St. Kilda’s Marcus Windhager is primed to resume his role as a stopper against a key Brisbane player, although the specific opponent remains undecided. Coach Ross Lyon has confirmed Windhager’s assignment to shadow a Brisbane midfielder, yet the exact player is yet to be determined.
Windhager has effectively neutralized prominent opponents like West Coast’s Harley Reid and Gold Coast’s Touk Miller in recent matches, showcasing his ability to limit their impact on the game. Now, attention turns to the midfield talents of Brisbane’s lineup.
Lyon views Windhager’s evolution into a defensive midfielder as beneficial both for his personal development and the team’s success. By pitting Windhager against top-tier opponents, the hope is that he will learn and grow from these challenging matchups.
Drawing from his experience with renowned taggers like Clinton Jones and Ryan Crowley, Lyon believes Windhager will benefit in the long term from facing the best players in the league.
“It’s like the mullet, everything comes back into fashion. It’s back in,” Lyon remarked about the resurgence of tagging in the game. “There was the rhetoric that you can’t run a tag and play team defence. At the Saints or Dockers, we always ran a heavy tag, Geelong had Lin running around. You can certainly play team defence and have a tag.”
“For us, it’s provided Marcus with a clear focus. He demonstrates great discipline and adheres to the rules, making it a suitable role for him. We’ll assign him to someone on the opposing team.
“They adopt this approach and then evolve into exceptional players themselves. It’s an effective learning method, so we see it as mutually beneficial.”
With Lachie Neale, a two-time Brownlow Medal winner, presenting as a potentially difficult player to tag at Brisbane, Windhager might be tasked with marking either Josh Dunkley or Hugh McCluggage as the Saints aim to gain an advantage over the Lions.
Given Lyon’s preference for assigning Windhager to the faster outside players rather than the inside ball-winners, it’s possible he could be instructed to contain McCluggage.
However, Lyon admitted that he hadn’t yet made a final decision on who Windhager would be assigned to on Friday night.
“Lachie Neale is a star, but they also have Dunkley and McCluggage in their midfield, who we highly regard,” Lyon stated regarding tagging Neale.
“I’m pondering whether Lachie Neale is taggable. He seems to handle it quite well. Last week, we opted to target the outside speedster rather than the inside bull.
“We’ll definitely implement a tagging strategy; we just need to determine the target.”
The Lions may opt to deploy their own tagger, following midfielder Jarrod Berry’s successful containment of Western Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli in Round 13.
Berry effectively curtailed Bontempelli’s influence at stoppages while also making his own significant contributions. If the Lions continue with the run-with role, Berry could be assigned to Saints captain Jack Steele, while the rapid Jack Sinclair has also been impactful in midfield recently.
Brisbane will face the Saints at the Gabba on Friday at 7:40 pm (AEST), aiming for back-to-back victories, while the Saints seek their third consecutive win and a move up the ladder past their opponents.
