Tom McDonald went forward because they needed him to. Tom McDonald went in the ruck because they needed him to.
Where does Tom McDonald go when it is not about need? Where does Melbourne want Tom McDonald to go?
More AFL Real Footy Videos
AFL plays of round 14
Hawk Mitchell helps ground the Crows, Swan Mills takes a ripper defensive grab, Roo Higgins does a 'Charlie Dixon', Dees break a western hoodoo and the final touch from Docker Walters delivers ecstasy for Chris Scott .
The easy answer is they want him to go where they need him most. But where does he go when needs and wants collide, when needs are equal?
McDonald was the match-winner on Saturday night as a forward. He kicked five. He kicked the winner. He was a star.
![Dom Tyson and Tom McDonald celebrate the Demons' win.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170628160558im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/y/z/l/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwyzaj.png/1498515930649.jpg)
It was not that he was on the spot to kick a goal in that moment of greatest need, it was that he played the game with a forward's understanding. He knew where to be.
Not all defenders who swing forward have a natural understanding of how to play it. It's a small body of work for McDonald as a successful and damaging forward, but he has made a case to say he looks to play it naturally.
He arrived at the club as a forward, but that is standard for AFL key defenders for all the best juniors were the best forwards and midfielders. (No one grows up dreaming of being the guy who gets a fist in for a spoil.)
There is also a difference between being an impact forward and a permanent forward. There is the player who goes forward in a game and the one who starts there.
Harry Taylor has dealt with that. He has shown he can successfully play as a permanent forward, but you cannot escape the idea that he is a natural defender who will always only be a lesser version of himself as a forward.
Geelong wonders weekly if the structural help he gives them as a forward outweighs the loss of him as a defender. Indeed that debate continues on a quarter by quarter basis – on Sunday he again swung back to defence mid-match when the Dockers scooted ahead. Collingwood debates likewise with Ben Reid.
Is McDonald like Reid and Taylor – excellent defenders who are serviceable forwards – or like former Melbourne captain David Neitz who was excellent at either end?
Melbourne's need demanded no debate on Saturday. With no Watts or Hogan and Weideman still physically maturing they felt they needed him more forward.
But if Josh Kennedy played for the Eagles would McDonald have played forward? It's doubtful. The guiding philosophy at clubs still tends to be that the first concern is to staunch the defence then worry about kicking a score.
West Coast had Jeremy McGovern, Jack Darling and Drew Petrie and McDonald stayed forward. He loomed as the swing player to go back but if one got away – and that question will have been asked as Petrie reprised the form of earlier in his career – but the Demons clearly never felt it was completely out of control behind the ball and McDonald was having a bigger impact forward. They let the defenders roll.
So when Jesse Hogan comes back into the team and Jack Watts returns from injury does McDonald stay forward? Cam Pedersen deserves to keep his place forward and as mobile second ruckman so he would be expected to remain.
McDonald then most likely goes back to defence, a move that puts the squeeze either on his brother Oscar's position in the team or on Sam Frost.
Conversely the pressure would also be on Pedersen to sustain his form as McDonald has shown he can play second ruck and forward.
Not all sides play three forwards but it will depend on whether the opposition plays one, two or three talls and then how good those talls and smalls are. Again, with Kennedy in the side at the weekend would McDonald have played forward? Unlikely.
It is also doubtful if the finals-bound Demons were to play the top of the ladder Giants with Jeremy Cameron, Jonathon Patton and Rory Lobbe in the forward line, that they would not play McDonald in defence.
Two weeks ago McDonald was the stepladder, or trampoline, for Jeremy Howe twice in a minute. Ten days later he was the match-winner. Images, like positions, change quickly.
2 comments
New User? Sign up