Forward

When he doesn't expect great things from his team, The Footy Bogan looks elsewhere for his jollies. Hoping to see Carlton lose (like last week), he tuned in to Friday Night Football.


The Bogan has said it before: it's always a bigger thrill to see Carlton lose than it is to see Collingwood win. And this match had it all. The final result was nearly 70 points, but the Bogan really lucked in. With one of his reasons-for-living overseas, he went for tea to the home of his other. By the time he got home and sat down in front of the box, it was nearly quarter time. Carlton didn't score in the second quarter. During the time that he watched, Carlton was beaten 16 goals to 3.

But that wasn't what inspired him to write; that was just a bit of drive-by schadenfreude. No, what caught his eye was a real forward. Well, actually, two.

Clearly, the star of the night was Josh Kennedy, who kicked 10.1. He single-handedly (single-footedly) kicked more goals than Carlton. But it's not just the number of goals he kicked; it's the comparison he provides with Cloke. Every one of his 10 goals looked a certainty. So accurately did he kick that when he lined up for his one miss, deep in the pocket, this observer thought that nothing would be beyond him.

Kennedy took many marks, all about 10-20 metres from goal, all on very little angle. He just quietly went back and slotted them. Mostly, the goal umpire did not move. His miss, as has been said, was from the pocket.

Cloke, on the other hand, is never a certainty, even from directly in front, 10m out. He's managed to botch all sorts of gimmes. I guess that's why he sets so little store by marking close to goal. Cloke gets lots of marks further out and on larger angles. Since he's about 50% from anywhere, there's a perverse logic in his play. But wouldn't we rather a forward like Kennedy? I would.

The commentators couldn't stop talking about the rarity of kicking a bag of 10, something Cloke has never done and probably never will. (His biggest bag, 7, came in 2011 against Richmond.) I think they said this was Kennedy's third.

Kennedy's performance took some of the shine off LeCras's. On any other night, 4.2 would have been reasonably impressive. LeCras himself has, on another occasion, snaffled a bag of 10 or more. But you just had to watch him to understand why. LeCras is a beautiful kick of the ball; you'd never accuse Cloke of that. Sure, he kicks long distances; he passes very effectively; but his kicking is more grunt than class.

LeCras has class; Kennedy not so much. This game, he managed to muzzle the sewing machine a bit. But even with his strange action, he has proven to be very effective over the long haul.

Since this piece is supposed to be about a real forward, I ought to have ended there. But then I couldn't resist a couple of further bits of schadenfreude. One was the observation that Kennedy was traded by Carlton to West Coast in exchange for Judd. Actually, based on tonight's performance, you could make a case for two. Firstly, Kennedy repaid Carlton by towelling them up. Secondly, in terms of value for the night, West Coast got more out of Kennedy than Carlton got out of Judd.

The other thought was that Malthouse still doesn't seem to do much as a game-day coach. The commentators pointed out, I think before half time, that the way West Coast had set up was a forward's dream. The high forwards were told to push up, opening up a large area in front of Kennedy. Many of his marks were uncontested as he ran into space; quite a few were chest marks. You'd think an extra mid-size defender might have made things a little more difficult for Kennedy. Had West Coast responded by sending a man back, Carlton could have sent another man back - eventually congesting the forward line. It might have come at the cost of little forward thrust from Carlton, but almost any result would have been better for Carlton than the one they got.

Oh, it's raining irony: Casboult reminds me of Cloke; strong mark, hopeless kick.

The final lesson for Collingwood might be this. From the last break, the commentary spent considerable time discussing the possibilities of Kennedy kicking his tenth goal. I suspect that some of the West Coast three-quarter-time chatter might have been about that also. Carlton might also have noticed his contribution. Nonetheless, as the final term progressed, the Eagles refused the obvious play. Time and again, they kicked to the forward in the best position. LeCras kicked the first for the Eagles; Kennedy the next, 12 minutes into the quarter. LeCras kicked the next two; Cripps the two after that. They didn't just bomb it long to Kennedy. In fact, they never did that. Many of his marks were from accurate mid-distance low passes.

I think there's something in that for all of us.