A tagger- Who should it be?

[davey_magik]

I think this is one thing our midfield desperately needs. Our in-and-under stocks are improving and are only young, but we lack a good tagger. Who do you think we should use as our main run-with player on the Judds, Akermanis' and Dal Santo's of the comp?
Personally I would like to see Bell have a go. He is very quick and very strong and would be a good learning experience for him.

 

[rick James]

Bruce is our best tagger.

Brock is an excellent tackler.

Out of the 3 mentioned I'd say Bell and Junior is one of our only true in and under types.

 

[F/D]

Bell - With the running types
Bruce - For the Goodes/Kouta/Taller player types

 

[davey_magik]

Bell - With the running types
Bruce - For the Goodes/Kouta/Taller player types

Sorry about not putting Bruce in as I knew I had forgotten something.
rJ, your post about Brock being a midfield predator was spot on. He can play in and under but is also a great tackler and never stops running. I would prefer him being offensive rather than tagging.
Bruce is also a very good player offensively and only really tags against Essendon (Hird), Sydney (Goodes) and perhaps one or two other sides but is predominantly an offensive player.

 

[Deestroy]

Bell - With the running types
Bruce - For the Goodes/Kouta/Taller player types

Agree with F/D.

Bell is quick, strong and fearless. At the moment his biggest problem is decision making when he has the ball, so I say teach him to be quick with his use of the ball by following around the best players in the AFL and seeing how they do it.

Bruce will get the jobs on the taller types as always, and we need him back in the form he had early last year.

 

[oooze]

I dont think any talented player should be given the job of tagging. Its a waste of talent. Tagging is the easiest job in the afl and any hack, including myself, should be able to keep a Judd or akermanis to under 15 possessions for the match. It is a very over-rated task.

 

[Vandal]

Does anyone think Read would make much of a tagger? Im not sure bout his speed but he could sure get under the opposition player's skin.

 

[Bartram_Class]

Out of those 3, Godfrey would be my choice but hes not good enough to be in the team, as much as i would like that to happen.

Bell should be given more game-time next year to develop but it would be a waste of the talent he has if he is there purely to tag.

 

[davey_magik]

Out of those 3, Godfrey would be my choice but hes not good enough to be in the team, as much as i would like that to happen.

Bell should be given more game-time next year to develop but it would be a waste of the talent he has if he is there purely to tag.

I wouldn't use him as a tagger for his whole career, but to let him do it for a year or two would help him learn from the best in the business.
Whelan has been thrown up at times but he's better taking the best opposition small forward and provides good run. Once our midfield learns some accountability and hardness we won't need to tag because along with that we will kill other midfields going both ways (Well I hope we can ).

 

[F/D]

I dont think any talented player should be given the job of tagging. Its a waste of talent. Tagging is the easiest job in the afl and any hack, including myself, should be able to keep a Judd or akermanis to under 15 possessions for the match. It is a very over-rated task.

It takes concetration and a very very fit bloke to tag. Its not as easy as you think. You also need to think one step before your opponent.

 

[rick James]

Bruce learnt the midfield ropes as a tagger, people forget that. Bell isn't 'over skilled' for tagging.

 

[rick James]

Sorry about not putting Bruce in as I knew I had forgotten something.
rJ, your post about Brock being a midfield predator was spot on. He can play in and under but is also a great tackler and never stops running. I would prefer him being offensive rather than tagging.
Bruce is also a very good player offensively and only really tags against Essendon (Hird), Sydney (Goodes) and perhaps one or two other sides but is predominantly an offensive player.

yeah mate I agree about Brocky, he's already known as being potentially damaging, not just by our own fans either - he isn't 'learning the ropes' like so many other young players are.

one thing that has really impressed me about Sylvia and Brock is both are genuine footballers - no Andrew Walker style 'learning the game' period where they find their feet - they already know what to do, they just need to make sure we don't push them too hard and risk injury.

 

[mighty magpie 05]

Neville

 

[The Shev]

Nicholson.

 

[melbournemartin]

lets groom Bell into a tagger. may aswell

 

[Bartram_Class]

Yze, might as well, he needs to discover what accountabiltity is.

 

[Marns]

Yze, might as well, he needs to discover what accountabiltity is.

Nah Yze cant, too soft. Hasn't got the genitals to play physical football.

And besides, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

 

[Bartram_Class]

Nah Yze cant, too soft. Hasn't got the genitals to play physical football.

And besides, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

New Tricks? How hard is it to stay on your man, surely its not that hard.

 

[Marns]

New Tricks? How hard is it to stay on your man, surely its not that hard.

We're talking about Yze here...

 

[Bartram_Class]

We're talking about Yze here...

I always find it amusing when they say Yze is great at running off his man, surely they realise hes never on his man in the first place?

 

[Marns]

I always find it amusing when they say Yze is great at running off his man, surely they realise hes never on his man in the first place?

I think they mean that he's being tagged and he's breaking away from it.

 

[Bartram_Class]

I think they mean that he's being tagged and he's breaking away from it.

I'm talking about when hes in the backline.

 

[Marns]

OK, i think I got ya now

 

[Unleash Hell]

lets groom Bell into a tagger. may aswell

Belly is too quick, versitily and skillful to be a tagger. More a play maker.

 

[Deestroy]

Belly is too quick, versitily and skillful to be a tagger. More a play maker.

I don't know, I've seen enough potential in him being a good defender/midfielder of the future but not so much right now.

At the moment he tries to take on everyone and doesn't seem to have much peripheral vision. If his focus is on shutting down another player using his biggest strengths (pace and tackling) I think the other parts could fall into place.

Many good midfielders have started out as taggers (Bruce, K.Cornes as 2 examples).