Why Hodge thinks Pies must begin tagging star opposition midfielders

Luke Hodge thinks that Collingwood should begin tagging the opposition’s midfield stars.

While Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick said last week that clubs should tag Nick Daicos and Jordan De Goey late in games after the duo sparked a Collingwood comeback before going down 101-90, Hodge thinks that Pies coach Craig McRae should be taking that advice and applying it to the opposition’s best player.

Looking at last week’s defeat to the Suns, Noah Anderson had 39 disposals and was prolific, while Luke Davies-Uniacke (31 disposals), Marcus Bontempelli (38 disposals), Andrew Brayshaw (31 disposals) and Matt Crouch (34 disposals) have all had big games against the Pies since Round 10.

Hodge thinks that the Pies should look at using Jack Crisp in a shutdown role as he did on King’s Birthday when he stood next to Clayton Oliver at stoppages before running hard the other way when his side won the ball at clearance.

“I was looking before when Dimmer said, ‘Jeez, you probably should tag Daicos because I'm not going to lie, both of them (as well as Jordan De Goey) are pretty handy’,” Hodge said on SEN Sportsday.

“We saw what Josh (Daicos) did at times on the weekend and we all know what Nick does.

“But I've been looking at the opposition to Collingwood's midfield and maybe they should start to (tag the opposition).

“Maybe have a little bit of a look at maybe Crisp doing a bit of a shutdown role, because in their losses (opposition midfielders have been prolific).

“On the weekend, Noah Anderson had 39 and Sam Flanders had 33.

“Then you look at the game they had against Bulldogs, Marcus Bontempelli had 38, Adam Treloar had 37, Bailey Dale had 35.”

Coming up against Zach Merrett and Essendon this week, it could prove the perfect opportunity for Collingwood to trial a tag or shutdown role given the Dons skipper won the Anzac Day Medal in the 85-85 draw with 31 disposals and six clearances.

Hodge is worried that they could begin dropping out of the contending race if they keep allowing opposition guns to dictate games on the run home to finals.

“If you're winning which Collingwood has done for the last 18 months, obviously with the Grand Final last year (you stick to your processes),” Hodge said.

“But they're sort of in and around that mix that if you drop a couple of games (they could miss finals).

“As much as Dimmer said other teams should respect Daicos a little bit more, maybe Collingwood should start to shut a couple down because midfielders are too damaging these days.

“They don't just get it and just flick off one or two handballs. They get it, break the lines and they can kick goals.

“Maybe they should start to keep an eye on the opposition’s mids so they're not getting so much of the football and giving their forwards opportunity.”

Merrett has passed the 30-disposal marker in nine of his last 12 games against Collingwood.

Friday’s game against Essendon begins at 7:40 pm (AEST) at the MCG.