Opinion Who had the best debutant game in 2023?

Who had the best game in their 2023 debut?


  • Total voters
    52
  • Poll closed .

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Gtowncrow

Club Legend
Jul 6, 2021
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AFL Club
Adelaide
In 2023, there have been many, many signs of improvement of the mighty Adelaide Crows. But importantly, our debutants have been amongst the seasons highlights. Each of our 2023 candidates had memorable first games but who impressed the most in their first game in the tri-colours.
 

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I voted Keane. I felt Max wasn't given a big job in Rd1 to earn best debut. Would like to see what happened in the alternate universe where Max stood Toby Greene in rd1 though...
 
Good thread and the beauty is it could be a handful of the options. Nank looked great on the big stage. Borlase excellent composed first outing and looked up to it. Max looked like a 200 gamer since day one and Rankine all class but unfortunately didn’t convert his many opportunities on the day as could have been BOG otherwise.

But on reflection, on the massive stage after some early nerves, Keane takes my vote dominating big (somewhat hobbling) Charlie, taking the game on, many contested marks and surprisingly skilful. Massively exciting prospect and think he overtakes Butts next year upon Murray’s return
 
Most players first games end up being overrated because people are excited by signs of what the player can do. Keane for example has been described here as dominating Dixon, but he struggled against him in the first quarter and Dixon had a pretty good game. He had 18 disposals, 6 marks and a goal and was named in the bests. It was actually his highest disposal count for the season. Keane did well for a first gamer, but he didn't dominate Dixon at all.

If we are taking the question seriously and considering all players in their first Crows game equally, it's Rankine and it's not particularly close. Was probably Adelaide's best player in round 1, certainly in the top 3 or so which is not even close to true for any of the other club debutants. 18 disposals for 11 score involvements, 3 clearances, 458 MG, 2 goals. Picked up three coaches votes in a loss, which was the highest for the team.

Rankine is a fairly experienced player though. For actual first gamers, probably Borlase or Nankervis.
 
I voted Keane. I felt Max wasn't given a big job in Rd1 to earn best debut. Would like to see what happened in the alternate universe where Max stood Toby Greene in rd1 though...

He did get Greene second time up and it wasn’t pretty.


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Most players first games end up being overrated because people are excited by signs of what the player can do. Keane for example has been described here as dominating Dixon, but he struggled against him in the first quarter and Dixon had a pretty good game. He had 18 disposals, 6 marks and a goal and was named in the bests. It was actually his highest disposal count for the season. Keane did well for a first gamer, but he didn't dominate Dixon at all.

If we are taking the question seriously and considering all players in their first Crows game equally, it's Rankine and it's not particularly close. Was probably Adelaide's best player in round 1, certainly in the top 3 or so which is not even close to true for any of the other club debutants. 18 disposals for 11 score involvements, 3 clearances, 458 MG, 2 goals. Picked up three coaches votes in a loss, which was the highest for the team.

Rankine is a fairly experienced player though. For actual first gamers, probably Borlase or Nankervis.
Dixon was moved off Keane into the ruck, where he performed a lot better. So, quoting Dixon's stats is not the argument against Keane that you think it is.
 
The injuries to Jones, Butts and Murray should enable our three late season debutantes a block of games through to the end of the season now. This has been a historical luxury compared to many AFC debutantes.
All look capable of performing their role with the real opportunity for each of them to earn best 22 status.

I've loved the year generally, but seeing our "new" backline in action has been a surprising highlight.

Oh...and I'm happy with Izak doing his Izak stuff too.😁😁
 
If we are taking the question seriously and considering all players in their first Crows game equally, it's Rankine and it's not particularly close.
You're right, of course. I didn't think it was fair to include Izak in the question frankly so skipped him.
 
Of the actual first game debuts, on memory I'm struggling to split them, all three splendid. I'm going to use the fantasy points as the metric and go with Bor - 'lace-out' James - 90 on debut, esp. for a defender is epic. 7 contested possessions and 100% DE ices the cake.

50 for Max and 67 for Nank is pretty good too.
 
Dixon was moved off Keane into the ruck, where he performed a lot better. So, quoting Dixon's stats is not the argument against Keane that you think it is.
Well, sort of. He rucked about as much as Thilthorpe, but yes he did spend more time in the middle later in the game, especially in the last quarter. He also got most of his possessions as a forward up the ground and wasn't that threatening close to goal.

My argument isn't really 'against Keane' so much as saying that it's not really true that Keane dominated Dixon. He did fine on him, Dixon had him in the first quarter and Keane got on top at other times but Dixon still had a pretty good game. The view on here that Dixon was terrible I think is coloured by excitement over Keane's impressive first game effort. He was one of Port's better players in a poor team performance.
 
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