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The return of the swingman

Nick Sculley new author
Roar Rookie
14th February, 2017
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Nick Sculley new author
Roar Rookie
14th February, 2017
9

As a failed forward in my junior days who found a home in the backline, it was still quite the thrill whenever I was thrown forward late in games in a desperate attempt from the coach to shake things up.

Sometimes it worked. Most of the time it didn’t.

That’s probably why I loved the era of the swingman a decade or so ago, when the likes of Adam Hunter, Chad Cornes, and Matt Maguire would push forward in the second half to provide their respective teams with a spark.

Adam Hunter’s four-goal haul in West Coast’s come-from-behind 2005 preliminary final win against Adelaide is the gold standard for swingmen as far as I’m concerned.

While ‘Goose’ Maguire is the outlier here – having only kicked 21 goals in his career and no more than six in a season – as a St Kilda fan in an era when the Saints were oh so close to reaching a grand final, “it’s time to throw Goose forward” was a phrase uttered all too frequently.

Midway through last season, there was an AFL Media article regarding the death of the swingman, which didn’t offer any reason why this was happening beyond injuries and suspensions to potential swingmen such as Ben Reid, Michael Hurley and Jake Carlisle.

It’s difficult to speculate on exactly why we have seen a drop-off in backmen shifting forward. But, I’m sure the increase in rotations and the finely-tuned defensive structures we see in today’s game, has partly led to a reluctance to shift a centre-half back to the forward line and risk breaking said structure.

As a Saints fan, while there are a number of things to wish for in the upcoming season – including being involved in finals footy – I’m hopeful that Carlisle can have an impact at both ends of the ground.

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You take these things with a shaker of salt, but the word is that the St Kilda hierarchy has been blown away with Carlisle’s application over the pre-season and his desire to make up for lost time.

Carlisle was recruited to hold down play at full-back or centre-half back and will be the club’s first genuine key defender – along with fellow new recruit Nathan Brown – since the retirement of Max Hudghton at the end of 2009. Sam Fisher, Zac Dawson, and Luke Delaney among others, have held down these key defender posts with varying success.

Yet, for the most part, they have been outsized when it comes to tackling the league’s dominant key forwards.

In Carlisle (201cm, 102kg) and Brown (195cm, 98kg), the Saints have a pair that can match up physically with just about any key forward combination in the AFL today. Throw Hugh Goddard (196cm, 98kg) into the mix, and this St Kilda backline looks stacked with versatility when you consider the likes of new captain, Jarryn Geary, Sean Dempster, and a young group led by Jimmy Webster.

So, then, what happens when St Kilda are down at three-quarter time in a close game and key forwards Josh Bruce, Patrick McCartin, Tim Membrey or even Nick Riewoldt are struggling to break the game open? Surely Alan Richardson will be tempted to throw caution to the wind – a favourite footy cliche of mine – and push Carlisle forward.

Though Carlisle has stated in the past that he wants to be a defender, he has also kicked eight goals in a game once and four goals twice.

Writing for The Age in 2014, Garry Lyon offered this about Carlisle and Essendon’s keenness to convert him into a full-time forward – “Making a short visit to these foreign lands, doesn’t tend to present too many difficulties. Carlisle pinch-hit as a forward last year with devastating effect. He immediately had an impact when swung forward during a game, taking marks and hitting the scoreboard at critical times.

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“On more than one occasion he swung the momentum of a game. But going on a little ‘holiday’ to a foreign place is a whole lot different to living there full-time.”

After being forced to take a holiday from the game in 2016, I’m looking forward to seeing Carlisle’s occasional sojourn to the forward 50 in 2017 and beyond.

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