my neck out, but I don't reckon they win a game for the rest of the year. And yet despite it all, it's still a big fat 'no' from me when it comes to the question of whether this club deserves an AFL assistance package.
While there's no official criteria to qualify for league assistance, it's widely acknowledged that a club must have endured a prolonged down period. And while some may argue the 'days since Essendon's last finals win' memes are enough to justify the seemingly never-ending misery, let me remind you that at the just-about halfway mark of last season Essendon was 6-4 and sitting 10th on the ladder, a place that now qualifies for finals football.
The year before they were even better. At Round 12 they had a record of eight wins, one draw, and two losses and sat second on the ladder! You may have wiped it from your memory but I can assure you it most definitely happened. In what world can a team be occupying a home qualifying final spot at the halfway point of a season and then be calling for league help 25 months later? It's absolute madness.
READ: Essendon's coaching call must put the club, not egos, first
If the Bombers are so desperate for an assistance package then why did they turn down the one Hawthorn offered them last year? Sure, they would have had to have given up their best player in Zach Merrett for the three first-round draft picks that were tabled during negotiations, but what was the benefit of keeping him? Now a year older, and in the midst of arguably his worst season in a decade, the former club captain's value is only plummeting.
2. How many coaches votes has Craig McRae really given Nick Daicos?
Nick Daicos has been the player of the season. The Collingwood superstar is averaging 35 disposals and a goal a game, is the runaway favourite for the Brownlow Medal, and is on track to obliterate Dustin Martin's record for most coaches votes in a season. And yet no matter what this guy achieves there are those willing to rip him down. Some sceptics believe the only reason he's so far ahead of the pack in the race for the coaches award is because his coach Craig McRae has handed him votes just for pulling on his boots. Of course, it's a laughable opinion and I'm here to debunk it.
Daicos has played 16 games this season and he's featured in the coaches votes a staggering 15 times. After Round 18 he sits on 106 votes, 18 clear of Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli in second place.
On seven occasions (Rounds 0, 3, 6, 7, 11, 16, 17) both McRae and the opposition's coach awarded him with the exact same amount of votes. This is indisputable and these votes alone tally 68 -- the same amount Port Adelaide star Zak Butters has for the year.
Now let's play the role of the ultimate McRae sceptic and work out the most votes he could have awarded his star man.
In Round 15, Daicos and teammate Jordan De Goey both received nine votes. That means both players had to have received a five and a four. It's possible McRae gave Daicos an 'extra' one there. On two occasions (Rounds 5 and 13) Daicos received six votes. Given the other votes for these games, neither could have been a 5-1 split, instead had to have been either a 3-3 or 4-2. For argument's sake, let's say McRae gave the fours both times. That's four more 'extra' votes to Daicos. In Round 10 he received five votes and we know this one could only have been a 3-2 allocation. The most amount of 'extra' votes Daicos could have received from McRae for these three games is just six.
We're now left with Rounds 1, 8, 12, and 18. In Round 1 he received four votes. It's likely to have been a 2-2 split but technically it is possible McRae gave him four and the opposition coach zero. Round 8 was two votes and this had to be a two from one and a zero from the other, not a 1-1 split. Rounds 12 and 18 he had three votes and both times it had to have been a 3-0 split, not a 2-1. The most amount of extra votes for these games is 12.
What does this mean? Even the greatest Daicos critic has to look at these votes and concede the idea he's leading the coaches award simply because of McRae is flatly moronic. The voting tells us that McRae could have only awarded Daicos 18 more votes than the opposition coach. Take those 18 votes away and he's ... still in first place (jointly, with Marcus Bontempelli). And that's before we've done the same exercise with every other player.
Of course, whose to say the 'extra' votes didn't come from the opposition coach? For Daicos haters it's convenient to assume McRae was responsible for them, but nobody can definitely say they didn't come from the opposition coach. Perhaps his own coach has shunned him and he should be further in front!
3. Head rubbing and taunting should always result in free kicks
The AFL's crackdown on taunting was on full display Thursday evening during the Fremantle-Sydney clash at Optus Stadium. On two occasions, players were penalised for rubbing an opponent's head, leaving commentary teams furious and wondering what on earth has happened to the game.
I'm here to tell you these unnecessary, silly actions should be free kicks. Every. Single. Time. Swans coach Dean Cox agrees with me, too.
"You've got to adhere to it and be disciplined in the moment," Cox said after his side's loss to the Dockers. "Don't let frustration change the outcome of what you should be doing. You should be focusing on what you can do next, not on trying to rub it in a little bit."
Firstly, taunting has been in the rulebook since Round 3, following Patrick Voss' hair-ruffling of Harrison Petty, which was followed by a 'cry-baby' gesture. It's not up to the umpires to educate these players on what is and isn't allowed on the footy field; they're just there to police the rules.
Secondly, shouldn't any touch of the head immediately be a free kick anyway? After all, it's high contact, no? Contrary to what some may think, a 'high tackle' isn't the free kick, rather 'high contact'.
Lastly, why would we want this in the game? It's not a case of being 'soft', but taunting has no place in any sport.
4. Every potential wildcard team's run home difficulty ranked
This week on the ESPN Footy Podcast we analysed the run home of each of the nine (yes, NINE!) teams in the race for a finals wildcard spot. These are the teams currently sitting seventh to 15th on the ladder.
Champion Data has run the numbers to determine which teams have the easiest and hardest final six weeks of the home-and-away season. Here are the results:
5. Something quirky I noticed
On Sunday afternoon Brisbane beat Essendon by 90 points at the Gabba. But did you notice that the player with the highest score for the game was on the losing side?
Bombers forward Peter Wright kicked 3.4 (22), a greater scoring total than anyone else on the ground. That's just the sixth time since 2000, and first since 2018, that a team that's lost by at least a 15-goal margin has also had the player with the highest score on the ground.
6. My favourite stat of the week
For the second time this season Geelong's Shaun Mannagh finished a game with at least 30 disposals and four goals. Just five other players since 1999 have hit those numbers twice in a season. Here's the full list:
SHAUN MANNAGH (2026)
STEVE JOHNSON (2011)
GARY ABLETT (2010 & 2013)
BEN COUSINS (2005)
ANTHONY KOUTOUFIDES (2000)
PETER BELL (1999)