AFL coaches defend glamour AFL forwards struggling for best form
Tom Papley is leading the AFL’s Coleman Medal and leaving in his trail a swag of power forwards who are finding life difficult.
The Coleman Medal is being led by forward pocket Tom Papley with 19 goals. Fellow small forwards Dan Butler and Charlie Cameron sit inside the top five.
And as the AFL begins its 20-day sprint, with 33 games between now and August 17, many power forwards appear to have gone missing.
Wayne Carey, “the King” of key forwards, recently decried the current big men as either out of form or simply “just no good”, though there are clearly exceptions.
Dual-Coleman Medallist Josh Kennedy has been dominant since returning to Perth, kicking 11 goals in two matches to surge to within one goal of Papley, and will play at least his next three matches at home.
Port Adelaide forward Charlie Dixon, who sits third on the Coleman list, marked everything in sight a couple of weeks ago against Carlton and has been pivotal in the Power’s top-of-the-table status.
Premiership coaches Damien Hardwick and Luke Beveridge provided a defence of the spearheads ahead of the clash between Richmond and the Western Bulldogs on the Gold Coast on Wednesday night.
The clash begins a 20-day festival of football with the potential to sort the contenders from the pretenders in a competition in which only two wins separates first from 12th.
Bulldogs coach Beveridge noted he was “not a meteorologist” but said it was clear some forwards were struggling to adjust to challenges, including playing in foreign conditions this year.
The Bulldogs are used to playing in drier conditions at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, which has the option of closing its roof, whereas matches in Queensland, particularly at night, tend to be more slippery.
“When you have these games that are influenced by the weather conditions, there is not a lot of room to move,” he said.
“There is a lot of surge activity going on with the football, it just makes it harder for forwards, so you start to measure your forwards’ games on different things. The criteria changes.”
This can include creating opportunities for others, adding pressure around contests and also multi-tasking, with a prime example being able to assist in the ruck.
According to Richmond champion Jack Riewoldt, a lack of connection between Richmond’s midfield and forwards is a factor in the lower-than-normal output of the Tigers in general.
The Tigers have entered their attacking arc on average 45 times a match this season, which is the third-highest rate in the competition. But something is not clicking, with Richmond’s average goal tally per match of 8.6 placing them 12th in terms of potency.
Riewoldt is averaging one goal a match, the lowest of his career since his debut season in 2007. Tom Lynch’s average of 1.4 goals per match is his lowest rate in seven seasons.
The Tigers are not alone in bemoaning the struggle to connect. Some are blaming the restrictions on training this year, though clearly some sides are handling it better than others.
But Riewoldt believes there are positive signs and says it is only a matter of time before the Tigers begin converting more of their opportunities.
We are generating a lot of inside 50s,” he said on the Tiger Time podcast. “The final piece to our puzzle is being able, obviously, to score a little more while still maintaining that defensive structure that we’ve been known for, for three years now.
“There’s a lot of smart people up here in the hub who are thinking of every avenue to how we can make that work a little better.”
Hardwick, who said captain Trent Cotchin would return after injury, was confident the decorated duo would be able to find their best form.
“Jack and Tom would be the first ones to say they could play a bit better,” the Richmond coach said. “But we had a really good review meeting with the players and we’re probably not helping them out that much, to be honest. Our execution and polish inside 50 hasn’t been to its usual level … and the fact of the matter is they are probably a by-product of the way we are playing.”
Beveridge believes it is still too difficult to determine how the remainder of the year will play out, but there is clearly a premium on winning matches against rivals in a similar position.
“Like us, they are trying to find their position in the competition. We go over the equator now,” he said.
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