Player Watch #24: Tom Powell - signed thru 2026

[solidgoldhell]

I think you are overstating how much midfield time there is to share around.

We average 6 players attending center bounces a game, 1 of which is the ruckman.

2 of those 5 midfielders generally only attend 1 or 2 center bounces a quarter.

Most sides will run 3 consistent center square mids, with 2 that help out.

I agree you need to bat deep with 5 or 6 guys, but a few of those need to be able to play on the wing or rotate forward.

Sheezel can obviously do that.

LDU and Wardlaw aren't going anywhere.

So that basically leaves 2 positions.

If you play a tagger, it's 1.

Powell is going to be competing with Simpkin, McKercher, maybe a FOS/Smillie, maybe Duursma, as well as Phillips for 1 or 2 spots.


There isn't room for all of them. We are probably 2 pure center square midfielders heavy if Simpkin returns to that role. I'm not counting McKercher or Duursma, as they are largely irrelevant at the moment and secondly far more versatile than the other 3 longterm.

The problem currently is that LDU and Wardlaw are better than Powell, Phillips and Simpkin. Much better. The last 3 have very little flexibility other than in the middle.

Powell and Simpkin have both failed at half forward if we are to be honest.

This would be even worse if Thomas didn't blow his career up.

I'm going to hate to be that guy in a few years, but something is going to have to give in the next 18 months.


The midfield group is unbalanced, to the point we are going to have to go to the draft again for a running/versatile midfielder (when we really shouldn't have to) because we don't have enough of them and we have too many pure clearance midfielders.

I just hope the club aren't stupid about it and erode a chance to fix this issue by letting players rot in the VFL that have trade value.

If you offered me a swap right now for draft capital that secured Kako, or Faull, or Travaglia for Tom I would do it. It's no slight on Tom, who could still end up a North champion, it's just he's simply got more value than Phillips and Simpkin, there's Adelaide as a legitimate option needing mids and it's a chance to adjust the balance of the midfield group whilst filling another list need.

Nothing personal against him or even a inference regarding his future career prospects.

The same applies with Phillips or even Simpkin if it came to it and an offer was there.

I just can't see 2 of them, let alone 3 of them in the North side in 3 years time unless something odd occurs like losses of LDU, Wardlaw, Sheezel, McKercher etc.

The club is so much closer to absolutely nailing a list that is going to roar up the ladder than some realise. The emergence of Xerri and Comben in absolutely critical roles has really changed our outlook.

The hardest thing is generally the top end talent, we have it spades. We just need to redeploy some of that capital we have spent elsewhere to fill in some gaps whilst that capital has value imo.

Could not agree more with this. It’s no coincidence that Powell’s steep drop off in form has coincided with Phillip’s inclusion in the side. The two of them simply don’t work well in the side together, one will always be given the chance to prosper as the other flounders out of position. I’m pretty sure the coach has stated as much when asked why we weren’t playing Phillips in the past.

Powell is a clearance mid and he really isn’t versatile to play anywhere else, I think he’s proven that over the last few weeks. It’s a shame as I do rate him in the centre, but he’s still well down the pecking order with this uber-talented crop we have coming through.

The bloke has currency now, we should really be taking a hard look at it for both his and our sake.

 

[5 GB USB]

Go back to LDU thread and there’s the same post over and over

That may be the case but I'm skeptical of Powell. I think what he does well, he does exceptionally well however what he does lack is very poor.
Unfortunately he puts very little pressure on the opposition most weeks, he virtually has no defensive presence whatsoever so when he plays poor it's going to get highlighted more than others.
Once Powell fixes this issue in his game he will reach his potential that we all want to see from him. He does not tackle which for a team that is currently last doesn't look very good for him.

 

[Sphynx]

Our midfield has been beaten the past 2 weeks with Philips tagging but the Pies performance was great. The midfield had its best game against the Eagles, after the bye without Philips or Jy.

Nullifying a player is great, but I think it is starting to cost us as opposition realise that that the tag doesn't make an enormous difference to the midfield battle.

Our midfield is not set and we have a fair amount of experimentation to go, so those outside LDU, Sheezel, Wardlaw and Mc Kercher have some work to do.

Jy played against the Eagles and had one of his biggest games of the year.

He had 65% CBA’s, second only to Wardlaw for North and more than LDU.

He had 28 touches and 5 clearances.

According to CD, Collingwood was by far our best performance on total and average ratings.

Shiels played the Powell 17% CBA role against the Eagles.

 

[prodigalson]

I too rate Powell but I find the same as other posters in that he is well down the order for midfield minutes and lacks versatility to play other roles in our structure.

I believe that our midfield has an ok balance of what’s required to compete with top 8 midfields and they have showed that this year. Wardlaw was a huge loss last week, his pressure and work in stoppages is so important and badly missed last week against the dogs.

Powell doesn’t have an X factor about any part of his game and that’s why I think his not getting midfield minutes. With the addition of another midfielder with our top pick this year it’s hard to see Powell getting the opportunity he needs in the future to cement a midfield spot.

 

[the big lebowski]

Jy played against the Eagles and had one of his biggest games of the year.

He had 65% CBA’s, second only to Wardlaw for North and more than LDU.

He had 28 touches and 5 clearances.

According to CD, Collingwood was by far our best performance on total and average ratings.

Shiels played the Powell 17% CBA role against the Eagles.

Shiels would have been the last qrt when he went to Yeo

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

Interesting, while watching the King, Montagna and Hutto (?) show, they were talking about tagging and Daicos and his influence late in the game. Joe put forward the idea of playing your regular mids versus the opposition, but against the top liners, bringing your tagger sub on at 3 qtr time to grind away at the best oppo mid.

 

[Moti]

Jy played against the Eagles and had one of his biggest games of the year.

He had 65% CBA’s, second only to Wardlaw for North and more than LDU.

He had 28 touches and 5 clearances.

According to CD, Collingwood was by far our best performance on total and average ratings.

Shiels played the Powell 17% CBA role against the Eagles.

Sorry, was thinking of the Pies game. Brain fade!

 

[archereleven]

Interesting, while watching the King, Montagna and Hutto (?) show, they were talking about tagging and Daicos and his influence late in the game. Joe put forward the idea of playing your regular mids versus the opposition, but against the top liners, bringing your tagger sub on at 3 qtr time to grind away at the best oppo mid.

I thought that was interesting also.
As long as your midfield keeps on an even par throughout the 1st 3/4s, then it could work a treat.

The show is called First Crack I believe.

On SM-G991B using BigFooty.com mobile app