Toast Harry Taylor

[InnocentBystandr]

I was looking to bump a 'Toast Harry Taylor Thread' but there hasn't been one for a while.
With our (deservedly) group love for our new recruits, I thought it time to recognise one of our long-term stars who is back to his best form.
Harry was magnificent again against the Bulldogs, but there was one play that stood out to me.
How many noticed that immediately after Jake Stringer up-ended Mitch Duncan, Harry put Stringer into the fence with a solid bump. Its not the first time I've noted Harry standing up for his team mates either. Never dirty, but a commanding physical presence. He'd have to be one the most liked and respected players in the league.
Again after the game, in the interview with Darcy and Richo, he spoke really well, was humble yet confident.

I remember after we drafted him (as a replacement for Egan), many wondered 'who is this guy' and 'why did we spend our first pick on him'?

Here's to Harry Taylor - AA Defender, 2x Premiership player and (almost) Norm Smith medal winner ('09)

 

[Turbocat]

He is enjoying having Henderson , and the side playing better. No doubt an important player for us.

 

[Mitch3233]

Best two months he has strung together in years.

 

[vinum coupe]

You'd probably have to say he has been Wells best pick in a draft.
I know that's a stretch.

But at the time (if they weren't worried about Egan). We actually didn't even need him.
It's sliding doors. But if they didn't take him, there would have been a hole for years. Because it's not like there was free agency.

Maybe the kudos shouldn't just go to Wells. Maybe it should go to the whole club for not having their heads in the sand regarding Egan.

 

[PhatBoy]

Our backline since the glory days of Harley, Scarlett, Milburn, Enright, Egan has slowly ebbed to the point where - if you leave out Enright given that he drifts a bit further up the ground a lot of the time - we have had mostly adequate defenders but not classy ones. Lonergan is a good example. A great team man, but not elite. Mackie as well. We've had safe players, good spoilers, good kicks, good marks - but the only player who has all of those things (and it is why he is elite and a multiple AA player) is Taylor. When he's good, he's not just a guy that shuts someone down. He stops his man scoring, he intercepts kicks with amazing regularity, he stands up and takes contested marks when we're under seige and need to hold things up, and he is usually a beautiful kick.

Great to see him at his best.

 

[Bobby_]

But at the time (if they weren't worried about Egan). We actually didn't even need him.

We lost Matthew Egan months prior to the draft he was taken in.
It's obvious the club knew Egan was in serious trouble which is why we opted for a mature age defender opposed to young one who would need a few years to settle in.
Harley, Milburn and Scarlett were also getting long in the tooth and Lonergan was never recruited to be a defender.

I am not sure what other type of player we could have desperately needed more going into that particular draft. It was always going to be a key defender.
Every other position on the ground was set for years on end.

 

[vinum coupe]

We lost Matthew Egan months prior to the draft he was taken in.
It's obvious the club knew Egan was in serious trouble which is why we opted for a mature age defender opposed to young one who would need a few years to settle in.
Harley, Milburn and Scarlett were also getting long in the tooth and Lonergan was never recruited to be a defender.

I am not sure what other type of player we could have desperately needed more going into that particular draft. It was always going to be a key defender.
Every other position on the ground was set for years on end.

Mate. I worked with his dad.
Even he thought there was no issue at the time.

 

[winty]

You'd probably have to say he has been Wells best pick in a draft.
I know that's a stretch.

But at the time (if they weren't worried about Egan). We actually didn't even need him.
It's sliding doors. But if they didn't take him, there would have been a hole for years. Because it's not like there was free agency.

Maybe the kudos shouldn't just go to Wells. Maybe it should go to the whole club for not having their heads in the sand regarding Egan.

Best thing about us picking him up was I remember reading apparently Hawthorn were looking at drafting him. Thank heavens we didn't have to see him run around in the pee and poo.

 

[Bobby_]

Mate. I worked with his dad.
Even he thought there was no issue at the time.

He was never going to be playing early on the following year.
We needed another player to come in and play his role and we went with Taylor who proved to be far more advanced than the 21 years he was at the time.

 

[Sttew]

To think Sir Harry could have gone to Freo for $$$. Sensible man; money is the root of all evil

 

[Cataholic]

To think Sir Harry could have gone to Freo for $$$. Sensible man; the love of money is the root of all evil

EFA

 

[Turbocat]

We lost Matthew Egan months prior to the draft he was taken in.
It's obvious the club knew Egan was in serious trouble which is why we opted for a mature age defender opposed to young one who would need a few years to settle in.
Harley, Milburn and Scarlett were also getting long in the tooth and Lonergan was never recruited to be a defender.

I am not sure what other type of player we could have desperately needed more going into that particular draft. It was always going to be a key defender.
Every other position on the ground was set for years on end.

I thought that we pulled the trigger on Taylor at 17 because they had a feeling other clubs like the Dogs were interested before our next pick. For some reason I thought we were looking at Scott S and then swapped to Taylor ..perhaps they were thinking originally they could get taylor at R2 , then the vibe change and went early. Perhaps its was Egan, perhaps our list needed a tall more than another mid.. We did go for a tall with our R1 in 2008 as well. If it was not a pressured pick with Egan in back of mind , its certainly some sort of prescience and great piece of tactical choice. Imo , its sort of a similar choice as we made with Cockatoo. At the time , I think most thought we had paid overs for Taylor. ...not any more.

 

[vinum coupe]

He was never going to be playing early on the following year.
We needed another player to come in and play his role and we went with Taylor who proved to be far more advanced than the 21 years he was at the time.

I think there's a post of mine here in scratching post that says the opposite.
I'm certain I've lost the email from his dad. But the gist of the email is here....somewhere...

He was not expecting to miss anything.

 

[dazbroncos]

Even though his play has ebbed and flowed a bit, he's always, IMO, been above par by a good amount.

Team guy - quality person and a completely uncomprimising player that hardly ever loses a contest.

Will draw parallels from me with Scarlo - the greatest difference being that Scarlo invented the attacking defender model and HT has excelled at it.

And you just know that with Hendo and Kolo around him ( and Domsy to a lesser extent) the future is still very bright.

GO Catters

 

[vinum coupe]

He was never going to be playing early on the following year.
We needed another player to come in and play his role and we went with Taylor who proved to be far more advanced than the 21 years he was at the time.

I may be wrong on this Bobby. I'm having trouble finding my post.
But it seems I had emailed his dad in September 2008, not 2007 as I thought.

Sorry.

 

[supahoops]

Thought he was on the wane a little over the last few years but great to see him back to his best.

Our settled in-form back six or seven will be the key to our premiership chances this year.