Bar an injury-afflicted 2018, Harry Taylor has played at least 18 games every season in his career. While his consistency and durability are formidable, scoring capacity is not. Taylor now plays a much more accountable role, letting the likes of Tom Stewart take the intercepting and rebounding duties. We know what to expect from the Cats' ever-reliable backman, which some coaches may appreciate with happier memories of seasons past. Most will let him slide into the free agent pool and not give him a second thought. That's what you should do.
Drill bit worn with age
Bar an injury-afflicted 2018, Harry Taylor has played at least 18 games every season in his career. While his consistency and durability are formidable, scoring capacity is not. Taylor now plays a much more accountable role, letting the likes of Tom Stewart take the intercepting and rebounding duties. We know what to expect from the Cats' ever-reliable backman, which some coaches may appreciate with happier memories of seasons past. Most will let him slide into the free agent pool and not give him a second thought. That's what you should do.
Harry Taylor has been the butt of jokes this week as Tayla Harris got a statue unveiled of her in Melbourne, leading some to point out that Geelong had rolled out their own immobile object on the weekend with the names reversed. With Lachie Henderson on the sidelines and the Cats looking a bit slow and old, it is easy to blame Taylor's presence for the side's woes but of course it goes a lot deeper than that. The last resort is to throw Harry forward, but even that is unlikely to work against the powerful Eagle aerial defence.
Cop that, old Harry
Best used as an intercepting key defender, Harry Taylor produced his best fantasy season back in 2013, when he scraped in just under an 80-point average. Disregarding an injury-riddled 2018 with a foot tendon tear, Taylor’s previous two seasons only yielded 65 point per game as he was used forward and back. As the season approaches, Taylor is finally pain-free as will be eager to play as many games as possible in the final year of his contract. A fit Taylor slides into the Geelong back six, so with a late round pick you could find much worse bench cover than this bloke.
Harry's got that swing
Coming off 2016 when he was bolted into his customary CHB role, Harry Taylor was switched forward and back like blue lights at a disco last season. In most games, he looked at sea in attacking 50 and bossed it like a champion in defence. Then again, he was the X-factor in regular season wins over both grand finalists, with bags of five and four. His fantasy scoring was as variable as anyone in the league. Geelong had a host of younger tall forwards waiting their turn in the VFL while Chris Scott played around with Taylor. The arrival of Stewart Crameri further complicates matters. There will be intense media and fan pressure on Scott to push Taylor back into the pigeonhole to shore up a Tom Lonergan-less defence. Taylor's scoring is too unreliable to make this interesting for fantasy coaches, nonetheless.
