A sensible discussion about Tom Scully's football

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MaddAdam

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It has been impossible to have a discussion about Scully for about a year without it turning into a Will he?/Won't he?/He did, he sucks/He did, can't blame him affair.

I'm hoping now he's run out in GWS colours we can actually talk about his football.

I watched him last night and while he didn't set the world on fire, he did some nice things. There's no doubt he'll be a very good footballer.

That said, I have never been convinced that he was a worthy number 1 pick. It is obvious now that Dustin Martin should have been picked at 1 or 2.

It is of course classic 20/20 hindsight Monday's experts stuff to say that.

But even at the time I was never convinced that Scully was number 1 or even top 3 material and while he has so far in his short career showed some very good signs, I stand by that. His only truly elite quality seems to be his endurance. I recall one Melbourne fan trying to convince me his "cruising speed" set him apart from other mids.

What's your view on Scully the footballer? Is the knee as bad as many make out? If it is indeed a degenerative condition that will cut short his career, why wasn't this picked up in pre-draft screening? Injury concerns pushed the likes of Joel Selwood and Elliott Kavanagh right down the order.

In what I've seen of Scully so far he reminds me of Crag Bradley in that he is immensely fit and with massive stamina. But Bradley had a touch more class in his disposal and was more of a goal kicker.

So, your thoughts on Scully the footballer ... (rather than Scully the bloke).
 

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manboob

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Played OK last night - I found myself looking for him rather than him making himself known by his actions. I think a lot of it will come down to his knees. Others have shown that with shoulders (Selwood and Judd) or groins (Ablett and Chapman) that you can, to a degree, play though it. The same doesn't apply to knees. I think at best he will be a good player if all goes well. To be honest I think he's contract with the GWS comes down to a best available at the time scenario.
 

OnceWeWereKings

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He's a baby, give him some time.
Let him get his "mans" body, give him a couple of years with it and then judge him.
From what I hear he sets the standard at training and that's money in the bank for a young developing team. Judge the whole package in a few years time.
 
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Can't be bothered finding my posts from earlier but posted I'd take Martin first though if it was out of the first two I'd take Trengove... So I was half right. I guess.

Always thought the hype was a long way off what he'd produced. Still, a long long way to go, could still prove me wrong.
 

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So your issue is about where he should've been drafted, not sure that he had anything to do with that, why didn't you start the same thread about Hansen or Tambling. Are you some sort of stud talent spotter?
 

MaddAdam

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Sure, there's plenty of time yet for him to prove himself.

But in terms of stuff like kicking, overhead marking, goal sense, he doesn't seem to have a stand out quality.

I just don't know if a hard running mid without an elite trait is a worthy 1 pick.

Also, is it just me or does he seem to have a body shape that indicates he'll be quite light (comparatively) for an inside mid? I know Melbourne fans got frustrated about him being pushed off the ball and that did happen a few times I saw last night.

Obviously he still has to grow into his body to an extent but when you look at contemporaries like Selwood and Ziebell and Koby Stevens and Josh Caddy, he does look a bit under sized.
 
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I still have memories of his giant last quarter against the bulldogs (pardon the pun; think it was in 2010 though not sure) which was really impressive. He'll be a good player and leader for GWS. Still reckon Trengove & Martin will be better in the long run though.
 
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I think he was a pretty safe decision with the first round pick

He wont dominate the AFL, However in his first season what he did on the field and the decisions he made were something you expect out of guys like Mitchell/Bartel Ect.

he is probably the most mature/level headed player at 18 years of age that you will ever see. He's not ultra talented, however you know he'll get the best out of his body, work as hard as anyone else will.

He reeks of a Toovey/Clarke/Leigh Adams work mould however he's athletic as most guys out there and talented as a lot of guys out there. You have a 200 gamer, probably 1-2 AA jumpers and a guy who oozes leadership and wisdom on the field as anyone does
 

Danair

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I still have memories of his giant last quarter against the bulldogs (pardon the pun; think it was in 2010 though not sure) which was really impressive. He'll be a good player and leader for GWS. Still reckon Trengove & Martin will be better in the long run though.

Yeah his first year it was pissing down and I think he had around 18 disposals in the last quarter and kicked a goal.

Leigh Matthews and Garry Lyon said he'd be the next Judd after that game.
 

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MaddAdam

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I think he was a pretty safe decision with the first round pick

He wont dominate the AFL, However in his first season what he did on the field and the decisions he made were something you expect out of guys like Mitchell/Bartel Ect.

he is probably the most mature/level headed player at 18 years of age that you will ever see. He's not ultra talented, however you know he'll get the best out of his body, work as hard as anyone else will.

He reeks of a Toovey/Clarke/Leigh Adams work mould however he's athletic as most guys out there and talented as a lot of guys out there. You have a 200 gamer, probably 1-2 AA jumpers and a guy who oozes leadership and wisdom on the field as anyone does

That's a very good assessment in my book.

I agree re: safe choice. And normally you'd say that if you could guarantee a player drafted would play 200+ games and win an All Australian you'd jump at the chance.

But the science of drafting has improved to the point where, while there will always be stuff ups you'd think the 1 pick would be pretty much definite to get you a gun.

Also interesting that even though they had the 2 pick they still went for safety on both.

I suppose I'm probably being harsh there though: you don't go around making speculative picks with top 1/2 ... even top ten ... even first round ... picks do you?
 

MaddAdam

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Perhaps we can give the bloke more than two (one of them injury interrupted) seasons before writing him off?

Who is writing him off?

I said in the third line of my OP that I have no doubt he'll be a very good footballer.
 
North recruiters rated the players Martin, Trengove and Scully in that order. I think they got it right. Pity we didn't have any of those picks.
 

MaddAdam

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I have heard that Richmond were quite pleasantly surprised to realise relatively early on in the piece that Melbourne didn't want Martin and he was theirs for the taking.
 
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I think the fact he hailed from Melbourne was a huge plus as well.

With Martin, Even at a young age there was queries on Attitude, background so they probably decided with Trengrove. With such a young group i think the leadership abilities of Trengrove/Scully seemed a priority over Martin
 
He was incredibly well prepared and focused from a young age and that maturity could have bumped him up the draft order. He was a safe bet as a good footballer with no risk of attitude troubles. He doesn't seem to me to have the brilliance of Martin and the all round game of Trengove
 

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Tom didn't have a huge impact last night (and believe me I watched him closely) but his real strength is his endurance. He will play some massive 2nd halves when the real stuff begins and he gets a few more pre seasons.

It would be foolish to think that he won't be an A grader (assuming his body holds up). He will more likely be a star then not. Endurance, focus and a good footy brain are just a few of the attributes that will justify his pick 1.

Although I do wish he went at pick 3 behind Martin and Trengove. :p
 
I think he will be a better player at GWS than he was ever going to be at Melbourne. Personally I think Melbourne should've gone with Cunnington or Martin if they wanted a grunt, inside mid and we all talked about how much they could've used Butcher.

Scully though, is an accumulator. A Sam Mitchell/Rob Harvey type that won't smash a game in 5 minutes but rather kill you over the course of 100. He will get 25-30 a game, make a couple of mistake but overall he will be above average without being spectacular. One of those players who will have very impressive stats at the end of his career but it'll be hard to remember him really busting games open.

If I was to compare the GWS core to recent greats Brisbane/Geelong it would be something like this -

Scully = Lappin/Corey
Coniglio = Aker/Ablett
Sheil = Voss/Bartel
Tyson = Black/Selwood
Hoskin-Elliot = Power/Chapman
Bugg = C.Johnson/Enright
 
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