THE ROLE of the tagger is one of the most cyclical in football. They drift in and out of the game across years, within seasons, and even from quarter to quarter within games. 

For the clubs that use a tagger, their role and opponent is debated at length during the build-up to a game but can easily be abandoned after 30 minutes. 

On the flip side, star onballers and their midfield coaches will spend hours preparing for a potential tag during their week but can be blindsided by a different approach at the first centre ball-up on game day. 

Taggers are as important as ever right now as finals approach in 2026. They have shown their worth through key performances on the game's stars this season, but also through their absence as other midfield guns – like Zak Butters – run riot. 

AFL.com.au spoke to some of the game's leading midfield coaches about the modern tactics being used by taggers and the midfielders they face, and how their presence in the game will shape the premiership race. 

Do we have the right player?

One of the reasons St Kilda stopper Marcus Windhager is viewed by opposition coaches as the game's standout tagger is his combination of fitness, physical strength, combative nature, and mental resilience. 

They're all key attributes for a tagger and they allow the 23-year-old to lock in for a four-quarter grind going everywhere with Nick Daicos, Lachie Neale, Isaac Heeney or Marcus Bontempelli if that is what the team needs. 

But not every team has the luxury of a player like Windhager, impacting their strategy around tagging from the outset. 

"You've got to have the player on your list to execute the role, so it's not as simple as just deciding to tag, because tagging is quite a complicated role and you need a player who can go with their opponent if they adjust their position," Brisbane midfield coach Cameron Bruce told AFL.com.au.  

"There are dangerous players who play purely as inside ball-winners, so if you’ve got someone who can match them inside at the contest, great.

"But the reason the best players are the best is because they can do a number of things really well, and they change positions.

"(Isaac) Heeney or (Nick) Daicos might go and sit at full forward, so do you have the player who can be confident one-out in the goal square? 

"For the guys who have really good inside capabilities, if that part of their game has been negated or tagged out, they also have outside capabilities to break a tag with big tanks and great speed.  

"Daicos is an obvious one who does that well, and Zak Butters has a big tank and the speed on the outside to break his tag.

"So they're the things you have to consider, and that’s why it becomes quite a complicated and in-depth discussion leading into a week."

As well the physical skill set, taggers also need the mental strength and discipline required to play the role. 

It is not as simple as seconding a fit, ball-winning midfielder and giving him a tagging job if he is going to lapse out of the role even briefly throughout the game. For coaches, the mental strength to stick to task is often what separates the best stoppers. 

"The discipline to sacrifice your ball-winning abilities to be more negating of an opponent is something you need, and players are generally consumed by winning the ball," Bruce said. 

"Having the discipline to sacrifice that element of your game to stop the opposition is a challenge, and players can drift away from being able to execute the tag really well because they've been able to have an impact winning the ball." 

Control and exploit

Among the increasing number of clubs that do tag in 2026, including Sydney, Geelong, St Kilda, Melbourne, Greater Western Sydney and even ladder leader Fremantle at times, there are different styles and approaches. 

The most common method is to control a star player at stoppages and then try and exploit them offensively, while a smaller number of teams – like St Kilda can do with Windhager – will deploy a tagger to run everywhere with their opponent. 

"It depends on your coaching staff and what they're after, and I've heard some coaches say 'control and exploit'. So you want to control them when they're around the ball, but when they're not, can you exploit them?" Western Bulldogs midfield coach Bendon Lade told AFL.com.au.  

"There's probably two or three that have done full tags where a player will just go everywhere with them, whether it's back, forward, midfield, slow play, fast play. 

"But you need to have someone that can play in all positions on the ground to do that, and not many teams have them. 

"So a lot more teams are probably doing stoppage tags and trying to control their influence around them and then sort of jump into their team defence after that, but everyone's got different methods.

"If the coach doesn't believe in it and wants to play a team defence with 18 players, not 17, then I think you've got to fully commit to that. That's what a lot of teams battle with I think."

Sydney's James Jordon is an example of a player who can control and then exploit, with his game sense and footy IQ allowing him to pick the right moment to get involved offensively. 

With Fremantle looming on Thursday night, he held star midfielder Caleb Serong to 11 disposals and one clearance the last time the team's met in round 17 last year but rubbed salt in the wound by breaking forward to kick two goals of his own. 

Likewise this year when he clamped West Coast star Harley Reid to a season-low 17 disposals and one clearance, punishing the young Eagle the other way with a goal at Optus Stadium. 

"I think the good balance with James is his ability to play both sides of the ball," coach Dean Cox said earlier this year. "One thing you want, you certainly want a midfielder to be a hard two-way running midfielder, and James is at the top of the tree in that regard."

Let the scoreboard guide you 

While Jordon is one of the most reliable taggers in the game, there are cases where sticking with a tag is not the best thing for the team, as Cox and the Swans decided earlier this season against Geelong. 

Jordon kept opposition superstar Bailey Smith to eight disposals in the first half but it wasn't paying off for his team in the midfield, with Geelong winning the centre clearances 5-0 in the second quarter and dominating inside 50s (23-7). 

With the Cats winning the quarter 5.6 to 2.0, despite Smith's one clearance from four disposals, the Swans released the tag and changed approach, with Smith then racking up 18 disposals and a goal in the third quarter. 

A candid Cox admitted post-match it had been the wrong move, but he was following the best guide there is when trying to determine if you stick with a tag or not. 

"Those decisions are generally related to the scoreboard and how you think you're going. If you're up by three or four goals and everything's going well and you're containing the threat, you keep it going," Lade said.  

"If you're behind by three or four goals, you probably change things. That can make the game more even, or you can end up letting that player off the chain."

The Bulldogs faced a similar decision in round 14 against Adelaide, but with different circumstances, after their decision to try and contain Jordan Dawson at stoppages failed. 

Dawson produced an incredible opening quarter with eight disposals, three goals, five score involvements, and three inside 50s, with the Bulldogs changing their approach from the second quarter as a result.   

"We were losing the quarter by six or seven goals and we weren't containing him, so we look to change it. After that, he plays a normal game and has OK impact," Lade said.  

"So it's always an interesting discussion between coaches and the senior coach. But it's generally related to the scoreboard."

Manipulating the tagger 

Bruce agreed that there was no point sticking with a tag and winning the battle if it meant you were losing the war. 

Midfield groups and their star players are tactically savvy and have options when a tag is used against them, manipulating the shape of stoppages in their favour so they are one step ahead when the ball is thrown up. 

Brisbane has been expert at this with its deep and talented midfield, while Fremantle has followed in 2026, with selfless star Serong and his teammates knowing exactly what to do to create an advantage if one of them is being tagged. 

"When a player is attracting a tag, that team can manipulate space and positioning around a contest," Bruce said. 

"That's why being tagged requires a really selfless mindset, and we obviously have one of the most tagged players in the game in Lachie Neale.

"Creating two-v-ones and manipulating that space around a contest is something he does really well, and that's where we get an advantage. 

"They're the things you have to consider and try to use to your advantage if a team is doing that. 

"The challenge to the opposition becomes: do we maintain this negating mindset, or do we back our boys to hunt well and get the job done?"

Another approach to break a tag is to have a team approach to feed the ball to the tagged player at every opportunity, as Collingwood will do with Daicos and St Kilda with Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. 

Lade recalled a game from his time as an assistant with Richmond when there was a directive to get the ball in Dustin Martin's hands in every situation possible, anticipating there would be a lockdown opponent coming his way. 

"Dustin was coming towards the height of his powers and we knew that Mitch Robinson from Brisbane was going to tag him this one game," Lade said.  

"In the first quarter, we just made an emphasis of giving him the ball any time he was there. It didn't matter what kind of possession it was. Just give it to him. 

"He had 14 possessions in the first quarter, they dropped the tag, and we just played and went away and won the game. 

"So there's all different ways to do it. And that was one way that worked really well."

Challenging a tagger aerobically is another tactic if the star midfielder has an edge in that area and can push from contest to contest repeatedly and wear their opponent down. 

Lade said the tactic of creating two-v-one match-ups if your star is getting tagged could work, but it was often a battle of wills between the coaches' boxes. 

"If the tagged player doesn't keep going to that person, then the tagging team wins that battle, so who's going to stick at it longer? The game could be slipping away if you focus on that too much," he said.

The best in the business

Adelaide midfielder Sam Berry had a front-row seat to Dawson's performance against the Western Bulldogs earlier this season, and every time an opposition team tries to tag the dual All-Australian and three-time club champion. 

According to Berry, the star midfielder's football IQ and versatility are crucial to his ability to turn a tag to his team's advantage in a trend that is consistent across the game's best onballers. 

"The question right now in the AFL is if you do bring in a straight tagger, players like 'Daws' will selflessly make them get pulled apart," Berry told AFL.com.au.

"He can swing forward and swing back and he can do all sorts of things, which a lot of these dominant players in the comp can do. 

"He sees the game as well as anyone. So do they risk having someone on him at all times to then have him pull you apart? He'll make it work in his favour regardless." 

The best players in 2026 at handling a tag and turning it to their team's favour, according to other opposition coaches, are the players who can win the ball inside but then flip into dangerous outside positions when appropriate.

Daicos and Butters are the standouts at using their speed around contests to break tags, while Heeney, Bontempelli and Dawson have the flexibility to take their opponents into uncomfortable parts of the ground to turn the match-up in their favour.  

Sometimes it is just a matter of "pure brilliance" when it comes to breaking tags, while some midfield groups are better than others at helping with a physical presence. 

A selfless attitude and mental resilience, however, are critical traits if you are getting tagged in 2026. 

Building a tag proof midfield 

Fremantle has been building more versatility into its midfield for a while now, but it ramped up those efforts ahead of the 2026 season in a move that has catapulted it from beaten elimination finalist to premiership favourite. 

By giving star pair Shai Bolton and Murphy Reid significantly more midfield time, the burden has been eased on Serong and Andrew Brayshaw and the Dockers have more tactical options when opposition teams tag. 

It has been common to see Reid and Bolton flipping between forward and midfield roles to create confusion, while Hayden Young has dome similar when fit and in the team. 

Serong and Brayshaw have played much more selfless roles without losing their edge when they need it, but the team is better for it.   

"We've got different levers we can pull now," Longmuir said earlier this season.

"Not only the depth, but some different flexibilities and [roles] players can go to when they are getting tagged. 

"I think there may have been a little bit of a reliance on too few in the past at times, and that puts a lot of pressure on the player getting tagged to get the ball and have an impact.

"But I think they're able to just lean in to the plan with their role and doing things to open up opportunities for their teammates, which is a maturity growth as well."

The evolution the Dockers and particularly Serong and Brayshaw have gone through mirrors the experience at Brisbane, where stars like Lachie Neale and Hugh McCluggage have manipulated taggers to let young teammates like Will Ashcroft shine on the biggest stage. 

The Lions showed what was possible during last year's finals when McCluggage and Cam Rayner were shut down by Geelong pair Oisin Mullin and Mark O'Connor in the qualifying final before turning the tables in the Grand Final with a team approach. 

"Those guys analysed the reasons why they were somewhat negated and then they did a great job understanding the physical and strategic reasons why they didn't have the impact that they could have, even if they are getting tagged," Bruce said. 

"They understood what was going to get them more involved, but also what would give us an advantage as a team and a midfield group. 

"It takes a fair bit of mental resilience to go from getting your hands on the ball so often and being the go-to and being the big dog to then letting others take that role.

"But that's what separates the best players."