Veteran James Kelly has shared some wisdom with Essendon’s midfielders ahead of Sunday’s game against Carlton.
The Bombers’ midfielders struggled to get going against Collingwood on ANZAC Day, with the Pies’ taggers working hard to nullify the impact of David Zaharakis and Zach Merrett right from the start.
Zaharakis and Merrett, who have both been outstanding in the opening five rounds, struggled at times during the game and - despite not giving up, were unable to have the impact that they would have liked.
The pressure was non-stop from the Pies with Zaharakis and Merrett working hard to collect 24 and 20 disposals respectively.
However, Kelly believes should not feel defeated by the performance.
Rather, the two should challenge themselves to be creative and find ways to break the attention they are likely to receive for the remainder of the season.
“They’re getting tagged because they win the footy and they know how to use it really well,” said Kelly on Bomber Radio
“I think when you try and get away from that, you lose the fundamentals of your game.
“My advice would be to just work through it and stick with it."
As part of one of the most successful teams in the modern era, Kelly has seen both sides of the equation having played with one of the best taggers in the game in Cameron Ling, and alongside Gary Ablett and Jimmy Bartel - who received their fair share of attention from the opposition.
This experience lead Kelly to give the Essendon midfielders the following advice.
“They just have to work their way through it,” said Kelly
“I think sometimes that guys can spend their whole time trying to run away from a tag when sometimes you have to embrace it and just try to outwork them, actually play them and beat them.
“Guys I’ve seen do it really well, do just that. They just meet it head on take it on, use their strengths, use their abilities, use their running to take on an opponent.
“I think that the guys that spend the day trying to get out into space, or get away from their opponent, takes them away from their natural game and their natural ball winning ability.”
Zaharakis and Merrrett should have some relief with the added experience of Jonathan Simpkin and Ryan Crowley returning to the mix for Sunday’s game.
Damaging if left untagged, Crowley and Simpkin will draw a significant amount of attention from the opposition as well as add further options for the Coaches in terms of midfield rotations.
