The debate over where Jake Carlisle best serves his team reached a resounding denouement at Etihad Stadium on Sunday night, but even after another dozen marks and eight goals, Essendon's rejuvenated young star couldn't help but think like a backman.
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Having spearheaded the Bombers' seven-point win over the Western Bulldogs by single-handedly commanding a forward line bereft of late withdrawal Joe Daniher, the 22-year-old put himself in the boots of opponents Jordan Roughead and Dale Morris in explaining how he has gone from struggling to making an impact to a personal best four goals one week (against Collingwood), to double that mark the next.
"It's been the mids, it's been the backs, it's been us as a team," Carlisle said. "Not just myself, but (from) Paddy (Ryder) and Joey's point of view, the ball's coming to us. It's a lot easier to play and read when the ball's coming to you rather than blokes hipping it around.
"You speak to any backs from last week or this week, it's tough to stop when the ball's coming out under no pressure. As a forward I'm liking it, but as a defender I wouldn't be."
Carlisle's 64th and 65th games have produced a dozen goals, only one less than he managed in his first four seasons as a defender who occasionally became a target man. Coach Mark Thompson has held firm to his plan of playing Michael Hurley back and Carlisle forward, and after a frustrating stretch in which he kicked only six goals in the first 12 games of the season, Carlisle has delivered with a bang.
"I'm still learning the game," he said, conceding that "things have fallen into place" in the past fortnight. "It's working at the moment, but I think the delivery's been the thing."
After passing off a couple of times early in the game when he might have taken the shot himself, he was the model of ever-dangerous consistency in a haul that featured a measured split of two goals per quarter. His marking was virtually unstoppable, whether reaching over the top of opponents in packs or scooping off his bootlaces at full tilt, as he did in the second quarter.
"I nearly did my back there actually," he said with a laugh. "I did mark it though. I was hoping he didn't call play on." For a 198 centimetre athlete, he admitted it was a long way down, but only made the clean grab as rewarding as any of the 11 others he took reaching for the roof.
Carlisle was a Dogs fan as a boy, revering Chris Grant, Scott West, Brad Johnson and Luke Darcy. He recognises a team that will soon threaten all-comers and wishes them all the best, but is as happy to be in red-and-black as Bomber fans are to have him.
