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The facts proving Tiger young gun Tom Brown is one of AFL’s best kicks, four games into his career
The numbers don’t lie: Tom Brown is one of the AFL’s best kicks. But if you ask the Richmond young gun, he reckons he’s not even the best kick in his family.
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April 10, 2024 - 6:00AM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
Richmond’s emerging defender Tom Brown says he isn’t even the best kick in his family.
He cites father Paul, who played 84 games at Geelong kicking the ball in Gary Ablett Sr’s general direction and letting him take care of business.
On Sunday Brown had his own AFL legend to assist him as his audacious inside-out drop kick to a leading Dustin Martin was labelled the best kick of the season.
Already punters on TikTok are uploading compilations of the silkiest kicks from the No. 17 draft pick of the 2021 draft despite his AFL career only spanning four games.
And while it is a small sample size he ranks second only behind Melbourne’s Kysaiah Pickett on Champion Data’s kick rating, taking in the execution and difficulty of every kick this season.
Pickett’s kick rating is a remarkable plus 23.2 per cent, with his expected rating 51.8 per cent but his actual success rate 75 per cent.
Top 10 Players for Kick Rating in 2024 (minimum 20 total kicks)
Player Matches Kicks Expected Actual Kick Rating Kysaiah Pickett 4 24 51.8% 75.0% +23.2% Tom Brown 3 25 45.1% 60.0% +14.9% Jacob van Rooyen 5 25 43.4% 56.0% +12.6% Dan Houston 4 56 48.4% 60.7% +12.3% Jake Stringer 4 32 47.2% 59.4% +12.2% Toby Greene 4 43 46.1% 58.1% +12.0% Zach Guthrie 4 49 47.3% 59.2% +11.9% Josh Ward 4 35 49.0% 60.0% +11.0% Nick Holman 4 20 34.0% 45.0% +11.0% Jordan Clark 4 69 49.2% 59.4% +10.2%
Second-placed Brown has an expected kick rating of 45 per cent — a high degree of difficulty — yet has hit 60 per cent of those targets.
He leads third-placed Jacob Van Rooyen (plus 12.6 per cent), Dan Houston (plus 12.3 per cent), Jake Stringer (plus 12.2 per cent) and Toby Greene (plus 12 per cent).
Remarkably, Brisbane’s Charlie Cameron has the AFL’s worst kick rating (minus 16 per cent), behind Sydney’s Joel Amartey (minus 14.3 per cent), Fremantle’s Matthew Johnson (minus 11.9 per cent), and Carlton’s Lochie Fogarty (11.9 per cent).
Brown has not only found the intercept game that saw the Tigers swooping on him in the 2021 draft, his kicking shapes as a Richmond defensive weapon.
“I guess as a kid I was always kicking the footy, it was my favourite part of the sport, but I haven’t focused on it more than any other thing,” Brown said on Tuesday.
Richmond’s Tom Brown has been a revelation off the backline for the Tigers this season. Picture: Michael Klein
“Back in the day Dad would kick it to Gary Ablett and he would sort it out. This weekend I kicked it to Dusty and he got us going forward.
“I don’t know if it’s about taking the risky options but if you see Dusty and you put it out in front of him he will mark it. It’s a no-brainer to give it to him.”
“My family have been sending me a few of those TikToks but I just use my instincts and whatever target is in front of me I try to hit it.
One of five Richmond picks in the top 30 of the 2021 draft, Tigers fans are now seeing what their defence could be like in future years if he and Josh Gibcus can throw off injury concerns.
“My aerial power has been one of my strengths and the guys have told me to back myself in.
“In my first year maybe I hadn’t quite adjusted to the system and then in my second year I was flying and had a wrist injury and was out for half the season. But this year I have had good luck with my body. It’s unbelievable to play in defence. Daniel Rioli is always there to add shape to the backline and Nick Vlastuin is such a great leader out there, not to mention Tylar Young and Ben Miller.”
Where do I find the thread bemoaning getting Brown over JVR? Most sane people said to let the kid play a game before deciding he’s trash. After his game against Sydney I said I’d still take JVR given our needs. After watching him against Saints I’m convinced he’ll be a better selection than JVR.
I feel we have our next Vlastuin .. except he’s a better kick (albeit may never be as kamikaze courageous as Vlas)
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