- Joined
- Feb 2, 2001
- Posts
- 22,085
- Reaction score
- 6,171
- Location
- Valhalla
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- VFL Magpies
Scott Pendlebury (Gippsland Power)
190/81 bottom-age left foot "wing"/flanker
*STYLE LIKE: W Campbell
*MY RANKING (not meant to reflect appropriate draft pick to use): 36
*PROBABILITY OF AFL CAREER: Possible. Ready year 3.
- Within an AFL team list, could prove capable of SUSTAINING a ranking of 10-20.
*HURT FACTORS (Offensive/Defensive/Negative): M / M / L
*TRADEMARK:
- Somehow or other, effortlessly dance-step his way out of pending trouble as if the others were statues.
- Get/receive then show excellent vision and disposal skills to do a quick feed or chip to a runner to set up play.
*SUMMARY ASSESSMENT, RECOMMENDATION:
- Virtual footy newby wingman who picked up healthy stats all year and really made me sit up and take notice throughout a couple of games (especially Prelim Final) and at isolated times in almost every game. Nevertheless, "his type" always worries me re ability to adapt to AFL pressure.
Promising kid who knows how to find the footy and is improving virtually game by game. There are times when you can't help but admire the way he goes about his footy in various aspects. On these occasions, he gives 100% in terms of running from play to play and often working hard at/inside the play. There are other times though when he plays as a downhill skier.
Played footy as a very young kid but, due to concentrating on basketball (AIS basketball scholarship), had only played half a season of footy in 4 or 5 years prior to '05. Early in the season it sometimes showed, even though he was finding plenty of the pill but, as the season wore on he, was putting his hand up more and more as an AFL prospect.
What you are buying is
1. A play-creator. Vision, quick hands.
2. Link and run, especially from half-back
3. Very slippery evasion
4. Ability to find the ball
5. Good disposal over a short distance
6. Running work-rate and unselfishness.
7. 190cm (albeit skinny) versatility
8. All-round athleticism.
9. Upside
10. Attractive all-round range of other attributes.
At his best he is team-orientated and tries his heart out in a covering ground sense. Runs himself into the ground but still keeps pushing himself, mainly one way though.
- Given his newby status, it was a good effort to make the VC team in the U18 Champs and pick up 16 and 19 disposals in his 2 games. Furthermore, his TAC stats for a newby were very impressive. It's worth analysing his stats as they tell a lot about where he is now and what he has changed since mid-year:-
---------------------------
1. Averaged 23 disposals and, impressively, his quietest game was 17d. (He had 11d is R 5 but injured himself almost right on the ½ time siren and didn't reappear).He reads the play well, mainly from not forward of the centre line, and generally runs to the right spots but the underlying basis for that high possession rate is his running work rate. He uses every opportunity to run to present a linking option and often also to get to at least the edge of a contest, and he is often involving himself more intimately when at the contest now than earlier.
2. Averaged 4.8 tackles. Gippsland tackle stats are traditionally very generous but, even allowing for that, his tackle rate as observed in his games is now impressive, not just because of the number but especially due to the underlying cause of his tackle numbers. The real message from his tackle count is that it testifies to his current mentality of "accountability to any opponent in the nearby area or even further". The most meaningful stat re his tackles is that the tackle rate per game literally doubled in the 2nd half of the season. That is a good indication of his improvement in applying pressure and being less free-wheeling. He is still basically a freewheeler but now often doesn't let an opposition player get away with an unhurried disposal if there is the slightest opportunity for Pendlebury to pressure him. (At this stage he is actually not routinely a particularly good tackler though, mainly due to current lack of strength).
3. He maintained his possession rate right through the season. A fair few kids, especially those who play in the U18 Champs (and that involves trial games and other demands) and especially country kids, tend to wear out later in the season.
4. He had a very healthy balance of kicks to feeds. His average rate was 12 kicks per 20 disposals and he was around that mark in every game, including U18 Champs.
----------------------
He is definitely skilled and he is actually quite classy in terms of his traffic management and quick feeds from traffic.
I hate assessing his type and I always rank them conservatively. By "his type", I mean the type who (speaking generally):-
1. freewheel (perhaps around half-back / midfield), hanging back from traffic, devoid of much concept of accountability, intensity or urgency
2. don't routinely commit their body when an opponent comes from the opposite direction
3. try to delicately "pluck" the ball at a contest, instead of overtly displaying a passion to own it
4 spectate, or just saunter from one play to another and participate or observe depending how and when it suits them.
5. chase or not, depending on mood.
6. do a lot of "nothing" disposals, albeit accurate (eg 20m dinky chips under no pressure into the corridor)
Actually, no, I find it easy to assess guys who always play that way. I'm very hard on them and history suggests that even the very highly touted ones of that ilk have a disappointing AFL record in terms of living up to the U18 hype (eg S Power, Pettifer, Fiora represent the ones who have actually survived).
The ones who make it really hard for me are kids who usually display all/most of 1-6 (above) but break the pattern just often enough to make you wonder if generic labelling is appropriate in their case.
I especially hate otherwise apparently low-intensity kids who, every so often, fluke a special kick or goal or contested mark or steal or evasion or something that in isolation suggests "AFL". eg a lucky rushed blind feed under pressure out of traffic into space that flukily lands in the arms of an unsighted team mate. You notice how tinny some of those kids are because they fluke that type of thing surprisingly often. So it is with Pendlebury, as it is with Xavier Ellis. Another kid will rush a little kick out of traffic or do a huge blind handball to somewhere out of their line of vision and it will be end up in turnover city. Yet when Pendlebury and Ellis do that sort of blind disposal, by sheer fluke a team-mate usually just happens to be in the right area at the right time to run onto it and set up play downfield. When Pendlebury and Ellis do those sheer flukes maybe 10 times in a game, it is hard to ignore the possibility that they could fluke similar success rates at AFL level, even though you otherwise reckon they too often play too cheap and that their lack of urgency and intensity around the ground is exploitable at AFL level.
In the end, I struggled to come up with a satisfactory ranking for Pendlebury. as I did with Xavier Ellis. In most respects, I see Pendlebury as the home-brand Ellis.
Had he played "all game, every game" with the low level of intensity and ethic he often displayed this year, he probably wouldn't be in my rankings at all. On the other hand, had he played "most of the game, most games" with the impressive intensity he displayed on a smaller number of other occasions (eg during the Knights final), he would be in my top 15.
He gradually won me over and by season-end I was becoming a fan (or as much I can be of "his type"). He kept rising through my rankings and got to 20 just prior to the TAC GF because it seemed he was on the verge of becoming more routinely intense and with higher defensive work-rate. In that regard, his GF made me question that again so he slipped back (despite again being lucky enough on the day to get away with about 8 fluky things).
He is a newby who was getting his footy together as a total package better and better as he gained more experience. At the very least, he has indicated elite (AFL) quality of skill and vision on very many occasions this year.
Is the ethic he showed in the Prelim Final that which he is going to take into AFL, or is he basically a free-wheeler who lifted his intensity above normal capability that day?
I am still concerned about his accountability to his own opponent. Pendlebury gets a lot of possessions and sets up play but his direct opponent often does too.
His pace is quite good over distance but not over the first few metres.
He lacks strength, especially in tackling and in keeping his feet body on body.
His disposal efficiency is often excellent / elite over a short distance but can be a bit dodgy over a long distance, especially on the run.
Part of the problem in assessing Scott is trying to work out how far to extrapolate his impressive improvement trend curve and how much to discount my concerns re intensity for AFL.
In the end I ranked him at 36 but I acknowledge that is very conservative. One of my concerns is that, since Pendlebury's play creation is arguably his biggest asset, if he becomes more accountable, what effect will that have on the value of his best asset?
I suspect he will go about early 2nd round, maybe latish 1st round. I would definitely draft him with the right number. If the club strongly needed a player of his type, I would be prepared to pay early 2nd round but no earlier. That said, if he continues his improvement trend line, he could easily play 100+ games.
Here's how I described him in my mid-year summary:-
------------------------------
"Unaccountable wingman who gets a lot of the pill but mainly floating around half-back, mainly in space, and disposing well by hand and mainly with little centring chip kicks by foot. Reads the play well. Predator rather than First Dibs. When at traffic, routinely hangs around just outside the edge waiting for someone else to get the pill and get it out to him. Is adept at quick gives and chips when under even a bit of pressure. They are generally effective (sometimes very effective), including when he finds himself actually inside traffic. Lacks strength. Tackles don't stick quite enough. He is somewhat rag-dollish when tackled himself. Covers a fair bit of ground but mainly into space or to the edge of traffic and mainly between half-back (especially) and midfield. Pays his own opponent little/no respect. He might get a lot of ball in the back half but his opponents seem to get a lot of their own ball around wing because they let Pendlebury do his thing on the Gippsland backline and don't worry about him except when he ventures back towards midfield. Is a basketballer new to footy and plays that way (zoning off etc), although his hands and skills are quite good. Highly skilled and sharp so keep watching but he'll need to lift his hardness at man and ball a lot. Query".
--------------------------------
He is still largely unaccountable to his own opponent and he still plays somewhat loose man rather than as a genuine midfielder but his intensity in at least a couple of games has been quite good and his general improvement in smarts and even the small things has been good.
*DISPOSAL:
(see above)
- Disposal is routinely reliable over a short distance - hand or foot.
- The majority of his kicks tend to be short/shortish linking chips. The chips are usually accurate but quite a few don't have much hurt factor, little more than a handball. A good percentage though are very effective.
- His kicking over a short course is generally very accurate and occasionally very clever / creative.
When he goes for length, he gets nice depth, often with quite a good hurt factor. When on the run and kicking for length, accuracy is a mixed bag.
- Disposal by hand is accurate and often with good hurt factor, even under great pressure. Very quick. slick hands.
*DECISION-MAKING, SMARTS:
(see above)
- Usually seems very unphased. Either
1. you have it and he us going to try to strip you or give you a Buddhist's version of a hard time, or
2. he has it and is coolly arrogant as he does his basketball moves confident he will get away from you, or
3. he has it and you have him, in which case he will often calmly embrace surrender
4. the ball is in space, in which case he will run for it be probably coolly sit back and see what transpires.
- Generally good decision-making, although he has his moments of not so good. For someone who had hardly played footy for the previous 5 years, his smarts are quite impressive. Understandably, he does the odd non footy-smart thing (eg trying to do too much) but no real concern at this early stage and he will obviously improve even further as he gets more games under his belt.
- Very good evasion and traffic management. Has times when you can see he is going to get nailed but at the last moment he somehow slips the would-be tackle - the Teflon Kid (nothing seems to stick).
- Is too often easily wrong-footed. I'm not too concerned as, with experience, he'll pick up a better anticipation of what an opponent might try and how to be ready for it.
- Excellent vision. Creative. Good at setting up entries into the forward line.
- Awareness not great however. Sometimes gets run down from behind and/or stripped - too slow to dispose / poor awareness / trying to do too much / lack of desperation. (Most likely a combination but lack of desperation/urgency/willpower would be in there somewhere).
- Very good decision-making at and inside traffic. Thinks quickly, flicks out the quick feed or chip kick accurately and showing good vision. Very good at roving the spill, especially at the edge of traffic.
- In his typical role as a wing who plays mainly across half-back, he reads the play well and positions himself well. When he has spent time as a forward he has looked a bit lost.
*HANDS:
- Usually clean
*OVERHEAD MARKING:
- Averages an impressive 5.1 marks per game. The greater majority of his marks are uncontested marks linking up through space. Nevertheless he is competitive in 50/50 marking contests.
Does struggle to hold his ground on occasions and his hands are not routinely clean but overall he is fairly good overhead.
- I suspect he has a bit of a reach disadvantage.
*ATHLETICISM:
(see above)
- Pace is quite good once he has built up momentum after about 10m but acceleration off the mark and over the first 10 is not flash. Sometimes loses running form in a chase. Running technique could be improved - especially floppy, lateral arm action costs him drive and, like his brother before him, a tendency to overstride yet lean a bit too much also. He is one of those guys who appears to be quicker and with truer running technique when carrying the ball than when chasing. He should have some speed improvement in him through adding leg strength and refining his technique. Did 3.01sec for 20m at DC which puts in within the top 30 percentile for his height. I suspect that flattered him a little. .
- Very good agility. Very slippery in close (part physical agility, part mental agility)
- Very good endurance. And he now puts it to the test a fair bit game.
- I have a concern re his natural balance. He can be a bit "rag doll"ish at times
- Lacks strength. Struggles body-on-body at times, too many of his tackles don't quite stick, and he struggles at times to keep his feet when tackled. Is bottom-age and not super skinny but has narrow shoulders and I'm not convinced is likely to furnish into a particularly strong build.
*INTENSITY, ETHIC:
(see above)
- Excellent running ethic in a couple of his later games. Ran and ran and ran. Runs far and often. Most importantly, is starting to runs both ways more. Team ethic. Had many of the 1%ers covered in his later games. Glove spoils, blocks, etc
- Now sometimes takes it upon himself to be very accountable to any opponent within chasing distance and chases hard. Not a routine event though.
- Now gets the hard ball as well at the spill or link-in-space / outside-traffic ball.
- When cornered, he is more slippery eel than caged tiger.
*CONSISTENCY:
- Highly consistent, as evidenced by his stats (see above). Even during the first part when I was not that impressed AFL-wise, he never played a genuinely quiet game.
*AFL VERSATILITY:
- He seems to read the play much better from the back half than when he has been tried in the forward line and doesn't appear to be a natural forward, at least at this early stage.
- Is good inside traffic but not physically strong so wing would suit ideally. HBF suits his ability to create run or set up play into the forward 50 but he needs to be accountable.
- A very quick opponent bothers him.
*CSI (COMPARATIVE SCOPE for IMPROVEMENT):
- High, given his lacks of footy for almost 5 years prior to '05.
*QUERY:
- Accountability
- Physical intensity
- Urgency
- Awareness
*SOME STATS:
- Stats summary '05 TAC:
Averaged 23 disposals in 19 TAC games (ranking No.27 in comp). 5.1 marks (ranking No.29 in comp). 4.8 tackles (ranking No.18 in comp). Total goals 11-11. 12 kicks per 20 disposals. 5 marks per 20 possessions.
- Mid-way trend .. % change in disposals was + 1%. % change in marks was -15%. % change in tackles was + 93%.
At least 20 disposals in 14 games. At least 30 on 2 games.
- Stats summary '05 U18 Champs:
Averaged 18 disposals and 2.5 marks in his 2 games. (Best TD 19).
Kicks per 20 disp: 11.
Kicks long vs short: 5-9 (4 long per 10 kicks).
Ineffective kicks: 5/20 (2.5 per 10 kicks), incl 0 clangers (0.0 per 10 kicks).
Ineffective handballs: 4/15 (2.7 per 10 handballs), incl 1 clangers (0.7 per 10 handballs).
Ineffective disposals: 9/35 (5.1 per 20 disp), incl 1 clangers (0.6 per 20 disp).
HandBall Receives: 13/35 (7 per 20 disp).
Hardball gets: 5/35 (3 per 20 disp).
S.P. clearances: 4/35 (2 per 20 disp), incl 3 BU (2 per 20 disp), incl 0 CBC (0 per 20 disp).
Tackles: 4 (Avg 2.0 per game).
Marks: 5 (3 per 20 disp), incl 0 contested (0.0 per 10 marks).
*OTHER STUFF:
- Prior to '05, was elite underage AIS basketballer - Aust U19 rep as 15yo. Only played 1/2 season of footy in 5 years prior to '05.
190/81 bottom-age left foot "wing"/flanker
*STYLE LIKE: W Campbell
*MY RANKING (not meant to reflect appropriate draft pick to use): 36
*PROBABILITY OF AFL CAREER: Possible. Ready year 3.
- Within an AFL team list, could prove capable of SUSTAINING a ranking of 10-20.
*HURT FACTORS (Offensive/Defensive/Negative): M / M / L
*TRADEMARK:
- Somehow or other, effortlessly dance-step his way out of pending trouble as if the others were statues.
- Get/receive then show excellent vision and disposal skills to do a quick feed or chip to a runner to set up play.
*SUMMARY ASSESSMENT, RECOMMENDATION:
- Virtual footy newby wingman who picked up healthy stats all year and really made me sit up and take notice throughout a couple of games (especially Prelim Final) and at isolated times in almost every game. Nevertheless, "his type" always worries me re ability to adapt to AFL pressure.
Promising kid who knows how to find the footy and is improving virtually game by game. There are times when you can't help but admire the way he goes about his footy in various aspects. On these occasions, he gives 100% in terms of running from play to play and often working hard at/inside the play. There are other times though when he plays as a downhill skier.
Played footy as a very young kid but, due to concentrating on basketball (AIS basketball scholarship), had only played half a season of footy in 4 or 5 years prior to '05. Early in the season it sometimes showed, even though he was finding plenty of the pill but, as the season wore on he, was putting his hand up more and more as an AFL prospect.
What you are buying is
1. A play-creator. Vision, quick hands.
2. Link and run, especially from half-back
3. Very slippery evasion
4. Ability to find the ball
5. Good disposal over a short distance
6. Running work-rate and unselfishness.
7. 190cm (albeit skinny) versatility
8. All-round athleticism.
9. Upside
10. Attractive all-round range of other attributes.
At his best he is team-orientated and tries his heart out in a covering ground sense. Runs himself into the ground but still keeps pushing himself, mainly one way though.
- Given his newby status, it was a good effort to make the VC team in the U18 Champs and pick up 16 and 19 disposals in his 2 games. Furthermore, his TAC stats for a newby were very impressive. It's worth analysing his stats as they tell a lot about where he is now and what he has changed since mid-year:-
---------------------------
1. Averaged 23 disposals and, impressively, his quietest game was 17d. (He had 11d is R 5 but injured himself almost right on the ½ time siren and didn't reappear).He reads the play well, mainly from not forward of the centre line, and generally runs to the right spots but the underlying basis for that high possession rate is his running work rate. He uses every opportunity to run to present a linking option and often also to get to at least the edge of a contest, and he is often involving himself more intimately when at the contest now than earlier.
2. Averaged 4.8 tackles. Gippsland tackle stats are traditionally very generous but, even allowing for that, his tackle rate as observed in his games is now impressive, not just because of the number but especially due to the underlying cause of his tackle numbers. The real message from his tackle count is that it testifies to his current mentality of "accountability to any opponent in the nearby area or even further". The most meaningful stat re his tackles is that the tackle rate per game literally doubled in the 2nd half of the season. That is a good indication of his improvement in applying pressure and being less free-wheeling. He is still basically a freewheeler but now often doesn't let an opposition player get away with an unhurried disposal if there is the slightest opportunity for Pendlebury to pressure him. (At this stage he is actually not routinely a particularly good tackler though, mainly due to current lack of strength).
3. He maintained his possession rate right through the season. A fair few kids, especially those who play in the U18 Champs (and that involves trial games and other demands) and especially country kids, tend to wear out later in the season.
4. He had a very healthy balance of kicks to feeds. His average rate was 12 kicks per 20 disposals and he was around that mark in every game, including U18 Champs.
----------------------
He is definitely skilled and he is actually quite classy in terms of his traffic management and quick feeds from traffic.
I hate assessing his type and I always rank them conservatively. By "his type", I mean the type who (speaking generally):-
1. freewheel (perhaps around half-back / midfield), hanging back from traffic, devoid of much concept of accountability, intensity or urgency
2. don't routinely commit their body when an opponent comes from the opposite direction
3. try to delicately "pluck" the ball at a contest, instead of overtly displaying a passion to own it
4 spectate, or just saunter from one play to another and participate or observe depending how and when it suits them.
5. chase or not, depending on mood.
6. do a lot of "nothing" disposals, albeit accurate (eg 20m dinky chips under no pressure into the corridor)
Actually, no, I find it easy to assess guys who always play that way. I'm very hard on them and history suggests that even the very highly touted ones of that ilk have a disappointing AFL record in terms of living up to the U18 hype (eg S Power, Pettifer, Fiora represent the ones who have actually survived).
The ones who make it really hard for me are kids who usually display all/most of 1-6 (above) but break the pattern just often enough to make you wonder if generic labelling is appropriate in their case.
I especially hate otherwise apparently low-intensity kids who, every so often, fluke a special kick or goal or contested mark or steal or evasion or something that in isolation suggests "AFL". eg a lucky rushed blind feed under pressure out of traffic into space that flukily lands in the arms of an unsighted team mate. You notice how tinny some of those kids are because they fluke that type of thing surprisingly often. So it is with Pendlebury, as it is with Xavier Ellis. Another kid will rush a little kick out of traffic or do a huge blind handball to somewhere out of their line of vision and it will be end up in turnover city. Yet when Pendlebury and Ellis do that sort of blind disposal, by sheer fluke a team-mate usually just happens to be in the right area at the right time to run onto it and set up play downfield. When Pendlebury and Ellis do those sheer flukes maybe 10 times in a game, it is hard to ignore the possibility that they could fluke similar success rates at AFL level, even though you otherwise reckon they too often play too cheap and that their lack of urgency and intensity around the ground is exploitable at AFL level.
In the end, I struggled to come up with a satisfactory ranking for Pendlebury. as I did with Xavier Ellis. In most respects, I see Pendlebury as the home-brand Ellis.
Had he played "all game, every game" with the low level of intensity and ethic he often displayed this year, he probably wouldn't be in my rankings at all. On the other hand, had he played "most of the game, most games" with the impressive intensity he displayed on a smaller number of other occasions (eg during the Knights final), he would be in my top 15.
He gradually won me over and by season-end I was becoming a fan (or as much I can be of "his type"). He kept rising through my rankings and got to 20 just prior to the TAC GF because it seemed he was on the verge of becoming more routinely intense and with higher defensive work-rate. In that regard, his GF made me question that again so he slipped back (despite again being lucky enough on the day to get away with about 8 fluky things).
He is a newby who was getting his footy together as a total package better and better as he gained more experience. At the very least, he has indicated elite (AFL) quality of skill and vision on very many occasions this year.
Is the ethic he showed in the Prelim Final that which he is going to take into AFL, or is he basically a free-wheeler who lifted his intensity above normal capability that day?
I am still concerned about his accountability to his own opponent. Pendlebury gets a lot of possessions and sets up play but his direct opponent often does too.
His pace is quite good over distance but not over the first few metres.
He lacks strength, especially in tackling and in keeping his feet body on body.
His disposal efficiency is often excellent / elite over a short distance but can be a bit dodgy over a long distance, especially on the run.
Part of the problem in assessing Scott is trying to work out how far to extrapolate his impressive improvement trend curve and how much to discount my concerns re intensity for AFL.
In the end I ranked him at 36 but I acknowledge that is very conservative. One of my concerns is that, since Pendlebury's play creation is arguably his biggest asset, if he becomes more accountable, what effect will that have on the value of his best asset?
I suspect he will go about early 2nd round, maybe latish 1st round. I would definitely draft him with the right number. If the club strongly needed a player of his type, I would be prepared to pay early 2nd round but no earlier. That said, if he continues his improvement trend line, he could easily play 100+ games.
Here's how I described him in my mid-year summary:-
------------------------------
"Unaccountable wingman who gets a lot of the pill but mainly floating around half-back, mainly in space, and disposing well by hand and mainly with little centring chip kicks by foot. Reads the play well. Predator rather than First Dibs. When at traffic, routinely hangs around just outside the edge waiting for someone else to get the pill and get it out to him. Is adept at quick gives and chips when under even a bit of pressure. They are generally effective (sometimes very effective), including when he finds himself actually inside traffic. Lacks strength. Tackles don't stick quite enough. He is somewhat rag-dollish when tackled himself. Covers a fair bit of ground but mainly into space or to the edge of traffic and mainly between half-back (especially) and midfield. Pays his own opponent little/no respect. He might get a lot of ball in the back half but his opponents seem to get a lot of their own ball around wing because they let Pendlebury do his thing on the Gippsland backline and don't worry about him except when he ventures back towards midfield. Is a basketballer new to footy and plays that way (zoning off etc), although his hands and skills are quite good. Highly skilled and sharp so keep watching but he'll need to lift his hardness at man and ball a lot. Query".
--------------------------------
He is still largely unaccountable to his own opponent and he still plays somewhat loose man rather than as a genuine midfielder but his intensity in at least a couple of games has been quite good and his general improvement in smarts and even the small things has been good.
*DISPOSAL:
(see above)
- Disposal is routinely reliable over a short distance - hand or foot.
- The majority of his kicks tend to be short/shortish linking chips. The chips are usually accurate but quite a few don't have much hurt factor, little more than a handball. A good percentage though are very effective.
- His kicking over a short course is generally very accurate and occasionally very clever / creative.
When he goes for length, he gets nice depth, often with quite a good hurt factor. When on the run and kicking for length, accuracy is a mixed bag.
- Disposal by hand is accurate and often with good hurt factor, even under great pressure. Very quick. slick hands.
*DECISION-MAKING, SMARTS:
(see above)
- Usually seems very unphased. Either
1. you have it and he us going to try to strip you or give you a Buddhist's version of a hard time, or
2. he has it and is coolly arrogant as he does his basketball moves confident he will get away from you, or
3. he has it and you have him, in which case he will often calmly embrace surrender
4. the ball is in space, in which case he will run for it be probably coolly sit back and see what transpires.
- Generally good decision-making, although he has his moments of not so good. For someone who had hardly played footy for the previous 5 years, his smarts are quite impressive. Understandably, he does the odd non footy-smart thing (eg trying to do too much) but no real concern at this early stage and he will obviously improve even further as he gets more games under his belt.
- Very good evasion and traffic management. Has times when you can see he is going to get nailed but at the last moment he somehow slips the would-be tackle - the Teflon Kid (nothing seems to stick).
- Is too often easily wrong-footed. I'm not too concerned as, with experience, he'll pick up a better anticipation of what an opponent might try and how to be ready for it.
- Excellent vision. Creative. Good at setting up entries into the forward line.
- Awareness not great however. Sometimes gets run down from behind and/or stripped - too slow to dispose / poor awareness / trying to do too much / lack of desperation. (Most likely a combination but lack of desperation/urgency/willpower would be in there somewhere).
- Very good decision-making at and inside traffic. Thinks quickly, flicks out the quick feed or chip kick accurately and showing good vision. Very good at roving the spill, especially at the edge of traffic.
- In his typical role as a wing who plays mainly across half-back, he reads the play well and positions himself well. When he has spent time as a forward he has looked a bit lost.
*HANDS:
- Usually clean
*OVERHEAD MARKING:
- Averages an impressive 5.1 marks per game. The greater majority of his marks are uncontested marks linking up through space. Nevertheless he is competitive in 50/50 marking contests.
Does struggle to hold his ground on occasions and his hands are not routinely clean but overall he is fairly good overhead.
- I suspect he has a bit of a reach disadvantage.
*ATHLETICISM:
(see above)
- Pace is quite good once he has built up momentum after about 10m but acceleration off the mark and over the first 10 is not flash. Sometimes loses running form in a chase. Running technique could be improved - especially floppy, lateral arm action costs him drive and, like his brother before him, a tendency to overstride yet lean a bit too much also. He is one of those guys who appears to be quicker and with truer running technique when carrying the ball than when chasing. He should have some speed improvement in him through adding leg strength and refining his technique. Did 3.01sec for 20m at DC which puts in within the top 30 percentile for his height. I suspect that flattered him a little. .
- Very good agility. Very slippery in close (part physical agility, part mental agility)
- Very good endurance. And he now puts it to the test a fair bit game.
- I have a concern re his natural balance. He can be a bit "rag doll"ish at times
- Lacks strength. Struggles body-on-body at times, too many of his tackles don't quite stick, and he struggles at times to keep his feet when tackled. Is bottom-age and not super skinny but has narrow shoulders and I'm not convinced is likely to furnish into a particularly strong build.
*INTENSITY, ETHIC:
(see above)
- Excellent running ethic in a couple of his later games. Ran and ran and ran. Runs far and often. Most importantly, is starting to runs both ways more. Team ethic. Had many of the 1%ers covered in his later games. Glove spoils, blocks, etc
- Now sometimes takes it upon himself to be very accountable to any opponent within chasing distance and chases hard. Not a routine event though.
- Now gets the hard ball as well at the spill or link-in-space / outside-traffic ball.
- When cornered, he is more slippery eel than caged tiger.
*CONSISTENCY:
- Highly consistent, as evidenced by his stats (see above). Even during the first part when I was not that impressed AFL-wise, he never played a genuinely quiet game.
*AFL VERSATILITY:
- He seems to read the play much better from the back half than when he has been tried in the forward line and doesn't appear to be a natural forward, at least at this early stage.
- Is good inside traffic but not physically strong so wing would suit ideally. HBF suits his ability to create run or set up play into the forward 50 but he needs to be accountable.
- A very quick opponent bothers him.
*CSI (COMPARATIVE SCOPE for IMPROVEMENT):
- High, given his lacks of footy for almost 5 years prior to '05.
*QUERY:
- Accountability
- Physical intensity
- Urgency
- Awareness
*SOME STATS:
- Stats summary '05 TAC:
Averaged 23 disposals in 19 TAC games (ranking No.27 in comp). 5.1 marks (ranking No.29 in comp). 4.8 tackles (ranking No.18 in comp). Total goals 11-11. 12 kicks per 20 disposals. 5 marks per 20 possessions.
- Mid-way trend .. % change in disposals was + 1%. % change in marks was -15%. % change in tackles was + 93%.
At least 20 disposals in 14 games. At least 30 on 2 games.
- Stats summary '05 U18 Champs:
Averaged 18 disposals and 2.5 marks in his 2 games. (Best TD 19).
Kicks per 20 disp: 11.
Kicks long vs short: 5-9 (4 long per 10 kicks).
Ineffective kicks: 5/20 (2.5 per 10 kicks), incl 0 clangers (0.0 per 10 kicks).
Ineffective handballs: 4/15 (2.7 per 10 handballs), incl 1 clangers (0.7 per 10 handballs).
Ineffective disposals: 9/35 (5.1 per 20 disp), incl 1 clangers (0.6 per 20 disp).
HandBall Receives: 13/35 (7 per 20 disp).
Hardball gets: 5/35 (3 per 20 disp).
S.P. clearances: 4/35 (2 per 20 disp), incl 3 BU (2 per 20 disp), incl 0 CBC (0 per 20 disp).
Tackles: 4 (Avg 2.0 per game).
Marks: 5 (3 per 20 disp), incl 0 contested (0.0 per 10 marks).
*OTHER STUFF:
- Prior to '05, was elite underage AIS basketballer - Aust U19 rep as 15yo. Only played 1/2 season of footy in 5 years prior to '05.
