Past #26: Tarryn Thomas - Roo until end '24

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Jun 9, 2001
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I don't quite get why Tarryn is getting singled out for special consideration here?

Writing off 2020 for everyone, of course his career trajectory should have more productivity as part of its improvement. We don't him getting 5 touches a game in 2023.

But I can't see the differentiating factor for him from any of his peers. Other than Simpkin no other youngster other than maybe McKay has been piling on their effectiveness at a rapid rate. They're all about promise - just like TT.

LDU is a year older than Tarryn, got lots of gametime in 2020 and had Cunnington out of the way but couldn't crack the Syd top 10.

Larkey was every bit as shite as BBB in 2020 but escaped scrutiny being a fan favourite.

Zurhaar might've been the leading goalkicker in 2020 but his season didn't show incremental improvement from his 2019 efforts.

At the moment Curtis Taylor is a very promising kick and mark player. He'd want to up his figures or risk being the sort of low productivity player that former fan lovechild Kayne Turner gets potted for.

Bailey looks a real find but didn't post particularly impressive 2020 numbers.

None of these are currently concerns because they're all developing kids. Which again raises the point why Tarryn doesn't get the same patience as the others?
 
Feb 11, 2013
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I don't quite get why Tarryn is getting singled out for special consideration here?

Writing off 2020 for everyone, of course his career trajectory should have more productivity as part of its improvement. We don't him getting 5 touches a game in 2023.

But I can't see the differentiating factor for him from any of his peers. Other than Simpkin no other youngster other than maybe McKay has been piling on their effectiveness at a rapid rate. They're all about promise - just like TT.

LDU is a year older than Tarryn, got lots of gametime in 2020 and had Cunnington out of the way but couldn't crack the Syd top 10.

Larkey was every bit as sh*te as BBB in 2020 but escaped scrutiny being a fan favourite.

Zurhaar might've been the leading goalkicker in 2020 but his season didn't show incremental improvement from his 2019 efforts.

At the moment Curtis Taylor is a very promising kick and mark player. He'd want to up his figures or risk being the sort of low productivity player that former fan lovechild Kayne Turner gets potted for.

Bailey looks a real find but didn't post particularly impressive 2020 numbers.

None of these are currently concerns because they're all developing kids. Which again raises the point why Tarryn doesn't get the same patience as the others?
You must’ve missed the LDU pile on at the end last year.. the no good calls were hilarious, and he still has years to go before we’d call him a mainstay.

On this board we’re way to quick to write off players, especially 2nd year ones who’ve had injuries.. TT did a mountain of work and he’s still gotta mountain of work ahead of him.

but writing him off now or saying first year players are going to leap frog him is stupid..

I’m waiting for the ‘we over paid for Philips cause he ain’t playing in the midfield thread’ at the end of the year.
 
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I don't quite get why Tarryn is getting singled out for special consideration here?

Writing off 2020 for everyone, of course his career trajectory should have more productivity as part of its improvement. We don't him getting 5 touches a game in 2023.

But I can't see the differentiating factor for him from any of his peers. Other than Simpkin no other youngster other than maybe McKay has been piling on their effectiveness at a rapid rate. They're all about promise - just like TT.

LDU is a year older than Tarryn, got lots of gametime in 2020 and had Cunnington out of the way but couldn't crack the Syd top 10.

Larkey was every bit as sh*te as BBB in 2020 but escaped scrutiny being a fan favourite.

Zurhaar might've been the leading goalkicker in 2020 but his season didn't show incremental improvement from his 2019 efforts.

At the moment Curtis Taylor is a very promising kick and mark player. He'd want to up his figures or risk being the sort of low productivity player that former fan lovechild Kayne Turner gets potted for.

Bailey looks a real find but didn't post particularly impressive 2020 numbers.

None of these are currently concerns because they're all developing kids. Which again raises the point why Tarryn doesn't get the same patience as the others?
independent simpsons GIF
 
Apr 24, 2013
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If you adjust disposals for time on field then Thomas looks a lot better, as he had a couple of games with niggles that brought his averages down. The below numbers are disposals per game adjusted for 70% time on field.

Thomas: 8.56
Taylor: 8.61
Ziebell: 7.86
Zurhaar: 8.00
Scott: 9.07
Mahony: 7.88

Good data. :thumbsu:

It's his conditioning.

People need to relax on Thomas. The reality is that everybody forward of centre struggled last year because of the gameplan. I did a fairly lengthy post when he was drafted that his career would be a slow burn, but I still have no doubts that he is going to be a gun.

Likewise, people need to relax about reacting to reasonable expectations of his output.
 
Apr 24, 2013
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He'd want to up his figures or risk being the sort of low productivity player that former fan lovechild Kayne Turner gets potted for.

My take is that Tarryn is a utility, he should roam the forward half, and occasionally swing to half back, and also sit in the linkage chains in the forward half stoppages. However, if they set him up for a role like Turner's then the disposal count expectation need to be corrected sharply..........and I would seriously question what the coach is doing.

Tarryn is, to utilise the social media vernacular, an "influencer".

If he's relegated to negating pressure type roles then IMO, it's akin to ploughing a field with a Rolls Royce.
 
Apr 1, 2008
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I don't quite get why Tarryn is getting singled out for special consideration here?

Writing off 2020 for everyone, of course his career trajectory should have more productivity as part of its improvement. We don't him getting 5 touches a game in 2023.

But I can't see the differentiating factor for him from any of his peers. Other than Simpkin no other youngster other than maybe McKay has been piling on their effectiveness at a rapid rate. They're all about promise - just like TT.

LDU is a year older than Tarryn, got lots of gametime in 2020 and had Cunnington out of the way but couldn't crack the Syd top 10.

Larkey was every bit as sh*te as BBB in 2020 but escaped scrutiny being a fan favourite.

Zurhaar might've been the leading goalkicker in 2020 but his season didn't show incremental improvement from his 2019 efforts.

At the moment Curtis Taylor is a very promising kick and mark player. He'd want to up his figures or risk being the sort of low productivity player that former fan lovechild Kayne Turner gets potted for.

Bailey looks a real find but didn't post particularly impressive 2020 numbers.

None of these are currently concerns because they're all developing kids. Which again raises the point why Tarryn doesn't get the same patience as the others?

LDU did only play nine games....

The rest is spot on.
 
Apr 1, 2008
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Agree, it was more that people seem to preach patience with LDU, well you gotta apply that to the year young Tarryn too.

Correct, but I’d say LDU has shown more than TT has in a more important part of the field.

Whether TT has been given the opportunity to do so, is a different discussion.
 
Apr 24, 2013
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Correct, but I’d say LDU has shown more than TT has in a more important part of the field.

Whether TT has been given the opportunity to do so, is a different discussion.


Inside mid & half forward are chalk & cheese.
 

The Dingrel

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Jun 25, 2013
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Ive got to agree. To this point i’ve been a little disappointed. Maybe the hype machine when we recruited him made me/us expect a lot more?..

TT’s freakish ability is never questioned but seeing flashes of it isnt enough.

I’m hoping Noble and Blakey can turn him into the player we’re all hoping for.

Have faith, has collected plenty of the ball in the short stints he's played on the wing.
 
Tarryn was highly regarded at draft time for a reason. Give the kid a break. His first year was ok with some very good moments, his second budgeted by injuries.
A senior figure (noble) will be perfect to get him to be better. We need consistency but in saying that not everyone needs to get 30 possessions to be a gun.
 
Nov 2, 2014
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If he’s going to only get it 10 times a game - he needs to average 2-3 goals a game with 1-2 score assists as well.
So he needs to win the Coleman and have the most score assists by miles to be considered good?
 
Jun 4, 2013
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I don't quite get why Tarryn is getting singled out for special consideration here?

Writing off 2020 for everyone, of course his career trajectory should have more productivity as part of its improvement. We don't him getting 5 touches a game in 2023.

But I can't see the differentiating factor for him from any of his peers. Other than Simpkin no other youngster other than maybe McKay has been piling on their effectiveness at a rapid rate. They're all about promise - just like TT.

LDU is a year older than Tarryn, got lots of gametime in 2020 and had Cunnington out of the way but couldn't crack the Syd top 10.

Larkey was every bit as sh*te as BBB in 2020 but escaped scrutiny being a fan favourite.

Zurhaar might've been the leading goalkicker in 2020 but his season didn't show incremental improvement from his 2019 efforts.

At the moment Curtis Taylor is a very promising kick and mark player. He'd want to up his figures or risk being the sort of low productivity player that former fan lovechild Kayne Turner gets potted for.

Bailey looks a real find but didn't post particularly impressive 2020 numbers.

None of these are currently concerns because they're all developing kids. Which again raises the point why Tarryn doesn't get the same patience as the others?

I'm not really sure if he is being 'singled out' in that regard, most of the higher profile (draft pick) younger players have the bejesus analysed out of them as they develop, but I'll explain my thinking anyway. Also I think a lot of the extensive conversation right now is from most posters mostly agreeing, but with slight semantic differences, and a lot of talking in circles. But I think the conversation has been pretty good so far so lets keep it going:

I can't speak for others but for me a lot of it stems from the fact that his first year was genuinely quite impressive, with not too many poor games and with a few very good games to offset them anyway. Last year was a write off, and we all seem to be copping that as we should. But if he comes into year 3, after an uninterrupted preseason, and doesn't show some improvements then I'm worried.

Ultimately it comes down to my belief that not many players go on to have amazing careers if they aren't a better player in their third year than their first. Some turn the corner, absolutely, but most probably don't. Stagnation in players is awful, for them and us, and I don't want to (nor do I expect to) see it in TT. In 5 years time I'd really rather not be seeing some supporters treating him like Atley, for a comparison that I'm sure will get some tongues wagging.

I have pretty high expectations for him, but there is still a bit of worry because even though I'm expecting to see those improvements from him this year, it could genuinely go either way still. What I want to see from him isn't even that high, like I said earlier if he builds on his first season to eliminate most of those sub 10 possession games and starts breaking the 15 possession barrier more often I'll be very happy, and realistically that only translates to 2-3 more possessions on average.

On some of the other players you mentioned:
LDU not the greatest comparison (and hard to get top 10 in the Syd when you barely play half the games). Or depending on your POV possibly a good one I guess, lol. There was plenty of commentary surrounding him regarding him favouring his shoulder, his defensive work, supposedly pulling out of marking contest, etc. Biggest difference was that he never had that full shiny first season that TT had, and last year showed improvements on his earlier season.

Larkey struggled last year, but is younger than Brown and also clearly played with a bung leg (ankle?) for a long period. s**t year, like most others I think we all see it as a write off. Biggest difference to TT is that IMO he has already shown growth as a player on the field. His two games in his first year he barely got a kick. Come 2019 he was highly effective as a second tall after showing growth in the VFL.

Zurharr is one of the few I don't actually give a complete pass to for last year fwiw, or more accurately I have some reservations. I was genuinely a bit filthy on him a lot of games. There was talk about him having a crook back, so maybe that is why, but he quite often looked flat out lazy on the field. But the year was full of s**t anyway, and with the possibility of it being injury related I haven't held it against him. All the same, I'm not as strong on him growing into the player I thought he was capable of after his 2019 season. Again though, even accounting for a bad year previous year, he's shown, on field, improvements from his first seasons.


LOL an average of 12-15 touches and a goal to a goal and a half a game would be a damn good season from Thomas in 2021. Some of the expectations are ridiculous.

He averaged 12 touches and 0.8 goals a game in his first year...
 
LOL an average of 12-15 touches and a goal to a goal and a half a game would be a damn good season from Thomas in 2021. Some of the expectations are ridiculous.
They are probably close to Cyril Rioli's stat's over 10+ seasons, and he never seemed to cop much angst about numbers or lack of.
 
Jun 4, 2013
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They are probably close to Cyril Rioli's stat's over 10+ seasons, and he never seemed to cop much angst about numbers or lack of.

15.1 and 1.5 respectively. Also consistently had goal assists and F50 tackles out the whazoo.

(also I wouldn't say he copped angst, but he was derided as wildly over rated pretty damn often)
 
He has looked very smooth at training and in the match sims.

Got very high hopes for him this year.

The taking Phoenix under his wing stuff very impressive too.
 
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