Seems like he has spent most of his career with the coach playing him out of position.
Here he is... Heeney is ready to take over
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Still too early to tell in that one. Maybe his tank wasn't there? Maybe he's like De Goey, and needs to be played as a hybrid.
DeathlyAccurate
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Ok I’ll bite. Really do wish someone else started this, though.
Heeney will never be the number one player in the competition for an extended period of time. If he’s kept in the midfield he can definitely be top 5 but with so many returning you just know he will have stints up forward and it’ll mess with his flow or he’ll get an injury.
At his best, he’s easily in the elite echelon of players. He has it all. If he could find the consistency of an Ablett or Judd he’d be talked about as being one of the best ever. That’s a really big if.
I’m deciding to just enjoy him for what he is and that he wears red and white. He is absolutely beautiful to watch when he’s on and right now he’s on.
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Heeney will never be the number one player in the competition for an extended period of time. If he’s kept in the midfield he can definitely be top 5 but with so many returning you just know he will have stints up forward and it’ll mess with his flow or he’ll get an injury.
At his best, he’s easily in the elite echelon of players. He has it all. If he could find the consistency of an Ablett or Judd he’d be talked about as being one of the best ever. That’s a really big if.
I’m deciding to just enjoy him for what he is and that he wears red and white. He is absolutely beautiful to watch when he’s on and right now he’s on.
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DeathlyAccurate
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Also, it’s important to remember that Dusty really hit his elite level around 27. Heeney has plenty of time to put in a serious purple patch of 4-5 years and maybe a flag and define his entire career.
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I know Brownlow votes aren’t everything, however…
Martin got 21 Brownlow votes the year he turned 24.
At Isaac Heeney’s current age he had 156 career Brownlow votes. Heeney has 47.
He’s closer to Kieren Jack than he is to Dustin Martin.
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This is the first preseason he's had training as a midfielder. Before that it was just as a forward.
He spent his juniors playing as a midfielder, so it'll be really interesting if he can keep this outstanding form up in his natural position.
He spent his juniors playing as a midfielder, so it'll be really interesting if he can keep this outstanding form up in his natural position.
2 games does not make a season. Ultimate tease this bloke.
Also, yes my Tiger hat is on, but it's a bit unfair to Heeney to compare him to Dusty. One a pretty good player who has ability and looks good here and there, the other in the top half dozen to ever wear the yellow and black guernsey............
Also, yes my Tiger hat is on, but it's a bit unfair to Heeney to compare him to Dusty. One a pretty good player who has ability and looks good here and there, the other in the top half dozen to ever wear the yellow and black guernsey............
DeathlyAccurate
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That really wasn’t the point I was making at all. I was referring when Dusty started to peak and it was around the age of 26-27.
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Any comparison here would have been tongue in cheek. No comparison Dusty far superior. It’s like comparing Dusty to Franklin. Just having a lend.
I differ from you on this Partridge. I think Heeney has been generally way under-rated. And the reasons for that happening are:
1. the difficulty of the role he is playing, high forward nearly always ahead of the ball needing to win difficult contests, and
2. people routinely miss all his defensive work. He averages 4 tackles across his career which is huge for a guy playing mainly forward. And his pressure acts are also high, mainly in the high teens, which again is very high for his role.
So far this season he has obviously been injected into the play more and has gone to another level.
But if you look at 2023 for example. Heeney was the 5th rated medium forward in the game behind just Greene, Martin, Rankine and Daniels. In that cohort he was 15th for possessions. 2nd to only Martin for contested possessions. Basically top for contested possession as a percentage of overall possessions, so he is not set up to receive any uncontested balls. He was second behind only Martin for contested marks. 7th for tackles, but nobody who got more possessions also got more tackles. 14th for tackles inside 50 so a healthy % of his tackles are in places where it isn't easy to lay tackles. He was 20th for pressure acts and the vast majority of those above him were pressure specialists. The only player above him for pressure acts who rated better overall was Brent Daniels. Heeney was 11th for spoils.
So he has been a big contributor for the Swans with an almost perfect balance between attack and defence, which is why a lot of his work has been going unheralded. Last year was not his best year either, he rated higher in 4 other seasons, I am just using 2023 as an example. We wouldn't mind him at Richmond or Geelong I can tell you that. I am rapt to see one of these strong defensive guys getting the limelight he deserves, hopefully he carries on his form.
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Better than Naicos but not quite as admired as Jaicos.
Dont believe that at all, Heeney said this was the fittest he has ever been coming into the season and '
was the first time he felt he could run out games well
If Heeney was fit enough or good enough to be a gun midfielder previously, he would have been.
Has enjoyed a phenomenal start to the year. May it continue as he’s great to watch in full flight.
Has enjoyed a phenomenal start to the year. May it continue as he’s great to watch in full flight.
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But really that's how the AFL mostly works.
Most players only have 2 or 3 seasons of being at their absolute peak or being top 5 players.
Fairly normal.
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He's been superb, but as others have said, the sample size is going to need to be a lot longer than 3 games to be taken seriously.
It's just the reality of his age. When you've been an uber talented tease for 9 years, it's going to take at minimum a season of dominance to lose that tag.
Agree with Fadge. Whether you like Daicos or not, the reality is he was better in his second season than anything Heeney's shown to date.
He should be compared to like types in Petracca, Cripps, & Bontempelli in terms of his age. Daicos will probably have a Brownlow or two by the time he's as old as Heeney.
The Daicos comparisons just feel like an excuse to have a go at Nick, and believe me, I find some of the Daicos circle jerking as nauseating as anyone.
It's just the reality of his age. When you've been an uber talented tease for 9 years, it's going to take at minimum a season of dominance to lose that tag.
Agree with Fadge. Whether you like Daicos or not, the reality is he was better in his second season than anything Heeney's shown to date.
He should be compared to like types in Petracca, Cripps, & Bontempelli in terms of his age. Daicos will probably have a Brownlow or two by the time he's as old as Heeney.
The Daicos comparisons just feel like an excuse to have a go at Nick, and believe me, I find some of the Daicos circle jerking as nauseating as anyone.
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This thread will be getting a bump in about 3 or 4 weeks after a quiet game when he is shifted back forward to make way for Parker and Adams...
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The big test will be when Parker, Mills and Adams return. Clearly he’s a better player than probably all of those guys but does Horse move him back predominantly forward for ‘team balance’ like he’s made him do for his whole career?
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