Strategy The next great Bulldog Tagger

[Proffessor]

The Bulldogs have had a long tradition of developing some of the best taggers in the game.

However, our current team's lack of defensive midfield options has been well documented in the media.

Interested to hear people's views regarding players currently on our list that could potentially step up and fill such a role, and join the likes of Libba Snr, Darren Baxter, Liam Picken, and co. in the pantheon of great Bulldog taggers.

Remembering that the best taggers have not just great discipline, and work ethic, they also need excellent pace, endurance and game sense to be able to match it with the most elite players in the game.

Developing young or fringe players into defensive run with style player can also help them along their path to filling other roles in the team, e.g. attacking midfielders.

Should we choose this as a potential development path for a young player with excellent running capacity such as Joel Freijah, or select a fringe player struggling to secure a clear role in the side, like Riley Garcia or even James Harmes?

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Bevo barely tags and not particularly hard when he does employ one.

 

[Proffessor]

Bevo barely tags and not particularly hard when he does employ one.

I agree that this has generally been the case across his tenure but think that the way we have been exposed in some recent big games, may change his mind a bit.

Indeed, I think he actually tried to develop Harvey Gallagher as our main defensive midfielder last year, but with somewhat limited success. Harvey is still young and seems to have the physical attributes, if not the discipline and natural defensive instincts required for the role.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Devolping a tagger specific role in today’s game would be the equivalent of hiring a Michelin star chef to serve pub meals in the corner local.

Can’t ever seeing it happen. Even more so in a Bevo coached team.

 

[ossie_21]

Whilst it has been and will be stated more the Bevo doesn’t play any pure taggers, hence opposition players regularly killing us & circling the fixtures as soon as they are announced, I think Gallagher would be a good shout.

Just see him with the ability to be an annoying run-with player at least, yet has the pace and skills to burn them going the other way. Just the concentration & discipline to work on if that’s the plan.

 

[Proffessor]

Devolping a tagger specific role in today’s game would be the equivalent of hiring a Michelin star chef to serve pub meals in the corner local.

Can’t ever seeing it happen. Even more so in a Bevo coached team.

It doesn’t have to be a specific full time role, but we need to have someone capable of playing the role well when the need arises.

I would suggest we are unusual in today's game as a club essentially without any defensive mid-field options to run with opposition stars.

Against clubs with standout players, curbing their influence can have a massive impact, and potentially be the difference between winning and losing.

I would go as far as suggesting, the lack of a player clearly capable of playing a defensive role to shut down a midfield opponent if required is currently the biggest weakness in our team.

 

[dogwatch]

Brew.

But I don’t expect our no-tagging policy to change.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Think Gallagher has the tools for it. He tackled Daicos without it about six times but think he’d do better given some more preparation.

Might teach him to find it more too which could help his development. Feel like he can be quite damaging when he gets it but means very little when he wasn’t getting 10 touches a game.

We probably won’t employ it because it’s more modern to just allow their best players to run wild.

 

[Proffessor]

Whilst it has been and will be stated more the Bevo doesn’t play any pure taggers, hence opposition players regularly killing us & circling the fixtures as soon as they are announced, I think Gallagher would be a good shout.

Just see him with the ability to be an annoying run-with player at least, yet has the pace and skills to burn them going the other way. Just the concentration & discipline to work on if that’s the plan.

Agree that Harvey still has potential for such a role. Has the pace and strength, just not sure about his defensive instincts though.

Could potentially get there with some serious dedication and guidance.

Hope he has a big pre-season.

 

[Drunken Bum]

Ed Richards for me If it's not a full time role. He has all the attributes required and has shown he can do it on quality players before while still getting possessions and hurting the opposition.

 

[Proffessor]

Ed Richards for me If it's not a full time role. He has all the attributes required and has shown he can do it on quality players before while still getting possessions and hurting the opposition.

Think this idea has plenty of merit.
Whilst I think we probably need Ed’s offensive run more, his defensive background probably sets him up well to do a shut down job if required.

His offensive capabilities will also put opponents in two minds, as he could really hurt them going the other way.

 

[JohnnySteel]

Gallagher would be an effective tagger, if we went that route.

 

[Mofra]

Libba has done some big jobs under Bevo's tenure, Wallis was predominantly a run-with player in the middle until reinventing himself as a forward, and even Baz has been given run with roles as recently as 2023 (excellent job on Cripps that year).

Gags was given some jobs last year. but I remain unconvinced by how effective he was.
West often plays as a defensive forward on an opposition peel-off interceptor (he's targeted Stewart and Sicily'). The 'Bevo doesn't tag' myth tend to ignore these examples.

I don't have much confidence that Gags will be getting a job soon as he's not in my round 1 side. Depending on who is causing us issues, Matt Kennedy would be my first option as a guy who is big, strong and has a 'defence first' type attitude.

 

[Proffessor]

Libba has done some big jobs under Bevo's tenure, Wallis was predominantly a run-with player in the middle until reinventing himself as a forward, and even Baz has been given run with roles as recently as 2023 (excellent job on Cripps that year).

Gags was given some jobs last year. but I remain unconvinced by how effective he was.
West often plays as a defensive forward on an opposition peel-off interceptor (he's targeted Stewart and Sicily'). The 'Bevo doesn't tag' myth tend to ignore these examples.

I don't have much confidence that Gags will be getting a job soon as he's not in my round 1 side. Depending on who is causing us issues, Matt Kennedy would be my first option as a guy who is big, strong and has a 'defence first' type attitude.

I was also disappointed with Gallagher's performance in run with roles in 2024. His low personal offensive output clearly indicated he was indeed predominantly focused on stopping an opponent in several matches, however I don't recall any noteworthy performances where he was able to dramatically reduce the impact of a key opponent.

It would appear he has a lot of learning to do in order to perform the role effectively.