My opponent squirmed and I knew I had him. This is the player at your club who must be tagged

As the Lions and Berry showed, this tactic has the capacity to take out the opposition’s leader, distract him and destroy a team’s plans.

Geelong’s five-time All-Australian Tom Stewart has been targeted heavily in the last month. As a result, he has struggled for impact and his body language has been poor. He lost his cool against Port Adelaide in round nine and gave away an off-the-ball 50m penalty. As Stewart and Liberatore have shown, a highly frustrated player is largely ineffective.

I will never forget seeing my direct opponent squirm as I walked towards him before the match. At that moment, I knew I had them, before a ball had even been bounced. No one should underestimate the impact of a pest!

In recent weeks, we’ve seen a shift back towards taggers. Teams are again recognising the value of nullifying the opposition’s weapons.

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To my delight, the best teams, like Sydney, have reintroduced the tagger.

The Swans have successfully tasked James Jordon with negating roles against Lachie Whitfield, Jordan Clark, Bailey Dale, Sam Walsh and Stewart.

Carlton have found a gem in Alex Cincotta, who in the past three weeks has taken down Touk Miller, Zak Butters and Zach Merrett. Other teams like the Lions, Melbourne and St Kilda have followed suit.

Here is the one player from each team who must be tagged.

Adelaide

Izak Rankine
He is Adelaide’s most dangerous player and the Crows have fallen apart in his absence (due to a hamstring injury). Despite missing three games, Rankine is ranked No.1 at Adelaide for scoreboard impact, but has never been fully tested by a tag. That is about to change.

Brisbane Lions

Lachie Neale
Inexplicably, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge allowed Neale to do as he pleased last Friday night, and Neale finished with 38 touches, 10 clearances and two goals. The two-time Brownlow medallist has proven susceptible to a hard tag in the past and should never be allowed to stand on his own at a stoppage.

Carlton

Patrick Cripps
Carlton rely on Cripps to set the tone physically and emotionally. He has proven vulnerable to a tag in the past, yet opposition teams have largely ignored him this season. He is second at Carlton for score involvements, has kicked 10 goals, and is rated by Champion Data as the Blues’ best player this season.

Collingwood

Nick Daicos
The myth that he is untaggable was busted on Monday when he copped some rare close checking from Melbourne’s Alex Neal-Bullen, who held him to a season-low 15 possessions before injury ended his day in the last quarter. Daicos is rated the game’s third-best player by Champion Data and will rip you to shreds if you allow him space.

Essendon

Zach Merrett
He has improved at turning his possessions into scores. Merrett has kicked eight goals this season and is on track to eclipse his season’s best of 11 in 2014. Carlton’s Alex Cincotta held him to 10 kicks and two inside 50s in Sunday night’s loss to the Blues. Clubs would be mad not to target the Bombers skipper for the rest of the season.

Fremantle

Jordan Clark
The Dockers have a solid midfield led by Caleb Serong and Hayden Young, but they don’t hurt you on the scoreboard. Fremantle’s weapons play across half-back, and Clark is the driving force. He averages 373 effective metres gained per game and 26 touches at 82 per cent efficiency.

Geelong

Tom Stewart
Teams are finally coming hard at Stewart, with resounding success. Geelong have lost four of their past five games since Port Adelaide discovered the blueprint to limit Stewart’s influence with a defensive forward in round nine. Stewart and Geelong would be disappointed with his inability to work through the extra attention.

Gold Coast

Touk Miller
Miller was held to 14 touches by St Kilda’s Marcus Windhager in the Suns’ loss on Saturday. It’s the second time in three weeks he has been the opposition’s No.1 target, after Cincotta held him to eight kicks in round 12.

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Greater Western Sydney

Lachie Whitfield
With Josh Kelly out due to injury, Whitfield is the obvious target. He averages nearly 29 touches, 365 effective metres gained and is an elite kick. If you want to shut down the “Orange Tsunami”, you must start with Whitfield.

Hawthorn

Will Day
Hawthorn have five wins and two losses since Day returned from injury in round seven. Surprisingly, no team has targeted Day, and he is yet to cop a tag at any stage in his short career. Day is the Hawks’ best player, and it’s time teams went after him.

Melbourne

Clayton Oliver
He has been the target in recent years, and both he and the club don’t like it. Coach Simon Goodwin complained about Hawthorn’s tactics towards Oliver last year, and in the King’s Birthday game on Monday, Collingwood’s Jack Crisp exposed Oliver’s lack of fitness and accountability.

North Melbourne

Luke Davies-Uniacke
He has returned to his devastating best form in the past month. Davies-Uniacke is No.1 at North for score involvements and clearances but is vulnerable in the defensive side of his game and can be hurt by a clever opponent.

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Port Adelaide

Zak Butters
He is Port’s most creative, damaging and well-rounded player. He ranks first for score involvements at the Power, with eight per game, and is rated by Champion Data as their best player. Butters was held to six kicks and two inside 50s in the round 13 loss to Carlton.

Richmond

Nick Vlastuin
Richmond’s version of Stewart, and because the Tigers have poor ball users through the midfield, he has become the opposition’s No.1 target with a defensive forward. Vlastuin averages three intercept marks per game and has an elite 85 per cent disposal efficiency.

St Kilda

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera
Has quickly emerged as the Saints’ most damaging player. He averages 370 effective metres gained and 4.4 score involvements per match. In a team with a game plan as dour and boring as St Kilda’s, he has been the standout and should be the opposition’s main target.

Sydney

Chad Warner
It could easily be Errol Gulden or Isaac Heeney, but Warner is capable of winning a game off his own boot within a 15 to 20-minute period. Warner is second at the Swans for score involvements and has kicked a career-high 21 goals this season. Astonishingly, no team has placed a hard tag on him, and he is regularly allowed to stand alone at stoppages.

West Coast

Harley Reid
It’s an indictment of his teammates that Reid, after just 11 games, is the opposition’s target. He was held to three possessions and gave away four free kicks in the second half when opposed to St Kilda’s Windhager in round 13. It’s going to be a long second half of the year for the future superstar as more teams copy the Saints’ tactics for shutting him out.

Western Bulldogs

Marcus Bontempelli
He won’t give up and will still find a way to impact games, but this year has highlighted how reliant the Dogs still are on the skipper. The Lions’ Berry was sensational in shutting him down in round 13, and it clearly rattled the Bulldogs.