Player Watch #22: Taylor Goad - #20 in '23 ND - the Unicorn

[ferball]

They were always genuinely baffling and mostly from people who have nfi

The bloke absolutely dominated VFL level
The good judges knew that it was only a matter of time and patience before X was a good AFL player

He had 32 contested possessions in a VFL game at one point.

 

[muttley45]

He should have a chat with the DeKoning brother's, one in particular, not sure which, rapidly developed from skinny beanpole into AFL ready condition.

 

[Hojuman]

He should have a chat with the DeKoning brother's, one in particular, not sure which, rapidly developed from skinny beanpole into AFL ready condition.

Didn't Corey whack on an amazing amount of weight in a very short period ?
Remember an interview / article about salad rolls being snacks, whole roast chickens, banana smoothies......

 

[Sphynx]

He should have a chat with the DeKoning brother's, one in particular, not sure which, rapidly developed from skinny beanpole into AFL ready condition.

Which one?

There's 11 DeKoning kids.

I think Terry had 7 or 8 boys.

 

[Event Horizon]

Speaking of Xerri, he has played zero games in his first two seasons as well, despite being arguably more physically ready for senior footy. Nothing wrong with the ruckman taking time to develop.

 

[Epictetus]

Im all for taking time. No dramas.

But he's averaging like .7 touches a game. You can get 5 by accident the play footy is played these days.
Really weird.

 

[davefromjerra]

He’s managed to take two marks for the entire season.

 

[the big lebowski]

Im all for taking time. No dramas.

But he's averaging like .7 touches a game. You can get 5 by accident the play footy is played these days.
Really weird.

Again, he’s being taught how to play football

Basketball background, new to football, playing at a speed and intensity hes ill equipped for at this stage, and likely the next 2-3 years

 

[Epictetus]

Again, he’s being taught how to play football

Basketball background, new to football, playing at a speed and intensity hes ill equipped for at this stage, and likely the next 2-3 years

Again, this may be right.

But with a pick in the 20s, which we have ****ed up again and again and again and as the worst performed team for decades, I think there are some reasonable grounds to ask whether we are in a position to take a risk like that.

We need every player picked in the first two rounds to make it, because we've failed so dismally with players outside of that range and from other clubs. And I mean every player.

Please don't mistake the above for a misunderstanding of improvement curves and developmental steps.

 

[the big lebowski]

Again, this may be right.

But with a pick in the 20s, which we have ****ed up again and again and again and as the worst performed team for decades, I think there are some reasonable grounds to ask whether we are in a position to take a risk like that.

We need every player picked in the first two rounds to make it, because we've failed so dismally with players outside of that range and from other clubs. And I mean every player.

Please don't mistake the above for a misunderstanding of improvement curves and developmental steps.

I think you are correct re draft failures from the 2010-2015 periods, which is why we are in the position we are now.

That age should be our core driving us to wins.

But the lack of success with picks from 2017 onwards, despite some misses which every club has, is fake news.

Nick Larkey - All Aust
Tristan Xerri playing like an All Aust
Cam Zuhaar

For picks in the 70’ or later

Comben in the 30’s

Curtis in the 30’s

Kal Dawson mid season draft

Then factor in turning an out the door JHF into wardlaw

The crows were set to swoop on goad at the next pick so it was then or never

 

[My Left Foote]

On The Couch talked about Sydney keeping Amartey tucked away developing in the 2’s for years, gradually ramping up his number of AFL games each year off a base of only 1 game in each of his first couple.

“That’s what the good clubs do” they added.

“Struggling clubs tend to throw them to the wolves too soon and their confidence is shot by 21 when they’re spat out of the system”.

Patience is well and truly required here.

We are the experts at doing this Miller Bergman and Will Dawson are two very recent examples.

 

[The acurate one]

Good Goad as we darn well say, is he a bust already
Of course good clubs let players develop and crucially manage to keep them happy to stay.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Again, this may be right.

But with a pick in the 20s, which we have ****ed up again and again and again and as the worst performed team for decades, I think there are some reasonable grounds to ask whether we are in a position to take a risk like that.

We need every player picked in the first two rounds to make it, because we've failed so dismally with players outside of that range and from other clubs. And I mean every player.

Please don't mistake the above for a misunderstanding of improvement curves and developmental steps.

We won't really know for 3-5 years. I'm pretty comfortable with the pick given the work they've done with Tristan.
I didn't see it with big X. I just thought he'd be the 2nd/3rd string ruck on our list but he's improved out of sight.

Logan Morris is the only one so far and I'm sure out F2 was on the table for him. He does look good but he's only 191cm and more the 3rd tall and playing in a strong Lions forward line.
Archer Reid and Mitch Edwards I haven't seen much of so it's hard to tell right now.
Collard and Moir perhaps other options taken inside 35 but nobody really jumps out at this point.

 

[BlueandWhiteinmyBlood]

Say what you want about our development in recent years but for whatever reason we’ve always been able to develop great ruckman.

 

[Sillygit]

the level of Veruca Salt in some threads is at worrying levels

 

[apollo_creed]

And lets be honest pick 20s are probably 50/50 propositions as to whether they play 100 AFL games. No problem with this pick even if it doesnt work out as we needed a young ruckman. He definitely has upside but it also might not eventuate/develop to an AFL level.

 

[Roostorm]

Say what you want about our development in recent years but for whatever reason we’ve always been able to develop great ruckman.

And for this point lm happy to play the long game….hes got all the tools…just needs the time to cook…
Patience is the key..

 

[Devil Fish]

How’s Goady progressing?

 

[Heaps of fun]

How’s Goady progressing?

Very slowly, which I'm sure is music to the ears of a miserable campaigner like you.

 

[r_boy]

I mean I'm not saying anything after Xerri lol.

Give him 5 years to develop and focus on building his life in Melbourne and getting in to good habits, learning etc this year.

 

[Fart Cummings]

I dont mind the 3-4 year development, just seems like a strange 1st round pick at this stage! reckon he will be a handy player but yeah its going to be a slooowww burn.

 

[scottywiper]

Lowest per game possession stats of any player with over 10 games in VFL this year .

 

[shinboner magic]

Still growing into his body

Has probably been playing against 70kg ruckmen before this season.
Come back at the start of 2026 before we can expect any decent output

 

[WesternRoo]

Still growing into his body

Has probably been playing against 70kg ruckmen before this season.
Come back at the start of 2026 before we can expect any decent output

We were saying the same things with Edwards. He needs to show something.

 

[shinboner magic]

We were saying the same things with Edwards. He needs to show something.

Edwards was more developed than goad