Tom Rockliff

May 26, 2017
20,818
42,870
Uruguayana, RS (BRA)
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
Grêmio, DC United, Pistons
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Whoever was responsible for his recruitment should be on jobkeeper...
We were in desperate need of leadership, and Rockliff fitted the profile. In hindsight, we should have taken 2018 to focus on fixing him, but we thought we had a shot at the flag...
 
Rockliff is a hard nosed ball winner, a smart ball user and a fantastic little s**t stirrer. The reason he has looked good the last few weeks is that the rest of the midfield is finally performing their roles meaning his weakness (pace) isn't exposed.
 
Jul 1, 2014
6,695
17,613
Adelaide, Australia
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
Lakers, Ducks, Yankees
I never expected Rockliff, Ollie and Boak to work in the same on-ball brigade. They are proving me very wrong. The balance seems to be right at the moment. Rocky had another very solid game tonight. His defensive work at the stoppage is elite. He has deficiencies in his game but he is elite in his role.
 
Updated:

With both: Played 34, Won 21, Lost 13. 61.76% win rate.
With only Rockliff: Played 10, Won 6, Lost 4. 60% win rate
With neither: Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1. 50% win rate.
With only Wines: Played 9, Won 4, Lost 5. 44.4% win rate.
 
Updated:

With both: Played 39, Won 25, Lost 14. 64.1% win rate.
With only Rockliff: Played 10, Won 6, Lost 4. 60% win rate.
With neither: Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1. 50% win rate.
With only Wines: Played 9, Won 4, Lost 5. 44.4% win rate.
 

Ah12

Club Legend
Jan 24, 2019
2,058
2,832
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
190 games and this bloke has never played in a final. Can only imagine what being dropped and the thought of missing out once again wouldve done to him.

He could’ve easily put the head down and to be honest i was one of them who was starting to write him off as well. Focusing on his deficiencies and convincing myself he was far too slow to work in our midfield.

But im sure tom’s used to proving people wrong. This is a guy who went un-drafted and was then given a rookie spot after kicking 59 goals and winning a B&F for the murray bushrangers as an over ager.

A great football story and i hope he remains fit as he deserves this finals campaign as much as anyone.
 
Depending on what you call 'modern', 'small' and 'slower' all these players came to mind as 'exceptions'

Hayden Ballantyne
Stephen Milne
Mark Le Cras
Brad Johnson
Luke Breust
Paul Puopolo
Gary Ablett Jr (the version that came back to Geelong) is not fast and not tall
Peter Daicos
Stevie J. Tallish I guess.
Jeff Farmer. He wasn't slow, but pace wasn't what made him the Wiz. But we can leave him off if its an issue for you.

Skill and pressure acts define the modern small forward. Pressure acts are so important these days they are broken down into several categories by coaches:

Corralling – when a player guards space so an opponent is limited with run and where he can go;
Chasing – a player from behind and gaining ground;
Closing – a player down from in front or to the side of his disposal;
Physical pressure – when a player gets a hand to a player while he is disposing of the ball.
lol at digging up the ghost of Peter Daicos.. I barely had pubes when most of those guys were up and running, the game is tactically and aerobically and worlds apart from even 5 years ago. Ballantyne and Puopolo were shown to be dinosaurs in the modern game.

Anyhow if you think there is still room in 2020 for slow and short specialist forwards then all the power to you.

Back to the topic at hand, excited for Rocky to be playing finals; the pig will be licking his lips at the conditions to come. Who would have thought a relatively one-paced midfield of Rocky, Wines and Boak would turn out to be a genuine strength.
 
Who would have thought a relatively one-paced midfield of Rocky, Wines and Boak would turn out to be a genuine strength.
Boak's actually got pretty good speed - not great, but good. He finished top 10 in the sprints in his draft year camp.

What he is slow at, is that after sprinting hard for a loose ball get in the open, he regularly beats his opponent to the ball, he is slow at bending over to pick it up on the move.

Because he doesn't have great clean hands like Robbie, or Dangerfield or the Bont etc, he has to use 2 hands to scoop up the ball which means more bending and more slowing down and he usually ends up being tackled ball and all by his slower opponent. If he actually soccered the ball forward another 20m or so, he might have a fraction more time over his opponent when he gets to the ball.

His quick side step to avoid tackles seems to be working again this year. From about 2016 to 2018 and a bit of 2019, he tried to swerve out of trouble, but often got caught rather than dodge a tackle like his earlier days.
 
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