AFL has returned in 2014 and what a weekend of football it was! Gold Coast recorded another victory against the Tigers, Port Adelaide proved too good for Carlton while Fremantle dismantled Collingwood and GWS did what no one saw coming.
This weekend showed the dominance of genuine forwards and how they do their best work. As we saw throughout the first four games, forwards do their best work in pairs.
When Fremantle played Collingwood on Friday night they were superb in all areas of the ground, showing their professionalism and dominance over the weak Magpies outfit.
After a competitive start from the Pies, Fremantle stormed over them especially in quarters two and three as they went on to record a 70-point victory at Docklands.
Three things were evident from this game. Firstly, the damaging midfield that Fremantle possess. Nat Fyfe, Michael Barlow, David Mundy and Tendai Mzungu were all terrific on in Melbourne, showing their composure and skills throughout the duration of the match.
Secondly, that pre-season form is insignificant to some degree. Fremantle put behind a nervous and awkward pre-season to perform magnificently on the field while Collingwood struggled for composure and fitness as they burnt the ball on many occasions.
Finally the significance of the two small forwards was crucial for Fremantle and has been since Ross Lyon took over in 2012.
Here I am talking about Hayden Ballantyne and Michael Walters. These players both kicked three majors each and again showed us about the damage forwards display in pairs.
Their work rate as small forwards is terrific as they can play both as defence forwards and attacking goal kickers with their skill set and defensive pressure extremely vital to both their games.
The theme of forwards working in pairs therefore continued throughout the weekend of football.
When GWS hosted Sydney on Saturday all the talk before the game was about Lance Franklin and the impact he would have working with Sam Reid and eventually Kurt Tippett when he returns.
However two other forwards stole the show for the hosts as they both showed how deadly they are at their best.
Jeremy Cameron (four) and Jonathan Patton (three) kicked seven goals between each other as the Giants upset their cross town rivals.
These two big tall forwards have the potential to provide headaches to opposition defensive line-ups for the next decade and who can forget they still have the number one draft pick Tom Boyd somewhere on the list!
If their is one thing that Gold Coast need to improve in 2014 it is their forward line and the ability to find tall forwards instead of relying on Tom Lynch.
Lynch was again superb agains the Tigers however, after resigning earlier in the week Prince Alfred College old scholar and Adelaide boy Sam Day repaid the faithful, showing the Suns supporters just how good he can really be.
Day was terrific in the Suns win over Richmond, as he and Lynch again worked together to derail the Tiger defence.
In the fourth and final game of the weekend Port Adelaide were very good against Carlton and took the four points.
This game however showed the impact of two vital players for the Power in Justin Westhoff and Robbie Gray who kicked five and four goals respectively.
Jay Schultz and Justin Westhoff were terrific for the Power in 2013 as they helped the side reach the semi-finals last season.
The Blues reliance on Jarrod Waite in the past has caused them some major problems and now with the departure of their best small forward Betts, emphasis must lay on the second tier players to stand up under the leadership of Mick Malthouse.
This was evident on Sunday night, as the Blues scored the majority of their goals from half forwards or midfielders lacking tall targets up forward.
This weekend therefore was a clear indication about the significance of having two damaging forwards whether they be key position players or small forwards. One can only imagine the damage that GWS will do in the future with their forward line-up in the next decade?
With five games still to come this round, we are yet to see the other forward combinations that will be unveiled this year, however what are your thoughts? Which side has the best forward combination in the competition?
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Collywobbles missed two bigguns in White and Reid, not sure they were capable of preventing a 70 pt deficit though What can you do against the giant Giants? Win the ball out of the centre I suppose. Freo's lack of another big lug up front might be a weakness but then again smaller, faster midfields can do the trick. Not that small is that small anymore and they seem to have a swathe of 190 players running around the shop. Be interesting to see how Hawthorn do up front post Franklin.
Gecko
Guest
What's really scarey about Patton and Cameron is that both have excellent recovery when the ball goes to ground. On the weekend, a lot of their goals actually came from spillages. Their recovery skills effectively mean that they can play close to each other up forward, which traditionalists would call "getting in each other's way", and can turn this into an advantage by having opponents guessing about which one is going to pull out of the contest early and go for the spillage. We could be about to see something new in forward structures.
Paul D
Roar Guru
In terms of talls, I'd say West Coast with Jack Darling & Josh Kennedy are one of the most lethal, particularly when you throw in either Cox or Natanui having a breather down front as well. Patton, Cameron and Boyd (who kicked about 4 goals in the reserves) are obviously a potent combination, if short on experience - Patton in particular was a bit of a forgotten man after his injury last year, and all the hype around Cameron and Boyd. But he is an absolute monster, and there's very few defenders who can go toe to toe with him. God alone knows how a defence will cope if GWS play all 3 and stick them up front - sure, they'll sacrifice some run, but with all of them practically demanding two defenders, you wouldn't want them getting into too many 1-1 contests. Would certainly provide plenty of targets to aim at!
TomC
Roar Guru
I agree with the stuff about how a forwardline with two dangerous tall forwards becomes more potent, as it's much harder for opposition defences to provide aerial support in two places at once. Not sure if the same logic applies to Ballantyne and Walters at Freo. It'll be interesting to see how much more dangerous Franklin looks when Tippett returns. To be honest, though, he was often beaten one-on-one by Davis.