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Watching Eagles spearhead Josh Kennedy power his way towards a 10-goal haul last weekend reminded me of the likes of Tony Lockett, Gary Ablett and Jason Dunstall racking up team scores on their own.
When a key forward unleashes in this manner it adds intrigue to even the most one-sided of contests.
Fans start to predict how many majors the marauding player will boot, his teammates begin to direct more passes in his direction, and the opposition scrambles to crowd him.
In the 1990s it was commonplace to see power forwards running amok. On any given weekend you were liable to get a double-figure goal haul from Lockett, Ablett, Dunstall, Peter Sumich, Tony Modra, John Longmire, Wayne Carey, Saverio Rocca or Paul Salmon.
The game was offence-driven – a high-scoring exhibition of teams’ abilities to blitz the opposition defence.
It was brilliant to watch. Granted, football was far less refined than it is now. Accountability was an afterthought for many players as they sought merely to win the ball and then hurt their foes with the manner in which they used it.
The past decade has seen the game swing in the opposite direction. Defensive structures, when correctly applied, are nigh-on watertight. Against well-drilled and brilliantly disciplined sides like Hawthorn, Sydney and Fremantle, even teams with potent midfields and forward lines can struggle to boot more than 10 goals.
As Roar colleague Cameron Rose noted recently this season has seen more teams adopting a faster, aggressive style of ball movement than we have seen for years.
It is a direct response to the success of Hawthorn and Port Adelaide last season, in scorching their way through defensive presses with bold running and disposal.
As a result, after a sometimes ugly, overly defensive 2014 season, Australian football in 2015 is in much better shape. Even teams low on talent and expected to languish in the bottom four are taking on the game.
In Round 1, Melbourne’s players displayed a level of flair that was unthinkable after a 2014 campaign marred by some of the slowest, most indirect ball movement the AFL had ever seen. What’s more is it worked, earning them an unexpected win over the Gold Coast.
The Western Bulldogs, widely tipped to reside in the league’s cellar alongside Melbourne, have had even greater success with a run-and-gun approach. Not only are they 2-0 but they’re garnering praise from all sections of the football community and are thrilling their loyal supporters with the exciting brand of play they have adopted.
We’re only two rounds into a long season but the game is more watchable than it has been for a good while. One of the fortunate byproducts of the swifter ball movement on display is that tall forwards are being offered more time and space to showcase their talents.
Last weekend alone, we saw Kennedy vaporise Carlton, Jarrad Waite maim Brisbane with seven goals and young St Kilda big man Josh Bruce finish as best-on-ground with a haul of six goals against Gold Coast. In Round 1, new Adelaide captain Taylor Walker was Wayne Carey-esque as he had 22 touches, 15 marks and 11 scoring shots.
It’s a small sample size, no doubt, but maybe we might be seeing the rebirth of the key forward.
Teams are too well organised to see a return to 1990s-level bags of goals. But AFL spearheads once again are getting a decent number of opportunities for one-on-one contests with their opponents. These clashes between gun players are what make the game great.
Australian football was moving uncomfortably in the direction of rugby, with the heinous amount of players around the ball in recent seasons and the inability for individual battles to be played out in a modicum of space.
This problem is far from resolved, however the signs are good. As long as this attacking trend continues the game will be moving in the right direction.