Kane Cornes and Garry Lyon have slammed the absence of taggers across the league after Sam Walsh and Tim Kelly were able to run free and be pivotal in getting the Eagles and Carlton over the line in Round 7.
Kelly ran amok on Sunday afternoon at Optus Stadium with one of the performances of the year, gathering 42 disposals and 22 contested possessions, while Walsh was the best midfielder on the ground in a tight contest with 33 disposals.
Both their oppositions, Fremantle and Essendon respectivley, refused to actively limit their influence and instead allowed them to rack up possessions at will.
Kelly was overjoyed post-game at the amount of space he was afforded in the Western derby.
“I felt good today, I’ve been getting a fair bit of attention and I’ve been copping the tag the last few weeks. I felt a bit freer today and the Fremantle boys just went head to head with us,” Kelly said.
Lyon could not believe Fremantle had decided against tagging Kelly, as the Dockers instead tried to match it with the talented Eagles midfield.
“It is your duty as an opposition to not let the other team feel good,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.
“It will kill you in the end, your inability to coach the defensive aspect of football.
They don’t even pay lip-service to it anymore.”
Cornes shared similar feelings about Walsh’s game on Sunday, saying Curnow’s tag on Zach Merrett highlighted its importance.
“I thought (Curnow) limited Merrett’s influence. (Like Merrett) Walsh is taggable,” Cornes said.
“He’s a smaller midfielder so he’s not going to go forward and expose you like a Dustin Martin or (Christian) Petracca or (Marcus) Bontempelli. He’s vert taggable but no one’s done it yet, that’ll be the next evolution of his game.
He’s overtaken Patrick Cripps as their best player.”
However, Lyon believes there’s only one team that doesn’t need to tag opposition midfielders.
“Richmond. They’ve got a team defensive accountability… (but they are) the only ones who can do it,” Lyon said.
“If you’ve got three (premiership) medallions, you come to me and go we’re not tagging anyone, I’ll get on my knees and say nor should you.”