The latest trend in football is a mosquito fleet of small forwards, piling on the pressure and attacking the sticks from a multitude of directions.
As the Cats ran rampant on the Gold Coast on Saturday night, with the attack on the scoreboard coming from all angles, the beginnings of a multi-dimensional forward structure began to emerge.
Ten individual players got their name in the goals column as the Suns struggled to contain a dangerous and wide-spread assault on the goal-face.
As a number of long-term absentees begin to clear from the injury list, Geelong now boasts its own armada of mid-sized forwards.
Lincoln McCarthy was the latest to return to the field of play, stepping back onto an AFL ground after 421 days on the outs with injury.
He was quick to make his presence felt, hitting the scoreboard in the first four minutes and finishing the night with two goals and 14 possessions.
Cory Gregson made his long-awaited return in round one and has piled on the pressure, averaging just under four tackles a game.
Lachie Fogarty appears to be a great pickup at selection 22 in the draft, averaging 4.1 tackles per game including a monster double-digit effort against Port Adelaide.
Jamaine Jones has showed off a turn of speed and clean pair of heels in his two first-up efforts, finding the goals in both his debut and second games.
With Daniel Menzel eager to return to the field and in career-form with 15 goals in five games this year, Chris Scott will begin to have some headaches at the selection table.
Brandan Parfitt, Sam Menegola and Tim Kelly have also showcased their ability to hit the scoreboard and kick classy goals, so Geelong will have no shortage of options in their forward half setup.
The composition of the forward line is an interesting conundrum for the Cats, which Chris Scott confirmed in his press conference last week.
“Our preferred forward line is quite hard to pick if they’re all available,” he said.
“That’s been an intellectual exercise for the last couple of years because they just haven’t been (available). I’m not going to say what the preferred one is in my mind – mainly because it changes week-to-week.
“The idea of having a number of players in that (small-forward) role is exciting. We’ve played several games in the couple of years where we just haven’t had enough of that type of player.”
The exercise only gets more complex when taking a look at the other end of the ground.
With Jack Henry seemingly flourishing in defence with a Rising Star nomination, Mark Blicavs locking down dangerous forwards and Jake Kolodjashnij entrenched in the side, it’s difficult to know where the magnets of Lachie Henderson and Harry Taylor land on the whiteboard when they return to the side.
With both key pillars having shown the ability to swing forward previously in their careers but finding their home in defence, it’s difficult to ascertain where they will line up.
There are a multitude of possibilities for Chris Scott to peruse, but it’s a problem the Cats coach will be happy to have as it will only leave the team in a stronger position come the back half of the year.
