Welcome to the Bulldogs Lachlan Smith

[Dogs_R_Us]

It is now deemed insensitive to talk about their weight.

Deem schmeem

 

[Sentinel]

It is now deemed insensitive to talk about their weight.

This feels like an actual example of that "woke madness" term.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Did this change come in because of Perkins in the AFLW? I remember she got slammed a lot, didn’t stop her kicking goals.

 

[Mofra]

Is this for real?

These are professional sportsmen, many of whom get paid more in a few years than most of us will see in a lifetime. Part of the deal is you have to put up with a lot of media exposure. The exposure pays their salaries (in a convoluted sort of way).

Se what happens when you put sticky labels on pieces of fruit! The world goes to sh*t.

Yep.
Delicious, delicious sticky labels...

 

[Mofra]

Did this change come in because of Perkins in the AFLW? I remember she got slammed a lot, didn’t stop her kicking goals.

IIRC it started from AFL players having their weights published but AFLW players not.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

It is now deemed insensitive to talk about their weight.

I would phrase it slightly differently. It's not insensitive to talk about their weight, but having that specific information available for public scrutiny is an unnecessary recipe for disaster.

Body dysmorphia and eating disorders are an enormous problem in the population, but particularly in athletes. It costs lives, and weight stigma, whether internal or external, is a disproportionately strong cause. This is not "woke madness," it's an attempt to save lives. May help, may not.

Personally I don't think knowing a player's weight is at all useful information for a supporter of a football club.

 

[Mojorisin]

I would phrase it slightly differently. It's not insensitive to talk about their weight, but having that specific information available for public scrutiny is an unnecessary recipe for disaster.

Body dysmorphia and eating disorders are an enormous problem in the population, but particularly in athletes. It costs lives, and weight stigma, whether internal or external, is a disproportionately strong cause. This is not "woke madness," it's an attempt to save lives. May help, may not.

Personally I don't think knowing a player's weight is at all useful information for a supporter of a football club.

I think it is extremely helpful especially as someone who follows the draft. Knowing how much muscle (weight) a player has put on over the pre Season for example is great to know.

 

[TiAn_]

I think it is extremely helpful especially as someone who follows the draft. Knowing how much muscle (weight) a player has put on over the pre Season for example is great to know.

I used to love tracking the players heights and weights year to year as a kid. It’s a bit of a shame for stats nerd kids.

I get the theory but surely 99% of any criticism from fans is based on seeing a bloke on TV that looks “fat” or “scrawny” rather than based on perusing their listed measurements. It seems to be a non-issue in every other sport worldwide.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

I think it is extremely helpful especially as someone who follows the draft. Knowing how much muscle (weight) a player has put on over the pre Season for example is great to know.

Sure, but weight change doesn't really tell you about muscle gain, you're extrapolating. For every player that is congratulated for putting on weight there's another that's criticised for it, and another that's criticised for not putting on enough.

I would also argue that that reason isn't really good enough to outweigh the risk of significant mental health issues that comes along with it.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

It seems to be a non-issue in every other sport worldwide.

Just because nothing has been done about it doesn't make it a non-issue. The underlying issues I'm talking about are worldwide phenomena in athletes.

 

[TiAn_]

Just because nothing has been done about it doesn't make it a non-issue. The underlying issues I'm talking about are worldwide phenomena in athletes.

I’m not doubting the “phenomena”, merely the role that a published weight plays in it for a sport like our mens competition. Anecdotally, I would guess players get critiqued by the public based on appearance more than measurements. I appreciate it is probably a different kettle of fish for the AFLW given the online trolling they’ve encountered and aligning both men and women avoids a fraught discussion.

Separately, removing the weights alone seems arbitrary. There’s far more commentary about how tall Caleb Daniel and Sam Darcy are than how much superstars like Bont or Daicos weigh. I suspect it’ll only be a matter of time before the listed heights go as well. I think it’s a bit of a shame for kids that want to know everything about their favourite players, but it’s not a hill I’m prepared to die on.

 

[weltschmerz]

A weight taken in the pre-season probably doesn't have a huge amount to do with someone's playing weight in August, so it's not too relevant for things like "well that key forward is 102kg, can our 88kg defender play on him?" when that forward could have hit that figure at peak bulk and be in the mid-90s when they actually play later in the season. Could be handy to see "this tall kid was drafted at 81kg then 85kg at the start of his second year then 88kg in his third year, he's going in the right direction", but you can probably figure out they've bulked up from looking at them.

 

[DognBones]

It's a bit harder to find for players who are yet to debut.

There's footywire which has him at 203cm and 102kg

If Smith is 203 cm I really do need to go to Specsavers. The eye tells me he is under 200 particularly when you see him compete with opponents around similar height. Will take a stick and tape measure to the next Footscray game.

 

[doggy_dog]

If Smith is 203 cm I really do need to go to Specsavers. The eye tells me he is under 200 particularly when you see him compete with opponents around similar height. Will take a stick and tape measure to the next Footscray game.

I was certain I saw him listed at 198cm somewhere

 

[Mojorisin]

I was certain I saw him listed at 198cm somewhere

Pre draft he was listed at 198cm.

 

[dogwatch]

If Smith is 203 cm I really do need to go to Specsavers. The eye tells me he is under 200 particularly when you see him compete with opponents around similar height. Will take a stick and tape measure to the next Footscray game.

I was certain I saw him listed at 198cm somewhere

Pre draft he was listed at 198cm.

Well we are just going to have to guess from now on by the look of it.

 

[Mojorisin]

Well we are just going to have to guess from now on by the look of it.

It is only really a guide anyway at this point. Most players grow and shrink each year.

 

[weltschmerz]

It is only really a guide anyway at this point. Most players grow and shrink each year.

Caleb Daniel's been listed as 171cm for a couple years after being 168cm for a lot longer before that.

 

[Unnamed1]

Minson was AA only a decade ago at ‘only’ 199cm. He was an absolute bean pole when we drafted him too. Looking forward to seeing him develop

 

[ScragCity]

If you feel like you need to know a player's weight, and you don't work in the industry and therefore it's not relevant data for you to perform your job, then you need to get a life tbh.

 

[BrisDog]

They're all guesses now. They're no longer going to be published due to body-shaming issues

FMD - only in Victoria or the ACT. Wokeism is still rife down your way. That rubbish peaked in a couple of years ago and we are recovering slowly up here in gods country.

 

[BrisDog]

If you feel like you need to know a player's weight, and you don't work in the industry and therefore it's not relevant data for you to perform your job, then you need to get a life tbh.

Nope. It is relevant to know when judging how a player, such as a ruckman, will perform in physical contests.

If we are talking about 14 year old girls who are understandably sensitive about such issues you would have a point.

 

[Testekill]

Smith looks roughly 199cms, undersized for a modern ruck so he'll have to focus on being a bash and crash guy.

 

[BEaston]

Just use your eyes. Ruckman weigh roughly 95-105kgs. Knowing the exact number does nothing for your analysis.

"oh that 104kg ruckman really out performed that 99kg ruckman in physical contests today." please

 

[doggiesin08]

Smith looks roughly 199cms, undersized for a modern ruck so he'll have to focus on being a bash and crash guy.

He's not only undersized on pure height but also his vertical jump. Based on testing he is giving up 13cm-22cm against other rucks in his draft class in addition to 2cm-4cm of pure heights so he is absolutely going to be a a bash and crash type, hopefully in the Toby Nankervis mould.

The below was posted about Smith in the Joel Freijah thread back in November 2023 by someone who works in the industry:

Smith - Best performed ruck at Coates level for sure and as silly as it sounds, he's going to be an undersized ruck at AFL level. The reason guys like Green, Goad and Edwards went ahead of him is because they're taller and better at the tap ruck aspect. Smith will be a hustle and bustle, aggressive ruck, whereas the blokes who went ahead of him have much better ruck craft and will be good tap ruckmen. The numbers for comparison:

• Smith - 202cm, 72cm vertical
• Green - 204cm, 87cm vertical + easily longest arms in draft at 95.6cm (next best was 93.7cm)
• Goad - 206cm, 85cm vertical
• Edwards - 206cm, 94cm vertical