AFL Teams and Their Taggers – Who to Avoid for Your Superstars in 2025 – Round 5 Update

AFL Teams and Their Taggers – Who to Avoid for Your Superstars in 2025 – Round 5 Update:

Post Round 5, I take a look at every team, their tendencies, and who the go-to tagger has been.

Credit for the stats goes to DFS Australia—these guys do great work. All scores are in AFL Fantasy format. These stats look back over previous years, but I’ll also factor in potential changes for 2025.

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AFL Teams and Their Taggers – Who to Avoid for Your Superstars in 2025 – Round 5 Update.

lets take a look at teams and whats chnaged since our preseason review:

Adelaide Crows

What I said in preseason:

Over the last two years under Nicks, the Crows haven’t been aggressive with tagging.That said, the Crows have brought in James Peatling and Alex Neal-Bullen, both of whom have shown they can do a solid job when asked. Keep an eye on them, especially if Nicks starts fearing for his job.

Verdict:

The Crows have been an excellent matchup for our stars. In Round 4, we saw the first tag with Peatling going to Rowell in the third and shutting him down.Offensively, they look great—but defensively, the Crows are horrendous. Watch this space: they may need to slow opposition scoring to stay competitive.

Brisbane Lions

What I said in preseason:

The Lions haven’t needed to tag. With their midfield depth, coming off a flag, and yearly access to top kids, why would they?

Verdict:

They aren’t tagging yet in 2025 and are looking solid, still unbeaten.

Carlton

What I said:

Carlton tagged a lot in 2024—but weren’t great at it. They tagged defenders, forwards, and mids.Their main taggers were Cincotta and Kennedy. Kennedy is gone, and Cincotta has a significant injury delay in 2025. Given the 2024 trend (tagging in Rounds 9–22), I think they’ll do it again. Hewett could step up for midfield tags.

Verdict:

Unexpectedly, they haven’t tagged much—other than Daicos (Hewett did the job). With Voss under pressure, that could change. I expect Hewett will be asked to perform more run-with roles.

Collingwood

What I said:

Collingwood introduced a tagger in Round 22 last year—Steele Sidebottom. In just three tags, he produced three significant negative results:

• Errol Gulden: -37.8

• Lachie Neale: -13.3

• Jack Viney: -33.4

Verdict:

As expected, they aren’t doing much in this department with no real tags so far. Watch this space as the season progresses.

Essendon

What I said:

The Dons are all about making love, not war—and holidays in September.They dabbled in tagging in 2024, but it didn’t work. Heeney still scored 117.

Verdict:

They’ve actually trialled a couple of tags—Durham potentially slowed Will Day and Setterfield barely impacted Oliver. I still believe they’ll be enjoying September off, so I’m not worried.

Fremantle

What I said:

In 2023, Hayden Young was a surprise tagging mid. I expected them to back their midfield in 2025.

Verdict:

O’Meara was sent to Heeney and did a good job—but the Swans are struggling, so hard to tell if it was the tag or the form. Young is back, but I don’t think tagging will be a big factor.

Gold Coast

What I said:

Under Dimma, tagging seemed a thing of the past. Holman could forward-tag, but I’ll roll until I see otherwise.

Verdict:

Roll on. Nothing to see here.

Geelong

What I said:

Mark Blicavs has been their go-to, but not very effective. They tried tagging more in early 2024 but eased off.

Verdict:

Baggers. They trialled a few stoppage tags—O’Connor slowed Brayshaw, but Freo’s structure did more damage than the tag itself.

Greater Western Sydney

What I said:

Toby Bedford is the Tag King. He shut down elite mids like Butters, Walsh, Anderson, Day, Gulden, and Neale (twice!).

Verdict:

Toby Bedford is a nightmare matchup for inside mids. Despite suggesting he’d tag Sinclair or NWM, he went to Jack Macrae in Round 5 (why?).Against Melbourne, Bedford tagged Petracca—unless he went forward, then he went to Oliver.

Inside mids are clearly on the menu, and Bedford is hungry.

Hawthorn

What I said:

Under Sam Mitchell, tagging reduced in 2024. McGuinness and Nash did some jobs, especially late in the year.

Verdict:

Sam has backed his players. They’re hard to score against but don’t deploy hard tags often. Zak Butters copped a Q3 Maginness tag after winning the game by halftime.

Melbourne

What I said:

I expected Melbourne to struggle in 2025 and eventually turn to tagging. Sparrow was the wildcard.

Verdict:

Melbourne has realised they’re cooked faster than expected. Sparrow has done inside mid jobs—slowing Max Holmes and tagging Merrett (who didn’t even notice).

Watch this space. Sparrow could ruin weekends.

North Melbourne

What I said:

If Will Phillips is named, he’s tagging.

Verdict:

So far, off base. Phillips has played without doing the dirty work—but I still expect this to change as the year unfolds.

Port Adelaide

What I said:

Willem Drew is their main contest tagger. Decent impact, usually causing a -10 drop. Drew was recovering from injury, and with Josh Carr stepping in, it was a wait-and-see.

Verdict:

Not much has changed. Drew resumed his role and held Daicos to a standard 95. Port remains a tough midfield matchup rather than heavy tag.

Richmond

What I said:

They’ll get smashed in 2025. Jack Graham is gone. Expect young players to be given tagging jobs for experience, but don’t expect effectiveness.

Verdict:

As expected—it’s a fantasy points fest. Shockingly, Carlton is even worse.

St Kilda

What I said:

Ross Lyon means tags. Windhager is the guy and he’s good at it. Expect tags across the board—even against bottom teams.

Verdict:

As expected, Windhager is fit and tagging—he even went to Taranto. Unexpectedly, the Saints are looking like a finals team. Fade against Windhager.

Sydney

What I said:

James Jordan is now a defensive forward, regularly tagging half-backs. He was very effective in 2024.

Verdict:

New coach, same story. James Jordan is tagging (but as an inside mid) and doing a great job—shutting down Neale and Serong. Daicos destroyed the tag with great support at stoppages, but Jordan is still a serious concern. I expect him to tag Butters this week.

Western Bulldogs

What I said:

The Dogs don’t tag. It’s one of the few things we can rely on from Beveridge.

Verdict:

As above.

West Coast

What I said:

Like Richmond, it’s going to be ugly. A new coach and a rebuild phase—don’t overthink it.

Verdict:

Play carefree fantasy footy here.

Final Thoughts

Tagging is a huge factor in Fantasy, and some teams are way more dangerous than others.

The Round 5 update stands at:

• GWS (Toby Bedford) and St Kilda (Windhager) are the biggest tag threats

• James Jordan is a legitimate concern

Enjoy your stars—until they get shut down at the worst possible time.

Cheers,

The Goal Practitioner