King for a day, then Tiger is a commoner again
Jake Niall | March 31, 2008
IN ROUND one, Jake King was one of the reasons Richmond conquered Carlton. Last night, he was again a telling influence on the result.
For North Melbourne and Corey Jones, round one's capitulation to Essendon was one of those games that will be blanked from the memory. Jones' recall is less than total anyway, since he was knocked out by the friendly fire of teammate Nathan Thompson, and could only spectate as the Roos joined him on the canvas.
"I don't remember anything from the game," said Corey, who didn't bother re-visiting the Essendon embarrassment via DVD either.
King was nearly best afield against the Blues in the bogus blockbuster. Consequently, for several days, the hitherto anonymous 24-year-old battler was feted like, yes, a King, and even found his way to that unfamiliar address Denis Pagan cautioned players against: media street. By quarter-time yesterday evening, Jake King and Corey Jones were in very different places — literally so, given that King's brief stint as Jones' "opponent" had been terminated by Terry Wallace, perhaps belatedly.
By that stage, Jones had booted four goals — three of them on King, the 174centimetre and 74-kilogram bantamweight who can run but was hopelessly undersized and outclassed by 188-centimetre Jones, one the game's better flanking forwards.
Worse was to come for King, and more bounty for Mr Jones. At half-time, Corey had five goals. He would finish with seven. King, handed an easier assignment on Shannon Grant, neither as tall nor as quick as Jones, conceded a further three goals in the second term.
So, at half-time, King had six goals against him. Richmond's working-class man wasn't having the kind of Eureka game he and his coach envisaged. He began the third quarter on the bench, and then was given a task that seemed closer to his physical range — running with Brent Harvey.
In fairness to King, some of the half dozen scored against him weren't his fault. One was a free to Jones caused by Will Thursfield's clumsy spoil, another was from a mark to Grant in which the clever North forward blatantly shoved his hands in King's back.
The King mismatches weren't the only reason North beat the Tigers, who were smashed at the stoppages 39-20, and, predictably, didn't use the ball as well either.
Undersized defences have been a constant throughout Wallace's coaching career, and it is a pattern that he must halt if he is survive and thrive.
The King match-ups were redolent, if less dramatic, than the 1998 preliminary final, when Rohan Smith, a very good mid-sized player, was smashed by Jonathan Robran, a moderately performed key position forward. Robran booted six goals.
At Tigerland, Wallace has again found himself with limited resources in the tall back department, with the upshot that Joel Bowden — another excellent 188-centimetre flanker with magnificent play-reading skills — has been lumbered with monster after monster.
To a degree, the undersized defensive match-up must also be born of Plough's faith in the running rebound game. Quite often, the coach is willing to punt on his quicker defender running off the larger, slower forward; otherwise, why would he persist with Bowden on the likes of Anthony Rocca?
Had King been able to spoil through his speed, and then initiate attacks with his explosive speed, the Jones and Grant match-ups might have been worked.
That they didn't rendered them mismatches, and this time, it'll be a game that King will find a way to forget.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/king-for-a-day-then-tiger-is-a-commoner-again/2008/03/30/1206850706981.html
