Mark Blicavs has played just about every position you can on an AFL field in his illustrious career, often two at once, and has had some created just for him. His ability to play key position, ruck, midfielder and tagger is unparalleled even in this modern era of maximum flexibility, making him almost the original unicorn. In recent weeks, however, he has reverted to the standard forward/ruck role usually given to players of his size and shape, enabling Shannon Neale to stay at full forward and creating space for Jeremy Cameron to chase a ton. Roleplayer non-pareil.
Mark Blicavs has played just about every position you can on an AFL field in his illustrious career, often two at once, and has had some created just for him. His ability to play key position, ruck, midfielder and tagger is unparalleled even in this modern era of maximum flexibility, making him almost the original unicorn. In recent weeks, however, he has reverted to the standard forward/ruck role usually given to players of his size and shape, enabling Shannon Neale to stay at full forward and creating space for Jeremy Cameron to chase a ton. Roleplayer non-pareil.
Mark Blicavs has played in every area of the ground in every position in his career, and some that were created just for him. One such is the role that he has been filling lately, coming off a wing and swapping in to ruck. The Geelong ruck situation is the most complex in the history of the league, arguably, giving one the impression that there is no system there but giving Chris Scott the sort of flexibility that others can only dream on, with most of that flex coming from Blicavs himself. He is a daily fantasy play right now, but his role could change at any moment.
More ballroom than blitz
Despite his lowest possession count since 2014, a couple of extra marks per game meant that Mark Blicavs increased his fantasy average by five points. That said, Geelong's Mr Fix-it found himself locked into defensive posts without the usual wing and ruck rover responsibilities we'd seen in past campaigns. Will 2020 see Blicavs be given more ruck duties with Zac Smith departing? How will Lachie Henderson affect his role? There are too many question marks at this stage to warrant anything more than a late hail mary selection. Keep him on the watchlist to determine his role.
Mark Blicavs has always had the potential to play in any part of the ground and still contribute, testament to his aerobic capacity in a key forward's body. After it seemed like he had settled in at full back for Geelong, they threw him into ruck a few weeks ago and they seem to be sticking with that approach, putting him in a tandem situation and giving him a higher base for fantasy purposes than otherwise might have been the case when starting deep. Perhaps the return of Esava Ratugolea will end that little experiment, but it was working for a while there.
Blicavs retreats to cave
Mark Blicavs has athleticism and scoring ability, as shown with his his career-high 97 average playing ruck in 2015. The vital factor with this elite runner is his role: wing, pure midfielder and even tagger at some points... then he became a full back in 2018. His role has fluctuated more than Melbourne’s weather, and he has not been able to deliver consistent numbers in defence. There is minimal chance that Blicavs regains the ruck role where he thrived, with a healthy contingent on the list competing for spots. He ended up winning Geelong’s best and fairest as a defender, so we’re not likely to see him shift from that position. Considering that his stats suffered as a result of moving into defence, coaches should pass on him in the draft.
Too many Blicavs blips
The removal of third man up in ruck may as well have been called the Mark Blicavs Rule, such was his exploitation of the system in previous years, with his hit out count in 2017 down to only six from a high of 16. His statistics since a 2015 best & fairest win had dropped anyway as he attended less centre bounces, and he came under criticism during 2017 for lacking a defined role in midfield even though he was given many tagging jobs. Further brickbats were thrown Blicavs's way for his disposal efficiency, even though it didn't tend to show up in stats at the macro level. He has been tried in defence with very little success and tends to go missing when used as third tall forward, so it's a bit of a dilemma as to how to use him. Perhaps he can be given the benefit of the doubt as he picked up a lot of in-game knocks last season. A bounceback candidate worthy of a late pick.
