Tarrant as a defender/tactical forward

[PremierPie13]

Tarrant is first and foremost a defender for us, I understand this. But wouldn't having the ability to swing both him and a resting ruck forward be a very strong tactic if we decide to bring Nathan Brown into the Full-Back role?
His ability to play on smalls and talls has been discussed and is very convenient in terms of how flexible we can be on matchday. It is a simple tactic but could give our opposition headaches as he is a 4 time leading goalkicker for Collingwood and certainly showed against Adelaide this year he can have an impact at crucial points in matches. Pair him with Jolly, Dawes and Cloke while Wood is rucking and it could get us an easy goal or 2 per game ala Leigh Brown in the last 2 years.

 

[Ed D]

He played forward a couple of times but being our best defender over the season it'd almost be a waste to do it too often, especially if he's playing on the most damaging forward of the opposition.

Don't forget when he was our leading goal kicker he wasn't kicking that many goals, usually under 40 for the season.

 

[mattys123]

If we have Nathan Brown, Reid and Tarrant in the same side, there will be some games where one or more of those players won't have a real matchup, so then we will use one of them up forward.

So yes, Taz may be used up forward, but I'd say it might even be less then Brown or Reid, mainly due to the wear and tear on the older body in playing in multiple positions (see Brian Lake, Roughead etc).

 

[lgarth80]

Once in a while just for mental stress relief, I reckon it's a great idea to play backs forward, and even forwards back.

It would be good to test out how we would perform without Cloke by putting the big fella to CHB for a quarter, and giving another player the role.

That's what I thought Mick Malthouse's Legion stuff was all about. One player out and you can rotate and replace him.

Never saw much of this to be honest. A true Legion would have that ability to cover serious losses.

Tarrant I don't think enjoyed any game this year as much as the Adelaide game, yet after it worked then, we only gave him a small section of the infamous R24 game up forward. I think we could have done some better swapping of positions during the non-event matches or quarters of games.

It pays to be prepared.

It also pays for our players to have good knowledge of our team's running patterns for each position on the ground, so that if they are thrown around, it's not as though they have to learn again.

I'm not against having a forwards coach or a defense coach, and making strong "teams-within-a-team", but I do think that on occasions seeing "how the other half live" can really bond a team.

 

[Jelly Bean]

Once in a while just for mental stress relief, I reckon it's a great idea to play backs forward, and even forwards back.

It would be good to test out how we would perform without Cloke by putting the big fella to CHB for a quarter, and giving another player the role.

That's what I thought Mick Malthouse's Legion stuff was all about. One player out and you can rotate and replace him.

Never saw much of this to be honest. A true Legion would have that ability to cover serious losses.

Tarrant I don't think enjoyed any game this year as much as the Adelaide game, yet after it worked then, we only gave him a small section of the infamous R24 game up forward. I think we could have done some better swapping of positions during the non-event matches or quarters of games.

It pays to be prepared.

It also pays for our players to have good knowledge of our team's running patterns for each position on the ground, so that if they are thrown around, it's not as though they have to learn again.

I'm not against having a forwards coach or a defense coach, and making strong "teams-within-a-team", but I do think that on occasions seeing "how the other half live" can really bond a team.

I definitely wa expecting to see more of Tarrant forward than I did, particularly having a forward line with Cloke and Dawes, although I guess Brown's knee injury prevented this from happening.

Hopefully next year with Brown back, we can see Tarrant play more time forward and form a formidable trio of running, marking tall forwards.