Player Watch #45 Thomas Burton

[Truetiger]

Worked out why he didn’t get drafted. Pulled out of mark going back with flight. Horrible look

Regardless, he has shown he will be a good player.

 

[Yze does it]

Regardless, he has shown he will be a good player.

Running 14+ kms
25 sprints/3 repeat

178cm? in the Lambert mould.

19 y.o 2 games in.

the club loves its runners

 

[_RT_]

Burtons Saturday afternoon certainly highlighted the running power Yze mentioned in his debut game.

14.8km covered with 3km at high speed, averaging 9.3km/h. Also had 28 sprints. Averaged 8.8km in attacking mode and 9km in defensive mode.

 

[SleepingGiant]

Who said he will get dropped when we are full strength? Who seriously in our best 22 displaces him on current form? Hugo? lol, already an upgrade.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

Who said he will get dropped when we are full strength? Who seriously in our best 22 displaces him on current form? Hugo? lol, already an upgrade.

I have absolutely no idea why Hugo is regard so lowly by so many people on here. There are at best 16 players in the AFL who play almost exclusively wing who rate better than Ralphsmith. And his ratings are similar to last season. Which means he is an average AFL winger. We probably only have 12-15 players on our list who are AFL average or better in their position right now, and Hugo is one of them.

Hugo rates 8.44 in 2026.

Specialist wingers who are rating below him this year:

B Williams
X Duursma
D Stephens
L Ashcroft
J O'Meara
J Burgoyne
R Steele
S Sidebottom
B Fiorini
S Clohesy
J Weddle
Z Uwland
H Davis
P Retschko
E Allan
B Allan
C Chesser
H Morrison
N Erasmus
J Wehr

There are a lot of high draft picks, and well regarded players on that list, amongst some younger less heralded types.

 

[THE_GUN]

Worked out why he didn’t get drafted. Pulled out of mark going back with flight. Horrible look

Dude you pulled out of a bet you lost , nothing is as bad as being a welcher

 

[Muddiemoose]

Who said he will get dropped when we are full strength? Who seriously in our best 22 displaces him on current form? Hugo? lol, already an upgrade.

Hotto Lalor, Mansell Kmac2 and Ross would probably push him out if we are talking about a fully fit squad

The old suspects would take mid rotations from Ross/Kmac2 forcing them to the wing/ half forward again

Hotto, Lalor and Mansell would rotate between deep forward and half forward with midfield cameos

It’s not a slight on Burton either, it’s just he’s still green and does need to put on some size to maximise his output

Doubt it matters right now anyway because due to the injuries we have he will get plenty of AFL level exposure

 

[SleepingGiant]

I have absolutely no idea why Hugo is regard so lowly by so many people on here. There are at best 16 players in the AFL who play almost exclusively wing who rate better than Ralphsmith. And his ratings are similar to last season. Which means he is an average AFL winger. We probably only have 12-15 players on our list who are AFL average or better in their position right now, and Hugo is one of them.

Hugo rates 8.44 in 2026.

Specialist wingers who are rating below him this year:

B Williams
X Duursma
D Stephens
L Ashcroft
J O'Meara
J Burgoyne
R Steele
S Sidebottom
B Fiorini
S Clohesy
J Weddle
Z Uwland
H Davis
P Retschko
E Allan
B Allan
C Chesser
H Morrison
N Erasmus
J Wehr

There are a lot of high draft picks, and well regarded players on that list, amongst some younger less heralded types.

 

[Karp3_dm]

Worked out why he didn’t get drafted. Pulled out of mark going back with flight. Horrible look

I did notice that too at the time

He is a pretty ****en lightweight… and maybe he got called out of it??

Hoping either case

 

[Meteoric Rise]

Don't think Mike Tyson is rated above Hugo as an AFL winger either.

 

[sregit]

Don't think Mike Tyson is rated above Hugo as an AFL winger either.

He should be. Useless Hugo. Pulls out of the contest regularly.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

He should be. Useless Hugo. Pulls out of the contest regularly.

I don't see Hugo pulling out of too many contests. He is not strong in contests, something he has known and been working on his whole career, I hae heard him say as much in an interview.

Hugo from where I sit, since reaching full maturity, is an average AFL standard specialist winger. Not necessarily the type of player a bottom side should be rushing to delist.

 

[Charlie Pannam]

I don't see Hugo pulling out of too many contests. He is not strong in contests, something he has known and been working on his whole career, I hae heard him say as much in an interview.

Hugo from where I sit, since reaching full maturity, is an average AFL standard specialist winger. Not necessarily the type of player a bottom side should be rushing to delist.

I don’t like Hugo’s long term future, thinking his head is going to be on the chopping block at seasons end.
Personally I don’t see any improvement, and when you’ve got elite runners like Burton and Grlj , playing wing/hb, do you keep him just for depth? I think there’s better options and where we are at the moment with our rebuild you’ve just got to keep turning over the list.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

I don’t like Hugo’s long term future, thinking his head is going to be on the chopping block at seasons end.
Personally I don’t see any improvement, and when you’ve got elite runners like Burton and Grlj , playing wing/hb, do you keep him just for depth? I think there’s better options and where we are at the moment with our rebuild you’ve just got to keep turning over the list.

Below is a list of Richmond players ordered by player ratings in 2026. Hugo's rating is more or less a continuation from last year.

Note which six players are AHEAD of Ralphsmith and where they stand in the scheme of things at Richmond. Then below that is what most of us see when we watch footy, the Supercoach performance. In that list, Hugo is nowhere to be seen in the top 20. In fact he is 29th on our list. You will find selection and list management decisions will be much more closely aligned to the first list than the second. Though it must be said this does not mean the player ratings are an infallible guide. But Hugo is holding his own in the player ratings for legitimate reasons. I will be surprised if he is delisted.

 

[Cdog71]

Hugo has been torched by some of the more attacking wingers in the past but think it’s a little early to say Burton is a better choice.
Yeah he can run, I dunno if it’s better than Hugo but it’s very good. The other thing about Burton is he’s 5”10.
He’s not going to be out marking many on the fat side 1v1 as a wing.

 

[Groupie_]

that footsteps moment was epic

 

[Yze does it]

Hotto Lalor, Mansell Kmac2 and Ross would probably push him out if we are talking about a fully fit squad

The old suspects would take mid rotations from Ross/Kmac2 forcing them to the wing/ half forward again

Hotto, Lalor and Mansell would rotate between deep forward and half forward with midfield cameos

It’s not a slight on Burton either, it’s just he’s still green and does need to put on some size to maximise his output

Doubt it matters right now anyway because due to the injuries we have he will get plenty of AFL level exposure

Hugo 4~6 weeks.
Prestia be covered by Taranto

 

[Grrr]

Hugo has been torched by some of the more attacking wingers in the past but think it’s a little early to say Burton is a better choice.
Yeah he can run, I dunno if it’s better than Hugo but it’s very good. The other thing about Burton is he’s 5”10.
He’s not going to be out marking many on the fat side 1v1 as a wing.

I think Mansell would be a better wingman than either of them. He has all the attributes of a wingman and we could do with his aggression. He is just as fast as Hugo, much more physical and a better kick. I think Mansell might struggle to retain his place long-term in the forward line when we are fully fit.

 

[Dreamend]

I don't see Hugo pulling out of too many contests. He is not strong in contests, something he has known and been working on his whole career, I hae heard him say as much in an interview.

Hugo from where I sit, since reaching full maturity, is an average AFL standard specialist winger. Not necessarily the type of player a bottom side should be rushing to delist.

A huge majority of wingers and running high half forwards will generally avoid big contact too as they rely on that transition running so heavily for structures.

 

[sregit]

I don't see Hugo pulling out of too many contests. He is not strong in contests, something he has known and been working on his whole career, I hae heard him say as much in an interview.

Hugo from where I sit, since reaching full maturity, is an average AFL standard specialist winger. Not necessarily the type of player a bottom side should be rushing to delist.

I sit centre wing at the G and I see Hugo pull out of the contest regularly.
He drops back rather than attacking all the time.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

I sit centre wing at the G and I see Hugo pull out of the contest regularly.
He drops back rather than attacking all the time.

You think he is doing that because he decided to on the spur of the moment? Or is he possibly following instructions?

 

[Madtiger2006]

First goal tomorrow hopefully

 

[tropicaltiger]

Dude you pulled out of a bet you lost , nothing is as bad as being a welcher

Lord Welcher got bowled