There have been recent claims that Trent Cotchin was “bear-hugged to death” by Taylor Hunt, while Gary Ablett made his opinions clear on Ryan Crowley’s treatment of Chris Judd via Twitter.
Even our own Andrew Raines has been in the headlines for an off-the-ball incident involving Joel Selwood a couple of weeks ago which cost him a one-match suspension.
My take on the matter is that the role of a tagger is an unpopular, but important one, and every team employs that tactic if they truly believe it can help win them a game.
Blacky would know this better than anyone. In fact, there wouldn’t be too many matches throughout his 301-game career that he hasn’t had someone from the opposition pestering him during a game. The poor guy even cops a bit from Rainesy at training on occasion.
In fairness, I’m not a midfielder so can’t really relate to the type of treatment those guys receive. But as a defender, I know that our primary role is to shut-down opposition forwards by any means within the rules.
If we impede the marking contest (like chopping the arms) or are considered to be holding onto another player, a free-kick is payed and they get a shot on goal. You might not necessarily agree with the umpire’s decision 100% of the time, but it certainly makes you reassess your actions at the next contest.
The same goes with taggers in the midfield. If they over-step the boundaries by blocking illegally or holding off-the-ball, then the umpires will penalise them for it. Otherwise, if it’s within the rules, then it’s fair game.
Before copping a week from the Match Review Panel, Rainesy had been very valuable for us in that run-with role. He did a really good job on Ablett in Round 4, and even though the Brownlow Medallist still racked up more than 30 touches, his influence wasn’t as great as it had been in previous weeks. Then he held Selwood to just 18 touches the following week.
He is one of those guys that can really get under the opposition’s skin, and has the ability to run hard and match them physically. Rainesy might have gotten a little bit carried away in the Geelong game, but he copped his penalty and is now available for selection again this week.
It’s probably no coincidence that in his absence last week, the Bombers had plenty of ball-winners - including four blokes who racked up more than 30 possessions.
The trouble with Collingwood is that they have so many damaging players that you can’t tag them all, but the likes of Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan and Dale Thomas are usually the main targets.
They actually have stars in every area across the entire field, including one of the best forwards in the competition - Travis Cloke - which means my fellow backmen and I will also have our hands full.
