This is the night when ultimate tagger Ryan Crowley will finally feel torn. When Saint Marcus Windhager lines up on Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale at the Gabba on Friday night, the former Docker will be cheering for the St Kilda tagger, while barracking for his friend, caught between supporting his ball-winning ex-teammate and the Ross Lyon disciple assigned to stop him. Lions star Lachie Neale learned to break tags in his early days at Fremantle.
Credit: Getty Images “I thought it would be a great match-up,” Crowley said. “It’s a tough one because I am good mates with Lachie, but then I also go for Ross’ teams most of the time, especially with a tagger. “But the key to success with any tagging role is not that it’s one guy against one guy, and that is sort of what I try to get across: It has got to be a team mentality from both of the guys.
” It has been a big fortnight for the ex-Fremantle star. For years he has been telling people that taggers still have a place in the game . At last, he is getting some vindication.
Last weekend, he relished watching Jarrod Berry work over Marcus Bontempelli, Alex Neal-Bullen close down Nick Daicos and Windhager do a follow-up job on Touk Miller. The brethren were growing. Neale and Windhager are two players close to Crowley’s heart.
In some ways, their intriguing clash at the Gabba on Friday night will be partly of his making. During his playing heyday under Lyon at Fremantle, Crowley helped teach Neale how to shake a t.
