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Each week we’re seeing more AFL players move between the forward line and defence as coaches look for left-field solutions to ongoing deficiencies. The swingmen are back in town.
Versatile key position players are rare commodity in the AFL and when a coach unearths one, they are suddenly the go-to-guy when something is wrong. Some players build their careers on this versatility while others reinvent themselves at the opposite end of the ground.
Already this year, we have seen Harry Taylor kick bags of goals when pushing forward and Jake Carlisle taking match saving marks one week before kicking match winning goals the next.
Here’s a look at my five best swingmen of the past decade.
5. Adam Hunter
He may never have won an All-Australian honour or even a club best and fairest but Adam Hunter was the epitome of versatility. He was capable in literally any position on the ground, seamlessly moving between defence, the wing and the forward line with very few noticing.
It was rare for Worsfold to play Hunter in one position for an entire game. History will list him as a defender but whenever the Eagles were in trouble, Hunter would pop up with a goal or two.
He played 151 games for the Eagles and kicked 87 goals. In the Eagles 2006 premiership year, Hunter missed three games and still finished as the team’s third leading goalscorer.
He averaged 13.7 disposals per game with 4.6 marks so he was never a statistical machine. Nonetheless, he stood up on the big stage to play a vital role in the 2006 grand final where he had 22 possessions and kicked a goal.
The Eagles won by a solitary point.
4. Cameron Mooney
He won three premierships and an All-Australian jumper (2007) playing in the forward line but for the first half of his career, Cameron Mooney was a defender.
His aggression was channelled towards opposition big men and he performed admirably alongside Matthew Scarlett, Tom Harley and Brenton Sanderson.
At the time, the Cats had an abundance of quality key defenders and Mooney would drift forward occasionally or be called into the ruck.
In the famous 2006 post-season review of the Geelong Football Club when every aspect of the team was scrutinised after a disappointing season, the decision was made to turn Mooney into a permanent forward.
Dispelling the aggression which often kept him on the sidelines, Mooney became the centrepiece of the Geelong’s attack. Taking a leadership role, he blossomed and became the ultimate team man.
In the first eight years of his career, Mooney kicked 87 goals across 119 games. It was quite a good return for a defender. During the second half of his career as a reinvented forward, Mooney kicked 210 goals across 102 games.
3. Chris Tarrant
With the rollercoaster ride that has been Chris Tarrant’s career over, it’s not yet clear whether he will be remembered as a forward or a defender. And that would be the most accurate way to remember Tarrant’s on-field activities.
In the early stages of his career before he joined Collingwood’s infamous ‘Rat Pack’, Tarrant was a bright-eyed high flyer. If he was given a run at the ball, commentators gasped with baited breath in anticipation for another mark of the year contender.
As a forward, 2003 was his best year when he averaged 15 disposals and 8.8 marks per game while chiming in with 54 goals for the season. Collingwood made it to the grand final too.
From that point onwards, it was downhill both on and off the field. It prompted a change in scenery which landed the talented Tarrant in Fremantle. He continued playing in the forward line but things just didn’t work out.
A coaching change at the Fremantle eventually saw Tarrant trialled in defence where he played out the remainder of his career, even when he returned to Collingwood.
2. Luke McPharlin
It took eight years and a cross-country voyage for the football world to find McPharlin’s best position.
Famously traded from the Hawks to Fremantle in exchange for the draft picks that netted Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell, McPharlin was expected by all to become the next Wayne Carey.
Capable of taking huge pack marks and using his 91kg frame to outmuscle opponents, everything about McPharlin made him the prototype full forward.
In his first two seasons in the AFL at Hawthorn, he played just eight games and kicked three goals. Nevertheless, the brains trust at Fremantle somehow believed he would become the best player in the league.
They tried him as a forward – it didn’t work.
They tied him as a defender – it didn’t work.
They tried him as a forward again – it didn’t work again.
That decision to trade McPharlin for the draft picks which gave Hawthorn Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell could not have gone any worse. What was next?
Try him at a defender again!
Somehow, most likely with some unbelievable coaching from Mark Harvey – it worked.
It was in McParlin’s twelfth AFL season that he established himself as the best key defender in the competition. He was extremely unlucky not to be named the All Australian full back in 2011 but the selection committee made amends in 2012 and McPharlin is likely to reprise the role in 2013.
If Fremantle does go on to win the premiership this year, that famous 2001 trade is going to look like a stroke of genius.
1. Matthew Pavlich
He’s not just the best swingman of the past decade; he is one of the best overall players of the past decade. The Fremantle talisman is adored in the West where he has just about achieved everything there is to achieve in football except win a premiership.
The captain and games record holder for the club has been awarded an astonishing six All-Australian jumpers. Even more astonishing, he has been named at five different positions.
He was named at full back in 2003, forward flank in 2003, centre half forward in 2005, full forward in 2007 and on the bench in 2006 and 2008.
Not only has Pavlich been able to play at both ends of the ground when required, but his ground level skills as a midfielder for a 192cm player are unrivalled in the league.
In the second half of his career, Pavlich was used exclusively in the forward line with rare stints in the midfield. He may not have swung into defence as often as he did earlier in his career but there should be little doubt that Matthew Pavlich has been the most versatile player in the league for a very long time.
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