Tom Boyd

[JeffDunne]

A ruckman who can also get dangerous up forward and hit the scoreboard is a precious commodity in the modern game - I would be stoked if what he produced on Saturday was the blueprint for the rest of his career. Ottens is a nice comparison, and he was similarly lambasted early in his career but became extremely valuable as a quality stoppage and around the ground ruck with lesser stints up forward.

He's only just turned 21 so there is still mountains of scope for improvement for Boyd, and frankly he and the rest of our playing group need to keep improving to maintain pace with the likes of GWS.

The reason I posted that comment is it appears some people see being called a ruckman as an insult.

 

[Dogsman16]

Boyd sees himself more as a ruckman than a forward. Found it strange when he said it but after the last couple of months I can see why he thinks that.

Not sure why Doggies fans get precious over that issue too.

I don't care if Boyd sees himself as more of a butterfly than a human right about now. Your right though. I don't think he will ever be a pure KPF. Forward/ruck as he can do both to a decent level. He and Roughead have got our ruck stocks in good order.

 

[The_Flying_Egg]

I'll never forget the reaction to Boyd when he had his name called. He got probably the loudest roar of any player .. I was so happy for him

 

[VineyIsLORD]

Boyd also has the ability to play ruck, something Jesse hasn't done much, if at all.

Likewise Jesse is a top notch key defender and able to pinch hit in the midfield. Both pretty versatile.

 

[VineyIsLORD]

Hogan strikes me as a bit more agile, a bit like Jack Riewoldt. Boyd is more powerful, like Hawkins or Jonathan Brown.

Hogan is crazy strong. Like, he was playing like David Neitz from his first game.

I've not seen anyone outmuscle him. He has one of those big cores, like Carey.

 

[Scotland]

Pity he has to play for Melbourne.

 

[FastLife]

I would take Boyd over Hogan

 

[inflames1919]

Dogs recruited Boyd for one reason and one reason only. To help us win our first premiership in 60 plus years. He has done that and is showing real progress while still being very young for a big man.

This guy will be the player Tippett was supposed to be and more.

After this finals series anyone who think we made a blew recruiting him is just nuts. Give or take a few hundred grand it was a great deal for us and I was one who was critical at the time.

Boom.

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

Really! That's why you are about to sign Travis Cloke as your "big full time forward" for the next two years.

You are wrong, wrong. The primary reason for the move was to release the pressure on him as the key forward and in so doing build his confidence. Building his tank and the need for a mobile ruckman were other considerations.

It was as i said to build up his tank ( endurance) and to add other strings to his game also

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

All arguments for / against Tom Boyd and his output versus contract dollars are moot now imo, the Bulldogs have the premiership. Even if he didn't have the cracking game he did, so what? The Bulldogs have the premiership, and not much else matters.

The fact he did play so well and possibly have a breakout game (can only be viewed in hindsight I feel) is icing on the cake.

Well done to him, well done Bulldogs.

Well said buddy

 

[AM]

It was as i said to build up his tank ( endurance) and to add other strings to his game also

The coach:

"When things don't go to plan, we're not going to hang him out to dry," Beveridge told AAP.

"We're going to try and find a way for him to lift his performance.

"If that means he plays a bit more in the ruck, or maybe even behind the ball at some point, we'll definitely explore that to help him, because being a key forward can be a difficult existence, especially if you're not getting supply at times."

As I said, it was principally to help ease the pressure on him. Now I've quoted the coach I trust you won't continue with your diatribe.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Would rather pay Boyd $7M for one flag even if he spuds it up for the rest of his career than pay someone like Riewoldt to be a champ over the course of 15 years but never get there.

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

O

The coach:


As I said, it was principally to help ease the pressure on him. Now I've quoted the coach I trust you won't continue with your diatribe.

Oh boy oh Boyd

 

[threenewpadlocks]

The coach:


As I said, it was principally to help ease the pressure on him. Now I've quoted the coach I trust you won't continue with your diatribe.

That's true to some extent, but it's also part of Beveridge's wider tactical philosophy of heavy player rotation.

Players like Libba and Wallis before his injury were literally playing out of the goal square.

The reason that we'd dominated contested ball this year is because our midfield runs harder to get to the contest and outnumbers the opposition at the drop of the ball. The trade-off is that all this running takes the energy out of the players, so we have to rotate more players through midfield. We did it less often in finals (for obvious reasons) but during the home & away season it wasn't unusual to see our midfield rotation players in Picken, Wallis, Libba, and Daniel spend significant periods of time (around even up to 1/3 of the time on the ground) in the forward line where they could have rest whilst others rotated through the midfield like Stringer where there was more running.

The principle of this extends to our ruck unit - basically with such a high energy gameplan no ruck can ruck large parts of the game. Roughead as our nominal first ruck would be absolutely buggered if he rucked even as little as 75-80% of the game, so he rucks about 60-70% and Boyd goes into the ruck for about a third of the game.

It's credit to Boyd as a player that he's developed his running base (important for ruckmen) and his ruck work to be able to be capable to do this - when we recruited him from GWS he could play in the ruck but was more of a pinch-hitter in a Jenkins mould (in terms of ruck capability not actual skillset) rather than a genuine 1/3 of the game 2nd ruck.

 

[ManOfClay]

Going to the ruck was the best thing for Boyd's confidence, I agree with that.

Funny when things were going bad he was seen as this one dimensional, lumbering dinosaur but since he started hitting form that all changed.

Those pack marks at half forward from the swans kick outs or half back for ours wouldn't have been done if he was full forward.

And over the season he started to show his mobility. His hands in close and field kicking are superb for a 200cm/100kg player.

Still needs to work on his leading and marking on the lead though

 

[HairyO]

I'll never forget the reaction to Boyd when he had his name called. He got probably the loudest roar of any player .. I was so happy for him

Was like Schoenmakers last year. Eternally ridiculed then plays his best game ever in the GF.

 

[Mofra]

Was like Schoenmakers last year. Eternally ridiculed then plays his best game ever in the GF.

Sometimes players are unfairly maligned because of perceived development issues in the first year or two.
I remember Shoey being a gun CHF in the u18s then struggled with the transition o life as an AFL defender.

Reputations in the AFL are hard to shake.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Still think Boyd's an average forward and I don't rate him any higher than I did pre-draft, which was not in the top 20. But he's the kind of average forward that wins flags ie the only kind that matters.

 

[PaddleFoot]

Look what Mummy did to Tippett .. he should have murdered Boyd but .. didn't. Well done that man. Could be a wild card if .. and its a big if .. he could nail a big goal from 50m after a contested mark. All of a sudden - a problem the Swans would struggle with. He seems to have no confidence when confronted by those pesky white posts. Time to shine ?

Thank you linesmen thank you ball boys.

 

[Ambrosia]

Hogan - consistency.
Daniher is a gun but his kicking is woeful. History suggests that few KPFs significantly improve their kicking over their careers. The only players I can think of who made major improvements to their kicking are mids (Watson & Clay Smith). As an example, Casboult has been trying for years.

Buddy's kicking has improved significantly since his early days.

 

[Ambrosia]

Likewise Jesse is a top notch key defender and able to pinch hit in the midfield. Both pretty versatile.

Hurley gave him a lesson in bodywork last season.

 

[Screen Name]

Buddy's kicking has improved significantly since his early days.

So has hawkins.

 

[MJ_Dogs]

You're the one claiming Boyd is worth a million bucks a season on the back of one game.

Who was the legend that put this guy out of his misery? I want to like all your posts.

Christ I've never seen someone talk so much shit. Get off your high horse, not everything is black and white. Tom Boyd was recruited from GWS for $X and is now a premiership player at the Western Bulldogs, ending a 62yr drought.

STFU about it.

 

[Godchin]

Boyd is still a spud.

He was really good in the Grand Final but he was bad in the elimination final and not that great in the other 2 finals.

He's still young and i'll wait and see how things unfold next year but I think people are getting a bit carried away.

 

[MJ_Dogs]

Boyd is still a spud.

He was really good in the Grand Final but he was bad in the elimination final and not that great in the other 2 finals.

He's still young and i'll wait and see how things unfold next year but I think people are getting a bit carried away.

Are you kidding? You clearly didn't watch our finals games did you? Because if you did you are a poor judge of football.

He was everywhere in the elimination and rucked 3/4 of the prelim as the only ruck. Was huge for us. But no, go back and look at the stats sheet and make your sound judgements.