AFL Player # 3: Darcy Parish

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Clearance is just another stat that never existed before these boffins got involved who don't watch football but read stats and numbers like binary computer algorithms.

Back in my day, we used to rate players games by eye, not numbers and %s and we used to walk 6 miles to school, barefoot, up hill.

My pressure index was elite and I never even knew
 
Parish is a good player, he's not a great player.

He does some things really well (stoppage craft, find the footy, ground level gathering, fast hands in close), and some not so well (always looks to get rid of the ball before drawing contact, quality of ball use even while in space is too sporadic, contest overhead and defensive game).

It's fair enough to re-sign him, but not at any cost, and we should also keep an eye on what level of interest there is in him elsewhere and what that might mean we could get in return for him as well.

It sounds like we'll just re-sign him if he wants to stay anyway so as always this chat counts for, precisely, nothing.
 
Still simplistic;

Parish is good at winning clearances in certain ways, which relates to contested possessions.






I would say that if you compare a Parish to a Jobe Watson; Parish is elite at winning contested possession from things like looseball-gets and gathers from a hit-out. Jobe was elite at hardball-gets.

Due to Parish's skillset, and role, he's able to win a lot of contested possessions and clearances by doing what he's good at - running offensively from stoppages and reading the ball quickly. He's also not a player who is a strong defensive runner.

The problem is, pretty much every other midfielder we have is also good at the looseball-gets and gathers from a hit-out method of winning clearances and contested possessions, but not hardball-gets.

For the sake of list balance, Parish is the one that would net an extremely high trade return, and opens up a hole for a player like Hobbs who is a hardball-get type winner, that also has a better balance of defensive running.

Undoubtedly Parish is a good midfielder, and you don't let them go lightly, but if you're trying to revamp the midfield to be one that will win the ball in big moments in hotly contested games, Parish is the piece with the most trade value that opens up a hole for other players on the list to potentially fill.

No one is arguing that whoever we draft in 2023 is the Parish replacement, they're arguing that a combination of Hobbs, Caldwell, Perkins & Tsatas can replace Parish's midfield minutes and provide a different balance to our midfield.
Well done. As succinctly as it can be said.
 

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You caricature the arguments like everyone else does.

The only reason one could be critical of Parish is stupidity or irrational hatred.

Go and watch what he does with the clearances. And make sure you do it with the commentary off.
Ha, awesome - the self awareness to say that first line when you're throwing around a misshapen strawman argument that as best I can make out seems to be that I don't watch footy closely enough, presumably unlike you (lol), and my footy world view is wholly formed by listening to commentators like some kind of drooling halfwit
 
Truth is we don’t know when we’re going to be challenging. It could be in 2 years or it could be 7. If we’re ahead of schedule and getting into prelims in 2 years then it would be a shame to say “gee I wish we still had Parish”.

Someone on here said recently that modern AFL is about having a volume of good players that complement each other, virtually a “more the merrier” situation, particularly in the midfield.

I’d not be trading him unless he really wants to go. It’s moot if he wants to stay.

Get the deal done Dodo.
 
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I've thought about it a lot and to be honest whilst there is a chance we could come out ahead if he were to leave and perhaps our midfield balance might be a bit better, I always ultimately think he's a great player and we are better off keeping him. Him and Merrett are a great one-two punch and give us something solid to put around the youngsters. I think we have some nice young midfielders on the rise but like all young players they will have their ups and downs. Having just Merrett there leaves us vulnerable when he's tagged out of it.

Yes - not at any cost but nobody is really suggesting that anyway.
 
I've thought about it a lot and to be honest whilst there is a chance we could come out ahead if he were to leave and perhaps our midfield balance might be a bit better, I always ultimately think he's a great player and we are better off keeping him. Him and Merrett are a great one-two punch and give us something solid to put around the youngsters. I think we have some nice young midfielders on the rise but like all young players they will have their ups and downs. Having just Merrett there leaves us vulnerable when he's tagged out of it.

Yes - not at any cost but nobody is really suggesting that anyway.
I was all for "balancing the list" with him going. After the explosion of depth we find ourselves with, Im keen to see what dynamic he has with a number of different combinations we could play alongside DP3

Draper - Parish - Shiel - Stringer
Draper - Parish - Merrett - Caldwell
Draper - Parish - Hobbs - Martin
Draper - Parish - Caldwell - Stringer

Depth is huge now
 

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I was all for "balancing the list" with him going. After the explosion of depth we find ourselves with, Im keen to see what dynamic he has with a number of different combinations we could play alongside DP3

Draper - Parish - Shiel - Stringer
Draper - Parish - Merrett - Caldwell
Draper - Parish - Hobbs - Martin
Draper - Parish - Caldwell - Stringer

Depth is huge now
These lists look a bit similar if you remove Stringer. Our VFL side currently has only 1 midfielder running around in it (who will soon be in the AFL). I would be happy to keep adding to the midfield this draft.
 
You can't rely on kids to hold you steady for the next few/four years - they're going to make mistakes as part of the learning curve and will tire. Imagine you've got a chance at a top four berth and Merrett goes down, suddenly you're starting to run thin not only in skill and match/season endurance but also in leadership, and you'd be asking a lot of the younger ones to hold the walls up.

It's funny how people made the case for Heppell by bringing up experience/leadership and how having that around the younger ones made them better but when it comes to Parish, someone who can actually perform consistently in a heated position, it's out the window.

How many young mids have we had in the past who've shown bits and pieces of talent but amounted to nothing. There's always that risk that a couple we think are going to be AA-level players end up being busts, especially if they're not lead effectively. Whereas Parish has proven he has what it takes and still has a high ceiling with his best years ahead of him.

Keep.
 
Turns for the bye

#1 in the AFL for clearances per game
=#1 in the AFL for centre clearances per game
#2 for disposals per game
#3 for contested posessions per game
#16 for ground ball gets per game

Has missed the last 4 games and he's still had more clearances and contested posessions than anyone else at the club
 
I know people love to focus on his defensive weaknesses but I think the next step for him as footballer is to take more care with his disposal.

Skills wise I think he’s decent and he has good spacial awareness unlike McGrath who panic kicks. That being said too often he just goes for territory when he has time and space to make a better decision. It almost looked premeditated at times just collects the footy, rolls on and kicks to no one.

If he fixes that up I think he’s every bit as good as a fit Lachie Neale.
 
I know people love to focus on his defensive weaknesses but I think the next step for him as footballer is to take more care with his disposal.

Skills wise I think he’s decent and he has good spacial awareness unlike McGrath who panic kicks. That being said too often he just goes for territory when he has time and space to make a better decision. It almost looked premeditated at times just collects the footy, rolls on and kicks to no one.

If he fixes that up I think he’s every bit as good as a fit Lachie Neale.

How many footballers actually change or fix things up after age 25? Reckon you know what you are and who you are by then. Sample size is complete, have made the grade, bonafide AFL player. Why change?
 
How many footballers actually change or fix things up after age 25? Reckon you know what you are and who you are by then. Sample size is complete, have made the grade, bonafide AFL player. Why change?

I think it’s very possible. Jobe Watson went from refusing to kick to being rated the best in the league by Champion Data.

I also think taking more care of the ball is something that regularly improves throughout a players career.

Darcy is known as high character, high work ethic guy I’d be shocked if he isn’t working with coaches regularly on his perceived weaknesses.
 
How many footballers actually change or fix things up after age 25? Reckon you know what you are and who you are by then. Sample size is complete, have made the grade, bonafide AFL player. Why change?
feel like for the first couple of years at our club dylan shiel's disposal was average at best but imo when he's fit and playing properly his disposal has skyrocketed which has reflected his overall improving over previous seasons.
 
feel like for the first couple of years at our club dylan shiel's disposal was average at best but imo when he's fit and playing properly his disposal has skyrocketed which has reflected his overall improving over previous seasons.

Shiels disposal has always been generally pretty good. He just is prone to absolute howlers.
 

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AFL Player # 3: Darcy Parish

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