The Big issue in our game today is the lack of protection for the midfielders against the ever annoying taggers. Round 6 2008 saw perfect examples of the kind of tactics of these players whose sole mission is to hinder the quality midfielders impact on the game.
Daniel Kerr and Scott West are continuously being held at contests
The question is, is what these taggers are actually doing to the likes of Garry Ablett and Daniel Kerr actually legal or does it cross the line?
On Friday night at Subiaco, Ryan Crowley hung off Gary Ablett like a bad odor. Anywhere that Ablett went, Crowley was right there with. But, many commentators and experts admitted that Crowley stopped Ablett illegally.
In junior footy, the coaches ALWAYS tell defenders you are supposed to stand either shoulder to shoulder to him, or just in front, keeping one hand placed on the Forward at all times to maintain touch. Now that tactic could and is also applied to the position of tagging. The problem seems to be, that now defenders and taggers alike have taken that too far and are now placing one arm around their opposing player.
If the umpire sees this is in the forward line, nine times out of ten, the forward is paid the free kick. Yet so many times the exact same thing is let go in the midfield. Why? Do forwards and midfielders have a different set of rules? Well they don’t, and they shouldn’t but for some reason they do. And the blame there falls to the umpire.
The biggest concern about these taggers is the impact they’re having on the midfielders. On Saturday night Daniel Kerr was being close checked by Bulldog Mathew Boyd. At the first centre bounce Kerr was put to the ground, and no free kick was forthcoming. Kerr received a lot of attention from Boyd in particular but other Bulldogs often lent a hand to frustrate and nullify the midfielder’s impact on the scoreboard. And then the famous incident that saw Kerr face up to the tribunal and accept a 3 week suspension for head-butting Scott West behind play. Garry Ablett was also very frustrated on Friday night and got into a few push and shoves with various Docker’s.
Gary Ablett and Adam Goodes are another two players who get unfair treatment
The question I ask, is this close checking, tight tagging style these taggers play, affecting our quality midfielders mentally and causing them to snap? Based on the weekend you would have to answer yes. Kerr was obviously frustrated and seemingly took his anger out on Scott West. The question also raises the point that maybe, just maybe (although the action taken was completely unnecessary), the Hall-Staker king hit was a result of the opposition constantly pestering the player they’re meant to stop.
It is quite possibly dangerous that we allow these taggers to continue considering that the tagged are obviously reacting in the worst possible way.
But all that brings me to this next point. As long as I can remember, tagging has been a part of our game and only now does it seem to come under the spotlight. Is this a result of the frenetic pace of the modern game? Or just because all of a sudden more people are finally accepting that illegal tagging is evident in our game?
So after considering the facts and consequences, Should this tagging be closely watched and policed and eventually be rubbed out? Or is it the midfielders/forwards responsibility to handle the attention and still play and focus on the game?
Personally I think it should be monitored and policed by the extra umpire that is on the field for that exact reason. Taggers are, and should be allowed to maintain touch on their opponent, but forcefully holding their player back is against the rules and they should be penalized. But, umpires need to sit down and work out exactly what they would pay a free kick for. So many times we see soft free kicks for holding and it frustrates players and fans alike.
So police the holding rule, keep an eye on the taggers, BE CONSISTENT! It’s all we want really. For those decisions, free kicks and umpires to be consistent. Do these three things and I think the tagging debate is finally solved.
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April 30th, 2008 at 11:18 am
I have a theory…
Tagging, holding and other indescribable methods have always been used and they tried bringing in extra umpires to stop it but obviously it has NOT worked.
The problem I see is not the umpires but rather the team mates and how soft the game has become. Team mates should block and do the same to the taggers as what they do to the elite midfidlers, it is a team sport after all.
Also instead of targeting the people who react, what about targeting the people who started the problem.
Jermayns last blog post..Smart People
April 30th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Taggers have been apart of our game for a long long. Yes there are somethimes that they go over the top but I reckon it will only take a couple of free kicks to change their tactics during the game. If Boyd had a couple of free kicks given against him I doubt he would have continued the way he did.
Defenders / Taggers need to be able to defend in some way though. The way the forwards are looked after at the moment is bordering on ridiculous. I would love to be a forward in today’s game!
andos last blog post..Extra Man Costs Sydney Swans $$$
April 30th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Free kicks could be one answer but do you think we get enough free kicks already?
Jermayns last blog post..Smart People
April 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Good article. I think the players/teams need to take it upon themselves to really make taggers stop harassing them.
I think AFL players are too busy worrying about their own game and not looking to do the team thing these days. They would rather rack 30 meaningless possessions than actually do the 1%ers.
There are things like blocking and a good ol fashion shirt front that others players from the same team can do to discourage the tagger. And they are within the rules.
I have personally seen this work to great affect in a footy game. There is nothing better than seeing a ‘tagger’ have to second think his actions or watch his back, so to speak. If he is worried about himself rather than the player he is on, you know you have done a job.