Is the ideal AFL forward line no longer the land of the giants?

It’s been said through the ages in football that a good big man will always beat a good small. That well-worn truism is about to get the greatest test on a football field over the next three weeks when you look at forward lines.

The red light started flashing in the first three minutes last Thursday when Tyson Stengle weaved his way through congestion and picked up a ground ball to kick Geelong's first goal.

Then Jeremy Cameron, the tallest small in the competition, received a handball and kicked a miracle goal a minute later, the Cats were off and running.

At the other end of the ground, the biggest of the talls, once ‘King Charlie’ Dixon was exposed for his lack of pace and run.

In the end, Stengle got four, Mannagh got three and Miers also got three.

The one true tall Shannon Neale got two and the tall-small Jeremy Cameron, he got four as well.

On Friday night, the Dogs’ talls were starved of opportunities but they looked out of order when they came.

At the other end of the ground, the smallest of smalls Nick Watson, got a wizardry four. Connor Macdonald got two and Ginnivan created four or more.

The running power of the Hawthorn smalls in the forward line was, in the end, unstoppable.

It took Superman and Sydney's only true small Tom Papley to squeeze the greatest of victories when defeat looked almost a certainty.

Sydney are in the Prelim final. But are they too tall in the forward half? Time and probably Hawthorn will tell.

In Brisbane, Rayner, Morris, Ah Chee, Cameron, Lohmann and Bailey got 12 between them. It was in a training run, it’s got to be said, but they do look well balanced in the tall-small equation.

So after the Cats killed Port, and the tallest of them all the Dogs got shredded by the Hawks, I’ve asked myself all weekend as I've done most of the year … is the AFL forward line no longer the land of the giants and will in 2024 the ground ball smalls reign supreme?