Key forwards are redundant no more

And we have AFL house to thank for it.

Sure, it’s not as simple as that, but take former Adelaide skipper Taylor Walker for example.

In previous years he looked out of touch, bereft of confidence and struggling to cover the ground, now his mojo is well and truly back.

He’s fitter, playing full of confidence and nailing his shots on goal, but its more than that.

We’re now seeing the competitions key forwards finally getting the game played on their terms.

Only twelve months ago, the key forward was on the verge of extinction, shortened quarters, negative tactics and low scoring. And aside from All Australians Tom Hawkins and Charlie Dixon, the rest struggled to make a genuine impact.

Hawkins claiming the Coleman medal with a lowly 49 majors at an average of 2.3 goals per game.

Fast forward to 2021 and the big fellas are back.

After three uncompleted rounds Taylor Walker leads the goal kicking tally with 17 goals at an average of 5.6 per game, Bulldog Josh Bruce sits second with 14 majors (4.6per game) and fresh off a bag of 10 goals against the struggling kangaroos, while young Sun’s star Ben King is third with 10 goals at 3.3 per game.

Sure, all three can be damaging players on their day, but it’s fair to say the AFL’s rule changes have help all three, rise to the top.

The new stationary man on the mark rule has killed off the players ability to cut the angles and defend the mark, slowing down the player with the ball.

It has in-turn created more opportunities for players to run past for a handball receives and keep the football in motion, making it almost impossible for the opposition to flood.

An Extra 5metres at kick ins, regularly sees the defensive kick-in from full back land deep in the centre square corridor, opening up the ground and making it harder to defend.

Restricting interchange to 75 rotations puts players under more fatigue and unable to cover as much ground at speed, preventing them from getting behind the ball to clog up scoring opportunities and help out their defence.

Gone are the days, where forwards were expected to empty out of attacking 50 to help apply defensive pressure or being pushed into defence to clog up space when they are under the pump.

All too often forwards found themselves having to deal with a +1 seventh defender with the brief of “don’t be out marked”.

Defenders had it far too easy, opposition forwards had to deal with extra numbers, slow ball movement and no space to move in amongst a full 18-man press.

For far too long the games power forwards have had to toil away with little reward – but not anymore.

The game has been flipped on its head, lots of space to lead into, no drop off defenders, fast ball movement and one on one contests all over the ground.

The game is moving so fast, that it now resembles a good old-fashioned shootout where the ball bounces back and forward like ping pong, and the fans are loving it.

Coaches too have had to re-think their defence first game styles to adapt to the more fluid attacking style in 2021.

I’m loving the new look of football so far in 2021.

And so too are the key forwards, big marks, bags of goals and no longer looking like being made redundant.