Player Watch Best young Key Forwards -Curnow,Hipwood,Naughton,McKay, King Brothers

Jun 23, 2008
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He has potential but hes missing something people over look in key forwards and thats presence. He doesnt have the aura about him that makes defenders a bit nervous or makes them double take. Not intimidating enough is probably the biggest thing.

Dont get me wrong, players can and do become good forwards without this particular trait BUT they tend to have ways to over come that. Speed, work rate, aerial smarts, these things can help. I dont think Schache has much besides his height and his work rate, which is reasonable.

You could say the same about Hipwood, bar the odd game.

Hipwood still seems a similar player and body size to what he was two years ago, which is a concern. I don't think he's ever going to have the presence or marking ability that a 6'8" bloke should, and doesn't seem to be developing the running capacity to offset that, either.
 
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Hipwood's major fault is his kicking at goal. He is at about 50 % this year and that is an improvement.

If he was a good shot at goal add 15 goals to last years total and ten to this year so far. I think he had over 80 shots at goal last year with lots missing everything.

Bulldog supporters may recall his miss after miss at Marvel last year where he kicked us out of the game. Put as many out on the full as he actually scored anything.

He's starting to out muscle players this year.

Naughton is the obvious stand out to me. He's so young. Fourth in the BF in his first year and top three this year.
 
Nov 8, 2007
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At the start of the year Id have said:

Curnow
Hipwood
McKay
Naughton

Now, if you factor in recency bias you could probably flip that

Lesson is all of them are juicy prospects and its hard to judge with key forwards until they reach 24. Let's just be happy each of us have one of these future guns.
 
Nov 8, 2007
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Hipwood's major fault is his kicking at goal. He is at about 50 % this year and that is an improvement.

If he was a good shot at goal add 15 goals to last years total and ten to this year so far. I think he had over 80 shots at goal last year with lots missing everything.

Bulldog supporters may recall his miss after miss at Marvel last year where he kicked us out of the game. Put as many out on the full as he actually scored anything.

He's starting to out muscle players this year.

Naughton is the obvious stand out to me. He's so young. Fourth in the BF in his first year and top three this year.
same with mckay
 
Mckay and Naughton are leading the comp in contested marks, but there's just something about Hipwood that makes be think he's an absolute star. Naughton is still a bit behind those guys in age (he's still 19) and may potentially go to the backline depending on our trade period.

Still waiting to see Max King too, huge wraps as a junior.
 

Pykie

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There's a couple missing from this discussion.

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Naughton
Larkey
McKay
Lewis
Curnow
Hipwood
Allen
Blakey
Weideman
P.Wright
 
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Luder

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There's a couple missing from this discussion.

Name the player:


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Naughton
Larkey
McKay
Lewis
Curnow
Hipwood
Allen
Blakey
Weideman
P.Wright
Before looking at the players actual names, purely from a stats perspective the most impressive ones turned out to be Naughton, Hipwood, Curnow, McKay and then Wright. Larkey and Lewis both looking pretty good, but would like to see more games from them. Would be good to see this at year end once each of these guys has played more games. Blakey and Weideman pretty meh so far, while Oscar Allen wasn't bad, but younger than a lot of these guys (same age as Naughton) while Blakey is the youngest of the lot
 
Nov 8, 2007
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Nov 8, 2007
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Before looking at the players actual names, purely from a stats perspective the most impressive ones turned out to be Naughton, Hipwood, Curnow, McKay and then Wright. Larkey and Lewis both looking pretty good, but would like to see more games from them. Would be good to see this at year end once each of these guys has played more games. Blakey and Weideman pretty meh so far, while Oscar Allen wasn't bad, but younger than a lot of these guys (same age as Naughton) while Blakey is the youngest of the lot
Based on averages:

Peter Wright is no.1 for both AF and SC

Curnow is no.2 for both AF and SC

Really surprising Peter Wright is so young. Feels like he had been around forever.
 
You could say the same about Hipwood, bar the odd game.

Hipwood still seems a similar player and body size to what he was two years ago, which is a concern. I don't think he's ever going to have the presence or marking ability that a 6'8" bloke should, and doesn't seem to be developing the running capacity to offset that, either.

The difference is Hipwood has better agility, work rate and when hes on he has shown he can kick bags and scare the opposition with his positioning and reach.

If you watch both players its easy to see Hipwood has that extra something that Schache doesnt quite have, which isnt to say Schache is a lost cause.
 

Luder

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Based on averages:

Peter Wright is no.1 for both AF and SC

Curnow is no.2 for both AF and SC

Really surprising Peter Wright is so young. Feels like he had been around forever.
Yeah I was putting more focus on marks and goals per game when I compared the players, but Wright really seems to fly under the radar. I'm sure if he was playing outside QLD, he'd be hyped up a fair bit more
 

JohnnyFontane90

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Feb 14, 2014
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There's a couple missing from this discussion.

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Naughton
Larkey
McKay
Lewis
Curnow
Hipwood
Allen
Blakey
Weideman
P.Wright
Charlie curnow got injured in the first quarter twice so his averages are based on 11 games when they really should be based on 9.

but yeah this conversation is deeper than the 4 that are mentioned given that none are the finished article yet. I think blakey might end up the best of the lot though.
 
Nov 8, 2007
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Charlie curnow got injured in the first quarter twice so his averages are based on 11 games when they really should be based on 9.

but yeah this conversation is deeper than the 4 that are mentioned given that none are the finished article yet. I think blakey might end up the best of the lot though.
Wow very true. Can't believe how good Charlie already is.
 
Aug 14, 2011
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Wow very true. Can't believe how good Charlie already is.

Certainly the media are pushing him up. When will he add consistency hitting the scoreboard, can he average 2 goals a game, 40+ goals a year is what a key forward gives IMHO. 34 in 2018, about the same again.
40 goals is a big ask from a key forward.
 

Shadow89

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Ratugolea will give this a fair shake next year, if he gets a full pre-season under his belt. Only 20 with 19 games played, and has shown a bit.
 
Nov 8, 2007
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The OP compared 4 key forwards & they are comparable, if we want to compare key forwards generally OK.
Max King = Aaron Naughton (both 19)

Charlie Curnow = Peter Wright (both 22)

Yes, those guys were not part of the OP's list but they are Young Key Forwards.

Personally I'd agree with you to exclude Max King from the discussion about who is best (as he's done nothing at AFL level), but certainly Peter Wright should be in the discussion.
 
Aug 14, 2011
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Max King = Aaron Naughton (both 19)

Charlie Curnow = Peter Wright (both 22)

Yes, those guys were not part of the OP's list but they are Young Key Forwards.

Personally I'd agree with you to exclude Max King from the discussion about who is best (as he's done nothing at AFL level), but certainly Peter Wright should be in the discussion.

:thumbsu:
I think we underestimate how hard it is to kick 40+ goals in the modern game & its the sort of return needed.
West Coast have had 2 x key tall forwards in Kennedy & Darling contributing regularly, the idea Curnow & McKay could offer the Blues a similar contribution clearly appeals to Blues fans.

Here are the 40+ goal kickers from last year:

& YTD 2019, 30+ after 16 rounds

Hope those links work, look horribly the same.
 
Nov 8, 2007
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:thumbsu:
I think we underestimate how hard it is to kick 40+ goals in the modern game & its the sort of return needed.
West Coast have had 2 x key tall forwards in Kennedy & Darling contributing regularly, the idea Curnow & McKay could offer the Blues a similar contribution clearly appeals to Blues fans.

Here are the 40+ goal kickers from last year:

& YTD 2019, 30+ after 16 rounds

Hope those links work, look horribly the same.
Yeah they're identical links bruv but all good i agree
 
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