AFL legend Malcolm Blight reveals how he would get the best out of Tarryn Thomas
North Melbourne’s rebuild is floundering, but that hasn’t dented the optimism of one Roos legend who says the club’s young midfield can become the next Hodge, Mitchell and Lewis.
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There’s a documentary on TV called Barassi, which is a two-hour warts and all tell-all of Ron Barassi’s North Melbourne adventures almost 50 years ago.
It basically outlines where the club was in 1973 — they won one game — before it recruited the legendary coach, a bunch of 10-year veterans and took a successful punt on local youngsters such as Keith Grieg and Wayne Schimmelbusch.
The brilliant and imaginative Malcolm Blight arrived in ’74.
In retelling the stories leading up to the 1975 flag and, in particular, the drawn grand final and then winning the replay in 1977, Blight — as always — has a compelling story.
Blight started the drawn game in the middle, before Barassi, who savaged him at quarter-time, shifted him forward for quarters two and three, where he didn’t touch the ball.
Blight says in the doco: “I won’t make an excuse, but it’s pretty hard when the ball is at the other end of the ground and I’m nowhere near it.’’
He was taken out of the game at three-quarter time and watched all of the dramatic final quarter on the bench.
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Footy jargon has changed in 50 years, but not the basics.
Today, it’s about rotations and structures, running patterns, zones, shutting down exits, team defence and team offence.
All Blight wanted was to be “put back on the ball’’.
“I can relive every moment at quarter-time of that game,’’ Blight told the Herald Sun this week.
“I was banished to the forward pocket because of one poor kick — one kick — and Collingwood kicked six goals to our nil in the next two quarters and I went to the ball twice.’’
Fast forward 50 years.
North Melbourne’s Tarryn Thomas — whose position in the team is a talking point — wants to play more midfield.
His midfield-forward split is about 55-45 this season and he’s averaging 13 disposals a game. It’s not good enough — or near long enough in the midfield — for a player of his talent.
His problem is the Kangas have players suited to the midfield and not suited to be creative forward 50 players, meaning Thomas is required in the forward line. Hence, he is sixth on the team’s list of players attending centre bounces.
Thomas is fit after missing three games with internal bleeding (Rounds 3-5) and the fact is he’s been average in a very average North Melbourne team.
So, put him on the ball?
“One of the things I learnt as a coach and it took me a while was, how many times did you go to the ball as a forward line player?” Blight said.
“Everyone says, ‘he’s quiet, he’s quiet and he’s quiet’, particularly in modern football, where the forwards get a bad deal most of them, unless the team is getting inside 50s, and then you might not even get targeted.
“My philosophy from then on in, was how many times did he actually go to the footy?
“I would sit down and go through the tapes myself — and it’s one of the reasons why I burnt out — and I tried to ascertain how many times every player on the ground went to the ball and I would rewind and rewind until I found out.
“I thought he’s only been to the ball six times and had two touches because we didn’t kick it to him or move the ball to move him. The forward line coach should see that now.’’
So, what would you do with Thomas?
“He’s had his turn in the midfield by the way, and I think North Melbourne is two years away from being a very, very good football team,’’ Blight said.
“And what they’re doing now is getting Simpkin, who is a best and fairest winner, Jason Horne-Francis is something special, you’ve got Davies-Uniacke and Tarryn … they look to me they’re going to be the Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis, Shiel going forward.
“That’s what I see now. People might say I’m mad, but they’ve all got skill, all got talent, and a bit of hardness about them.
“And don’t forget Richie Vandenberg was very important for those Hawthorn kids, they had a really solid captain/leader type sitting around that midfield. And that’s where North Melbourne miss Ben Cunnington more than anybody.’’
So, more Thomas in the midfield?
“I probably would,’’ Blight said.
But being Blighty, he had another idea.
Because the kids, he said, get banged up in the hustle and bustle of the midfield, his philosophy is to ease the kids into the middle.
“I remember a guy called Andrew McLeod, playing him halfback, playing him half-forward and then creeping him into the midfield over a period of time,’’ Blight said.
“For that same reason, he was young, you’ve got to ease them into it.
“I learnt this coaching, sometimes you just put them behind the ball.
“I’d play Tarryn halfback for three weeks. They’ll say, you can’t do that, we’ve got two halfbacks. Well, try them somewhere else. That’s how you develop football teams. Hodge from halfback to middle to half-forward to back. Lewis the same, Mitchell almost the same.
“And I’m talking about Jarman who I played halfback, McLeod who I played halfback, Ricciuto I played half back … they had to learn their craft at halfback, middle and half-forward before they actually get somewhere in a team.
“How do you know Luke McDonald might be a really good midfielder, half-forward from what he’s learnt at halfback? He might kick two goals a week going forward now.
“At Adelaide, they all had to play halfback because of what I went through at Geelong. Those great midfielders, but if you have a bad day, you lose a Grand Final.’’
How coach David Noble plays the talented Thomas in the second half of the season will be an interesting watch.
Thomas, still 22, is not Dustin Martin or Christian Petracca, where if they play midfield they are offensively focused. No, Thomas needs to run defensively if he wants more minutes in the midfield, a chore which he hasn’t always embraced.
Still, parked in the forward line for half a game when the team is being shellacked could be argued as wasting Thomas’ prodigious talent. Again, it will be an interesting watch.
By the way, Blight had 27 disposals and kicked two goals in the Grand Final replay. He played on the ball.
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