Pocket dynamos
Brent Diamond | May 7, 2009
Small players are making a big impact on the game, writes Brent Diamond.RICHMOND forward Robin Nahas took it in his stride during a visit to Craigieburn Primary School when a year-five student shouted to him: "You look like one of us!"
Tiger teammates — including Graham Polak, Luke McGuane, Jake King and Dean Polo — broke into broad grins. Said Nahas: "Yeah, I've heard it all before."
"A few of my mates give me a lot of stick for being so small," Nahas said. "Obviously the bigger bodies make a major impact, but I have to be smart enough and quick enough to not let it worry me."
At 176 centimetres and 67 kilograms — he put on four kilos during the pre-season — Nahas, 21, is one of the smallest players in the AFL, but a trend in the modern game to take a chance on smaller, faster players led to him being selected in last year's AFL rookie draft.
In his third season at Port Melbourne in the VFL last year, Nahas was inspired to play an attacking forward role by the likes of Cyril Rioli at Hawthorn and speedy duo Lindsay Thomas and Matt Campbell at North Melbourne. Then there's Carlton's Eddie Betts, Geelong's Mathew Stokes, Essendon's Alwyn Davey and Leroy Jetta and Melbourne's Aaron Davey — it seems as if almost every team has a "little fella" these days.
"Those players have really paved the way for little guys like myself to get a chance and that defensive forward (role) is really big in the AFL at the moment. Hopefully, I can model my game around those guys who have been doing it for a few years and really get that aspect of my game up with a lot of tackling and chasing," Nahas said.
Richmond recruiting manager Craig Cameron was at the Demons and part of the brainstrust that selected Aaron Davey in the 2003 AFL rookie draft and five years later selected Nahas at the Tigers. Cameron said the game had swung, with more defensive mechanisms than ever before, making a small defensive forward a key part of the team.
"That (2003) was the time when the Brisbane Lions won the third of their three premierships in a row and everyone was probably looking for bigger bodies and that's why fellas like Aaron (Davey) missed out in the first cut," Cameron said. "But in the end, his leg speed, his decision-making and his ability to kick the ball meant that you couldn't completely ignore him.
"I think the game has shifted to having more defensive mechanisms inside forward 50 … the smaller player, because of their pace, … can cause rundown tackles and cause a bit more defensive pressure on kicks. I think that's what has brought about the need for the small forwards."
Nahas is Cameron's latest small-forward experiment.
"Robin was recruited for exactly that. He can kick the goals, as we saw last year in the VFL, but he's always great at running down and tackling and chasing guys inside 50. Whether he actually gets to a tackle or just the leg speed causes the kick to be under pressure, he's very effective to help our forwards defend," he said.
Hawthorn's list manager, Chris Pelchen, recruited goalkicking dynamo Rioli and Cameron Stokes as part of the "premiership model".
He believes every club needs at least one of these types to win a flag in the current game.
"I think it would be fair to say that you need at least one of those types to fulfil what is the ideal structure of a premiership side over the last decade," Pelchen said.
"I think players like Phil Matera and Aaron Davey probably in the modern era have made it somewhat fashionable to be a small elusive forward."
Pelchen said Rioli added "that electricity to the forward line". His instant effect on the Hawks also had a lot to do with the arrival of another dashing indigenous forward, Cameron Stokes.
"He had a very close relationship with Cyril and they were very, very close friends from childhood. We saw the natural advantage of having the two together which would help them both settle in Melbourne."
Gold Coast's Guy McKenna said the small-forward type was one of the top positions on his shopping list over the next year.
"I think what the game's demanding is for players to win their own ball," McKenna said. "I've obviously worked closely with Alan Didak. He's a great small forward, he's got a great work ethic and he's probably one of the best kicks on his left side that I've seen in the game for a long time."
AFL talent manager Kevin Sheehan said recruiting managers were looking far and wide for "the next Eddie Betts" in under-18 competitions. "I think it's swung around. It's clearly a genuine AFL position and most clubs have got nearly two in the side that have got great creative goalkicking ability and the ability to keep the ball in the forward line," Sheehan said.
"It's a spot, to some degree, the indigenous players have made their own. When you look across the competition, a lot of the smaller forwards are very quick indigenous players who have got freakish abilities around goal and the pace to run down opponents.
"I think it was a lot harder for those players to get a spot in the team before Aaron Davey arrived."
Nahas, who was one of the Tigers' best in their first win of the season against North Melbourne, was elevated from the rookie list — replacing Kane Johnson, who was placed on the long-term injury list — after impressing during the pre-season.
He made his debut against Geelong in round two, but found the going tough against some of the bigger-bodied Cats defenders.
"I played a couple of NAB Cup games and obviously there's a big step up from NAB Cup to round two. It was what I expected — bigger bodies, faster-paced. You really have to be switched on and I was a bit reactive. I've learnt a lot of lessons from that game. It doesn't get much harder than Geelong," he said. "I really want to set myself up to be a consistent footballer. It's going to take a bit of time for me to get used to the pace but I think it's just a matter of time … There's a lot of areas that I have to work on and I think that's the good thing. I've been given an opportunity."
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