Analysis Players who should have been better, but stagnated at poor clubs

[StillAtLarge]

Development so important.

The now Melbourne Kolodjashnij was pick 5. His twin brother was pick 41 and has probably gone past him after Kade looked good early on.

You've got this one wrong. Kade was knocked out in the most sickening collision I've ever seen against Richmond a few years back, prior to that he was developing nicely. He's never been the same player.
From memory Ben Lennon was the culprit.

 

[Yojimbo]

Jack Watts: Melbourne
Liam Jones: Western Bulldogs
Trent McKenzie: Gold Coast
Sam Mayes: Brisbane
Tim Membrey: Sydney
Jamie Cripps: St Kilda
Tom Lynch: St Kilda
Stefan Martin: Melbourne
Jack Crisp: Brisbane
Jeremy Howe: Melbourne
Tom Mitchell: Sydney
Shaun Higgins: Western Bulldogs

 

[Xtreme]

Patrick Dangerfield would have helped Adelaide win the flag in 2017

Alas he went to Geelong to chase a flag and looks like coming out empty handed

 

[Big Delut]

Bryce Gibbs is one from Carlton. Turned into a very good player. But I always wonder how it impacted him with the club taking until 2013 to start using him as a midfielder.

He was drafted pick 1 as a gun junior midfielder. Spent multiple seasons at Carlton plugging gaps in the backline.

Four years wasted that I think could have been better served with him developing as a young kid in the middle. I think he ended up softer because of it.

Completely agree. Playing in his third season as a 20 year old he averaged almost 27 touches and finished top 10 in the Brownlow. His development really stagnated after that point and it feels as though he should’ve become a better player

 

[t_94]

David Swallow

 

[Haduken]

Matthew Pavlich

 

[Oliver09]

Harsh on Cooney. Won the Brownlow in 08 but also hurt his knee. Continued to play through the finals and did permanent damage. Ended up with a chronic knee condition at 22-23 years old.

Cooney and Higgins would have been so much better at hawthorn or geelong.

Both coasted at 70% on large contracts for the better part of a decade. Their lack of application really hurt the 07 to 09 flag tilt.

 

[saintkildaman]

Pruess? Could’ve been a starting ruck at a number of clubs.

 

[Chaisa]

Jack Watts: Melbourne
Liam Jones: Western Bulldogs
Trent McKenzie: Gold Coast
Sam Mayes: Brisbane
Tim Membrey: Sydney
Jamie Cripps: St Kilda
Tom Lynch: St Kilda
Stefan Martin: Melbourne
Jack Crisp: Brisbane
Jeremy Howe: Melbourne
Tom Mitchell: Sydney
Shaun Higgins: Western Bulldogs

Membrey played one game for Sydney and left after two years. Foolish to say he stagnated there.

Mitchell seems harsh as * too, he was very good at Sydney.

A lot of those guys seem disagreeable. Thread isn't "who improved after leaving a club because they gave them more opportunity...."

 

[Jane Doe]

Ablett Snr should have retired a 5, 7, 9 x premiership player but instead, only managed a 1000 goals at a poorer club.

Could have retired a multiple premiership player at hawthorn if they hadn’t have given him the flick

 

[Tap Tap Tapperoo]

Colin Sylvia.

Jack Trengove doesn’t really belong as his foot injury completely ruined him. Although in saying that, I remember him playing out one season where he could barely run, and he clearly should have been resting up his foot. So maybe the injury was mismanaged by the club, but that’s all guesswork from the outside.

 

[Richo83]

A different tact to other names - Shaun Atley.

Other people mentioning players at bottom 4 clubs etc. Atley came into a mid table club which went 14-9 in his 2nd year for the season.

I think however if he went to a club that persisted with him for longer at state level or dropped him when his performance was plateauing, he might have gone up the extra levels. Instead he's just maxed out as a decent, solid, 5-6/10 most weeks player. Nothing more. 1 game where he has got Brownlow votes in his career, never stepped into the midfield where his size, speed, agility would be huge. He played 16 games his first year and has played full seasons bar 1 or 2 games ever since.

To put his durability and inability to be dropped into perspective, he turns 27 later this month and yet needs less than 5 full seasons to get 300 games! He could do it months before he turns 32, a feat that a champion like Scott Pendlebury is receiving wide plaudits for this week.

I feel like if he had had more demanded from him early in his career, he could have achieved a whole lot more. Instead I believe he's coasted and sums up the Brad Scott era, alongside guys like Macmillan and McDonald, extremely well.

Not saying we were a poor club, but there was definitely guys who peaked well below their expected in the Scott era and while it's different to bottom 4, it's not a Geelong/Hawthorn era either and so that is why I think a guy like Atley can considered to have stagnated due to his club.

I don't know why, but Atley's much talked about midfield skills as a junior never materialised. He was supposed to the player that teams missed out on, only for him to likely compile one of the most average 250+ game careers in the club history. He'll sit alongside the likes of Densch, Stevens, Schimmelbusch, Greig, Archer etc. yet wouldn't be qualified to wash their socks let alone play alongside them.

Jack Steven also comes to mind. He's got some serious weapons, but never made the most of it. I also suspect players like Zach Merrett and Dyson Heppell, have been undercoached. Heppell has the height and size to be more imposing, but often... isn't.

 

[HTPunter]

I don't know why, but Atley's much talked about midfield skills as a junior never materialised. He was supposed to the player that teams missed out on, only for him to likely compile one of the most average 250+ game careers in the club history. He'll sit alongside the likes of Densch, Stevens, Schimmelbusch, Greig, Archer etc. yet wouldn't be qualified to wash their socks let alone play alongside them.

Jack Steven also comes to mind. He's got some serious weapons, but never made the most of it. I also suspect players like Zach Merrett and Dyson Heppell, have been undercoached. Heppell has the height and size to be more imposing, but often... isn't.

Agreed. To be fair I think with his size and speed, and flashes of brilliance, Atley *should* be the player that the clubs missed out on.
Atley shows he has got the skills when he is in the middle of congestion and doesn't have to think about it. Not consistently, but capable at least.
Give him some time for his brain to work and he's putrid and will put a 20m kick to an opponent. Marks/free kicks he will take his time and is heart in mouth.

Merrett has plenty of time still though.

 

[Aussie_boy]

Patrick Dangerfield would have helped Adelaide win the flag in 2017

Alas he went to Geelong to chase a flag and looks like coming out empty handed

Don’t forget 2016 either. Flag was there for the taking and the Crows blew any hope losing at home to the Eagles in round 23.

 

[Chaisa]

Jack Steven also comes to mind. He's got some serious weapons, but never made the most of it

I see the argument, but he's still a four-time B&F - seems harsh to compare him to Atley and Martin types.

 

[Back One Out]

Chad Wingard owns this thread

Nope... Fev has him well covered

 

[Beer n Skittles]

Nope... Fev has him well covered

Jeez he was pretty handy, were you expecting the GOAT?

 

[Back One Out]

Jeez he was pretty handy, were you expecting the GOAT?

Fev should've kicked more than 1000 goals and helped his club win a premiership, or get to a Grand Final (or a Prelim)

Super talent, very good career, but he was pretty happy with himself and didn't get the best out of himself.
He took a lot of afternoons off - played some appallingly bad games (too many)


Chad Wingard: 26yo, dual All Australian, best and fairest, has won a couple of finals off bis own boot and may yet reach career peak form at Hawthorn over the next couple of years.

Brendon Fevola: 3 times All Australian and p1ssed his career away - traded to the Lions and then sacked.

 

[Topkent]

Nope... Fev has him well covered

Fev didn't stagnate at Carlton. He kicked 99 goals in 08 and was a superstar until he had some personal issues.

Dumb comment by you

 

[Established1870]

Fev should've kicked more than 1000 goals and helped his club win a premiership, or get to a Grand Final (or a Prelim)

Super talent, very good career, but he was pretty happy with himself and didn't get the best out of himself.
He took a lot of afternoons off - played some appallingly bad games (too many)

This is one of the dumbest statements I've seen on BF.

The guy played for one of the most mediocre sides this century has seen and was still a dominant FF who carried Carlton for huge portions of his career.

Do you expect Buddy to be a premiership player near 1000 goals if he played for Melbourne for the majority of his career?

 

[Freomaniac]

Injuries killed him.
123 games in 11 seasons.
Never got a run at it

I could say the same thing about Scot gumbleton too. Talented bloke but constantly shot down with injuries

 

[Freomaniac]

Patrick Dangerfield would have helped Adelaide win the flag in 2017

Alas he went to Geelong to chase a flag and looks like coming out empty handed

so like buddy Franklin's stint in Sydney?

 

[Back One Out]

This is one of the dumbest statements I've seen on BF.

The guy played for one of the most mediocre sides this century has seen and was still a dominant FF who carried Carlton for huge portions of his career.

Do you expect Buddy to be a premiership player near 1000 goals if he played for Melbourne for the majority of his career?

Yep.

I'm a strong believer that footballers are just the same whichever club they play for

They don't magically play better because they're in a good side or lose their ability because they play for a shiit side

I see idiots like you posting crap like that on Big Footy and time & time again it's proved to be a myth

Fev played one out in an open forward line and had Carlton pumping the ball long and direct inside fifty towards him at greater rate than any other key forward at the time. I remember seeing the stats on it and it was ridiculous.

 

[Topkent]

Didn't bother reading your post after the first sentence

Would you talk like that to a stranger you just met at the pub or on a train?

Yeah because not everyones a pussy who only has an opinion hidden behind a computer screen

 

[GROTTO]

Patrick Dangerfield would have helped Adelaide win the flag in 2017

Alas he went to Geelong to chase a flag and looks like coming out empty handed

I know that feeling.