It looked to me like the first half they had Dylan only matching him at the bounces, and then after half time he went full āsafety blanketā mode - is this accurate?
In fact he started in the centre for the first bounce on him but then gave him a long rope. He wasnāt even in the centre on him for the next two or three bounces. Seemed to have a long stint on the bench early in the first.
This kid has matched Cripps Parker and Cunnington for strength over the last month. Heās farking 21. Heāll be one of the strongest (physically at least) inside players in the league within a few years.
And he has the tank to match. Heāll be the best ātaggerā in the comp imo. He doesnāt just nullify his opponent he beats them to the ball and does it at the coalface which is a rare ability against the best stoppage players in the AFL. He is much more effective when deployed on genuine inside mids instead of on outside leaning runners. Matt Crouch is gonna be a good challenge for him but he matches up well.
His kicking is not super damaging (also far from being a liability) but his hands in contested situations are among our best. His disposal is not a problem.
He just needs to keep doing what heās doing and over the next few years find a way to increase his disposal and clearance counts. He looks at home at AFL level and needs to keep developing there.
but the way he held a pillow over cunningtons face was a sight to behold. Cunnington has absolutely dicked our midfield in terms of contested presence for years, yes weāve won a few recent, be heās generally been the reason weāre close, especially in a midfield were our best mids are < 100 games, having someone just body cunnington all day every day. ā ā ā ā north.
Cunnington (200 odd games over his career) has this year (excluding yesterday) been averaging 28.4 disposals (17 contested) and 8 clearances.
Yesterday, Dylan Clarke (in only his 7th AFL game,) kept Cunnington to 15 disposals (7 contested,) and 2 clearances. Clarke basically halved him.
BTW, so far this year (excluding our game against Carlton in R11,) Cripps has averaged 28.7 disposals (17 contested) and 8.7 clearances. When we played Carlton in R11, Clarke kept him to 11 disposals (9 contested,) and 2 clearances.
If this is Wooshaās idea of ānot tagging,ā I hope we continue to use Dylan Clarke to ānot tagā the oppositionsā best mids.
Going into the game Cunnington was the biggest threat Norf had, and has been since Higgins injury. This was as dangerous a game as we could have faced at this stage of the season. Norf had some seriously good form coming into the game. Clarke nullified Cunnington completely, it was a great effort.
āAnother one bites the dust, and another oneās gone, and another oneās gone, etc.ā