Farren Ray

[SaintsSeptember]

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says the addition of Bulldog midfielder Farren Ray does not mean the club has lost interest in former Eagle Ben Cousins.
The Saints landed Ray and the Bulldogs’ third-round pick (no. 48 overall) on the final day of trade week in exchange for its second-round pick.
But Lyon said Ray’s signing was not an indication it had shied away from the idea of taking Cousins, also a midfielder, in the NAB AFL Draft or NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft.
“We’re all interested in Ben Cousins but what I’d like to say is that’s clearly in the hands of the AFL commission (to allow him to play)," he said.
"Ben’s health is a priority but everyone deserves a second chance,” Lyon said of the ex-West Coast star who is still recovering from drug addiction and was de-registered by the AFL in 2007.
Lyon said the addition of Ray would bring pace and endurance to the St Kilda midfield.
“We saw the opportunity/cost was reasonable. He’s got a massive tank and we deferred a bit to (general manager football operations) Matthew Drain’s experience as well,” Lyon said.
“He worked closely with him at the Bulldogs and knew him intimately.
"Matthew has a strong understanding of our strengths and weaknesses at St Kilda and felt we weren’t compromising what we wanted to do with bringing in the six kids.”
Ray, 22, has played 75 matches with the Bulldogs since he was taken with the fourth pick in the 2003 draft.
After amassing a season-high 23 possessions in the Bulldogs’ loss to Hawthorn in week one of the finals, Ray was dropped for the side’s remaining two matches of 2008.
He voiced his desire to leave the Dogs at the end of the season, citing a lack of opportunity as the main reason.
But Lyon says the Bulldogs’ loss is St Kilda’s gain.
“He can play half-back so we can continue to release (Jason) Gram, (Brendon) Goddard, (Sam) Gilbert and Sam Fisher. That was the plan," he said.
"We’re thrilled to have him, he’s done his apprenticeship and is ready to go.”
St Kilda, which has traditionally been a big player in draft week, had been linked with names such as Daniel Kerr, Mark Jamar, Nathan Carroll and Hamish McIntosh in the lead-up.
But Lyon said he was happy to make just the one trade and focus on bringing youth to the club.
“We came in with a strong plan that we wanted six picks in the national draft," he said.
"We’ve maintained our picks. We shuffled back 15 places and our recruiting guys were comfortable with that. If they had have said no we wouldn’t have gone forward,” he said.

I'm starting to warm to him. Maximum possessions in a losing game - courage under fire in a final, is he the anti-Dal? Release BJ,Gram,and Chips, Thats what I'm talking about!

Only 22 with an interupted pre-season last year, still plenty of potential and obviously Drain knows more about him than any of us.

 

[yelafella]

Can someone tell me where he rates in the list of W.B's "speedsters"

Who is their quickest, & whats their top 10?
...as it seems like speed is what we need in the middle
& tho i hate the expression; "breaking the lines"

"We've plenty o'time
for Saints '09"

...GO SAINTZ!!!

 

[Squizz]

It's his repeat efforts that they rate.

Set very high beep test (15+) and 3k run at the 2003 draft camp.

 

[bludger]

Hi guys I am a Bulldogs supporter and wanted you to have an honest appraisal of Farren Ray.
First of all I am not a hater of him, I disliked Power and McMahon but never really disliked Faz, however I have never really warmed to him either.
He is definitely an outside player, he is not your in and under West or Cross type players.
He is okay overhead and can take a reasonable grab, which as you guys would know is something we lack. He is not as good overhead as Johnno though.
He is a running machine, runs all day seemingly at the same pace which is reasonably quick. He looks like he is loping but he he actually covers the ground well. I would say he is more an endurance athlete much like your Harves. He certainly is not explosive like Lovett, Griffen, Davey etc.
His awareness at times is a little slow, he can be loping bouncing the ball and be run down, his peripheral vision is poor.
His disposal which has some huge question marks is ok on his right side, but his left side is poor. He tends to go on his left too often for no other reason than he wants to. If he goes on his left look out, turnover city.
He can get the ball run 30 meteres and kick it 40-50 metres so he is the type of player that breaks lines well.
I gues he is comparable to Joey Montagna but probably not as quick, or as good disposal, but better mark and endurance.
He frustrates because he was such a high draft pick. I hope this helps a little, I am sure you have had many reports about him. I tried to be fair in description.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Hi guys I am a Bulldogs supporter and wanted you to have an honest appraisal of Farren Ray.
First of all I am not a hater of him, I disliked Power and McMahon but never really disliked Faz, however I have never really warmed to him either.
He is definitely an outside player, he is not your in and under West or Cross type players.
He is okay overhead and can take a reasonable grab, which as you guys would know is something we lack. He is not as good overhead as Johnno though.
He is a running machine, runs all day seemingly at the same pace which is reasonably quick. He looks like he is loping but he he actually covers the ground well. I would say he is more an endurance athlete much like your Harves. He certainly is not explosive like Lovett, Griffen, Davey etc.
His awareness at times is a little slow, he can be loping bouncing the ball and be run down, his peripheral vision is poor.
His disposal which has some huge question marks is ok on his right side, but his left side is poor. He tends to go on his left too often for no other reason than he wants to. If he goes on his left look out, turnover city.
He can get the ball run 30 meteres and kick it 40-50 metres so he is the type of player that breaks lines well.
I gues he is comparable to Joey Montagna but probably not as quick, or as good disposal, but better mark and endurance.
He frustrates because he was such a high draft pick. I hope this helps a little, I am sure you have had many reports about him. I tried to be fair in description.

Thanks Bludger, he should fit in OK with us considering we have been making do with the likes of Fiora. I don't think any of us are expecting perfection of him, but he is not a total dud either, and still has time to fix some of his problems.

 

[lifelike_]

Posted this a while ago on the Dogs board -

I'm obviously in the minority, but here goes.

So far it's safe to say he hasn't met expectations. You would expect any midfielder taken at pick four to be averaging more than 20 touches in their fifth year.

He's only ever had more than 25 disposals in a game once, being the elimination final against Collingwood in 2006.

However, IMO he's being used the wrong way. The following might be extremely basic in terms of stats, but IMO it's a fair indication of why many haven't seen his season as up to scratch.

In 2006 he stepped up and got us all excited. He was given a license to run and carry, he took games on and after the elimination final he was seen by many on here as one of our brightest prospects in years.

That year he disposed of the ball by foot 60% of the time.

Since then it's safe to say he's been a disappointment, and this year it's obvious he's been given a different role.

He's been used in a role that's completely unsuitable to his natural game. Instead of being the player on the end of a chain of handballs where he should be, he's playing the 'middle man', often the player who ends up firing a handball out to the player who runs and carries.

It's no surprise that this year he's only been disposing of the ball by foot a tick over 40% of the time.

So why are we using a player whose strength lies in his ability to run and carry in a role that at least 75% of players on an AFL list could play?

With all signs pointing to a trade at the end of the season, I can't help but think we might have lost a player who we'll be crying out for once Eagleton's career comes to an end.

I'm expecting the doom and gloom brigade to shoot this down, but if we let him go and he's given the right role he'll turn into the player we all though he'd be after that brilliant finals performance two years ago.

Obviously the difference between being a win or loss for you guys is whether or not he's given that outside role that suits him.

With Lyon already looking to play him off half back I'm confident he'll be a very good acquisition.

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

There's a lot of players that show signs and play one awesome game, that never go onto anything though. Whether it be due to injuries, or being played out of position, as Ray may be.

For our sake, I hope Ray becomes a gun, and for your sake I hope 31's a good player!

 

[Plugger35]

His awareness at times is a little slow, he can be loping bouncing the ball and be run down, his peripheral vision is poor.

He should get along well with Kosi then.

In fairness to Ray though he does appear to have some good qualities, ie. pace and endurance. If our coaching staff can work on his weaknesses such as his disposal skills he could turn out to be quite a good player for us. He was very highly rated in WA before he was drafted so he must have something going for him.

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

Actually, mentioning improving his disposal skills. Remember Jonesy at the start of the year, couldn't kick the ball, by the end of the year he had quite a respectable kick on him, even if his action is strange.

I haven't seen Ray play much so I can't comment, but he has a Disposal Efficiency of 81%, albeit, with 60% being handballs, it probably brings that statistic up, but 81% is in the upper echelon of the AFL I think... lol.

 

[Plugger35]

Actually, mentioning improving his disposal skills. Remember Jonesy at the start of the year, couldn't kick the ball, by the end of the year he had quite a respectable kick on him, even if his action is strange.

I haven't seen Ray play much so I can't comment, but he has a Disposal Efficiency of 81%, albeit, with 60% being handballs, it probably brings that statistic up, but 81% is in the upper echelon of the AFL I think... lol.

Jones disposal skills were a lot worse than Farren Ray's currently are, they still aren't great but they are a hell of a lot better than they were. It does give you hope that our coaching staff can do the same with Ray and sometimes a change of coaches, different techniques etc. can do a player good as well.

 

[The_Bulldogs_Bite]

Little surprised The Saints went after Ray, I thought they may have sniffed around Lovett or perhaps Prismall.

Ray's disposal and decision making is why he isn't at The Dogs still. It simply didn't improve since he first arrived at the club. Obviously you will work on it with him, but I'm not particularly sure it's repairable. His ball drop is horrible and it's why he turns it over on either foot regularly.

His injury pre-season really didn't help though. He added size and was looking in good shape, then he injured himself and he didn't look half the player. He's a strong mark and he's not soft. He's capable of run with roles from time to time because his endurance is a huge asset. Pace isn't one; not sure why people keep claiming he's fast. He covers ground reasonably quickly, but it's all in the same gear - he doesn't 'burst' away from packs, but as said previously, he is a 80m player in that he'll carry it 40m and kick it 40m. If he could hit his targets more often, he'd be very dangerous. Perhaps having Riewoldt & Kosi up forward may make it easier for him to execute.

You've got him for a bargain, it must be said. He has some flaws that he really needs to improve if he's going to play better football, but he still has upside, especially considering he's only 22. Not too sure he could play off a half back, as Ross suggested, but time will tell.

Saints have done well with this one, I'm hoping we're able to pick up two gems with Picks 31 & 32 so as we don't completely lose out in this trade.

 

[Signd Sealed Saint]

Gee i have a lot of questions about Farren Ray... An outside player that butchers it, honestly, doesn't matter if can run all bloody day if he uses it like shit. Outside players are suppose to receive from the inside ball butchers because they CAN use the ball. An inside ball butcher to an outside ball butcher? No thank you

 

[sainter]

I've never been a fan of his but we do lack pace and with Ray we're getting a 22 year old who has done a long apprenticeship and is hungry for an opportunity.

He came relatively cheap and we still have plenty of draft selections including our first round pick to use on kids.

But if he turns into your next Fiora, then serves you right for screwing us on the Ayce deal

We didn't screw you at all.

 

[Tempo]

Dear Saints,

Those of you who read our board from time to time will know that I am an oustanding judge of talent and an highly regarded opinion leader.

Now that the introduction is over I and all other thinking doggies fans thankyou for taking Farren. A very magnanimous jesture.

Enjoy.

 

[StringyDog]

Firstly ignore Tempo in above post as he is a complete tosser and if a poll was taken on Bulldogs board 9 out of 10 would rate him as biggest tool posting on the board

Positives

Good endurance
High running speed
Good overhead
Despite reputation has courage, will back into packs

Negatives

Not blistering explosive pace
Decision making very poor
Vision poor
Tries to use left foot a lot of the time when he can't (biggest issue)
Lacks accountability and defence

On his day he can be a very good player, just go watch the Collingwood elimination final, but sadly that day hasn't come around too much since then.
His biggest and most frustrating problem is that he decides to kick with his left when under no pressure and for no reason other than to show people he can kick both sides of his body. The only problem with that is he can't and often turns it over under no pressure kicking with left. If Lyon can drill it into Ray's head not to do that (he hasen't got the message so far) then he will be a 10% better player. His other main weakness is his decision making. That is a real problem as I think that is a natural thing and is very hard to improve.
If he is to be played off half back then I can see problems as you need highly skilled players filling that role as you turn it over there you get a goal kicked over your head. Also his accountability and defensive game is quite poor. He is an out and out winger and that is where he should be played to run down the lines.
But despite this, he is good mark and runs very hard and given the right opportunity and if he stops kicking with his left foot and can improve decision making a little bit he could yet be a decent player.

That my 2 cents

 

[54Dogs]

I think this is a win / win.

Ray is on the edge of our best 22 but because of his falling out with Eade after the Hawks game he had to go. With Cooney, Griff, Cross, Gia, Boyd, Eagle, Higgins and Ward to move into the middle and cameos from BJ, Mitch and Aker his chances are limited.

Everyone else has summed it up pretty well, he's got a great tank and work rate but lacks awareness and finishing skills.

I saw this guy in the '06 Elimination Final against the Pies and he was BOG by a street. He has got upside from what he showed this year and is definitely a better option for you guys than Fiora IMO. If he finds a good home and some opportunity at the Saints he is a good buy. Remember he is still only 22 years old.

Good luck.

 

[Tempo]

Firstly ignore Tempo in above post as he is a complete tosser and if a poll was taken on Bulldogs board 9 out of 10 would rate him as biggest tool posting on the board

G16 are either under estimating my impact or trying to hurt my Brand --- It would easily be 10 out of 10

 

[Zainta]

A lot of people have been talking about his kicking, and I'm not sure what this is worth, but only a year or two ago, Nick Riewoldt's kicking was horrible, yet now, it's better than ever. Whether this will be the same for Ray or not I don't know, but if it is, then there goes his main problem!

 

[IllBeTheJudge]

A lot of people have been talking about his kicking, and I'm not sure what this is worth, but only a year or two ago, Nick Riewoldt's kicking was horrible, yet now, it's better than ever. Whether this will be the same for Ray or not I don't know, but if it is, then there goes his main problem!

There was a post earlier in this thread too, that showed his stats from the season. Not sure if it was this season, last season, or stats from EA Sports AFL, but they consistently hit above 80% efficiency

Obviously stats don't tell the whole story, but that doesn't sound too bad to me

In a pretty deep draft where we still have our 1st and 2nd round pick, I'm not unhappy with securing the services of Ray. Welcome to the club

 

[Pigdog]

In a pretty deep draft where we still have our 1st and 2nd round pick, I'm not unhappy with securing the services of Ray. Welcome to the club

No you don't.

You have picks 13, 47, 48 and 63 . Meaning you have 1 x 1st round pick & 2 x 3rd round picks, etc..

 

[Dancing Dougy]

Are you ******ed, he's 202 cm and would have gone top 20 anyway

Well obviously not quite as much as the Saints recruiting team Enjoy the next few years of cursing him you knob!

 

[SaintsPremiers08]

Give the young man a chance...

he's 22 years old ffs.

maybe all he needed was a new start.

Just him a few games before you start bagging him.

 

[SAINTS 4 07 FLAG]

Fazza will be sick

 

[Missing person]

im excited, he wasnt a top 5 draft pick for no reason!
ok fair enuff fiora was number 3 but surely we wont make that decison twice in a few years! (hopefully)
Fazza will be good for us, and needed a fresh start. His last game for the doggies was really good i think.

 

[comrade]

im excited, he wasnt a top 5 draft pick for no reason!
ok fair enuff fiora was number 3 but surely we wont make that decison twice in a few years! (hopefully)
Fazza will be good for us, and needed a fresh start. His last game for the doggies was really good i think.

Yeah, his numerous turnovers and shanked kicks for goal were really impressive, enough for him to be promoted to Williamstown