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An incident in the third quarter of last weekend’s North Melbourne versus Gold Coast Suns clash typified the changing face of AFL football.
The Suns had jumped their opponents early and skipped out to a handy lead, but the Roos were fighting back hard and looked as though they would run over the top of the league’s new glamour side.
When North speedster Brent Harvey grabbed the ball on the wing and took off for one of his trademark blistering runs, another successful forward foray for the Shinboners beckoned.
It was not to be however, as the usually elusive Roo veteran was charged down by Gold Coast big man Sam Day. It was almost akin to Wile E. Coyote finally catching Roadrunner.
This is not to discredit Day. His determination to chase so vigorously and then lay an effective tackle to thwart a play that looked to be all in North Melbourne’s favour was applauded long and hard by appreciative supporters.
But it is something that wouldn’t have happened back in the ‘old days’, and it makes me shake my head in wonder every time I see something similar.
You see, traditionally, big blokes aren’t supposed to be able to chase down little blokes.
While Day – standing at 196 centimetres and weighing 103 kilograms – mightn’t be the biggest of the AFL giants, he is still a large unit. Harvey on the other hand is a bite-sized 167 centimetres tall, with a 75-kilogram frame, loaded with deadly fast-twitch muscle fibre.
In a footrace between the pair you’d place your money on Harvey every time.
But not this time.
The athletic prowess of some of the taller, bigger-bodied players making names for themselves in the AFL these days leaves the lumbering dinosaurs of times past staring sadly into their beers.
Of course we have always had a smattering of mobile or agile big blokes. For every Justin Madden there was always a Peter Moore or Jimmy Stynes to balance the ledger. But as good as that pair were, neither would have been able to chase down a flying Brent Harvey.
And that is where more and more of today’s bigger men are finding an advantage. They have added speed to their arsenal.
Lance Franklin and Dustin Fletcher are both 198 centimetres tall. Although they compete at opposite ends of the ground, each possesses a turn of pace that has played to their advantage over the years. Fletcher’s closing speed in a contest has allowed him to play on much smaller opponents while Franklin has thrilled the crowds with long-ranging runs as he bounces his way towards goal.
Both are significantly taller than some of the great ruckmen of yesteryear, yet it is hard to envisage the likes of Don Scott (190cm), John Nicholls (189cm) or Barry Round (193cm) out sprinting the athletic duo.
In those days the fast stuff was left to mosquito fleets of sub-six footers.
But times change.
These days the world record for the 100 and 200 metre sprints is held by a freak of nature who stands 196 centimetres tall (that’s 6′ 5” in the old language) and weighs 94 kilograms. That is astonishing. It makes you wonder what comes next?
History shows that world-record-holding sprinters have grown a staggering 16 centimetres in height since 1900. This figure becomes even more remarkable considering that the general population has only grown an average of 4.8 centimetres over the same time period.
We are seeing the same sort of development in our footballers and it is exciting.
Being fast, nippy and agile was once the domain of players like Cyril Rioli or Gary Ablett Jnr. Now it appears that size doesn’t matter after all.
While at times we may lament the style of play that is dished up to us on weekends, or the decisions of the game’s judiciary (Jack Viney anyone?), there is no doubt that the amazing displays of athleticism by the players themselves continue to entertain and keep us spellbound.
Big blokes are doing today what few imagined they could do even twenty years ago.
Just imagine what might be happening in another twenty years.
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