Cameron Mooney’s best position, or, I was wrong

All the way back on the 10th of May I wrote a blog that asked a few questions of the Geelong football team. One of the questions was about Cameron Mooney’s best position, and where he would provide the most value for the club. I argued that, given the aerobic capacity, he might be best used as a roaming ruck-rover, similar to the role Adam Goodes plays for Sydney; drifting forward, back and into the middle as required. This, I reasoned, would give the team flexibility, a bit of unpredictability, and a physical presence around the centre contests. And while all those things may still be correct, evidence of the past weeks says Cameron Mooney should not be used in this role.



Looking back, it all seems so obvious; In the Western Bulldogs blog I wrote about the way they use the middle of the ground and how that opens up the forward line. Earlier I had made reference to the best spot to attack the opposition defence from. Just this week I spoke of Jonathon Brown, his affect on the Lions, and his resemblance to one of the all time greats, King Carey. All this time I have been making a case for Cameron Mooney at centre half-forward and I didn’t even know it. Geelong’s most important player in the most important position. Let’s just back up a bit and we’ll work through it together. It’ll be okay, I promise…

In its simplest form, football is a game of yardage. The thing we are taught all the way back in under 10’s is to get the ball moving towards our goals and away form the opposition goals. This is still true in the highest form of football to some extent, be it the dribbled kick along the boundary, the kick off the ground on a rainy day, or the panicked torp out of defence; if you’re going to kick to a contest, it may as well be 50m away if 15, unless of course you’re Joel Smith, then all bets are off.

In all my time attending AFL matches, the cries from frustrated supporters have been the same; “Go long!”, “Down the middle!”, “Kick the bloody thing!” and “Fucking Steve Johnson…” And although they reek of the drunk, the uneducated, and the Drysdale reserves circa 1972, all of these relate to centre half-forward, except of course the last one, which relates to Steve Johnson being Steve Johnson. But I digress…

The way we want our teams to play, the way most coaches would like their teams play, is long and direct. And by having, not just a good target, but one of your best at centre half-forward facilitates this. It straightens a team up. You can kick the bloody thing long and up the middle because that’s where your best player is. The past 3 premiers have featured Barry Hall, Warren Tredrea and Jonathon Brown; coincidence?

Now, I’m sure there are plenty of astute football thinkers out there who have come to understand the importance of this position well before my weekend epiphany, but perhaps not the brains trust of the Geelong Football Club. For years they have searched for, drafted for and traded for what they called a ‘key position’ forward, when in actual fact they were talking about full-forwards. Brad Ottens is the latest example. Before him was Mitchell White, who was probably neither, and need I remind you of Brett Spinks? Now, Captain, you may be thinking, you’re splitting hairs here, a forward is a forward. I disagree however, I think the difference lies in that a centre-half forward can play full-forward but a full-forward can’t play centre half-forward. Carey, for example, was just as damaging in the goal square as the centre square, but did you ever see Jason Dunstall or Tony Lockett more the 15m from the goal posts?

Current recruiting would say the GFC have smartened up; Charlie Gardiner aside, Hank Playfair, Tom Lonergan, Nathan Ablett and the Hawkins father-son draftee of next year all seem suited to centre-half forward, albeit not this year, which brings me back to my original point; Cam Mooney.

The difference in the Geelong team over the past few weeks has been plain. Gone is the sideways ‘Cameron Ling special’ chip pass and back is the run through the middle, the direct play and the long kicking. I’m sure there are a number of contributing factors to the turn around, (David Wojincski comes to mind) but Cameron Mooney at centre half-forward would have to be top of that list.

In the now infamous West Coast collapse, Mooney played the centre half-forward role to great effect for 2 and a half quarters and was involved in probably 50% of the first half goals kicked. In the third term, coinciding with the beginning of the collapse, he was moved into defence to cover the injured Tom Harley. This was not an unusual coaching move, in fact, it was something he had done several times before, and this versatility was a big part of Mooney’s value to the team and what I was talking about in the first paragraph. Something changed that day, however. The midfielders, who were streaming forward with a real momentum in the first half, became hesitant with the ball. With Mooney covering at centre half-back, they looked up and saw Andrew Mackie. They saw Steve Johnson. They saw Henry Playfair. They saw Mark Blake. They saw these players and hesitated and went sideways and handballed and got beaten. It became obvious that Mooney must play centre half-forward.

Centre half-forward is the most important position on the ground. A good centre half-forward pushes up the middle to be the link from defence, as well as pushing deep towards the goals from centre breaks, all the while remaining in the corridor, straightening the team up. He is also required to push into defence when his team is without the ball, again, staying in the corridor to force the opposition out of it. A good centre half-forward must provide a physical presence, instilling hesitancy into defenders who want to zone off and try to take his space. He also must provide confidence in team mates to kick the ball long to him, and equally to those who crumb at his feet, allowing them to run into attacking positions. Watch a replay of the Geelong v Fremantle game and note the differences between Mooney and Pavlich.

Forwards like Brad Ottens and Nathan Ablett are going to have great days where they are able to carry the forward line; hell, even Kent kicked 8 goals in round 2. But a good centre half-forward is more than ‘key position’; he’s a leader, and his team is only going to go as far as he can will them to go. Cameron Mooney should know this; he had a pretty good example to follow in his days at North Melbourne. I reckon Bomber Thompson knows this as well; he hasn’t moved Cam Mooney from centre half-forward since the West Coast game.