Speed kills. Every AFL defender knows it. But the small forwards who really haunt you aren’t always the fastest. They’re the ones you can’t predict.
Sam Butler played 177 games for West Coast, collected a premiership medal in 2006, and spent a career chasing some of the most gifted small forwards the competition has produced. When he joined the BackChat boys fresh off the Eagles’ first win in 308 days, the conversation turned to the question every footy fan has an opinion on: who were the best small forwards in the modern era?
His answer was revealing. And the name at the top might not be who you expect.
The ones who played their own game
Butler’s framework for what made a small forward genuinely difficult to defend comes down to one word: unpredictability.
“The hardest small forwards I played on were the ones that were allowed to do whatever they wanted,” he said. “Normal forwards have structure. They have to get to this side of the ground when the ball is up there. Some guys do whatever they want. The ball’s over there, they run the other way. You can’t use your brain to try and beat them because they’re completely unpredictable.”
By that measure, Eddie Betts sat at the top of the pile. The Carlton and Adelaide pocket dynamo was genuinely impossible to set a game plan against. His footwork, his ability to conjure goals from nothing on his left from the boundary. There’s footage of him hitting the same spot from the same pocket repeatedly, and defenders still couldn’t stop it.
Jeff Garlett got a mention too. For Butler, Carlton’s small forwards were a recurring nightmare for West Coast’s defensive unit. “You never saw him,” Butler recalled. “He just made a noise as he went past you.”
The name nobody expected
Then Butler named the smartest small forward he ever played on. Not Betts. Not Garlett.
Daniel Giansiracusa.
The Western Bulldogs veteran, known as “Gia”, wasn’t a household name for his small forward work. But Butler was unequivocal.
“He was the hardest to play on because he was so unpredictable. Very smart. Repeat leads. If he’d had any speed at all, he would have gone down as one of the all-time greats.”
That’s the thing about Giansiracusa. He was already into his 30s and going grey when Butler was coming up against him. The speed had never really been there. But the football brain was elite. He ran leads you couldn’t anticipate, hit positions you couldn’t cover, and made you work for every single contest.
The cruel irony Butler noted: “Once he beats you on all those leads, you can still catch him.” Not enough of the footy world gave Gia full credit for that.
What the best ones had in common
Looking at Butler’s list, a pattern emerges. The small forwards who really troubled him weren’t just athletic freaks. They had a quality that’s hard to coach. They operated outside the system.
Betts made a career of individual brilliance that no defensive structure could fully contain. Garlett was a blur who played off instinct. Giansiracusa, despite lacking the physical gifts, had a mind that worked faster than most defenders could process.
Milan Murdoch, the West Coast forward who went from playing WAFL and working as an electrician to dominating in the Eagles’ round two win, got a run in the same conversation. Butler was quick to note that if a player is a consistent top 10 performer in the WAFL, the AFL bridge is shorter than the industry often assumes.
“If you’re a top 10 player in the WAFL, you’re definitely good enough for the AFL. Tim Kelly, Matt Priddis, we’ve seen many of them do it.”
Murdoch had 18 touches, 10 tackles, and two goals in the Eagles’ win. The spark plug that turned 308 days of losing into a result worth celebrating.
What it takes to stop them
Butler was frank about what defenders can do against this type of player. Not much.
Structure helps against forwards who play within a system. Against the free agents, the ones who drift to a pocket and wait, lead the wrong way, trust their instincts over the playbook, defenders are often left reacting. And reacting is already too late.
The best defenders Butler played alongside found ways to stay connected to their man rather than anticipate where the system said they should be. When the forward tears up the script, the defender has to tear it up too.
Hear the full conversation on BackChat, including Sam Butler’s return to the field, the post-West Coast Eagles win mood, and the full small forwards debate.
BackChat is part of the BC Network. Find more episodes at the BackChat show page.
