The Aaron Davey...problem

[Timmuns 16]

I miss the days of Davey tearing it up in the forward line... never was a fan of him as a midfielder (even though he's probably our most accurate kick)

having said that, we probably have enough players of that mould to fill those positions anyway (e.g. Jetta, Bennell, Jurrah, Wonna, Maric...) but it'd be great to see him kicking goals

... and doing this more often:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xeh4Ws0ugs

Edited April 12, 2011 by Timmuns

[Tony Tea 2,809]

The key to beating a tag is to run to the ball. Aaron (and Travis before him) runs to space. That is not the way to beat a tag. Taggers can block your lanes, scrag you and get between you and the ball, which makes getting the ball awkward. The good players who beat tags go to the ball. The closer you get to the footy, the harder it is for a player to legally impede your progress and it is easier for your teammates to run interference. Aaron's also slight, which means that if a bloke has similar pace, similar fitness and is stronger, he will beat Aaron one-on-one through strength alone. The guys who beat tags (Judd, Cousins, Diesel, Black, Ablett, Mitchell, etc) fight their way to the ball, grab the agate, then get the ball away. They also have protection (blocking, etc) from their teammates as well as other teammates to often take the tag. They are also in perpetual motion; they are not necessarily quick, they just keep moving. And they desperately want to get at the footy no matter the attention. You can't let a tagger get up your sneezer.

[... 11]

I agree with the many contributors here who want to see AD back in the forward line.

AD was originally taken out of the forward line and put in the middle for two reasons - we weren't getting run out of the midfield, and we didn't have anyone who could deliver the ball as well as him.

Times have changed... a lot.

Bail, Grimes, Bennell, Morton, Scully and co can all run and carry. Trenners, Gysberts and Tapscott can all kick.

Time to put AD back in the forward line. A brilliant crumbing forward who used to put amazing pressure on opposition backmen trying to clear our forward line. I know he still exists. We just need to remember what he was good at and let him do it.

We can always swing him back into the midfield for bursts - that way he won't attract the heavy tag.

[... 11]

The key to beating a tag is to run to the ball. Aaron (and Travis before him) runs to space. That is not the way to beat a tag. Taggers can block your lanes, scrag you and get between you and the ball, which makes getting the ball awkward. The good players who beat tags go to the ball. The closer you get to the footy, the harder it is for a player to legally impede your progress and it is easier for your teammates to run interference. Aaron's also slight, which means that if a bloke has similar pace, similar fitness and is stronger, he will beat Aaron one-on-one through strength alone. The guys who beat tags (Judd, Cousins, Diesel, Black, Ablett, Mitchell, etc) fight their way to the ball, grab the agate, then get the ball away. They also have protection (blocking, etc) from their teammates as well as other teammates to often take the tag. They are also in perpetual motion; they are not necessarily quick, they just keep moving. And they desperately want to get at the footy no matter the attention. You can't let a tagger get up your sneezer.

Agree with that. Point is, as you say, that to beat a tagger you need to be ferocious towards the inside footy. AD is not built for that, and his skill set lies in his pace and forward pressure.

Your point validates that AD should be deep in the forward line. Trengove, Scully, Moloney, Sylvia etc will be our tagged inside mids.

[Robbie57 2,022]

He's always tagged, often plays well, when he doesn't play well people say he can't handle a tag.

As for Sunday, If that was Judd copping that treatment or any star on a Friday night game, there'd have been about 8 frees for and 3 thrown out reports. It was a disgrace.

And good on Liam for running 40 meters to show Aaron some support after he was belted 100m off the ball.

Perhaps Beamer and Sylvia should take note.

I have to agree what was done to him was disgraceful and the umpires sat idly by.

Its a matter of support.

Like the shepherding near the mark that is now in vogue, we need to work as a team to get him loose because when he is loose he is devastating.

[BAMF 4,361]

Drop a player that is so damaging that the opposition tags him first..?

Great idea.

[/sarcasm]

+1

I would go so far as putting that stupid star trek face palm picture in.

Hopefully its the stupidest thing I read on here this week.

Bailey is leaving him in the middle to try and teach him to break a hard tag.

Its a development year.

[45HG 1,558]

Two things come to mind.

Move him to the forwardline if he's beig tagged.

Get him to tag a damaging opposition player to make a 2 on 1 our way.

[drdrake 3,180]

What Forward line, unless we get a clearance or controlling the football inside our 50m arc our forwards are pushing up the ground. I agree playing him deep forward is ideal to beat his tag but until we can get our supply to our forwards up he is wasted there. The other option is off half back at least if they tag him it is one less forward we have to defend. Ideally if Davey gets a heavy tag you want a Sylvia to dominate so the tag goes to him. Col is harder to tag because he is so good at marking overhead.

[Allen Jakovich 516]

If he's getting smashed by a tag, you have to mix it up.

Play him from the goal square, clear it out so he's one on one with the tagger, play Jurrah, Aussie and Watts from the 50 arc and put Dunn on the ball.

He'll dominate and create a heap of scoring opportunites.

They'll then be forced to switch a small defender onto him, creating opportunities for Wonna, Bennel, etc.

Obviously if we're pushing up into their forward 50 everyone's going to be further from goal, but equally as dangerous as he has the toe to beat his man running back to goal.

Edited April 12, 2011 by Allen Jakovich

[DeeSpencer 25,767]

He's always tagged, often plays well, when he doesn't play well people say he can't handle a tag.

As for Sunday, he was cheated out of the game pure and simple. If that was Judd copping that treatment or any star on a Friday night game, there'd have been about 8 frees for and 3 thrown out reports. It was a disgrace.

And good on Liam for running 40 meters to show Aaron some support after he was belted 100m off the ball.

Perhaps Beamer and Sylvia should take note.

And Aaron, hunt your own ball more.

Agree with this. It was nice to see Jurrah getting a bit physical. Wasn't a bad hit either for a skinny bloke.

There was another moment when Grimes went over when Raines was applying his [censored] and we got a free/50.

I thought Davey did hunt his ball a bit in the second quarter and made a bit of a difference. The problem is he's not the guy you want to be winning his own ball. It reminds me of Judd at Carlton. He's still a gun player but a lot of his game is now restricted to inside due to not having the players around him. If he doesn't win the inside ball he wouldn't be a star outside player like he was at West Coast.

The thing we need is more dangerous players. It's like saying Riewoldt is crap in grand finals so needs to be played at CHB when really what he needs is some other forward targets. If we get Scully back, Morton racking them up and hurting teams on a wing, Blease in the team and playing well and Sylvia finding more of the footy then all of a sudden I bet Davey will be getting 20+ with a tag or 25 without.

[Rogue 585]

I would think Bail will get that job.

I agree. Bail to Ablett, unless we want to teach Gys by having him follow him around.

[jnrmac 20,109]

The key to beating a tag is to run to the ball. Aaron (and Travis before him) runs to space. That is not the way to beat a tag. Taggers can block your lanes, scrag you and get between you and the ball, which makes getting the ball awkward. The good players who beat tags go to the ball. The closer you get to the footy, the harder it is for a player to legally impede your progress and it is easier for your teammates to run interference. Aaron's also slight, which means that if a bloke has similar pace, similar fitness and is stronger, he will beat Aaron one-on-one through strength alone. The guys who beat tags (Judd, Cousins, Diesel, Black, Ablett, Mitchell, etc) fight their way to the ball, grab the agate, then get the ball away. They also have protection (blocking, etc) from their teammates as well as other teammates to often take the tag. They are also in perpetual motion; they are not necessarily quick, they just keep moving. And they desperately want to get at the footy no matter the attention. You can't let a tagger get up your sneezer.

+1

Good post.

[rpfc 28,546]

He's useless?

He's having zero impact?

What bullsh!t.

The OP mentions that Aaron has teared games apart in the last two years, and after 3 rounds where half the team hasn't turned up, we should think about dropping him?

Frack.

[Crompton's the man 659]

I can remember - possibly four seasons ago - seeing Aaron Davey dominate a game so comprehensively that G. Ablett looked embarrassing in comparison.

For sheer talent he can have few who could claim to be his peer.

That was before he tore his hamstring at Etihad and - just for discussion - I ask if he has been as acomplished since?

If he has then I wonder if there exists in the modern game the strategy of a bulkier ( not necessarily as bulky as Fevola ) player protecting/clearing the path for a gifted playmaker like Aaron to be given the opportunity to create?

[jumbo returns 6,741]

Aaron needs to play on the half back flank (in old terms) and become the general of the kick outs. This releases Jack Grimes, who is not a great kick, but he's very creative and knows how to get the pill.

Davey streaming out of the square, hitting someone in the middle of the ground is more damaging than having him in the pocket - that's Aussie's domain.

[Tony Tea 2,809]

I can remember - possibly four seasons ago - seeing Aaron Davey dominate a game so comprehensively that G. Ablett looked embarrassing in comparison. For sheer talent he can have few who could claim to be his peer.

That was before he tore his hamstring at Etihad and - just for discussion - I ask if he has been as acomplished since?

Aaron first did his hammy at Etihad (Colonial? Telstra?) in 2004, his first season. He did it again in 2007 and at training in 2008. He has also had a knee injury and broke his leg last year.

[Jaded No More 68,967]

He's useless?

He's having zero impact?

What bullsh!t.

The OP mentions that Aaron has teared games apart in the last two years, and after 3 rounds where half the team hasn't turned up, we should think about dropping him?

Frack.

You gotta agree that there are some valid points here though.

Davey has never been one to handle a tag well, because it's very easy to get into his head and put him off his game. If he gets picked on behind the play he'll often end up giving away a free for his retaliation.

My solution to this problem is to find alternative elite midfielders, so that the burden is not only on Davey.

That is the only thing we can do that will make us a better team and not rob us of creative midfielders, and that is exactly what we are already doing.

[Tricky 341]

I will no doubt get hammered for saying this but I would consider trading Davey at the end of this season. Get a player and/or a pick for him that better suits our needs going forward.

Put him wherever the guy who's tagging him is least comfortable. Give the dudes around Davey explicit instructions to protect him. Frawley in the backline, Jamar around the middle, Aussie in the forward-line, etc. Give him every chance to break his tag, because he's important enough to put in the effort to do that.

The forward line for a while (he can have it all to himself)

[Roost It 1,434]

I agree. Bail to Ablett, unless we want to teach Gys by having him follow him around.

Jordan doesn't need to follow anyone around.

[Fork 'em 6,984]

can't remember whn he last tore up a game ...

Drop him ....

Zero impact ...

Trade him ...

Good God , Whenever Melbourne light the fuse and start playing some good footy , have look who's featured in those series of plays .

Most of the time Davey has been directly involved somehow , either starting the chain at half back , carving 'em up through the middle or spearing a pass down a forwards throat .

Opposition coaches opt to tag him as they know he can be shut down and if he is shut down Melbourne loses much of their drive .

Malthouse however does not tag him and that IMO is one of the reasons we gave them so much trouble last year .

Edited April 12, 2011 by Fork 'em

[Rogue 585]

It's worth noting that if we dropped Davey it would free up the opposition tagger to take someone else out of the game.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

It's worth noting that if we dropped Davey it would free up the opposition tagger to take someone else out of the game.

Correct.

The key is to have too many options to tag. You can't successfully tag Ablett , Corey, Chapman, Bartel or Black, Voss, Lappin, Power, or Cousins, Kerr, Judd etc etc.

If you try to completely tag three mids out of the game you end up with a defensive and ineffective midfield.

The key to Davey's success lies in a couple of Scully, Trengove, Gysberts and co becoming stars that require the oppositions full attention. Then the midfield becomes "untaggable" as a unit. It's a team mindset and ne that Bailey and Co would be very aware of.

[Dockett 32 1,239]

Davey to Ablett and possibly dragging his tagger with him is an option they may try at some stage, but Bail for mine.

[M_9 2,085]

Malthouse commentating on SEN said he couldn't understand why Bailey didn't try a double tag - Aaron tagging Black for instance.

He also said Davey didn't appear to be enjoying his footy.

I think that was bleedingly obvious to all, and it's a shame.

[The Chazz 4,077]

Surely for this week we will leave him in his favoured role of being the quarterback. And surely we want to play our best tagger this week on Ablett (which is probably Bail).

This week is not a trial match, we should field our best team possible, in their best positions, so that we make a statement against a team only two years at most behind us in their development.

After this week, I'd be trialling Bennell to play that quarterback role. He is just as quick as Flash, and his disposal by foot is quite impressive. While some will question JB's courage to play that role, he wont be any softer than the bloke that's already doing it.

I also like (can't believe I'm going to say this) HG's suggestion for Flash to tag someone himself. Only thing will be it creating a 2 on 1 against Melbourne, but it will mean we have a loose man somewhere else.