Prediction Am I too hyped on Riley Thilthorpe?

[Cleric]

I posted a question in the main board about who was going to be the most dominant out of the group of young tall forwards that care coming up. Amongst them was Thilthorpe, Deer, Darcy, Andrews, Kings etc.

To my surprise, the majority of the respondents were saying Darcy by a mile.
Now, I watched him a bit, and he is going to be a great forward for the next decade, but to my eyes Thilthorpe is a more dominant forward, with better ball skills when not marking.
So, am I overy biased in thinking this, or are the Vic supporters not aware of anything out of their state?

 

[Coopers]

Nah, Filthy has all the tools to be the best forward in the comp and for a while.

Can he be uninjured? Can he play 20+ games every season for the next 10? Can he put it all together? Can our midfield get it to him?

I certainly hope so.

Darcy is a couple years younger, right?

 

[Cleric]

Nah, Filthy has all the tools to be the best forward in the comp and for a while.

Can he be uninjured? Can he play 20+ games every season for the next 10? Can he put it all together? Can our midfield get it to him?

I certainly hope so.

Darcy is a couple years younger, right?

Darcy is one year younger and seven centimetres taller.
For me Darcy is a tall mark and kick forward.

 

[whattagun07]

Im excited

Came back looking like an absolute beast.
Initially I had thought we'd need to turn him into a Kreuzer style ruckman to get the most out of him. After seeing him come back this season though, I completely swung back to seeing him as a 'full time' forward. Will give 50 goals a shake this year.

 

[spenze]

Like to see him get through a season but his few games at the end of last season were enticing

 

[Crom1995]

Can't think of too many 200 cm players who have their game figured out by 22, gonna be a star.

 

[Golumless]

I posted a question in the main board about who was going to be the most dominant out of the group of young tall forwards that care coming up. Amongst them was Thilthorpe, Deer, Darcy, Andrews, Kings etc.

To my surprise, the majority of the respondents were saying Darcy by a mile.
Now, I watched him a bit, and he is going to be a great forward for the next decade, but to my eyes Thilthorpe is a more dominant forward, with better ball skills when not marking.
So, am I overy biased in thinking this, or are the Vic supporters not aware of anything out of their state?

More not aware of what players are doing in shit teams. Much like how, unless they're South Australian, I have no idea how St Kilda's or North's youth are going. However, it's not unreasonable to say Sam Darcy at this point in time. He's 21, nearly put up a 40 goal season, top 4 in contested marks per game and had a kind of game that stamps yourself as a legitimate key forward near the end of the season (And if you're looking for external validation, it's super important to have a 5+ goal game). Deserves his place at the top of the pedestal at the moment.

Will Thilthorpe be better? He has all of the tools to be. Stays healthy next year, keeps up his form and Adelaide bounces, I have no doubt the league will be salivating over him. At this point, it's probably too soon. 7 games is a pretty small sample size (as much as I thought he was ready to break out in 2023).

 

[VKCrow]

Darcy is one year younger and seven centimetres taller.
For me Darcy is a tall mark and kick forward.

Darcy is 7cm shorter

 

[Jcpdragonx]

Riley has as much potential as anyone. I was worried for a while as we didnt see any progression for 3 years but this year showed why he was pick 2, although a small sample size.

If you were taking a young KPF in a draft now, Sam Darcy would go 1 and think Riley would go next.

 

[adelaidecrows]

I posted a question in the main board about who was going to be the most dominant out of the group of young tall forwards that care coming up. Amongst them was Thilthorpe, Deer, Darcy, Andrews, Kings etc.

To my surprise, the majority of the respondents were saying Darcy by a mile.
Now, I watched him a bit, and he is going to be a great forward for the next decade, but to my eyes Thilthorpe is a more dominant forward, with better ball skills when not marking.
So, am I overy biased in thinking this, or are the Vic supporters not aware of anything out of their state?

There are a couple of issues that perhaps influenced his output. Firstly, his lack of muscle development made him lacking the competitive edge that his height gave him. He lacked the strength to really shift his direct opponent off the ball. Secondly, for a long time time we see tall players and we just kick long and deep to the square. We became so predictable that all our talls migrated to the same spot.

What we saw in the part of the year when Thilthorpe came back from injury was he got his some much needed gym time, he bulked up and all of a sudden he was able to use his footy smarts, bulk and height to not only influence every contest he was involved with but he dominated.

The forward structure that the crows should turn up in round 1 is everyone vacates the 50 and we isolate Thilthorpe at the top of the square with luring the number 1 defender. His height and bulk will probably see him beat most 2 on 1 situations. The bonus to this game plan is it frees up Fog, Walker, Rankine, Rachele, Peatling, ANB to isolate themselves.

 

[Golumless]

Riley has as much potential as anyone. I was worried for a while as we didnt see any progression for 3 years but this year showed why he was pick 2, although a small sample size.

If you were taking a young KPF in a draft now, Sam Darcy would go 1 and think Riley would go next.

I can't say I was. It was pretty clear the main thing holding TT back was not having enough ball coming his way.

But you know, Tex putting up 40+ in a half a season was fun.

 

[dylan123]

Darcy is 7cm shorter

Darcy is 208cm.

Thilthorpe is 201cm.


Darcy is pretty good below his knees for his height and a great kick for goal - outside of when he vsed us. 38 goals for the season as a 3rd string forward is a fantastic effort, certainly understand the reason why there's so much hype surrounding him.

Thilthorpe looked fantastic when he finally came back from injury this year, hopefully continues on that path next season, could be anything.

 

[Cleric]

Darcy is 208cm.

Thilthorpe is 201cm.


Darcy is pretty good below his knees for his height and a great kick for goal - outside of when he vsed us. 38 goals for the season as a 3rd string forward is a fantastic effort, certainly understand the reason why there's so much hype surrounding him.

Thilthorpe looked fantastic when he finally came back from injury this year, hopefully continues on that path next season, could be anything.

Yeah, 208cms is an absolutely massive unit. Most guys that height are confined to ruck work, as they are too unco to be a legitimate full time forward.
He is going to have the advantage of height to out mark his opponent. This is why I see RT as a better talent. Darcy to me is a mark and kick forward. RT is quicker, more agile, and better ball skills. Some of his efforts in the forward line are small forward type skills.

All in all we are entering an era of exciting tall forwards that we haven't had for a long time.
Sam Darcy, Reily Thilthorpe, Mac Andrews, Calshar Dear, Jed Walter, Aaron Cadman, JUH, Jai Amiss, Van Rooyan, and still more. I think the King Twins will even improve the next couple of years.

It's a great future.

 

[skam85]

Lid's off, 100 goal season incoming

 

[mcleod at 50 lines it up]

Probably the only reason you might not be too hyped is it's still mostly potential we didn't really develop him that well, probably his first game is amongst his best still

 

[dogs105]

Verb: dominate
Adjective : dominant

 

[Golumless]

Probably the only reason you might not be too hyped is it's still mostly potential we didn't really develop him that well, probably his first game is amongst his best still

Thilthorpe could have a genuinely elite career, and his first game will still rate as one of the better games he ever played at this level. After all, there aren't going to be too many days where key forwards in this era (not named Lance Franklin) will put up 16 disposals/5 goals.

That said, his run of games in 2024 shows he's been developed fine.

 

[mcleod at 50 lines it up]

Thilthorpe could have a genuinely elite career, and his first game will still rate as one of the better games he ever played at this level. After all, there aren't going to be too many days where key forwards in this era (not named Lance Franklin) will put up 16 disposals/5 goals.

That said, his run of games in 2024 shows he's been developed fine.

Lol I mean it's a fine game sure but if he had developed shouldn't be a standout. His return this year was great he was the difference maker for us but I thought it saved what otherwise had been a disappointing development, but just an opinion

 

[119others]

Darcy is 208cm.

Thilthorpe is 201cm.


Darcy is pretty good below his knees for his height and a great kick for goal - outside of when he vsed us. 38 goals for the season as a 3rd string forward is a fantastic effort, certainly understand the reason why there's so much hype surrounding him.

Thilthorpe looked fantastic when he finally came back from injury this year, hopefully continues on that path next season, could be anything.

agreed. If purely choosing a stay at home forward probably Darcy shades TT potential wise mainly just with height advantage. Wouldn't be surprised to see them as the 2 most dominant forwards for the next 7-8 years though. And TT more unstoppable than JUH and no way would I swap them. And for those that were wanting McDonald....

But for anything outside of the forward 50 - 2nd ruck or around the ground work - TT is my preference with amazing skills for a big man (compare his one touch handling to many smalls)

 

[ams4crows]

The knee still concerns me, I just don't think he'll be able to play 22 games in a season, just seems to pick up niggles can constantly

 

[JPetro83]

He's a beast. If he stays injury free he is about to rip the comp apart

 

[radiojake]

He's a beast. If he stays injury free he is about to rip the comp apart

I really hope he doesn't end up Kreuzer 2.0

 

[Slime Roy]

Yeah, 208cms is an absolutely massive unit. Most guys that height are confined to ruck work, as they are too unco to be a legitimate full time forward.
He is going to have the advantage of height to out mark his opponent. This is why I see RT as a better talent. Darcy to me is a mark and kick forward. RT is quicker, more agile, and better ball skills. Some of his efforts in the forward line are small forward type skills.

All in all we are entering an era of exciting tall forwards that we haven't had for a long time.
Sam Darcy, Reily Thilthorpe, Mac Andrews, Calshar Dear, Jed Walter, Aaron Cadman, JUH, Jai Amiss, Van Rooyan, and still more. I think the King Twins will even improve the next couple of years.

It's a great future.

Joel Amartey in Rd 12

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I'm very happy with have Thilthorpe.

However, I hope we are teaching him to land better after leaping in the air.

We just need to keep him injury free & he will dominate.

 

[MrBarry]

I really hope he doesn't end up Kreuzer 2.0

I don't think Kruezer ever had the strength or power that RT has....

Even if his knee is cooked later in his career, he should be able to just body check people and I don't think Kruezer had that.