Are the majority of taggers failed midfielders?

[Mr_Moogle]

Bernie's best is behind him but he's won a B&F at both Adelaide and Melbourne. Hardly a failed midfielder.

Vince is/was way too good to be thrown in with guys like Crowley.

You could certainly argue that he was a failed midfielder at Adelaide post 2009 though. He copped some injuries in the years following and wasn't able to return to his best form. Some people argued he had a poor work ethic at the Crows as well. When he wen't to Melbourne, they deshackled him and put him in a tagging role which worked out really well for them.

 

[Scotland]

Taggers are usually guys who don't do anything with the ball rather than guys that can't get it. You need to have enough strength/running capacity to go with whoever you are tagging, and enough footy smarts to know how to limit their impact without giving away a free at each stoppage. No point just trailing around a metre behind someone for 4 quarters.

We had Stenglein for a few years who played as a defensive mid. Still won his own 15-20 touches a game but his focus was curbing opposition mids and protecting our own mids (back when we had good ones). Then we took Adam Selwood who was an up and coming mid and made him do it. Then Scott Selwood came along and we started him off as a tagger, and after he became valuable at it we decided he was an up and coming mid.

 

[Theseventhhamster]

Sydney approach has been to blood* the young ones as taggers\run with players and they in turn learn how to read where to go from following the best players and eventually become midfielders

Worked with a fair few now.

Roos did a bit of it at Melbourne too. Seemed to help Viney along a couple of years ago. Beat the shit out of Ablett and Selwood.

 

[exxcessivve]

Opposite happens too, players start off tagging but become worthwhile players on their own through experience gained.

I think Connor Blakely is a good example of this, based on the fantasy scores he's been generating at least haha

 

[The_Steadier]

At Hawthorn we start mids as taggers to learn from the best. I suspect it's similar elsewhere.

Can't wait to watch jaeger pinch danger 200 times.

 

[mike123]

Ryan Crowley was a failed forward thank you very much.

Oh so that's where Maccaffer got it from.


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[mike123]

Levi Greenwood


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[RedVest4]

Tom Liberatore

 

[RedVest4]

Jed Lamb

 

[chaelsonnen]

Theory may have some merit to it. Jacobs lacked confidence and to be fair probably wouldn't of cut it at AFL level (subpar). But once he became good tagger, it appeared it greatly improved other aspects of his game as well.

 

[Seeds]

I've seen a lot of evidence of this in recent times.

By the looks, coaches are turning underperforming midfielders into taggers.

It started with Cameron Ling who couldn't cut it as a pure mid - he was a Geelong whipping boy at times and turned it around by tagging.

I'm seeing this with with players like Dion Prestia (probably the best current example) and Bernie Vince.

Another example was Michael Barlow when he was severely out of form with Freo at the end and we all know about Ryan Crowley.

ling wasnt a failed forward. dont think he ever played as a mid before coming a tagger.

 

[Seeds]

Blicavs is a failed steeplechaser/ruckman

also a failed first ruck and a failed tagger. where do the failed taggers go?

 

[Seeds]

There have been some great taggers

Shaun Hart
Jarad Crouch
Brett Kirk
Cameron Ling

I'm sure there are more but there's 4 quality ones

liberatore and cornes probably the best two after Ling. was Kirk even a tagger?

 

[RedVest4]

ling wasnt a failed forward. dont think he ever played as a mid before coming a tagger.

I thought he did?

also a failed first ruck and a failed tagger. where do the failed taggers go?

the VFL

 

[Aramis]

Tagging is used as a teaching method.. a lot of young blokes are getting some time tagging the "superstars". Good learning experience.

 

[RedVest4]

This still holds up

 

[Aramis]

Aren't you putting down all opposition teams there as he would be learning midfield craft from the player he is following around.

Don't bother trying to explain reason and logic to a Geelong fan, especially one with that avatar....
So blinded by their inferiority complexes and attempts to troll Hawthorn that just mashing fingers into a keyboard suffices those knuckle draggers.

 

[RedVest4]

Don't bother trying to explain reason and logic to a Geelong fan, especially one with that avatar....
So blinded by their inferiority complexes and attempts to troll Hawthorn that just mashing fingers into a keyboard suffices those knuckle draggers.

Do you think Liam Shiels will tag this year?

 

[StonesThrow]

One of the best taggers ever, Kane Cornes was hardly a failed midfielder.

True. I just wish someone would tag him in the media

 

[Captain_Bender]

Yes it does, it's obvious this is the only thing Hardwick can do with him.

Prestia really was a failure when he destroyed Geelong in the finals

 

[Aramis]

Do you think Liam Shiels will tag this year?

Probably, does a pretty good job of it... 150+ games, 3 premierships, averages 20 disposals a game... not bad for a "failed midfielder" lmao.... truly the poster boy for clueless cat fans you are.

 

[Daniel Flynn]

Well I've never seen Dusty running around tagging Selwood or Gray

 

[Boxhead_31]

I've seen a lot of evidence of this in recent times.

By the looks, coaches are turning underperforming midfielders into taggers.

It started with Cameron Ling who couldn't cut it as a pure mid - he was a Geelong whipping boy at times and turned it around by tagging.

I'm seeing this with with players like Dion Prestia (probably the best current example) and Bernie Vince.

Another example was Michael Barlow when he was severely out of form with Freo at the end and we all know about Ryan Crowley.

Ling was a forward not a mid