Underwhelming/Underachieving players

[Herne Hill Hammer]

There are a few players who had epic seasons somewhat early in their careers but never went on with it IMO.

Shane Crawford wasn’t overly young in 1999 (24-25) when he was possibly the #1 player in the game (AFLPA MVP) but while still very handy was probably never considered anywhere near top 30 (?) after that.

Same goes for Jim Stynes.

—-

This is a tricky one. He did have a very fine career however ...

Chris Judd early on was tracking as a potential GOAT. That didn’t last. After 2006 he just wasn’t epic. Sure he still was a frequent AA inclusion and won the Brownlow in 2010 (despite not being top ten with The Age, Hun, SEN, MMM or ABC) and then he won the AFLPA MVP in 2011 without doing much more than he did in 2010.

By the end of his career nobody was declaring him a possible Mt Rushmore figure of this sport.
—-

From Geelong -

At the end of 2001 Geelong’s best young player was easily David Spriggs IMO. He was way better than Chappy, Joel Corey, Enright and Ling. He was delisted after 2004.

Ben Graham never achieved what I hoped he would.

Steven King made AA ruck in 2000 at 21 but never returned to the team. He also picked up 17 touches on debut when aged just 17 in 1996. He should have been so much better based on his early performances. Although a lot of his lack of output was due to injuries.

—-

Another player drafted at the same mini draft as Steven King (17 year old compensation in 1995 preseason draft) was Matthew Lloyd and he was a champion but not the epic superstar I thought he’d be. He had a 30+ touch 7 goal game aged just 18 but IMO he wasn’t quite as much of an OMG WTF kickass performer as I had expected him to to become based on some early signs.

Terrible post and Spriggs was s**t.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Terrible call by the OP on Hurley.

Ziebell
Saad (output doesn't match the hype)
Petracca
Tex Walker
Stephen Hill, had a brilliant shining moment when he tore Geelong a new one in the final at Kardinia but has pretty much been unremarkable.
A A Ron Sandilands, how someone so tall takes so few marks is staggering. With his massive physicall advantage he should have been the best player in the comp for years if he could actually football.
Tomahawk, very good, but he should be an unstoppable force due to his size. Tarzan / Jane.
Roughly for me has been underwhelming for a lot of his career.
Motlop
Wines
Darling

Chris Tarrant as a defender, he was s**t. He had great arms though.
Ben Graham and Anthony Rocca. Very physically gifted. Built like Tarzan play like Jane.

 

[JayJ20]

Jayden Laverde, had really high hopes of that kid being a gun

Looking like that. Unfortunately injuries completely destroyed his career so far. Hopefully he can get some consistency as I still believe he can have a good AFL career.

 

[Crusty Demon]

He kicked over 60 goals in his last full season. He clearly wasn't fit last season. Silly call IMO.

Meh, he underwhelms me regardless of injury or not. I just don't think he's very good. If he's out on the field carrying an injury, that's not my fault. Clearly he's fit to play as they play him. I just think he's never lived up to the hyperbole that surrounded him. He can't kick for starters which is a pretty important part of a forwards game I would think. In fact, he'd be one of the worst kicks in the AFL. He really has no idea where the ball is going after it leaves his boot.

 

[Wacko23Jacko]

Terrible call by the OP on Hurley.

Ziebell
Saad (output doesn't match the hype)
Petracca
Tex Walker
Stephen Hill, had a brilliant shining moment when he tore Geelong a new one in the final at Kardinia but has pretty much been unremarkable.
A A Ron Sandilands, how someone so tall takes so few marks is staggering. With his massive physicall advantage he should have been the best player in the comp for years if he could actually football.
Tomahawk, very good, but he should be an unstoppable force due to his size. Tarzan / Jane.
Roughly for me has been underwhelming for a lot of his career.
Motlop
Wines
Darling

Chris Tarrant as a defender, he was s**t. He had great arms though.
Ben Graham and Anthony Rocca. Very physically gifted. Built like Tarzan play like Jane.

Sandilands is interesting when you watch Cox. Very different output/capabilities w regards to forward play. But having Sandilands as the one freak who is 15ft tall you sort of let him off the hook with doing nothing but tapping the ball. Now he has competition. Don’t think Cox is a superstar by any means but certainly more effective marking/kicking footballs.

 

[FrankDrebin]

There are a few players who had epic seasons somewhat early in their careers but never went on with it IMO.

Shane Crawford wasn’t overly young in 1999 (24-25) when he was possibly the #1 player in the game (AFLPA MVP) but while still very handy was probably never considered anywhere near top 30 (?) after that.

Same goes for Jim Stynes.

—-

This is a tricky one. He did have a very fine career however ...

Chris Judd early on was tracking as a potential GOAT. That didn’t last. After 2006 he just wasn’t epic. Sure he still was a frequent AA inclusion and won the Brownlow in 2010 (despite not being top ten with The Age, Hun, SEN, MMM or ABC) and then he won the AFLPA MVP in 2011 without doing much more than he did in 2010.

By the end of his career nobody was declaring him a possible Mt Rushmore figure of this sport.
—-

You have some fairly lofty expectations. Your wife must be off the charts.

 

[Yojimbo]

Stringer a class above them.. have u watched at all this year?

Yes I have watched this year and being a Bulldogs fan I have watched every year, hell I even seen
a few games before he was drafted pre leg break. I thought he was going to be better than he
currently is he got caught up in the hype that can consume a young player used to be called the
three "Ps", but you would have to include the social media aspect in these modern times. I hope
he can climb the mountain again, but life balance is a bigger mountain.

 

[juss]

Jack Graham won some awards and captained SA at junior level. At the end of his 5th AFL game he had played in 5 wins, 3 finals wins and had just kicked 3 goals and towelled up Rory Sloane in a GF to become a premiership player.

I thought we had stumbled upon the next Joel Selwood, but he has been bloody average since then. The bloke tackles hard, but he is slow and a very limited footballer.

 

[StillAtLarge]

Meh, he underwhelms me regardless of injury or not. I just don't think he's very good. If he's out on the field carrying an injury, that's not my fault. Clearly he's fit to play as they play him. I just think he's never lived up to the hyperbole that surrounded him. He can't kick for starters which is a pretty important part of a forwards game I would think. In fact, he'd be one of the worst kicks in the AFL. He really has no idea where the ball is going after it leaves his boot.

I assume you're talking about set shots because he'd be one of the best field kicks at Essendon and is a decent shot at goal from open play

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Jack Graham won some awards and captained SA at junior level. At the end of his 5th AFL game he had played in 5 wins, 3 finals wins and had just kicked 3 goals and towelled up Rory Sloane in a GF to become a premiership player.

I thought we had stumbled upon the next Joel Selwood, but he has been bloody average since then. The bloke tackles hard, but he is slow and a very limited footballer.

Yeah, what's happened to 'Mr Jack' Graham? I see he's been dropped this week.

 

[north_lad]

North Melbourne footy club

 

[Donakebab]

Meh, he underwhelms me regardless of injury or not. I just don't think he's very good. If he's out on the field carrying an injury, that's not my fault. Clearly he's fit to play as they play him. I just think he's never lived up to the hyperbole that surrounded him. He can't kick for starters which is a pretty important part of a forwards game I would think. In fact, he'd be one of the worst kicks in the AFL. He really has no idea where the ball is going after it leaves his boot.

 

[gcsunsfc]

GC flavour

Zac Smith
Jared Brennan
Kurt Tippett
Dion Prestia
Jack Martin

 

[Blackhawk42]

Andy McGrath. I'm not convinced he is ever going to be better than he is right now. Which is a handy, fast player to go under the radar behind Heppell, Shiel and Zerrett.

Shaun Atley. Just hasn't happened for him. Thought he was going to be the most damaging half back flank in the comp early in his career.

 

[Captain Morgan]

Just for perspective, I’ll throw in the Adelaide players from the 16/17 drafts, how are Gallucci, Poholke, Himmelberg, Fogarty & McPherson tracking?
Get some context, 2nd & 3rd year players FFS.

These players are patiently waiting for their chance, cheering on their draft classmates as they play 25-50 games and continue to develop at other clubs.

They are happy playing in the local competition and lie awake at night in awe of the crows coaching staff who show steadfast loyalty to a group of players that have underperformed for the last season and a bit. What a club.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Stephen Hill.

I remember him tearing us apart in his first season and thinking he could be anything. He's a good player but getting 21 touches and 2 goals is the exception not the norm.

This is the answer.

He's genuinely just far too timid. Physically and mentally. He skirts tackles and it's cringeworthy to see him stick his arse out and not even commit to a tackle, but to make it look like he is. He also loves stopping up when he sees a player hitting the contest. I won't even get into how little confidence he has in his ability... he's fast, agile, absolutely beautiful kick of the ball but so many times he runs, bounces, then handballs off.

Bradley is nowhere near as naturally talented but he's cheeky and arrogant. He takes it all on.

If you had Brad's mentality in Stephen's body you'd have a Brownlow Medallist.

 

[Suitcase]

Surprised the Toump hasn't been mentioned yet. He got some huge wraps as a youngster but turned out to be a pretty terrible player.

 

[Suitcase]

Patrick Veszpremi
Ty Vickery
John Butcher
Cale Morton
Scott Gumbleton
Kane Lucas
Jack Trengove

 

[Chaisa]

Terrible post. How is he underwhelming or underachieving, he is a solid B grade defensive forward with moments of brilliance after only 20 games?

To achieve that and fit into WC structure he changed his whole playing style. If anything, he has exceeded expectations for a young second year player.

With Ryan I feel like the footy media overhypes him a bit because of how flashy he is but most people see him for what he is, plus I don’t think many expected him to be a superstar.

 

[masai]

Patrick Veszpremi
Ty Vickery
John Butcher
Cale Morton
Scott Gumbleton
Kane Lucas
Jack Trengove

Fair go on Gumby, he could play, but the body let him down.

 

[The breed]

Hamish Hartlett i thought would win a Brownlow watching his first few games . I suppose injuries don't help, and he's been good, just expected more

 

[Damon_3388]

Jack Ziebell

Early hype projected him to be similar to what Dangerfield has become, that power bull in the middle. He was tracking towards that a few years in (averaged 4.98 clearances per game from 2011-2013, and then 4.77 per game from 2015-2017 as well), but never seemed to be able to take that proverbial "next step" as a midfielder. Whether that's through coaching and usage, injuries, or a lack of drive to improve, but being "just" an undersized full forward these days seems a bit of a waste, and falling way short of expectations and potential, given he was a top 10 draft pick as a 17-year-old in 2008 (back when you could still draft 17-year-olds), ahead of guys like Steele Sidebottom, Luke Shuey, Dayne Beams, etc.

 

[Scotland]

LOL @ Judd being suggested. Was the best in the comp in 07 until he pinged his groin. At Carlton he still won a Brownlow, multiple B&Fs etc.

 

[Scotland]

Jack Ziebell is a good shout. Ok mid, ok forward, ok playing a bit of both.

 

[Damon_3388]

Patrick Veszpremi
Ty Vickery
John Butcher
Cale Morton
Scott Gumbleton
Kane Lucas
Jack Trengove

I feel like Morton and Lucas came through in the wrong era, and suffered from their lack of body size and physicality. If they were coming along in 2019, I think they might have a consistent role to play.

Jack Trengove is absolutely tearing it up in the SANFL so far this year (averaging 39.5 disposals, 10 marks, 7 clearances, 7 inside 50s and 6.3 tackles over the first 4 rounds of play, with 77% disposal efficiency, and a 1.46 kick-to-handball ratio, so he's getting it contests with the clearances and using it most by foot at an elite level), but can't get a game in Port's senior midfield right now.