Advertisement

Fyfe not the one to tag

Must be stopped: Forget Nat Fyfe, Stephen Hill is the real danger for the Eagles.

Fortune favours the brave. If Adam Simpson is to maximise his team’s chances of pulling off a derby upset tomorrow, he may have to make the boldest move in his AFL coaching career by not tagging white-hot Docker Nat Fyfe.

It would take courage. No coach wants the fallout from sending a tag elsewhere only to watch Fyfe dominate, but there is a case to argue that Stephen Hill is still the Fremantle midfielder to tag.

A number of Dockers are flying under the radar because of Fyfe’s start to the season. He has 20 out a possible 20 votes in the AFL Coaches Association’s MVP award after the first two rounds.

David Mundy’s enormous last quarter helped lift the Dockers to victory against Port in round one while Fyfe, Mundy, Michael Barlow and Hill had 135 possessions and kicked eight goals between them against Geelong.

Geelong did not run a full tag on Fyfe but had an accountable midfielder, Cameron Guthrie, with him for much of the match. It’s fair to say that tactic didn’t work, with Fyfe having 36 possessions and kicking three goals. But Hill, left to his own devices on a wing, was just as devastating.

His 10 inside 50s included his two goals, three goal assists and a further three that should have been goals, but were opportunities missed by teammates.

This is why Hill has been Fremantle’s most tagged man since 2010. He is as deadly an inside-50 player as there is in the AFL. The Dockers have won 56 per cent of Hill’s 130 games. When he has five or more inside 50s, the winning percentage rises to 77. He has a lethal left foot and a nose for where the ball should go.

Even if Simpson wants Fyfe tagged, it is debatable whether he has the player who can do it. Matt Rosa, who did such a great job on Chris Judd last Friday night, could run with him around the ground, but would have his hands full at stoppages and may not cope in the air when Fyfe takes him inside Fremantle’s forward line. And if it is not Rosa, then who?

When Fremantle toppled Hawthorn at Patersons Stadium last year, the Hawks sent Will Langford to Fyfe. The Docker still had 24 touches and kicked two goals despite Langford’s best efforts. Hill had the ball 23 times and kicked three goals as the Dockers emerged clear victors in the midfield.

A few weeks later Port Adelaide sent tagger Kane Cornes to Hill in a semifinal and went head-to-head with Fyfe using Ollie Wines to counterattack. Hill had a good match and Fyfe had 28 possessions and kicked two goals, but Wines’ 26 touches and three goals were instrumental in lifting his team to victory.

West Coast need a break-even result midfield at worst. This is where the Dockers have decided the past five derbies, choking ball users Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff out of the contest by using tagger Ryan Crowley and an accountable midfielder — often Tendai Mzungu — on Gaff. With Crowley absent and Mzungu no certainty to play, there may be opportunities for Shuey and Gaff to have a greater impact on this game.

Let’s not forget also that Nic Naitanui will be in better shape for this derby than he has been in since the first half of 2012. His duel with Aaron Sandilands should be a beauty and a highlight of the match.

West Coast’s mids were well beaten by the Western Bulldogs’ engine room in round one, but rebounded to dominate a hapless Carlton.

Support for Matt Priddis will be critical tomorrow. The Brownlow medallist has dipped below 24 possessions just once in West Coast’s five derby defeats since their last win in round nine, 2012, but the damage has been done by the Dockers’ big-bodied engine room all around him. Shuey, Gaff and Sharrod Wellingham need to stand up tomorrow to make sure the midfield battle is halved and their attack gets equal supply.

If it gets that, West Coast have the forwards who can kick them into this contest. Josh Kennedy will probably get Luke McPharlin and Mark LeCras might get Garrick Ibbotson, but given reasonable supply, Kennedy and LeCras are capable of kicking the six goals between them that would give the Eagles a toehold. And their opportunist Jamie Cripps is dangerous and in good form, after kicking five goals against the Bulldogs in round one.

At the other end, the Dockers’ attack is weakened by the absence of Hayden Ballantyne, but will still pose a significant threat to an Eagles back line without Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown. Simpson has decisions to make on which Matt to send in-form Jeremy McGovern to — Pavlich or Taberner — and he will want to keep skipper Shannon Hurn in a position to provide rebound, while finding someone experienced and capable enough to cover the dangerous Michael Walters.

West Coast will again be stretched. After Pavlich and Taberner there is still Chris Mayne and the possibility of a resting ruckman to cope with.

All this before Simpson starts worrying about Fyfe, Mundy, Barlow and co drifting forward. The last thing he needs on top of that is Fremantle’s forwards getting surgical delivery from a series of scything Hill passes.