A "TACKLING machine" would seemingly be the most apt way to sum up the evergreen Nick Stagg's game for Sandhurst against Gisborne in the Bendigo Football Netball League last Saturday.
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All throughout his football career midfielder/small forward Stagg has been renowned for his tenacity at the contest and in senior season No.16 he showed at the weekend none of that has waned.
Stagg has set the BFNL's early season tackle benchmark after laying 19 in the Bulldogs' 15-point win over Sandhurst at the QEO in round two.
According to Premier Data, Stagg's 19 tackles included 12 effective - the first player this season with at least 10 effective tackles in a game - in what was a performance that received high plaudits from Sandhurst co-coach Ashley Connick.
"Staggy was incredible for us with his tackle pressure," Connick said on Wednesday.
"We had a 15-minute review on Tuesday night where we highlighted some of the individual work that was worthy of note and Staggy was certainly at the top of the list.
"It was a massive game from a guy who has done it for so long... to continue to show up and play like that is just enormous leadership for us."
It was a massive game from a guy who has done it for so long... to continue to show up and play like that is just enormous leadership for us
- Ashley Connick - Sandhurst co-coach
Stagg's 19 tackles were separated into 15 in the midfield, three in the forward 50 and one in the defensive 50 as part of a game in which he also had 19 possessions, five clearances and 112 ranking points.
The premiership favourite Dragons have started the season 2-0 with a pair of wins over Kangaroo Flat and Gisborne, with Connick rapt with the pressure inside forward 50 that has been applied by his side.
"We've had 20-plus inside 50 tackles in both of our first two games, which is something we were reasonably inconsistent with last year," Connick said.
"You work hard to get the ball forward and if you can't mark it or get a possession to have a shot then you certainly want to keep the ball in there and that was really important on Saturday."
The Dragons had 21 forward 50 tackles to Gisborne's nine on Saturday, while the previous week in their 142-point win over Kangaroo Flat forward 50 tackles were 20-4 in favour of Sandhurst.
The Dragons have the bye in round three this weekend.
ALL ROUND 2 PLAYER STATS:
