Remove this Banner Ad

Moved Thread Bailey Smith vs Sam Walsh

Who's better


  • Total voters
    182
  • Poll closed .

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Oakleigh Roo

Debutant
Joined
Dec 6, 2019
Posts
136
Reaction score
271
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Have thought about this for a couple of weeks now. Who would you rather have? [PLAYERCARD]Bailey Smith[/PLAYERCARD] or [PLAYERCARD]Sam Walsh[/PLAYERCARD]?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

18 draft was loaded with talent from the top 20. To answer the question Bailey Smith quite easily, he was hitting targets with his left foot. Walsh cannot hit a target inside 50 at all.

wouldn’t be surprised looking back in 5 years that Walsh who will be a good player will a much more inferior player to both the King boys, Rozee, lukacious & Smith. And who knows what Rankine and Thomas will be by then as they ooze class.
 
I'm not a huge Walsh fan, but I'm also not sure why he ended up back on the wing against the Dees. He's a very good honest wingman (which is a great effort for a kid and phenomenal for a first year player) but a gun inside mid in the making. His work rate, contested work and ability to accumulate from the midfield is incredible and some shonky kicking doesn't matter as much from there.

Smith's pace and aggression are excellent traits, but really his pace buys him time to hit targets in big windows. I'm still not all that convinced by his kicking either. Probably haven't seen enough of him on ball due to the Dogs top end gun mids but I just have a feeling his game sense and reading of the play isn't brilliant.

Breakaway pace is absolutely gold so maybe Smith gets to Shiel/Treloar/Prestia level, none of which have ever really been regarded as great kicks - Prestia was last year. Not sure Smith is quite big and brilliant enough to be Dangerfield level and expecting any young player to be that true elite level is foolish.

If think with more time on ball Walsh quickly loses any concern that he's a bit vanilla. Some of his onball games in particular last year where fantastic and not just for accumulating stats and work rate. I'm not quite sure what that comparison for him is. Jack Macrae could be about right, another player who started on the wing, is very unassuming and is a bit iffy by foot.

I find them hard to split but in a vacuum without considering needs I'd probably still go the safer choice with Walsh.
 
Walsh has played what, one bad game? And we seem to have collectively decided he's shit now. He was always on a fairly level pegging with the others in the top tier of the 2018 draft, but had less "bust risk". And that has held true at AFL level.
 
I'm not a huge Walsh fan, but I'm also not sure why he ended up back on the wing against the Dees. He's a very good honest wingman (which is a great effort for a kid and phenomenal for a first year player) but a gun inside mid in the making. His work rate, contested work and ability to accumulate from the midfield is incredible and some shonky kicking doesn't matter as much from there.

Smith's pace and aggression are excellent traits, but really his pace buys him time to hit targets in big windows. I'm still not all that convinced by his kicking either. Probably haven't seen enough of him on ball due to the Dogs top end gun mids but I just have a feeling his game sense and reading of the play isn't brilliant.

Breakaway pace is absolutely gold so maybe Smith gets to Shiel/Treloar/Prestia level, none of which have ever really been regarded as great kicks - Prestia was last year. Not sure Smith is quite big and brilliant enough to be Dangerfield level and expecting any young player to be that true elite level is foolish.

If think with more time on ball Walsh quickly loses any concern that he's a bit vanilla. Some of his onball games in particular last year where fantastic and not just for accumulating stats and work rate. I'm not quite sure what that comparison for him is. Jack Macrae could be about right, another player who started on the wing, is very unassuming and is a bit iffy by foot.

I find them hard to split but in a vacuum without considering needs I'd probably still go the safer choice with Walsh.

You have a sense his game sense isn’t brilliant. How did you come to that conclusion?


Sent from my iPad using BigFooty.com
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Walsh is going to be a player who is underrated by opposition supporters imo, at least until he matures, because of that shonky disposal

His biggest attribute that I’ve seen is the combination of work ethic and reading the play that lets him just accumulate so many possessions. There was an example I put in an old thread where he had 2 possessions 12 seconds apart on polar opposite angles on the ground - which implied he sprinted to the spot, except the play in between was a contest. So he was able to in an instant size up the contest, then sprint at the exact angle to link up, and had both the sense andstamina to get there as an 18yo. Not sure if that makes sense without the clip but the only comparisons I can think of are Ablett jr and Hird

the flip side is he has a tendency to panic and rush possessions, leading to some horrific disposal. Even if that improves with experience, his mechanics are shaky. His upside to me is Gary Ablett jr (Gold Coast edition) but with worse ball usage and consequently less goals as well. He’s going to have a lot of career games where fans barely see him then check the stats and he had 40 and a goal.

Smith seems a more straight up bull midfielder with good skills and a penetrating kick. All visible to fans across the spectrum. His trademark seems more likely to be a Bont style 25 + 2 goals and everyone raves about it

Given Walsh seems to be having second year blues and plays for a garbage team, I reckon this thread is going to lean very heavily Smith this year. Not saying that’s an incorrect g view, just that I don’t think Walsh is going to be as visibly impressive until he hits his physical peak
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

The only draft ever that will live upto the hype

2001 and 2004?

I recall penty of hype there.

But certainly the hype of the last 10 or more years hasnt seen any super drafts.

These days we also hear "ah but next year looks even better !!" a lot.
 
Jeez i am over the Walsh hate, a shit end to a game in his second season and now he can't kick and is no good.

His first season was as elite as you will see from a first year player. He literally has 1 good midfielder alongside him...

The guy is going to be a star, who will end up better? No idea but acting like having either one is a bad thing is just moronic.
 
If think with more time on ball Walsh quickly loses any concern that he's a bit vanilla. Some of his onball games in particular last year where fantastic and not just for accumulating stats and work rate. I'm not quite sure what that comparison for him is. Jack Macrae could be about right, another player who started on the wing, is very unassuming and is a bit iffy by foot.

Jack Macrae is not iffy by foot, he was first among full time mids for goal assists last season. Not many accumulators use the ball as well as Macrae, if Walsh ends up kicking like Macrae he'll be an absolute gun. If you want to compare his kicking to a Bulldog player its more like Dunkleys kicking which is pretty iffy
 

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top