Who won the Tayla Harris deal?
- Mar 6, 2018
- 3 min read
The deal that saw Carlton land former Brisbane marquee key forward Tayla Harris was arguably the most high-profile (and unquestionably the most hard-fought) move of the 2017 AFL Women’s trade period.
Last May, the Blues signed one of the most famous faces in the fledgling national competition for a prince’s ransom; the Lions received tenacious rover Nat Exon and young key forward Bella Ayre, a player whom Carlton had declared integral to their long-term plans.
That Harris is a naturally gifted footballer has never been questioned. However, a relatively modest 2017 AFLW season and a move to boxing in the off-season had many questioning the 20-year old’s commitment. Would she be able to handle the extra exposure of playing in footy-mad Victoria touted as the great white hope whose arrival would steer Carlton to a flag in 2018?
And that… well, nothing at IKON Park has quite worked out, to put it nicely.
Indeed, the Blues have been the biggest disappointment of 2018. A horrific run of luck saw them lose captain Brianna Davey to an ACL injury in Round 2 with GWS just days after coach Damien Keeping was hospitalised with a serious and (as of the night of the match) undiagnosed blood condition that was later confirmed to be immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). The Blues were mauled by a record 73 points by the ladder-leading Bulldogs in Round 4 which lowered the curtains on their season.
But if perspective is isolated to Tayla Harris’ performance, then the Blues can claim a lonely old victory out of the debacle. Reviewing her efforts and output against that of Exon and Ayre up in the Sunshine State, the comparison is not even close.
From the scrappy Round 1 season-opener against Collingwood in which her poise and decisive play stood out in a low-polish affair, Harris has shown none of the complacency of which her detractors accused her at Brisbane. She pushes hard upfield to offer leads for her midfielders and clunks contested marks (a statistic where she ranks third-highest in the competition) while her 3.8 tackles a game is the highest of any key forward. She has had the highest metres gained for her club with her total of 1047 metres more than a hundred more than second-placed Sarah Hosking. Goal-kicking remains her blemish, with a season tally of 2.5 from four matches a poor return for her good work around the ground.
All the while, Harris’ numbers must be considered with the amount of overtime she has had to crank out as Carlton’s defensive midfield set-up has cost them their dominance around the ball and their forward entry. The Blues rank seventh for clearances and fifth for Inside 50s, averaging 17 and 26 respectively for each stat with a midfield that has been reinforced by the likes of Jess Hosking, Maddie Gay, Sophie Li and Keryn Harrington.
Meanwhile, Exon and Ayre have been mere bit-pieces in a dominant Brisbane side. After sitting out Diamond Creek’s VFLW season with a knee injury, Ayre has been the Lions’ third forward option at best. Averaging just four touches and a solitary mark with no goals to show across her three games, Ayre has been shut out by talismanic tall Sabrina Frederick-Traub whilst the white-hot form of small forward and highest goal-kicker Jess Wuetschner has prevented her from playing primarily as a crumber.
The news hasn’t been much better for Exon, whose status as a mullet-rockin’ cult hero has been the highlight of her season. After failing to make selection in Round 1, the 25-year old has averaged a merely fair nine touches a game as she struggles to climb the pecking order of an on-ball brigade boasting Ally Anderson and Emily Bates (both averaging 17 touches a game), Emma Zielke (12) and Kaitlyn Ashmore (10).
When we ask who has had the better of the Tayla Harris trade, it must be said that the Blues have won an unquestionably low-scoring battle. However, they trudge on with hopes extinguished and questions over their immediate future that will be faced when the sun sets on the 2018 season. The Lions come up against Collingwood at home this Saturday with a red-hot chance of making their second Grand Final in as many years. They have won the war.
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