Prediction Tom Hickey: 2019 Expectations

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You could make an argument for him being the most undervalued ruck in the competition last season, when considering output and impact for team.

Add to that the following:
  • He's still less than 80 matches into his career and is approaching the sweet spot when rucks tend to take a major step in their development.
  • He has had a very late introduction to AFL (QLD rugby family background) and has never had a mentor at either Gold Coast or St Kilda in how to best apply himself in the art of ruckmanship. That will now change at the Eagles.
  • His career so far has been dictated by injuries, both physical and emotional:
    • Both Gold Coast and St Kilda are guilty of trying to get too many games into him too soon, which led to multiple breakdowns relating to foot and knee problems - meaning he has only played more than 13 games just once in eight seasons. This year he is running fit for pre-season and there is no club with a better record of rehabilitating injury-ravaged rucks than his new home.
    • Confidence appears to be a big factor upon his onfield output. The situations where his form has dropped off in the past have coincided with periods when his personal life has been a distraction (e.g. he requested to leave his native Qld after just two seasons at Gold Coast so he could be with his Melbourne-based girlfriend), or when his ability has been brought into question by the club (A.Richardson quoting his performances negatively in the media, whilst talking up Longer; and later doing nothing to quell any speculation that he was already out as a makeweight in any Hannebery deal). Take for example this case where he was taken apart by On the Couch in June for failing to block for a team-mate when running towards the bench, due to a fearful mindset of not obeying the instructions of the coach to the very letter. It was telling that A.Richardson made no effort that week to defend Tom in regard to this - instead he was hung out to dry in the reserves for the next two months until Longer was injured. Considering the anxieties that he has had over the past seasons, he must be pinching himself now. That he didn't even wait for the Saint's B&F before undertaking a medical with the club speaks volumes. Now part of a team that wants him as well, Tom is newly married and finds himself in a great and supportive environment for both work and family - I think it is safe to say that he will be feeling good about life at the moment.
  • He has a long-term link with club recruiter Scott Clayton, who initially brought him to the Gold Coast and made sure to keep in contact after his departure to the Saints. Going by reports such as this, Clayton is someone Tom trusts and has a lot of respect for, which can only be of benefit to his adjustment to new surroundings.
  • In 2018, if you remove his injury-impacted Round 20 game, Hickey averaged over 25 hitouts and 15 disposals per game - only four other players in the competition managed this Gawn, Grundy, S.Martin and Nankervis. Despite the schism he had with the coaching there, his output for the club was considerable.

I expect if he stays fit then many will be very pleasantly surprised by what he will bring to the club. The combination with Vardy will work to the strengths of both players, Hickey being a superior around the ground aerobic ruck and Vardy better as a forward-secondary ruck.

I actually suspect one of the greater conundrums of the upcoming season will be if having Naitanui back provides more to the team than Hickey-Vardy does.
 
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Chris_6678 said:
He is more talented as a tap ruckman than Vardy so i think he along with Vardy will do just till Nic nat comes back. We have learnt not to rely on our superstar ruckman so this will be no different and i can see Hickey wanting to prove a point like vardy has over the last 2 years.
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Don't be fooled into thinking Nic Nat is our saviour mate, after his second reco I think his days are numbered playing AFL.
 
Dylan82 said:
You could make an argument for him being the most undervalued ruck in the competition last season, when considering output and impact for team.

Add to that the following:
  • He's still less than 80 matches into his career and is approaching the sweet spot when rucks tend to take a major step in their development.
  • He has had a very late introduction to AFL (QLD rugby family background) and has never had a mentor at either Gold Coast or St Kilda in how to best apply himself in the art of ruckmanship. That will now change at the Eagles.
  • His career so far has been dictated by injuries, both physical and emotional:
    • Both Gold Coast and St Kilda are guilty of trying to get too many games into him too soon, which led to multiple breakdowns relating to foot and knee problems - meaning he has only played more than 13 games just once in eight seasons. This year he is running fit for pre-season and there is no club with a better record of rehabilitating injury-ravaged rucks than his new home.
    • Confidence appears to be a big factor upon his onfield output. The situations where his form has dropped off in the past have coincided with periods when his personal life has been a distraction (e.g. he requested to leave his native Qld after just two seasons at Gold Coast so he could be with his Melbourne-based girlfriend), or when his ability has been brought into question by the club (A.Richardson quoting his performances negatively in the media, whilst talking up Longer; and later doing nothing to quell any speculation that he was already out as a makeweight in any Hannebery deal). Take for example this case where he was taken apart by On the Couch in June for failing to block for a team-mate when running towards the bench, due to a fearful mindset of not obeying the instructions of the coach to the very letter. It was telling that A.Richardson made no effort that week to defend Tom in regard to this - instead he was hung out to dry in the reserves for the next two months until Longer was injured. Considering the anxieties that he has had over the past seasons, he must be pinching himself now. That he didn't even wait for the Saint's B&F before undertaking a medical with the club speaks volumes. Now part of a team that wants him as well, Tom is newly married and finds himself in a great and supportive environment for both work and family - I think it is safe to say that he will be feeling good about life at the moment.
  • He has a long-term link with club recruiter Scott Clayton, who initially brought him to the Gold Coast and made sure to keep in contact after his departure to the Saints. Going by reports such as this, Clayton is someone Tom trusts and has a lot of respect for, which can only be of benefit to his adjustment to new surroundings.
  • In 2018, if you remove his injury-impacted Round 20 game, Hickey averaged over 25 hitouts and 15 disposals per game - only four other players in the competition managed this Gawn, Grundy, S.Martin and Nankervis. Despite the schism he had with the coaching there, his output for the club was considerable.

I expect if he stays fit then many will be very pleasantly surprised by what he will bring to the club. The combination with Vardy will work to the strengths of both players, Hickey being a superior around the ground aerobic ruck and Vardy better as a forward-secondary ruck.

I actually suspect one of the greater conundrums of the upcoming season will be if having Naitanui back provides more to the team than Hickey-Vardy does.
Click to expand...

Awesome post mate👍👍👌. It's amazing the amount of clubs who don't even have ruck coaches.
 
Dylan82 said:
You could make an argument for him being the most undervalued ruck in the competition last season, when considering output and impact for team.

Add to that the following:
  • He's still less than 80 matches into his career and is approaching the sweet spot when rucks tend to take a major step in their development.
  • He has had a very late introduction to AFL (QLD rugby family background) and has never had a mentor at either Gold Coast or St Kilda in how to best apply himself in the art of ruckmanship. That will now change at the Eagles.
  • His career so far has been dictated by injuries, both physical and emotional:
    • Both Gold Coast and St Kilda are guilty of trying to get too many games into him too soon, which led to multiple breakdowns relating to foot and knee problems - meaning he has only played more than 13 games just once in eight seasons. This year he is running fit for pre-season and there is no club with a better record of rehabilitating injury-ravaged rucks than his new home.
    • Confidence appears to be a big factor upon his onfield output. The situations where his form has dropped off in the past have coincided with periods when his personal life has been a distraction (e.g. he requested to leave his native Qld after just two seasons at Gold Coast so he could be with his Melbourne-based girlfriend), or when his ability has been brought into question by the club (A.Richardson quoting his performances negatively in the media, whilst talking up Longer; and later doing nothing to quell any speculation that he was already out as a makeweight in any Hannebery deal). Take for example this case where he was taken apart by On the Couch in June for failing to block for a team-mate when running towards the bench, due to a fearful mindset of not obeying the instructions of the coach to the very letter. It was telling that A.Richardson made no effort that week to defend Tom in regard to this - instead he was hung out to dry in the reserves for the next two months until Longer was injured. Considering the anxieties that he has had over the past seasons, he must be pinching himself now. That he didn't even wait for the Saint's B&F before undertaking a medical with the club speaks volumes. Now part of a team that wants him as well, Tom is newly married and finds himself in a great and supportive environment for both work and family - I think it is safe to say that he will be feeling good about life at the moment.
  • He has a long-term link with club recruiter Scott Clayton, who initially brought him to the Gold Coast and made sure to keep in contact after his departure to the Saints. Going by reports such as this, Clayton is someone Tom trusts and has a lot of respect for, which can only be of benefit to his adjustment to new surroundings.
  • In 2018, if you remove his injury-impacted Round 20 game, Hickey averaged over 25 hitouts and 15 disposals per game - only four other players in the competition managed this Gawn, Grundy, S.Martin and Nankervis. Despite the schism he had with the coaching there, his output for the club was considerable.

I expect if he stays fit then many will be very pleasantly surprised by what he will bring to the club. The combination with Vardy will work to the strengths of both players, Hickey being a superior around the ground aerobic ruck and Vardy better as a forward-secondary ruck.

I actually suspect one of the greater conundrums of the upcoming season will be if having Naitanui back provides more to the team than Hickey-Vardy does.
Click to expand...
Wow , great summary I remember the fox footy analysis on him cant recall if it was Gary lyon or King but yeah they basically used 1 bit of vision and said this is why St Kilda are crap , not sure if it really was a dig at Hickey or the lack of teaching by St Kilda coaching but it was definitely humiliation like pitiful Pittman stuff.
 
Dylan82 said:
I actually suspect one of the greater conundrums of the upcoming season will be if having Naitanui back provides more to the team than Hickey-Vardy does.
Click to expand...
No no no no no. Provided the knee doesnt limit his mobility the only conundrum is which of Vardy or Hickey makes way for the great man. NicNat is as close a thing to a guaranteed momentum swing in AFL. When he's on the ball we have a marked hitout advantage against pretty much anyone. Then when its on the ground we get an extra contested ballwinning midfielder and an as scary as fuq enforcer who got suspended for a textbook tackle that was just delivered too rough (great post othewise)
 
Tom_Thumb said:
Don't be fooled into thinking Nic Nat is our saviour mate, after his second reco I think his days are numbered playing AFL.
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Expert opinion?
 

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I remember 0 of his career with St Kilda or Gold Coast.

Expectations are set pretty low on that basis. Hopefully he surprises me like Sinclair in 2015 or Vardy the last two years.

We love a good ruck duo so he won't need to ruck 80 or 90% of game time. Hopefully he thrives. Plus we're not St Kilda or Gold Coast, we're professional.
 
Balls In said:
No no no no no. Provided the knee doesnt limit his mobility the only conundrum is which of Vardy or Hickey makes way for the great man. NicNat is as close a thing to a guaranteed momentum swing in AFL. When he's on the ball we have a marked hitout advantage against pretty much anyone. Then when its on the ground we get an extra contested ballwinning midfielder and an as scary as fuq enforcer who got suspended for a textbook tackle that was just delivered too rough (great post othewise)
Click to expand...
Whenever the question of "who is the best midfielder in the AFL?"comes up; i always say NN! I get pooh-poohed a lot, but in a crunch id back him to win any one on one.He may not have the endurance of topline mids but hes a better mark and handballer than any of them. My money is on Hickey being a revelation!
 
eaglesnutcase said:
Whenever the question of "who is the best midfielder in the AFL?"comes up; i always say NN! I get pooh-poohed a lot, but in a crunch id back him to win any one on one.He may not have the endurance of topline mids but hes a better mark and handballer than any of them. My money is on Hickey being a revelation!
Click to expand...
I remember Cox in the ruck and Nic Nat in the centre as a midfielder a few times . He is a monster at ground level and speed , has a long reach so is very effective to tackle and be a Very BBIMWBLF
 
Vardy, Hickey and NicNat in 2019...our rucking prowess will benefit however it rolls or pans out.
NN has acknowledged a pay cut is inevitable given his injuries and if he loses a bit of weight, he could still be damaging... maybe play as a midfielder- there's the big-bodied mid we needed?
 
kranky al said:
Saviour?

What are we being saved from?

Winning a premiership.

Nn is icing on the cake!!
Click to expand...
The "Messiah" mentality is what I'm talking about here, the thinking that a single player can lift up a team to do the impossible. Richmond fans had it when Cousins went there and there are innumerable accounts of this happening in other sporting fields.
 
Tom_Thumb said:
The "Messiah" mentality is what I'm talking about here, the thinking that a single player can lift up a team to do the impossible. Richmond fans had it when Cousins went there and there are innumerable accounts of this happening in other sporting fields.
Click to expand...
Reckon richmond might have done better with dusty fit in the finals
 
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