In the Bombers’ final NAB Cup match against Brisbane, Hurley showed just how dominant a force he can be with 18 touches, eight marks and five goals. All indicators point to him being the focal point in attack on Saturday night and throughout 2012.
While the Dons have many dangerous players, Brad Scott and his assistants will no doubt be putting a lot of energy into negating the big forward’s influence.
With Lachlan Hansen and Nathan Grima all but ruled out, North’s backline could be slightly exposed if not for the fact the club is rich in key position players. Scott Thompson and Luke Delaney are the most likely options to get first crack at Hurley depending on team selection.
Hurley is listed at 193 centimeters tall and North’s match-up options could include Thompson (193cm), Delaney (193cm), Cam Pedersen (193cm), Michael Firrito (190cm) and Robbie Tarrant (196cm), although the latter was been preferred up forward during the NAB Cup.
To determine who would be best suited to the role, it's best to look at how Essendon deliver the ball into the forward 50.
Thompson can play on talls and smalls and definitely has the strength to match Hurley in the contest. If the Dons use short and sharp ball movement to get it inside 50, Thompson will have no trouble sticking with Hurley on the lead.
Where Hurley differs from other key forwards, is he's just as much a threat on his left foot as he is on his right. One of his goals from Brisbane came from 55 metres out as he simply wheeled on his left-side and slammed it straight through the middle.
Based on limited pre-season form and last year, Essendon fancies Hurley in any contested situation.
In the comfortable win against Brisbane, Hurley showed off his breathtaking one-on-one work, handling the likes of Matt Maguire with ease. As the game went on, his strength became more evident. A number of his scoring shots late came from free kicks; the Brisbane defence simply unable to battle with him and were forced to act outside of the rules.
If Delaney is picked to play, he should be the first defender to arrive at Hurley's side. He is a lot heavier than Thompson and could use the added strength and power to his advantage in the contested situation.
Despite being high on confidence after his pre-season and coming off a four goal game last time the sides met, Hurley wouldn’t have it all his own way against Delaney. The Kangaroo is also not shy when it comes to taking on the big guns with his debut match against Lions’ captain Jonathan Brown and after eight games last year, he’ll be looking to take another step.
Pedersen has also proven his worth in the backline and is one of the club’s most versatile players and Tarrant, while being played as a forward, has experience as a defender and could be an option if Hurley becomes a problem.
Though slightly shorter, Firrito’s experience and power could be an interesting proposition. He can do damage on the rebound on wouldn’t be thrive on the opportunity to claim the scalp of a younger and highly regarded opponent.
With Essendon likely to look for Hurley on most occasions and North historically doing the same with respect to its key forward Drew Petrie, the opposite ends of the ground may be mirrored in many ways.
Both Petrie and Hurley have similar strengths with their ability to take strong contested marks and one way to combat this is to have a loose man in defence.
Petrie knows only too well just how difficult life can be as a forward with an extra defender dropping back as most teams employed the tactic against him in 2011. The ploy also puts more pressure on the opposition’s skills and it often suffered as a result.
Enter Scott McMahon. The North number 42 has played the role successfully in the past and has no qualms running back with the flight of the ball in front of a forward steaming out.
A loose man can also allow Hurley’s defender to play with more freedom and gives him the confidence that he’ll have adequate support from his teammates. If the spare is occupying space inside the 50 metre arc, there’s less area for Hurley to lead into.
Hurley will undoubtedly be one of the best key position forwards in the competition in 2012, but if he is forced to play two on one, North should be able to take him out of the game.
Lets not forget though, any two-on-one scenario means the Bombers have a spare man elsewhere and that could be the tall and talented Paddy Ryder or emerging forward Stewart Crameri. Will they look to call the Kangaroos’ bluff and play an additional small in attack to make North’s spare accountable, thus freeing up Hurley to be at his damaging self?
It will all be revealed at 7.45pm on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.
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