Retired Clay Smith (#960)

[Ant_]

Name: Clay Smith
Position: Inside Midfielder
Age : 18
Height: 180cm
Weight: 82kg

Ferocious tackler who wins his own ball. Fearless and hates being beaten. Also strong overhead for his size.

 

[tonydean]

Congrats Clay Smith Pick No.17

Well done to the young fella Clay Smith, welcome to the dogs and hopefully he can inject some speed and skill to our midfield!

 

[100action]

Pick 17 Clay Smith

Welcome to the Western Bulldogs young man.

Some info:

Foj 2011

Hard at it smallish midfielder who leaves nothing in the tank. Smith is best suited to an inside midfielders role but I really like his ability to enforce defensive pressure. Smith also has the ability to play as a small defensive forward who can also kick a couple of goals. I reckon the MFC made a statement dumping Maric and Aussie and they would make a real statement picking this bloke up here.

Bulldogsman

Tough inside midfielder that’s very good at the clearances. Attacks the ball with speed and wins a lot of it. Has a strong work rate, he can link up well and find the ball on the outside a bit too. Strong tackler. Can play forward and use his tackling to great effect. Can take a strong contested mark and kick a few goals. Will give you 110% effort wherever he plays. He’s reasonable kick, but is nothing outstanding and his decision making is okay. Smith tested pretty well, his speed and endurance times were good (endurance very good). Should be able to have an impact next year maybe as a forward where he can use his tackling to lock the ball in the forward line.

Chris 25:

An inside midfielder, who is particularly strong in the clearances. Smith has been a fixture in the best players for Gippsland over the past couple of seasons, and continued that into the U18 Championships this year. In addition to impressive showings in the midfield, Smith also went forward where he put his tackling to good use in keeping the ball inside their forward line. Could very well go higher than this. AFL Comparison: Matt DeBoer.

Quigley:

Clay Smith – good endurance but doesn’t do anything else much that I rate. Poor awareness of what is around him and a very ordinary kick for someone who will make his living kicking the ball. I accept he will be taken probably from about pick 20 on but that doesn’t mean I need to include him.

Snoop Dog:

Suspect his mother worries about his ferocious attack on the footy! Debated where to drop this kid in and frankly this feels a little late. When thinking of this kid just think Joel Selwood and Luke Ball. Very team orientated player who is perfect for the modern game in that he will play a role as contested ball winner who tackles really well. He is a huge contested possession winner and just throws himself into everthing. Keeps his feet very well and is really adept at using his hands in close to advantage. Has nice foot skills as well. Finished with 9 bests in his 12 appearances.
AFL Comparison – Luke Ball

 

[doggies ftw]

Can't say I'm impressed.

 

[Gus]

Re: Pick 17 Clay Smith

[YOUTUBE]mqmEHvYhrJ4[/YOUTUBE]

I liked Crozier but I'm ok with this. Looking at the highlights- possible ideal Ward replacement.

 

[KMac4FF]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

9 BOGs in 12 games??? Fair effort.....

 

[doggies ftw]

Where do we expect to play him Wallis, libba, cross, Boyd, and who provides the run?

 

[Gus]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

Says he plays well as a defensive forward too.

 

[VitalDread]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

Give him jumper number 8?

 

[Firebat]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

Gem, great pick, some of his off the ball work is unbelievable, gut running for bumps and the like.

 

[arkie]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

Kavanagh > Smith. That is all.

 

[Jdoggy]

Re: Pick 17 Clay Smith

[youtube]mqmEHvYhrJ4[/youtube]

I liked Crozier but I'm ok with this. Looking at the highlights- possible ideal Ward replacement.

A few Things-
the tackle at 0:39 is crazy, the reverse tackle he did was impressive, the tackle at the end was great and just looks like a good srs grunt runner.
Did the guy miss the shot at 1:35??

 

[100action]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

Kavanagh > Smith. That is all.

small clubs like the bulldogs cant fight city hall mate, now that Clay is here there is no turning back, lets just congratulate the boy and hope he turns into Joel Selwood for us .

 

[cleveland]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

Welcome to the club Clay, by watching some of his tackling he is a favourtie of mine already. A few of our players could have a look at the way this kid plays the game and copy.

 

[VitalDread]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

we could see Picken and Clay doing tagging roles in the midfield, while one is in the midfield one could be at the forward.

 

[Rookie]

Dare I say it, did the coach influence the recruiting team to pick a certain type of player instead of the most talented? There was something on Twitter earlier about McCarthy insisting on an inside mid when the recuiting team wanted ... From memory Crozier?

 

[doggies ftw]

I like him but we seriously need speed and skill, cant understand why we picked him over Crozier and Kavanagh, could have been an amazing draft instead of a good to great draft!

 

[Gus]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

Dare I say it, did the coach influence the recruiting team to pick a certain type of player instead of the most talented? There was something on Twitter earlier about McCarthy insisting on an inside mid when the recuiting team wanted ... From memory Crozier?

This was the rumour, yes.

The way I see it, our old ethos was fast and skilful but not neccessarily good in the clinches.

McCartney has flagged a new game style relying on tough and uncompromising football. Smith fits with that. Kind of like how North have built their midfield. Cunnington, Swallow, Ziebell, Greenwood etc are not quick or skilful but do the job in close.

Bonus for us is we already have a gun outside mid in Griffen, as well as a quick footed developing player in Tutt and a potential elite user of the ball in Howard for this inside midfield group to get the ball to.

 

[doggies ftw]

I would be a lot more happy if his weakness wasn't kicking, I guess he will be our little machine in the middle who can rotate forward aswell!

 

[divvydan]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

If you're at training and want to work out which one he is, this might help

 

[TMoney22]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

I like him but we seriously need speed and skill, cant understand why we picked him over Crozier and Kavanagh, could have been an amazing draft instead of a good to great draft!

We'll be getting some quality outside mids in next years draft. Now that we don't have to get a KPD with an early pick

 

[arkie]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

small clubs like the bulldogs cant fight city hall mate, now that Clay is here there is no turning back, lets just congratulate the boy and hope he turns into Joel Selwood for us .

I just think there were better players available at 17. Kavanagh being one of them. I was just surprised he was pretty much given to Essendon in the end.

 

[Dogs Rule]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

I just think there were better players available at 17. Kavanagh being one of them. I was just surprised he was pretty much given to Essendon in the end.

Stop whinging. Kavanagh obviously has dodgy hammies so let the Bombers have him - couldn't care less. If his Dad's going to gave that much influence over him, he's best avoided. As for Crozier, he might br quick but he quick and super skinny just like Farren Ray and that turned out well didn't it? We have one tiny runt in Dahlhaus, we don't need two. Loving Smith's tackling and clearance work - bloody brilliant.

 

[doggies ftw]

We'll be getting some quality outside mids in next years draft. Now that we don't have to get a KPD with an early pick

Yeah I guess, I just hope the rumour about BM overturning the recruiters because he didn't want an outside mid isn't true.

 

[Big Wilbur]

Re: Clay Smith - Pick #17

Yeah I guess, I just hope the rumour about BM overturning the recruiters because he didn't want an outside mid isn't true.

What if it is true? Like you my first reaction was anti-climatic....I don't think we are short of this type of player.

The reality is however that we have just appointed a new coach and were obviously impressed by his vision for our team. Once you do that, you simply need to back his judgement on the type of player he believes we need to fulfill that vision.

He reminds me of Joel Selwood in his style. If Joel Selwood was available in this draft and we had taken him at pick 17, would you have been critical?