Fox Footy’s David King has labelled Sydney Swans superstar Isaac Heeney the “unicorn” of the AFL, lauding the hybrid 27-year-old’s ability to influence games in a plethora of ways.
The long-time forward has been at the epicentre of Sydney’s stirring start to the season, with the Swans recording four wins from their first five fixtures to sit among the competition’s top four entering Round 6.
But, while Heeney’s dominance has been devastating for opponents thus far, King floated a little-tried tactic for opposition sides to curtail him.
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Through five games in 2024, the Swans sit first in the competition in scores per inside-50 rate, third in points from stoppages and fourth in points from intercepts — showcasing their offensive efficiency and potency to punish teams off turnover.
“This is where they’re dangerous,” King Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Wednesday evening.
“We’ve been talking in the last few weeks — (are those statistical rankings) talent related?
“When I look at Isaac Heeney, (he) is the game’s unicorn right now. He is everything to every position on the ground. There (aren’t) many doing this.
“If you can just think, this is a blend of Christian Petracca and Patrick Dangerfield — but he can kick the footy.
“He’s lethal by foot — there’s no one else doing what he’s doing. When he goes in at centre bounces, he’s the best in the competition. His clearances become scores.
“He’s one of the rare centre-forward players that goes back to D-50 to get involved because the team needs him to, then he uses his decision-making and his kicking skills.”
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Heeney is averaging 10.5 score involvements per game and is involved in close to 40 per cent of Sydney’s scoring.
“This is what he’s doing really well,” the two-time premiership winner continued.
“When you play as a midfielder that gets forward, you get midfield matchups. The (opponent is) vulnerable the moment (Heeney) steps inside their defensive 50. He’s got them. His smarts, his craft and his sheer talent come to the fore.
“Every time he goes into one facet or one component of the game, if he’s not the best in the comp, he’s in the top two or three. He’s a rare talent.”
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When the Swans target Heeney inside 50, he’s the most likely player in the competition to turn that target into a score for his team.
“You’ve got to clamp him, because he’s wallpapering over all of the cracks at Sydney,” continued King.
“If someone stops him, they’ll stop Sydney. That’s how drastic it is, and that’s how big he is to what they want to do at the moment. If you’re not going to clamp him, you’ll want (to have) a good reason.”
King offered opposition sides a potential resolution to the Heeney problem, citing Brisbane’s recent negating use of wingmen.
“I don’t have the answer on this, and we’ve talked about this for weeks, but we saw Brisbane do it with Petracca last week,” King said.
“Sacrificing a wingman — a redundant position in a lot of ways — to clamp the best, because these double-up possessions are killing you.”
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287-game St Kilda great Leigh Montagna compared Heeney’s formidable influence to that of Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli.
“It’s really the Bontempelli effect, isn’t it?” he asked the AFL 360 panel.
“It’s what Bontempelli has done for the Dogs for so long, he does everything. He goes forward when they need him, can kick a goal, he’s a beautiful user, he wins clearance.
“That’s why we regard Bontempelli as the best player in the game.”
King concluded: “(Heeney’s averaging) 26.5 ranking points per week. It’s the best start to the year that Champion Data have ever recorded after five weeks.”
The Swans are scheduled to host the Gold Coast Suns this Sunday afternoon, with Sydney looking to make it five wins from six games.
Source Agencies
