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Delisted Harry Boyd - off to the SANFL

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Let's get one thing straight about Harry Boyd. He's a good lad, very good at completing body to body, but lacks the inches to ruck at AFL level. Terrific at SANFL level but the new rules at centre bounces in the AFL where ruck men will be made to jump against each other would just about rule a line through Harry's name. If Freo pick him up, he'll spend the entire season playing in the WAFL.
The changes won't change ruck work, they will make it actually easier for all ruckman to choose their style without having to almost guess where to run and sometimes they have to run due to the dreadful bounces. Good rucks will always be good rucks. The only way high leaping rucks will get favoured is if they cut out the block rule they introduced a couple of years ago and make the centre circle bigger to let rucks get a big run up Corey McKernan and John Barnes style. But that ain't happening.

Boyd is a very good ruckman, that's for sure and is far too good for state leagues. No doubt Rawlings will get the best out of him at Freo if he is picked and indeed needed (his Magarey Medal winning coach) 1cm shorter than Nankervis, I don't see much of an issue there. He bullied TDK and Pittonet in a pre season game quite easily. found Sweet and Soldo harder as they double teamed him and worked him over well. ROB got the better of him in round 1 but that is the only type of ruck Boyd struggles against is those with long arms like ROB. His style is more Briggs/Xerri. Other than that, he's not had much of a chance at the level.

Around the ground he covers it well, his turning circle is slow and his immediate speed off the mark is slow, though top speed is no worse than rucks like ROB/Witts/Darcy/Nank/Xerri etc. His best impact is by providing a follow up for his mids, he bulldogs his way through contests, fights for it on the deck, gets clearances easily by hand or boot and protects his mids with his physicality. Is a very intelligent footballer, a good leader and certainly a terrific bloke. His biggest two weaknesss are his around the ground marking, as he gets nearly all of his possessions in contested situations and his immediate speed/turning circle. Other weakness is versatility. He is a ruck and nothing else at AFL level.

Certainly an upgrade on Reidy in ruckwork, and a useful backup moreso of Darcy goes down (likely at some point). With 5 on the bench having 2 rucks in a game is going to happen more than it did last year so backups have to be solid enough. You could do worse and he would be free.
 
Don't Fremantle is a clever career option for him. We have Darcy, Jackson and Voss/Treacy or even Draper who can play as pinch hitting backup when one of them is not playing. Should look for a team where is more likely to get gametime when their no. 1 goes down...
 

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He was 4th in line even before TDK was brought in.
We are more than happy to have him at Norwood again if not picked up. He is a gun player in the SANFL.

His SANFL Stats for 2024
Averaged 20.1 disposals (402 in total)
Averaged 4.4 tackles
Averaged 10 Clearances

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Signed at Norwood for 2026. Was far from disgraced in his only AFL game and stiff to be dropped. We were hopelessly undersized most of the season and reckon he deserved another opportunity. Club obviously wanted to have a look at Heath (who was hugely underwhelming). Boyd might have been selected for a few more games late in the season but got injured and his card was already stamped by that point.
 
Signed at Norwood for 2026. Was far from disgraced in his only AFL game and stiff to be dropped. We were hopelessly undersized most of the season and reckon he deserved another opportunity. Club obviously wanted to have a look at Heath (who was hugely underwhelming). Boyd might have been selected for a few more games late in the season but got injured and his card was already stamped by that point.
I remember in his pre-season games against Carlton, he was far too strong for TDK and Pittonet, threw them around. If he was given more of a go, he'd have adapted quickly enough, was actually not that slow, just looked in the way he ran but speed was a tad quicker than Heath and a tad less than Marshall from pre-season sprint testing. Briggs/Xerri type, he certainly would have been useful with his ability to put it down the mids throat and follow up with his presence around the contest and on the deck.

I know Freo were interested but I assume Harry himself has made the call to just stay at Norwood now?
 
I know Freo were interested but I assume Harry himself has made the call to just stay at Norwood now?
Yes, he decided that is probably it for him and elected for some stability rather than chancing his arm again
 

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