Meet the AFL’s next generation of gun forwards

Debate always rages over who are the best players in the AFL and which position is most important to winning a premiership. But there should be no debate as to what type of player is the biggest drawcard: dominant forwards.

For example, during Tony Lockett time at the Sydney Swans (1995 – 1999) average home crowds increased by over 200 per cent. Crowds dropped by 16 per cent in 2000 after Lockett retired and did not recover until Barry Hall came to town.

Fans have been flooding into stadiums to see the likes of Gary Ablett Snr, Jason Dunstall, Tony Modra, Matthew Lloyd and Buddy Franklin for years.

In 2013 we are faced with three young forwards (20-years-old and younger) who are likely to have fantastic careers and become the next generation of crowd drawers.

Jeremy Cameron has been a revelation at the GWS Giants. He kicked four goals against Geelong on Saturday, to bring his tally to 31 goals from 11 games. He sits equal third in the Coleman Medal race and is a legitimate chance to take out the award.

Cameron currently kicks almost a quarter of the points scored by the Giants, the highest average in the league.

Cameron’s performance is even more impressive when you consider the relative youth and inexperience of the Giant’s squad.

Unlike most other forwards he has not benefited from quality or quantity of forward entries. He frequently finds himself playing against opponents who are not only more experienced by physically bigger and stronger. And none of it has mattered.

Although other forwards have been dominant at 20 years of age (Franklin kicked 73 goals at 20 in 2007), few have been as good in such difficult circumstances.

Cameron most closely resembles recent Hall of Fame inductee Matthew Lloyd. Like Lloyd, Cameron has great hands and is an accurate kick for goal at almost 80 per cent accuracy in 2013.

Regardless of whether Franklin goes to GWS or not, the Giants will have an imposing forward line in a couple of years time.

On Friday night, the Bombers saw the debut of Joe Daniher, the son of former Sydney / Essendon player Anthony Daniher.

Daniher joined the Bombers with huge wraps after a dominant season in the under 18 TAC Cup.

Last year Calder Cannons talent manager Ian Kyte said that Daniher was as impressive a footballer as he had seen at that level.

“Potentially he could be one of the best players to ever go through the TAC Cup in the 21 years I’ve seen of it, since its been going, and that’s putting him up against people like [Chris] Judd, [Tom] Scully [and Trent] Cotchin,” Kyte says.

Daniher, who stands 201cm although there was talk on Friday night that he may be taller than that, was allowed to develop in the VFL earlier this season.

After playing seven games and kicking 21 goals (including 29 scoring shots in four weeks) for Essendon’s VFL team he finally earned a call-up to the seniors.

In front of over eighty thousand fans, Daniher acquitted himself well finishing with 15 possessions and five marks.

He was out-manoeuvred by Carlton’s Lachlan Henderson early but worked his way into the contest.

He has two chances to kick a goal to put the Bombers in front late in the game but missed both opportunities. But perhaps more importantly he showed enough to suggest that he will become a fixture in the Bombers’ line-up.

Daniher most closely resembles another Bomber Paul Salmon. Like Salmon, Daniher will always have a size advantage over his opponent and perhaps the kicking inefficiencies that go along with dropping the ball from such a height.

However, Daniher is more athletic than Salmon, particularly after Salmon returned from a knee reconstruction in 1984.

Finally, we have Melbourne’s Jesse Hogan who Melbourne obtained in the pre-season mini-draft from the GWS Giants.

The 18-year-old will not be able to play until next season.

Nevertheless, the youngster has shown enough to get Melbourne and neutral fans excited about his future.

If he was allowed to play he would already have played most games this season given the Demon’s struggles this year.

I suspect he will benefit from a season at Casey in the VFL, protected from the media scrutiny that hounds everyone down at Melbourne at the moment.

He has kicked 20 goals in eight games in the VFL this season, including two best on ground performances against Geelong and North Ballarat. Not a bad return for an 18-year-old.

Much to the frustration of Melbourne fans he is physically ready to play, with a maturity that belies his meagre years.

At first glance he reminds me of a Jonathan Brown, a centre-half-forward type, who does not mind physical confrontation. In a couple of years time a forward line featuring Hogan, Mitch Clark and Chris Dawes will be formidable.

For many fans you might have only heard these names in passing but over the next few years all three will become household names.

These three, combined with the likes of Taylor Walker, Jack Reiwoldt, Jonathan Patton and Buddy Franklin will hopefully usher in a new age of dominant forwards and goalkickers.

It has been five long seasons since fans last had the opportunity to run on to the field to celebrate a forward kicking their one hundredth goal for the season but hopefully another opportunity will be right around the corner.