AFL Player #24: Nick Bryan - Had more fantasy points than any other ruckman vs Geelong

[Lore]

Contract Status: Out of contract 2025
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 16, ant555

 

[Lore]

No, can you pls post link?

The start is pretty meh. The end she absolutely roasts GC

 

[Maddogm]

was Cochrane the guy that someone responded to with "Grand Finals isn't something he needs to concern himself with"

 

[TheGrizz]

Understand your point of view but I think the difference here is that Cochrane is a d***.

I actually like Cochrane. I think Gold Coast need a bit of beligerence after the last 10 years, and as a President he does his job very well - advocates for his club as hard as he can.

He is basically their Eddie Maguire without the racist and sexist comments.

Gold Coast has been a pariah within the AFL media, been pillaged by other clubs for their talent and neglected by the AFL as they were GWS' less important-cousin since their inception.
About time someone at that club showed some backbone and got vocal

 

[naraku]

Really looking forward to seeing how Nick develops.
Could be with Draper what Madden and Salmon became for us in the late 80's.

 

[Hak94]

Would a solution to being able to play Draper + Bryan and Wright in the same side be to possibly longterm look at trialling Draper as a fulltime forward? Obviously once Hooker hangs up the boots but Draper is big and can take a mark. Bryan looks more durable and like a genuine ruck, whereas Draper appears more mobile. May get some hate for this but I'd be interested in seeing what that'd look like.

 

[eth-dog]

Would a solution to being able to play Draper + Bryan and Wright in the same side be to possibly longterm look at trialling Draper as a fulltime forward? Obviously once Hooker hangs up the boots but Draper is big and can take a mark. Bryan looks more durable and like a genuine ruck, whereas Draper appears more mobile. May get some hate for this but I'd be interested in seeing what that'd look like.

Draper's limited minutes as a forward makes him look a very good ruckman. Draper and Bryan would actually look a lot like the Martin and English combination currently at the Dogs IMO.

 

[Hak94]

Draper's limited minutes as a forward makes him look a very good ruckman. Draper and Bryan would actually look a lot like the Martin and English combination currently at the Dogs IMO.

Where does that leave playing Wright though longterm? We didn't just recruit him for nothing. Would our forward line look to tall with Draper & Bryan rotating through the ruck and resting forward + with Jones up there already around our smalls. I know some teams play three talls i.e WC with Allen, Kennedy and Darling (Kennedy maybe has a year or two left though) but, how do we fit all three in. I think we've seen that Wright is important to us, he can take marks at crucial periods of the game, can pinch hit in the ruck and is capable of kicking 1-2 goals a game that are very handy. Obviously we'd love those numbers to be higher though.

Sure, Draper currently has limited forward minutes but I'd be game to give him an extended run playing solely up forward to see how he goes. Especially if we want to give Bryan more game time (which, I hope happens again this year).

 

[eth-dog]

Where does that leave playing Wright though longterm? We didn't just recruit him for nothing. Would our forward line look to tall with Draper & Bryan rotating through the ruck and resting forward + with Jones up there already around our smalls. I know some teams play three talks i.e WC with Allen, Kennedy and Darling (Kennedy maybe has a year or two left though) but, how do we fit all three in.

Sure, Draper currently has limited forward minutes but I'd be game to give him an extended run playing solely up forward to see how he goes. Especially if we want to give Bryan more game time (which, I hope happens again this year).

He spent a fair amount of time forward in his first year here and he looked a very good ruckman as a forward.

Wright is capable of playing just as a forward. He's a better forward than he is a ruck. Jones and Wright as your pillars with Bryan and Draper rotating through is pretty similar to what the Dogs do with Naughton, Bruce and 2 of English/Sweet/Martin. They're going okay.

 

[ant555]

Nah just a massive arrogant flog and don’t want dickheads like that near the club. Reminds me a bit of that guy who was in charge of Bears when they merged with Fitzroy.

Whatever. Coming from a bloke who has never met or dealt with the guy.

 

[ant555]

The start is pretty meh. The end she absolutely roasts GC

Caro going off half cocked anyway. I heard the full grab. Cochran simply said the Victorian Government was likely to **** up hotel quarantine again so the GF may not be at the MCG.

 

[Hak94]

He spent a fair amount of time forward in his first year here and he looked a very good ruckman as a forward.

Wright is capable of playing just as a forward. He's a better forward than he is a ruck. Jones and Wright as your pillars with Bryan and Draper rotating through is pretty similar to what the Dogs do with Naughton, Bruce and 2 of English/Sweet/Martin. They're going okay.

Interesting! Well I can't wait to see it unfold, I'm just keen to see more of Bryan after Anzac Days performance and hopefully that doesn't mean Draper or Wright miss out on selection as a result. Hopefully he plays again soon.

With Draper coming back from injury anyway, I wouldn't mind just putting him ice until he is absolutely cherry ripe again and giving that game time to Bryan who has been playing pretty damn well in the VFL up until recently with things. No point rushing him back with a guy like Bryan just waiting there.

 

[eth-dog]

Interesting! Well I can't wait to see it unfold, I'm just keen to see more of Bryan after Anzac Days performance and hopefully that doesn't mean Draper or Wright miss out on selection as a result. Hopefully he plays again soon.

With Draper coming back from injury anyway, I wouldn't mind just putting him ice until he is absolutely cherry ripe again and giving that game time to Bryan who has been playing pretty damn well in the VFL up until recently with things. No point rushing him back with a guy like Bryan just waiting there.

Draper has played two scratch matches in the last two weeks. He's our #1 ruck. He comes in

 

[Nifft]

The start is pretty meh. The end she absolutely roasts GC

I think we should implement a spoiler tag rule for Wilson so we get some warning before we see her. I was mid sip with my coffee and now I have to clean coffee off my screen!

 

[The Devils Advocate]

I think we should implement a spoiler tag rule for Wilson so we get some warning before we see her. I was mid sip with my coffee and now I have to clean coffee off my screen!

She makes me feel sick after the saga stuff. Same with Damian Carrot.

 

[Vindicater]

Wright and Brynn/Draper forward can work if the other forwards are lively chasers.

 

[BrunoV]

Wright and Brynn/Draper forward can work if the other forwards are lively chasers.

In theory, yes definitely.

There are a few things I think would be essential to it working well. A fleet of quick smalls, as you've said, because even athletic big men like Bryan and Draper are not the same at ground level as quick smalls. Hopefully this is where the Davey twins can help out.

I think Wright probably then needs to become the deep target, assuming Hooker's role, which means more consistently holding contested marks. If Hooker's contested marking is a 10, Wright's would be 6.5 to 7 (probably maxes out at about an 8) and Bryan's would be lucky to be 5 (which is likely another 3 to 4 years from being at its strongest). I don't think Draper would be more than a 6 though he was improving.

Bryan needs to play predominately as forward rotating higher roles with Jones.

I think that spreads the respective weaknesses of the >202cm talls as much as possible and also capitalises on their strengths. If we end up with the Hille/Ryder/Becllchambers scenario where Ryder (i.e. Bryan) doesn't take to playing forward and/or Draper's rucking stalls we get stuck with Draper and Wright playing forward which will not work.

Draper is not a footballer in the sense that Bryan is (and doesn't have Wright's 10 year career as a forward). He's a big athletic animal, suited to the simplicity of playing on-ball and throwing his weight around. His kicking is still dodgy so I'm not sure we want him delivering a lot of ball into the forward 50 (even if he did work out how to find it 15 times a game as a forward) and goal kicking is also just going to be 50/50 until there are dramatic changes. None of this prevents him from being an extremely effective and possibly even premier ruckman of the competition but I don't see it happening as a forward. Bryan, on the other hand, I could see that coming together forward extremely well. I'd prefer the brute strength of Draper on ball to the class of Bryan, I think the physical presence is more important for the role.

 

[citizen-erased]

Future planning;
Jones does what he does
Wright -> Hooker role
Bryan -> Wright role

Get Wright to nominate each fwd ruck contest and hope opposition forgets who not to engage with. Easy frees

 

[Yoda_]

All these suggestions are basing off Nick's forward craft that we haven't even seen evidence of at the lower level.

Again, I desperately hope our VFL program can attract a NAB league kid who hope that all 4 big guys (Draper, Bryan, Phillips, Wright) can stay fit so Nick can play some minutes forward in the VFL.

On his athletic profile he should make it work but that nous and know how is what separates the if's to the definitive.

 

[Lore]

With more depth in the ruck now that Draper is healthy, it sounds like he needs to find ways to impact the game when he's not in the middle...

Nick Bryan
Stats: 11 disposals, four marks, two tackles, nine hitouts

“Nick shared the ruck duties with Andrew Phillips. It was probably a quieter game for Nick, but he still contributed with the aerial contests which has been a real point of focus for him. It was great to see him be able to influence some of those contested marking situations.”

VFL player review: Rd 10 v Box Hill

The stats and assessments of 10 senior-listed Bombers in VFL action on Sunday.

www.essendonfc.com.au

 

[eth-dog]

Thought he was good today. Has a really good kick on him

 

[boncer34]

Thought he was good today. Has a really good kick on him

If Phillips is cooked will he be #1?

 

[eth-dog]

If Phillips is cooked will he be #1?

Yep.

 

[BrunoV]

I was surprised he struggled against Majak to the extent he did.

Like a lot of the team he looked sluggish. He wasn't jumping over Majak the way he was his opponents earlier this year in that run up to his debut.

Follow up was pretty good. Hand were also quite strong too. Not a bad performance but not good, not in light of how we know he can play.

Shame that Phillips could be out. I'd like for him to spend some significant time forward.

 

[Lore]

Pretty much what's already been said. ^ At least with Phillips injured he's back to playing in the ruck in the VFL.

Nick Bryan
Stats: 11 disposals, five marks, two tackles, 34 hitouts

“Like Reid he played on an experienced player in Majak Daw and he probably won the hitouts on the day which was a good result for Nick. Again he’s just working on his running patterns around the ground. It was just another good game to learn how to play on good, strong ruckmen, so he competed hard.”

VFL player review: Rd 11 v Casey

The stats and assessments of 13 senior-listed Bombers in VFL action on Sunday.

www.essendonfc.com.au

 

[Lore]

Noted for his resilience – strong second half in the VFL

Nick Bryan
Stats: 12 disposals, one mark, 32 hitouts

“Nick didn’t have a great first half, but what was really pleasing is how he responded after half-time to have a really big impact on the game. He was a bit quiet in that first half and was getting a bit frustrated, but he was able to work through that. His ruck craft and follow-up work, which is his strength, was a real highlight again in that second half. I think the pleasing aspect was his ability to sort of change his mindset and get himself back in the game.”

VFL player review: Rd 15 v Southport

The stats and assessments of 11 senior-listed Bombers in VFL action against Southport on Sunday.

www.essendonfc.com.au