Harry still in forward mix
GEELONG will continue to swing Harry Taylor forward on a needs basis this season, despite the veteran’s vintage form in defence in the past fortnight.
The recent inclusion of cult hero forward Wylie Buzza, coupled with Geelong’s twopronged ruck set-up of Zac Smith and Rhys Stanley, has allowed the two-time All-Australian to return more permanently to his native role down back.
But the Cats have no plans to abandon the “Taylor forward” tactic that has had mixed results this year.
Taylor this week told the Geelong Advertiser his role remained “pretty fluid”, depending on the opposition, the make-up of the side and the situation of the game.
“Generally I just catch up with ‘Scotty’ (coach Chris Scott) during the week, (asking) ‘what are you thinking?’ and he’ll say ‘more forward this week’, or ‘ more back this week’, so we’ll have that discussion this week again and see how we go,” Taylor said.
“The last few weeks, Scotty’s said ‘we’ll put you more in defence than attack, but still go into games with the potential to play either end’ and we just see how the game goes.
“With Wylie’s inclusion — he’s been doing some great things — and with Rhys and Zac playing in the ruck together, that means one’s going to be playing forward a bit and they’re doing a great job together.
“So for the last two weeks, that’s meant I’m in defence.”
The Cats showed their conviction to persist with Taylor up forward during a challenging opening to the season when he kicked just two goals in the first eight games.
Structurally though, his presence helped free up chief spearhead Tom Hawkins.
“Probably early in the year playing forward was a bit foreign to me,” Taylor said.
“At times it was frustrating because I wasn’t helping the team as much as I wanted to, but as the year’s gone on I certainly feel more comfortable now as a forward and if I do play more at that end of the ground, I think I’m much more comfortable than I was earlier in the season.
“It does feel a bit more like home when I’m down back — it’s something I’ve done for a long time. It’s just a little bit more instinctive (than playing forward), which makes things a bit easier.”