- Joined
- Sep 26, 2003
- Posts
- 4,913
- Reaction score
- 721
- Location
- TJBC
- AFL Club
- Geelong
- Other Teams
- TDot, LFC
Colin Wisbey posted this profile on him:
Nick Batchelor (Norwood)
184/69 mid-age right foot (has other foot if nec) wing.
*STYLE LIKE: Quicker McManus
*TRADEMARK:
- Desperate long chase to nail an opponent, possibly even someone else's, making up ground at terrific closing speed, then hurling himself full-tilt to effect either a tackle or courageous smother off the boot.
- Receive then kick long.
*SUMMARY ASSESSMENT, RECOMMENDATION:
- Tenacious road-runner. "Meemeep! Bip! Bip! Too late. Whooooosh! You're nailed".
- Loves a dash and runs and kicks direct, straightening the team up. And he doesn't exchange pleasantries first. Gets, bang, he's off! Opens up play in a heartbeat.
- Picks up quite a lot of his possessions out wide but is certainly not an outside player in the usual sense. He also gets a lot of hard balls at and inside traffic.
- Impressed me a lot at the U18 Champs except for game two. This game was played in the wet and play was very congested all day. I mention this because conditions like that can severely reduce his effectiveness as he has to keep his main weapon in the holster. Was stitched by Rosa in H1 (13 disposals), went off early Q3 and stayed off. Still had 6D in H1 so not exactly useless but did let Rosa run loose in space all H1. This raises a question of accountability to his own opponent (even though he is always ultra accountable to the nearest opponent). His main opponents in the first 2 games were Morton and Rosa. Between the three of them, I get the impression that they forget who their opponent is as soon as the game starts.
Nevertheless, I rank him at 22. A bit early, but I love his tenacity and the pressure he puts on the opposition through chasing etc and even through creating goal opportunities for his own team by opening up the play and playing direct. With his combination of speed, desperation, determination and recovery agility he has the potential to become a running BP or HBF even, if he can bulk up and become more direct-opponent accountable. You need all those attributes to be a good BP on a slippery small and there aren't many good AFL BPs at the moment.
Likely AFL. Ready year 2, maybe 3.
*DISPOSAL:
- Kicks have good depth and power but accuracy is very mixed. Can weight a pass nicely to the lead though.
- Needs to lift the hurt factor of his kicks under no pressure on the run. In particular he sometimes has tunnel vision on the run, often just banging the ball onto the boot in the general direction of goals. Needs to look for options to feed on some occasions where he is currently just taking the ball and trying to dash off with it.
- Has quick hands (including occasional look-aways) and his feeds generally (with exceptions) tend to be accurate and hurt.
*DECISION-MAKING, SMARTS:
- (see above).
*HANDS:
- For his type, he is not that clean on the run under pressure. Given that, perhaps he needs to sacrifice a little pace at the end and steady a bit more. That's not to suggest he is routinely unreliable off the carpet. He certainly is not. Just double handles a few more than I would like to see in his type.
*OVERHEAD MARKING:
- Marking is not a big feature of his game. Not that he isn't capable. He tends to be more at the foot of a marking contest. When he does go, he shows good judgement, good hands and good leap. Came from a worse position to outmark the highly-rated Morton from the side in the U18 Champs.
*ATHLETICISM:
- Quick (arguably even quicker than his SS times suggest). Acceleration off the mark is much better than his SS times indicate. eg Many people rate Bain's pace but Batchelor gave Bain a start and ran him down over 5m in the U18 Champs. In a 20m run to the ball, Batchelor gave the slower Jordan Lewis 5m start and reeled him in over 20m (and Lewis appeared to be running flat out). That says as much about Lewis as it does about Batchelor but you get my drift. (To top it off, the skinny Batchelor then nudged out the heavy-bodied Lewis and took the ball himself).
- As a lot of his best work is in chasing down opponents over ground, his speed is a huge asset (vital to the game he plays). Probably has even a bit more pace in him. His plant leg sometimes doesn't get, or hardly gets, ahead of his body at any stage. (Not always though).
- Excellent recovery agility.
- Very good endurance.
*INTENSITY, ETHIC, CONSISTENCY:
- Never stops trying. Tenacious, determined. Can be counted on for 2nd, 3rd and even 4th efforts. Always gives his all. That is patently obvious when you watch him but even his SS beep test bears it out (Beat 93% of all-time DC/SS attendees in his "188cm max" height group). Was knocked rotten by a shoulder to the head mid 4th qtr in one game I saw yet he was still running hard at the end of the game.
- Very accountable to anyone within catching distance. Chases hard, attacks the man with ferocity. Strong, tenacious tackler. Needs to target the hips more when tackling. An unnecessary number of his tackles don't currently stick because he goes for them to high.
- Specialist smotherer. Must be trying for the world record. Just keeps courageously throwing himself onto the boot or exercising sharp reflexes to smothering the ball in the air before it has travelled a metre.
- Ironically, he is unaccountable to his direct opponent. That cost a goal in one Champs game where he allowed his opponent Murphy to slip down into space at VM CHF and kick a goal, with Batchelor 40m away.
- Very courageous.
- Very hard worker off-field as well as on. Described by a team mate in the SA Academy squad (the elite SA kids) as the hardest worker on the track of all of them.
- Covers ground, runs hard, runs on.
- Very skinny. Slim frame but has buggar-all skinfolds so doesn't need to fine down first in order to re-sculpture his body shape, as some of his peers need to do.
*AFL VERSATILITY:
- Natural wingman. When/if he bulks up would be ideally suited to BP or run-the-lines HBF if he can implement a 180 degrees on his current lack of accountability, or (maybe) even a run-wth role.
*SCI (SCOPE FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT):
- No special factors.
*QUERY:
- Ability to add weight.
- Accountability
- Hurt factor of kicks
*SOME STATS:
- Stats summary '04 U18 Champs:
Averaged 13 disposals and 1.3 marks in his 3 games. (Best TD 16).
Kicks to feeds: 27-13 (2.1:1).
Kicks long vs short: 11-5 (2.2:1).
Kicking accuracy: 11/27 ineffective incl 2 clangers.
Handball accuracy: 5/13 ineffective incl 2 clangers.
Total accuracy: 16/40 ineffective incl 4 clangers.
Gets own ball?: 16/40TD were HR. 7 HBG.
S.P. clearances: 5 incl 3 BU incl 0 CBC.
Tackles: 9
Marking: 1 of 4 were contested.
*OTHER STUFF:
- U19s, then Reserves (debut Rnd 16) '04.
Nick Batchelor (Norwood)
184/69 mid-age right foot (has other foot if nec) wing.
*STYLE LIKE: Quicker McManus
*TRADEMARK:
- Desperate long chase to nail an opponent, possibly even someone else's, making up ground at terrific closing speed, then hurling himself full-tilt to effect either a tackle or courageous smother off the boot.
- Receive then kick long.
*SUMMARY ASSESSMENT, RECOMMENDATION:
- Tenacious road-runner. "Meemeep! Bip! Bip! Too late. Whooooosh! You're nailed".
- Loves a dash and runs and kicks direct, straightening the team up. And he doesn't exchange pleasantries first. Gets, bang, he's off! Opens up play in a heartbeat.
- Picks up quite a lot of his possessions out wide but is certainly not an outside player in the usual sense. He also gets a lot of hard balls at and inside traffic.
- Impressed me a lot at the U18 Champs except for game two. This game was played in the wet and play was very congested all day. I mention this because conditions like that can severely reduce his effectiveness as he has to keep his main weapon in the holster. Was stitched by Rosa in H1 (13 disposals), went off early Q3 and stayed off. Still had 6D in H1 so not exactly useless but did let Rosa run loose in space all H1. This raises a question of accountability to his own opponent (even though he is always ultra accountable to the nearest opponent). His main opponents in the first 2 games were Morton and Rosa. Between the three of them, I get the impression that they forget who their opponent is as soon as the game starts.
Nevertheless, I rank him at 22. A bit early, but I love his tenacity and the pressure he puts on the opposition through chasing etc and even through creating goal opportunities for his own team by opening up the play and playing direct. With his combination of speed, desperation, determination and recovery agility he has the potential to become a running BP or HBF even, if he can bulk up and become more direct-opponent accountable. You need all those attributes to be a good BP on a slippery small and there aren't many good AFL BPs at the moment.
Likely AFL. Ready year 2, maybe 3.
*DISPOSAL:
- Kicks have good depth and power but accuracy is very mixed. Can weight a pass nicely to the lead though.
- Needs to lift the hurt factor of his kicks under no pressure on the run. In particular he sometimes has tunnel vision on the run, often just banging the ball onto the boot in the general direction of goals. Needs to look for options to feed on some occasions where he is currently just taking the ball and trying to dash off with it.
- Has quick hands (including occasional look-aways) and his feeds generally (with exceptions) tend to be accurate and hurt.
*DECISION-MAKING, SMARTS:
- (see above).
*HANDS:
- For his type, he is not that clean on the run under pressure. Given that, perhaps he needs to sacrifice a little pace at the end and steady a bit more. That's not to suggest he is routinely unreliable off the carpet. He certainly is not. Just double handles a few more than I would like to see in his type.
*OVERHEAD MARKING:
- Marking is not a big feature of his game. Not that he isn't capable. He tends to be more at the foot of a marking contest. When he does go, he shows good judgement, good hands and good leap. Came from a worse position to outmark the highly-rated Morton from the side in the U18 Champs.
*ATHLETICISM:
- Quick (arguably even quicker than his SS times suggest). Acceleration off the mark is much better than his SS times indicate. eg Many people rate Bain's pace but Batchelor gave Bain a start and ran him down over 5m in the U18 Champs. In a 20m run to the ball, Batchelor gave the slower Jordan Lewis 5m start and reeled him in over 20m (and Lewis appeared to be running flat out). That says as much about Lewis as it does about Batchelor but you get my drift. (To top it off, the skinny Batchelor then nudged out the heavy-bodied Lewis and took the ball himself).
- As a lot of his best work is in chasing down opponents over ground, his speed is a huge asset (vital to the game he plays). Probably has even a bit more pace in him. His plant leg sometimes doesn't get, or hardly gets, ahead of his body at any stage. (Not always though).
- Excellent recovery agility.
- Very good endurance.
*INTENSITY, ETHIC, CONSISTENCY:
- Never stops trying. Tenacious, determined. Can be counted on for 2nd, 3rd and even 4th efforts. Always gives his all. That is patently obvious when you watch him but even his SS beep test bears it out (Beat 93% of all-time DC/SS attendees in his "188cm max" height group). Was knocked rotten by a shoulder to the head mid 4th qtr in one game I saw yet he was still running hard at the end of the game.
- Very accountable to anyone within catching distance. Chases hard, attacks the man with ferocity. Strong, tenacious tackler. Needs to target the hips more when tackling. An unnecessary number of his tackles don't currently stick because he goes for them to high.
- Specialist smotherer. Must be trying for the world record. Just keeps courageously throwing himself onto the boot or exercising sharp reflexes to smothering the ball in the air before it has travelled a metre.
- Ironically, he is unaccountable to his direct opponent. That cost a goal in one Champs game where he allowed his opponent Murphy to slip down into space at VM CHF and kick a goal, with Batchelor 40m away.
- Very courageous.
- Very hard worker off-field as well as on. Described by a team mate in the SA Academy squad (the elite SA kids) as the hardest worker on the track of all of them.
- Covers ground, runs hard, runs on.
- Very skinny. Slim frame but has buggar-all skinfolds so doesn't need to fine down first in order to re-sculpture his body shape, as some of his peers need to do.
*AFL VERSATILITY:
- Natural wingman. When/if he bulks up would be ideally suited to BP or run-the-lines HBF if he can implement a 180 degrees on his current lack of accountability, or (maybe) even a run-wth role.
*SCI (SCOPE FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT):
- No special factors.
*QUERY:
- Ability to add weight.
- Accountability
- Hurt factor of kicks
*SOME STATS:
- Stats summary '04 U18 Champs:
Averaged 13 disposals and 1.3 marks in his 3 games. (Best TD 16).
Kicks to feeds: 27-13 (2.1:1).
Kicks long vs short: 11-5 (2.2:1).
Kicking accuracy: 11/27 ineffective incl 2 clangers.
Handball accuracy: 5/13 ineffective incl 2 clangers.
Total accuracy: 16/40 ineffective incl 4 clangers.
Gets own ball?: 16/40TD were HR. 7 HBG.
S.P. clearances: 5 incl 3 BU incl 0 CBC.
Tackles: 9
Marking: 1 of 4 were contested.
*OTHER STUFF:
- U19s, then Reserves (debut Rnd 16) '04.
