Antares
Club Legend
- Jun 19, 2017
- 1,313
- 1,545
- AFL Club
- Western Bulldogs
- Banned
- #1
And do you think having one is mandatory to win a flag?
For a long while now, most clubs utilized a minimum of two tall defenders to fill the full-back and centre-half back positions on the team sheet, forming the back end of the spine. Then you might have guys like Tom Harley or Nick Maxwell as the third man up role, usually roaming the defence and attempting to spoil as the third man.
In recent years however, fast, strong, contested marking defenders, capable of generating drive out of defence, seem to have become very important in premiership-winning teams. This year, Jeremy McGovern made a huge difference for West Coast all year with his ability to take big intercept marks, and the big contract West Coast gave him further confirms his importance to their team.
The previous year we had Alex Rance at Richmond, who's had 5 All-Australians in a row, and is by far their most important pillar in defence.
In 2016, the Bulldogs had Easton Wood, who while not as tall as the aforementioned two, still easily took as many contested marks. He dropped off a bit since the Dogs won the flag, but him becoming an elite intercept defender in 2015 is one of the biggest reasons the Bulldogs went from a rabble in 2014 to 6th in 2015.
In Hawthorn's three-peat team from 2013-2015, they had Brian Lake, who arguably revolutionized the role back when he was playing for the Bulldogs, topping the AFL's contested mark stats from defence. Sure enough, the moment the Hawks pushed him out after 2015, they stopped winning Premierships. I know Stratton does a pretty decent job in this role, but his strength was always as more of a pure stopper.
Then you see players like Jake Lever traded to Melbourne for two first rounders, and guys like Harris Andrews, Aaron Naughton, Tom Barrass, Nick Haynes among others very highly rated and valued internally by their respective clubs.
Is it now time we start separating the traditional "Key-Position Defender" role from an actual intercepting defender? The general perception of a 'KPD' is a tall, 192-196cm player who plays on the Key-Position Forward, but as we've seen with Easton Wood, there's no height requirement to be a gun interceptor.
For a long while now, most clubs utilized a minimum of two tall defenders to fill the full-back and centre-half back positions on the team sheet, forming the back end of the spine. Then you might have guys like Tom Harley or Nick Maxwell as the third man up role, usually roaming the defence and attempting to spoil as the third man.
In recent years however, fast, strong, contested marking defenders, capable of generating drive out of defence, seem to have become very important in premiership-winning teams. This year, Jeremy McGovern made a huge difference for West Coast all year with his ability to take big intercept marks, and the big contract West Coast gave him further confirms his importance to their team.
The previous year we had Alex Rance at Richmond, who's had 5 All-Australians in a row, and is by far their most important pillar in defence.
In 2016, the Bulldogs had Easton Wood, who while not as tall as the aforementioned two, still easily took as many contested marks. He dropped off a bit since the Dogs won the flag, but him becoming an elite intercept defender in 2015 is one of the biggest reasons the Bulldogs went from a rabble in 2014 to 6th in 2015.
In Hawthorn's three-peat team from 2013-2015, they had Brian Lake, who arguably revolutionized the role back when he was playing for the Bulldogs, topping the AFL's contested mark stats from defence. Sure enough, the moment the Hawks pushed him out after 2015, they stopped winning Premierships. I know Stratton does a pretty decent job in this role, but his strength was always as more of a pure stopper.
Then you see players like Jake Lever traded to Melbourne for two first rounders, and guys like Harris Andrews, Aaron Naughton, Tom Barrass, Nick Haynes among others very highly rated and valued internally by their respective clubs.
Is it now time we start separating the traditional "Key-Position Defender" role from an actual intercepting defender? The general perception of a 'KPD' is a tall, 192-196cm player who plays on the Key-Position Forward, but as we've seen with Easton Wood, there's no height requirement to be a gun interceptor.
