Robbo: Man on the mark rule set to open the game up for running half-backs
David King says man on the mark rule will produce “free-wheeling, maximum damage” footy. And Mark Robinson agrees it will turn players into weapons. Here’s why.
Mark Robinson
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Two proud card-carrying members of the Dashing Back Flankers Association – David King and Robert Murphy – are buckling in for the 2021 season.
King, a two-time All Australian with North Melbourne, and Murphy, a 312 game slalom runner from the back half for the Bulldogs, see a renaissance of the running back flanker because of the so-called controversial man-on-the-mark rule.
But they don’t subscribe to it being controversial.
In telephone conversations with them this week, their voices lit up.
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“I can’t stop thinking about how exciting it will be and who it suits, and which teams have got two running back flankers,” Murphy said.
King was equally updbeat: “I think the half-back flanker becomes the dagger through the heart. Teams are going to score in 2021 from full-ground ball movement and they are going to score because of speed of ball.
“Have you ever ridden a motorbike? When you drop down a gear, it puts you in the power band, and it just accelerates the speed of the motor bike.
“It’s going to be full revs when Caleb Daniel gets the ball, or Adam Saad gets the ball, when Lachie Whitfield gets the ball.’’
What’s not to like?
The new rule keeps the man on the mark stationary. The protected zone opens up the 45-degree angle. The running receiver gets the handball — he has space in front of him; he might take a bounce; he might kick the ball to the presenting forward; or, he might link up to the right. The defensive grid is broken. It’s wonderful, exciting ball movement.
“We’ve made small change for potentially a huge result,’’ King said.
“Is it over officious, is it embarrassing for the man on the mark? Probably. But the man on the mark does so many things defensively. He’s a human stop sign. He shuts the game down so quickly and so effectively that it’s become a problem for the game.”
The ball, for much of the game, will be in motion.
It brings runners to the fore, and according to these two, the kickers.
Murphy was a beautiful kick. Length into space or drilling the pass. It’s an underrated skill to kick accurately or weighted when running at speed and with opposition players charging at you.
More underrated, Murphy said, was the bravery to take the kick on.
“To run with pace and kick the ball into the middle of the ground, I reckon less and less players have that these days because they are so terrified of making a blue,” he said.
“Now you will get more players having a crack at that kick.
“What’s the most important kick in footy? Probably the kick inside 50. Others would say the kick on goal, but if this one is on the podium, it’s pushing for a silver medal I reckon, and that’s the kick from back 50 into the corridor or centre of the ground.’’
King said he was a fan of Scott Pendlebury poise and kicking.
“He doesn’t blast the ball long, he assesses the options in an instant,” King said.
“He will chisel the ball. He won’t have to worry about the ball getting smothered.’’
King said the new rule changed the thought pattern of the kicker.
Defensive structure has been the “death of our game’’.
The man on the mark was able to scoot laterally which meant the kicker often had to loop the pass.
“Now you can spike that kick and keep ahead of the flooding defenders getting back,’’ King said.
“You’re going to have different looks, different options.’’
Murphy does not subscribe to high scoring being the end game for AFL.
“I don’t necessarily buy into the whole thing that we need more scoring for the game to be better,” he said.
“I just want more unpredictability and I think this will open opportunities for more instinctive, creative play up the middle of the ground which will be great to watch.
“There won’t be that grid football where you have to kick long into numbers and stoppage and try it force it down and stoppage again. I find that ball-achingly dull.’’
So, what teams and which black flankers are going to thrive under the new rule?
Murphy argued that Carlton’s Adam Saad was already the recruit of the year.
“I look at Carlton and they’ve got a gluttony of options,’’ he said.
“They’ve got Docherty, Saad will play there, but Zac Williams I think is probably the best of all the slashing half-back flankers: Run, brave, kick, I don’t want him to be mid-forward. I think they should keep him at half-back.
“If you have Saad and Zac Williams, that’s almost the best one and two in the comp.’’
King witnessed first-hand Saad play against the Bombers a week ago and against St Kilda Thursday night.
“I saw someone playing free-wheeling, maximum damage football,’’ he said.
“That’s handball receive, run through the man on the mark, link up, give-him-the-ball-at-all-costs type football and it was very rewarding for the team.
“I saw Caleb Daniel play against Hawthorn a week ago.
“He’s just a destroyer off half-back. His short-ball use, or angled ball use, is next level. There’s no one who sees holes in defensive grids like Caleb Daniel does.”
Murphy recently said he hoped Collingwood’s debonair defender Darcy Moore won the Brownlow Medal.
On second thoughts, it might be a back flanker.
It would take a serious readjustment from the umpires to make it happen.
Of the running defenders in last year’s All Australian team, Brad Sheppard did not poll a vote, Luke Ryan (six), Nick Haynes (four) and Darcy Byrne-Jones (two).
King noted: “Adam Saad has got five votes in five years in the Brownlow … he won’t be getting five votes this year.”
If the Blues have the best one and two in the league, the Tigers have the most successful one, two and three in Jayden Short, Bachar Houli and Liam Baker.
That trio excels in chaos. They’ll be even more destructive with the man on the mark cemented to the ground. It will be handball receive and whooshka.
At Melbourne, coach Simon Goodwin is redeploying Jayden Hunt to join Christian Salem at half-back.
At the Dogs, Murphy wants to see speedster Ed Richards join Daniel and Jason Johannisen.
The Lions have Daniel Rich sizzling left foot and Brandon Starcevich and at the Saints there is Ben Long, Nick Coffield and Hunter Clark.
The Crows will miss Wayne Milera (patella) because he is the perfect rebounder.
The Cats are generally a stop-and-prop team coming out of defence, but that may change with Jordan Clark’s availability and maybe even recruit Isaac Smith could see some minutes at half-back.
Essendon and North Melbourne are toying with using Dyson Heppell and Jack Ziebell across half-back, a curious plan according to Murphy.
“They’re stand-and-deliver guys,” Murphy said
“They have to be teamed with a run-and-gun player,’’ Murphy said.
King: “It will be interesting to see how Heppell and Ziebell go.
“They haven’t got the breakaway speed, but are they going to be as creative as some of the other run-and-gun sort of players.’’
Clearly, the Bombers picked the worst off-season imaginable to lose both Saad and Conor McKenna.
“The new rule will make the fast teams faster,’’ King said.
“I can’t wait to see it play out.’’
Originally published as Robbo: Man on the mark rule set to open the game up for running half-backs
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