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.
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.
“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.
Horrie
Guest
Good article. I remember Sutton did the swingman's role particularly well as did Kenny Hunter from the Blues. Traditionally the swingman was a defender who moved forward, but nowadays I think there are new roles. Franklin is one example. Normally a roaming forward, Buddy has increasingly been used as a midfielder in an effort to change things up. Westhoff is another example who has been used in various swingman roles, depending on the state of the game.
Macca
Guest
Yep 201 goals 150 behinds in 312 games, 4 times kicking 20 or more in a season with his highest being 28 goals 12 behinds from 12 games in 1992 is a pretty decent from the full back of the century.
DB
Guest
Stephen Silvagni was the best of the lot, Harry Taylor is the one from my team when I think of a swingman.
I hate pies
Guest
Swingmen that come to mind - the Reid brothers, Matt Spanghar, Michael Hurley...come to think of it, most of those have spent long periods on the sidelines; maybe it's not all it's cracked up to be.
Aransan
Guest
On another post I wrote: "I hope the Saints don’t make the mistake of playing Carlisle on the forward line. He is a confidence player, best played back but who can be used for his marking skills in the middle of the ground, a very occasional move forward for a quarter can work." Hurley originally played on the forward line but kept getting injured when playing there, since being moved back he has become an All-Australian and the injuries have largely disappeared. Like Carlisle I would advise only limited occasional moves forward for Hurley, but he will be particularly dangerous if his opponent draws him anywhere near the forward line. Cale Hooker is expected to be a success as a swingman but the hope is that he will play predominantly forward even though he was an All-Australian back.
Perry Bridge
Guest
Reading this I think with sadness of the recent passing of former North Melbourne player Darryl Sutton. Back in 1980 (Rnd 11 v StKilda at Moorabbin) he started at full back on Mark Scott (David Dench injured at the time). 4 goals later to Scott - and come quarter time Sutton was swung to full forward. 9 goals eventuated. A perfect example of the 'swing man'. At just 6 foot - back then he might find himself playing key position; as he did in the 1977 Grand finals against Collingwood which saw North line up with Sutton at CHB and 182cm Blight at CHF.
Nick Sculley
Roar Rookie
Agreed. I think in recent years it has been applied (incorrectly in my view) more to players whose clubs can't decide whether they are forwards or defenders. Almost exclusively at Essendon, where in my opinion they had three genuine All Australian defenders but only had room for two. I think the 'wings' in basketball closely resembles what used to be the 'utility' player in the AFL. The winger/ back-flanker/ forward-flanker, depending on the day of the week.
Arky
Guest
Adam Hunter was the first name I thought of when I saw "swingman" in the article title, and also the last player I can recall being referred to as a "swingman" all the time, who was regularly swapped between forward and backlines and not just thrown to the other end of the ground on occasion as an emergency roll of the dice or to cover for an injury. Definitely coaches' reluctance to part with their "structures" is part of this, and increasingly specialist line coaching and preparation is another. A number of current talls have played at both ends during their AFL careers, but they are rarely swung between ends during games or even during seasons (except as a one-off mid-season tactical change that tends to be permanent). Late career Drew Petrie, while not generally referred to as a swingman, was regularly swung back in fourth quarters by Brad Scott to protect North leads. It's the closest recent example I have. Always thought Petrie was suited to a swingman role more than a permanent key forward post, arguably his best season came years ago when he was forced to play #1 ruck for North for most of a season due to injury and had to swing between ruck, resting forwards and resting back. Could have been an AA CHB too. Maybe people just don't like the word, though. You used to hear "swingman" all the time in basketball to describe players who could play both shooting guard and small forward since they were swinging between a guard and forward position - these days they are almost invariably just called "wings".
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
Great article Nick.