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This is the night when ultimate tagger Ryan Crowley will finally feel torn.
When Saint Marcus Windhager lines up on Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale at the Gabba on Friday night, the former Docker will be cheering for the St Kilda tagger, while barracking for his friend, caught between supporting his ball-winning ex-teammate and the Ross Lyon disciple assigned to stop him.
“I believed it would be an excellent match-up,” stated Crowley. It’s difficult because, although I get along well with Lachie, I usually support Ross’ teams, especially when he has a tagger.
“However, the secret to success in any tagging role is not that it’s one guy against one guy, and that’s kind of what I try to convey: Both guys need to have a team mentality.”
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For the former Fremantle star, the past two weeks have been significant. He has been reminding people for years that taggers are still relevant in the game. He’s finally receiving some justice.
He enjoyed seeing Jarrod Berry dominate Marcus Bontempelli last weekend, Alex Neal-Bullen contain Nick Daicos, and Windhager pursue Touk Miller. The brothers were expanding.
Neale and Windhager are two players who hold special meaning for Crowley. He will have some influence over their interesting battle on Friday night at the Gabba.
Crowley assisted Neale in learning how to shake a tag from Lyon while he was playing at Fremantle during his prime.
“I used to play on guys like Lachie Neale at training when Ross first started at the club. He was a young player coming through, and he would be in the second 18 when we were doing match practice,” Crowley recalled.
Since he spent every training session with me hanging off him, I truly believe he is quite proficient at going through a tag at this point.
Additionally, Crowley is connected to Windhager. After the West Coast match in Perth two weeks earlier, he went looking for the young Saint to welcome him to the “brethren”. Harley Reid had just been shut down by Windhager.
“I made a beeline for Marcus and told him I was glad he had done a really good job after the game when I saw the whole St Kilda team getting dinner,” Crowley remarked.
“His method of doing it truly amazed me. He has all the necessary skills and the application to be a successful tagger.
It is scarcely coincidental that shutdown players are making a comeback and that Lyon is returning to coaching.
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“It’s like the mullet, right? Everything comes back into fashion,” Lyon said this week.
“It’s back in, it’s back in. There was the rhetoric that you can’t run a tag, and play team defence.
“Saints, Dockers, we always ran a heavy tag. Geelong had [Cameron] Ling running around. You can certainly play team defence and have a tag.”
It was a hot topic of conversation when Crowley recently caught up with Lyon for a coffee in Perth.
“I did say that I think it’s weird that more teams don’t use it,” remarked Crowley.
“I don’t see how it doesn’t help your team win the game if the best midfielder on the other team isn’t touching the ball as much,” I’ve always said. We have, I believe, witnessed that in the past few weeks.
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The name Crowley is inextricably linked to the game’s most impressive midfield players. Even now, AFL and suburban players still come to him for guidance.
“There’s always going to be a message, whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or some other platform, if a guy gets tagged,” said Crowley.
Since I retired, I believe that someone has messaged me a few times a year asking for advice or saying, “I have a tagging role this week. Do you have any tips?”
When Crowley was an assistant coach at Fremantle, he imparted to him the most important lesson he had learned from Sydney great Brett Kirk.
“One of the main things I always tell guys is, ‘Play in between them and the ball,'” Crowley said. “When guys are tagging, you kind of get in the mindset that you are following the other guy around.”
It is very simple to become obstructed if you are pulled about like a caravan. Conversely, if you position yourself between them and the ball, they must pass through you in order to receive it.
Crowley looks for up-and-coming taggers to support, like Windhager.
“It is a gateway to getting more experience in the midfield, but no one gets drafted as a tagger, and not many guys stay in it for the duration of their career like I did,” he remarked.
“Even Fremantle’s Caleb Serong did it a few times early in his career, and I believe it has improved him as a football player because we sat down and talked about a few tactics and stuff.”
Crowley thinks that the superior teammate will ultimately determine the winner of Neale vs Windhager.turn of the tagger.
CREDIT:AFL PHOTOSCrowley seeks out emerging taggers such as Windhager to offer them encouragement.
“No one gets drafted as a tagger, and not a lot of guys stay in it for the duration of their career like I did, but it is a gateway to getting more experience in the midfield,” he said.
“Even Caleb Serong, from Fremantle, did it a few times early in his career, and we sat down and had a chat about a few tactics and stuff, and I think it has made him a better footballer.”
Ultimately, Crowley believes the victor in the Neale v Windhager match-up will come down to the better teammates.
Good teams block for good players, he said, while on the opposite side of the ledger, a tagger relies on his teammates for cover. Whoever does it best, he said, will win the contest.
So, when push comes to shove, whose side will the ultimate tagger be on?
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