Houdini Harris the Kangaroos’ key

The Kangaroos all but sealed their finals spot with a come from behind win against the Power, and Nick Mockford explains why midfield dynamo Daniel Harris may hold the cards to potential finals success.

After the way he played the second half of 2004, many people were expecting big things from Daniel Harris in 2005.

Through a lack of fitness, game time and form, his season has not lived up to expectation. It has been a regular occurrence to see Harris sitting on the bench thus far, the biggest victim of coach Dean Laidley’s midfield rotational system.

His performance against Port Adelaide however proved why he just might hold the key to the Kangaroos’ finals hopes. After a quiet first two quarters, Harris’ second half against the reigning premiers was magnificent, capped off by a characteristic handball to set up Troy Makepeace’s match-winning goal.

Harris is the league’s leading clearance player in the last month. While Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell suffering a season-ending injury may have something to do with this, it is a phenomenal effort given the Roos’ rucking duo of Drew Petrie and David Hale don’t win many clear hit-outs to advantage.

In short, Harris is basically roving to the opposition ruckman each week, and he is still arguably the best in the business at getting first hands to the footy.

This counts in finals football. Games are won and lost in the centre, and this is exactly why Harris looms as the Kangaroos’ most important player during September.

His hands are brilliant, even magical at times. Not many players can work in the congestion of the centre square like Harris can; you rarely see him pinged for holding the ball, because he has the knack of always keeping his arms and hands free in a tackle.

He has traits of both Robert Harvey and Greg Williams. Of course, it would be ridiculous to suggest Harris is a patch on either player – both are multiple All Australian and dual Brownlow medallists. ‘Diesel’ also boasts a premiership medallion and a Norm Smith.

Harris has only broken the 30-possession barrier once in his career. Both Harvey and Williams averaged around this in their strongest seasons.

However, it’s the strong hips and ability to break tackles and move through crowds that remind of Harvey. It’s the uncanny ability to find a target and set up attacking movement consistently with a handball that reminisces of Williams.

Harris has plenty of weaknesses in his game. His fitness is still an issue, although he has spent a lot more time on the ground and not the bench in recent weeks, while he pays little to no attention to his direct opponent.

He plays the type of game that is very difficult to curb. When it comes to someone who has such an ability to win the ball in close and set up play out of congestion, assigning a tagger is almost pointless as it is hard to prevent a quick handball from the bottom of a pack, and clearances are all about reading the ball off the ruckman’s hand better than your opponent.

The most effective way to play Harris is to put a dangerous midfielder on him and let him go head to head, exposing his accountability. West Coast did this very effectively with Daniel Kerr in the Eagles’ four-point victory a month ago, and his hot start forced Laidley to bench his stoppage wizard.

Come finals time however, he remains his side’s most important midfield cog. While Daniel Wells, Brent Harvey and Shannon Grant represent the Rolls Royces of the Roos midfield, Harris is the key to their ignitions.

After all, ‘Diesel’ always saved his best for September.

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