Essendon’s Orazio Fantasia struggled in his first two games of 2020 in his customary role as a small forward.
In Round 1 against Fremantle he had just six possessions and kicked one goal before battling away in the Bombers’ Round 4 loss to Carlton with minimal impact for another six touches and no score.
With his subpar form in mind, the Dons coaching staff opted for a positional change when they took on Collingwood in Round 5, sending Fantasia to the half-back flank where he become much more involved. He then stepped up as a dashing defender with 19 accomplished disposals in the weekend’s win over North Melbourne.
It prompted former Bombers skipper Tim Watson to pose the following question on SEN Breakfast: “What do you think of the move of Orazio Fantasia to half-back?”
To which Garry Lyon replied: “I don’t mind it because he was doing bugger all at the other end of the ground. In fact he’s been one of the big disappointments, Orazio.
“I always say, before you drop them, send them to half-back. Now you’ve got Orazio, you’ve got (Adam) Saad and you’ve got (Conor) McKenna all charging off half-back with a bit of class and creativity.
“I don’t mind it at all. I think it will take a bit of pressure off him.”
It’s not the first time Fantasia has played off half-back, performing well there in 2015 and the early stages of 2016 before he went forward to great effect.
Similarly, Sydney youngster Nick Blakey is finding it difficult in his role as a key forward in his second year of footy which suggests to Melbourne great Lyon that perhaps a shift to defence could allow him to find some form.
“To that end, one of our favourites is ‘The Lizard’ Blakey,” he said.
“We both text each other at the same time and said he has been nowhere this year and that a move to half-back would be the beautiful remedy for that young man.
“Just take some pressure off him. He tries to play like a six-foot-six power forward. He’s not that yet.
“He’s got great heart, he gets to contests, he tries his guts out but he’s not finding the footy.
“Give him four weeks at half-back. Did they did it with (Will) Hayward who’s starting to find a bit of the footy. Give him a run at half-back. Bring (Callum) Mills up, put Blakey back and away you go.”
Watson added: “I think that’s a really good point. It’s hard for a young bloke to be playing that position, particularly when he doesn’t have a lot of support around.
“There’s no Buddy (Lance Franklin) there to play off so he’s getting a better quality defender week in, week out.
“He’s going to be a really good player. He has a couple of brain lapses from time to time as well but I think that is what they need to do and they don’t have a lot of options at the moment.
“So you’ve got to weigh up the development of a young player and giving him the grounding in playing AFL football, not wearing him out and getting him to the point where he almost starts to lack confidence in his own ability after he came into the game looking like he was going to be one of the best young players in the game.
“They are probably at that stage right now.”
Lyon concluded: “He will be (one of the best young players). He’ll get there.”