threenewpadlocks
Brownlow Medallist
I don't get why everybody's so fussed about his marking. It's poor, sure, but it's one element of how he provides value to the team.
Buddy Franklin, despite his height and nominal position as a key forward has never been a good mark. The one season where he was clunking everything he kicked 100 goals, had thumb surgery in the off-season and you can probably argue his marking has been pretty terrible since.
Where Boyd provides the most value it's sort of hard to understand, but it's his size combined with his versatility (and since we have turned him into this player to suit Bev's tactics) and mobility given his height.
Boyd's size, in that he's 201cm tall and is a big lad in the size of his core, hips and thighs etc. (like Joe Daniher is of a similar height and is a lot similar) provides inherent value to the team, it means that opposition defences are always focused on him. He draws attention, often draws two players in marking contests, and forces opposition teams to put their biggest defender to him like super glue - once you lose body contact on Boyd, his size and height is enough that re-engaging body contact has minimal effect.
Here's the thing about players of Boyd's type - big key forwards - they take longer to develop, but the very traits which was the reason why they dominated at junior level never disappear. Boyd at junior level was dominating defenders his age. Dominating. He kicked 4 goals in a quarter and a half in the U/18 state champs, got injured, recovered in time for the TAC Cup Grand Final and kicked another bag. I think people are very quick to forget how good his junior performances were, and how he was pretty much the only consensus number 1 pick in the last 5-7 years in that he started the calendar year as the number 1 pick and nothing changed throughout the year.
The thing is though, throw a player like him against men ten years older, and you struggle. Being a key position player isn't like a midfielder, or a running player or whatever. A midfielder's ability to win contested ball, have skill, or have athletic attributes like natural fitness or speed can make an instant impact at AFL level. If a player has a great tendency to put their head over the ball and shrug tackles by getting their arms free, it's something they can do against men even at teenage level. Being a key position player on other hand, has more to do with things like core and upper body strength in marking contests, and things like guile and positioning to read the flight of the ball, understand leading patterns etc. They're all skills that experience and years of pre-season have more of an impact, and the older you are with more years in the AFL system, the better you get. It's more true of key forwards whose strengths were that of physical strength and guile in outbodying and out-positioning. Players like Nick Riewoldt and Jesse Hogan made instant impacts because they had a running motor that transferred well in their initial seasons, Kurt Tippett and Tom Hawkins, both extremely large players required significant years until their development caught up with their play tendencies. Hawkins used strength as his way to influence games, but as a teenager comping up against 25 year olds, he had to wait until his strength caught up.
Boyd will play this week against Harris Andrews, who is probably the most impressive young key defender in the league. But in a weird way, I'm expecting Boyd to dominate, because simply because they're of similar ages, Boyd will have the confidence. When he's been given the opportunity to go up against key defenders of a similar age, like Brisbane in 2015, he's played well, but there isn't that many opportunities to do so. Once a greater proportion of the league's key defenders are of a similar age or younger, and Boyd has the advantage in years-developed guile, and greater strength through more pre-seasons, the fact that he dominated in underage football will surely show through.
Buddy Franklin, despite his height and nominal position as a key forward has never been a good mark. The one season where he was clunking everything he kicked 100 goals, had thumb surgery in the off-season and you can probably argue his marking has been pretty terrible since.
Where Boyd provides the most value it's sort of hard to understand, but it's his size combined with his versatility (and since we have turned him into this player to suit Bev's tactics) and mobility given his height.
Boyd's size, in that he's 201cm tall and is a big lad in the size of his core, hips and thighs etc. (like Joe Daniher is of a similar height and is a lot similar) provides inherent value to the team, it means that opposition defences are always focused on him. He draws attention, often draws two players in marking contests, and forces opposition teams to put their biggest defender to him like super glue - once you lose body contact on Boyd, his size and height is enough that re-engaging body contact has minimal effect.
Here's the thing about players of Boyd's type - big key forwards - they take longer to develop, but the very traits which was the reason why they dominated at junior level never disappear. Boyd at junior level was dominating defenders his age. Dominating. He kicked 4 goals in a quarter and a half in the U/18 state champs, got injured, recovered in time for the TAC Cup Grand Final and kicked another bag. I think people are very quick to forget how good his junior performances were, and how he was pretty much the only consensus number 1 pick in the last 5-7 years in that he started the calendar year as the number 1 pick and nothing changed throughout the year.
The thing is though, throw a player like him against men ten years older, and you struggle. Being a key position player isn't like a midfielder, or a running player or whatever. A midfielder's ability to win contested ball, have skill, or have athletic attributes like natural fitness or speed can make an instant impact at AFL level. If a player has a great tendency to put their head over the ball and shrug tackles by getting their arms free, it's something they can do against men even at teenage level. Being a key position player on other hand, has more to do with things like core and upper body strength in marking contests, and things like guile and positioning to read the flight of the ball, understand leading patterns etc. They're all skills that experience and years of pre-season have more of an impact, and the older you are with more years in the AFL system, the better you get. It's more true of key forwards whose strengths were that of physical strength and guile in outbodying and out-positioning. Players like Nick Riewoldt and Jesse Hogan made instant impacts because they had a running motor that transferred well in their initial seasons, Kurt Tippett and Tom Hawkins, both extremely large players required significant years until their development caught up with their play tendencies. Hawkins used strength as his way to influence games, but as a teenager comping up against 25 year olds, he had to wait until his strength caught up.
Boyd will play this week against Harris Andrews, who is probably the most impressive young key defender in the league. But in a weird way, I'm expecting Boyd to dominate, because simply because they're of similar ages, Boyd will have the confidence. When he's been given the opportunity to go up against key defenders of a similar age, like Brisbane in 2015, he's played well, but there isn't that many opportunities to do so. Once a greater proportion of the league's key defenders are of a similar age or younger, and Boyd has the advantage in years-developed guile, and greater strength through more pre-seasons, the fact that he dominated in underage football will surely show through.
