How far can a Western Bulldogs swingman’s fruitful switch take the club as it prepares a scary finals assault?
After struggling to assert himself in a forward line that boasts the likes of Aaron Naughton, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Sam Darcy and Cody Weightman, Rory Lobb was swung behind the ball by Luke Beveridge — and it’s been for the betterment of these finals-aspiring Dogs.
And, an AFL expert says the exact same switch could be made at Brisbane with a middling key forward of its own.
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“Another discussion piece — how far can they (go) with Rory Lobb?” asked two-time North Melbourne flag-winner David King on Fox Footy’s The First Crack Preview.
“We’ve now seen a bit of a body of work, and he’s still growing, obviously, but when you have a look at the Western Bulldogs, I think this is an asset that Luke Beveridge has never had.
“He’s never had a centre-half-back that commands intercept work.”
The Bulldogs ranked a lowly 15th for intercepts last season and have slumped further to 17th this year.
“In the (2021) finals series, they were great at ground but low at intercept marks, so they win it back in different ways, and I guess that’s reflective of what we see with them — win it back, share the ball, take it forward — the handball club of five, six, seven years ago.
“To get into that midfield game that they love to play, time in forward half — but this (Lobb in defence) is an asset I think Bevo will absolutely love.”
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While the Bulldogs mightn’t have accrued many intercepts in recent seasons, that might soon change with Lobb working in tandem with an overburdened Liam Jones, as St Kilda great Leigh Montagna noted.
“I think it (makes) them more solid behind the footy, because it means Liam Jones — who, at times, we’ve seen try and do too much, try and cover for everybody — he can lock away the opposition’s best forward, he can take the guns for the teams that they’re playing against, which again is another strength to allow them Rory Lobb and the others to be a little bit more aggressive from half-back,” he told Fox Footy on Thursday.
“We know about their midfield and how stacked they are, we know about the forward talent, (but) to have this now — they’ve got to be really confident about their game.
“They’ve got to feel really good about themselves and where they can go, and we might look back at the end of the year and — who knows how far they can get to — but it’s been a masterstroke, and it could be a big move that gets them into a prelim.”
Between Rounds 16-19, Lobb was graded elite by Champion Data for marks (7.5 per game), intercept marks (4.5) and intercept possessions (9.0), while his AFL Rating (12.6) was also recognised as elite during that period.
“They’re pretty handy numbers, the last month of footy,” King said before posing a similar move for Brisbane key forward Eric Hipwood.
“I just wonder if a Hipwood went back — could he reflect those numbers if you played him there for a month?
“I do (think he could). I don’t think it’s so difficult for a forward to go down and play key back.”
The Lions — who were already missing key backs Tom Doedee and Darcy Gardiner with season-ending knee injuries, as well as Jack Payne likely for the remainder of the home-and-away season — also lost skipper Harris Andrews to concussion protocols and only just regained Brandon Starcevich.
Hipwood has averaged 1.5 goals per game (1.6 this season) across his 170-game career.
Source Agencies
