West Coast great tells Eagles defender Harry Edwards to ‘play mind games’ to stop Carlton’s Charlie Curnow

West Coast defender Harry Edwards has been encouraged to make his heavyweight battle against Coleman medallist Charlie Curnow a dog fight. And one of the club’s greatest-ever backmen is urging him to play “mind games” to get the better of the powerhouse Carlton target. Edwards will mark his 50th game for the Eagles — against the Blues at Optus Stadium on Sunday — with one of the biggest tasks in footy: curtailing the influence of the two-time leading goalkicker. It’s a familiar role the 200cm defender having restricted the powerful forward to only one goal from six disposals and two marks in 65 minutes back in round five. Curnow has beaten up on the lowly Eagles in recent years, with the 28-year-old averaging 17 disposals, 10 marks and 6.5 goals in his past four appearances. And the last time he faced West Coast at Optus Stadium, Curnow kicked nine goals from 18 disposals and 14 marks, earning three Brownlow votes. Dual premiership Eagle Glen Jakovich — who is famous for his battles against North Melbourne great Wayne Carey — said Edwards needed to be physical early to take Curnow off his game. “Harry needs to embrace the challenge and then break it down play-by-play. If you lose on early you’ve got to stay strong in the head and stay strong in the game to make sure you don’t lose two contests in a row,” Jakovich told The West Australian. “His game on the weekend was probably the best I’ve seen where he backed himself in the air against (Nick) Larkey, but this guy presents a different challenge. “He must try to take the game away from Charlie early if he can, make it a bit of a dog fight and beat him physically. “Start playing some mind games with Charlie, beat him in the air, beat him on the ground and out marked him because there’s nothing worse for a forward than being out marked by your direct opponent.” Edwards is well aware of the challenge Curnow presents but will back himself to “have a good day” if he can win his fair share of contests. “He’s a superstar, he’s won a couple of Coleman Medals and is a tough match-up for any defender,” he told The West Australian. “I played on him earlier in the year and had some good moments and had some bad moments. I will learn from that and hopefully take them into this game. “He’s a problem in a lot of facets. He’s athletic, he reads the game well so if I can try and match it with him in the contest and challenge him in those areas, I can have a good day.” Edwards heads into the match-up in arguably the best form of his career. Not only did the 24-year-old hold Larkey goalless for the first time this year in the loss to North Melbourne down in Bunbury, but he also became the first Eagle to ever record 13 intercept possession, five intercept marks and five tackles. Edwards also finished the game as the highest-rated West Coast player on the ground. “It’s good to build a couple of good games, they give you confidence and hopefully I can take that into the weekend and use some of what I learnt in the previous game,” he said. “The consistency over the course of the year has been good for me. I got sent back to the WAFL, had to figure a few things out and I’ve come back into the team and been able to put together a couple of good weeks which I’m happy with.” The loss of premiership star Tom Barrass in a high-profile trade to Hawthorn finally opened the door for Edwards to become a permanent part of the defensive structure under new coach Andrew McQualter. Yet after the round three western derby loss, Edwards found himself back in the WAFL, leaving debutant and pre-season signing Sandy Brock to take on Greater Western Sydney forward Jesse Hogan in his absence. “My contest is a big strength of my game and I wasn’t executing that to the best of my ability earlier in the year,” Edwards said. “I had to go back to the WAFL, tighten up on a few things around the contest and bring that back into the AFL team.” Edwards is now arguably the most-important defender at West Coast given the uncertain future around five-time All-Australian and vice-captain Jeremy McGovern who will have his fate decided by the AFL’s concussion panel. “I’ve got to the up for the challenge. I sat behind TB and Gov for six years and now neither of them are there at the moment,” he said. “It’s all coming to me at once, I am up for the challenge, and I’ve got a good group of boys around me that are obviously going to help. “You’ve just got to embrace the challenge. Gov being out there would be good, but I’ve got other boys around me and you’ve just got to embrace and attack it.”