The Crows also have alot more forwards targets that he has to compete with for delivery. FOG, Tex, Curtin, Rochelle, Rankine, Keays, ANB, as well as mids like Dawson that can kick goals from outside the 50.
Analysis Best Young Key-Forward in the Competition
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Adelaide board seems to have flooded this thread....
Darcy by a country mile.
Darcy by a country mile.
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Darcy is copping the best KPD / double team each week, whereas TT has Tex and FOG helping. Crows have also had ~25 more i50s this year than the dogs and smashed teams, having much better quality i50s.
Darcy was also ranked 4th in the league for contested marks in 2024 as a 21 year old (and is #1 so far this year). He's a freak.
Thillthorpe is also getting the number one defender, which makes it easier for FOG, Walker and Curtin.
This year is only 2 games long, so not worth comparing those two games as the only option.
Darcy is a great forward, and is also taller than Thillthorpe at 208cms, so finding a defender of similar height to compete in the air is difficult.
He is a freak size wise, and is going to stretch defences and make coaches stress about who to man up on him.
There isn't a gap really between the two, and both are going to be amazing to watch. My bet about who has the best career will come down to who has less injuries.
I mean Naughton’s as good, if not better as a forward presence than Fog is, so it’s not like it’s Darcy and no-one else
Darcy’s generational in the air, but RT is very good in his own right, taken 5 contested marks over the first two rounds. I’d also have RT ahead for ball use and ground ball cleanliness, but that’s to be expected when he’s 7cm shorter
Darcy’s ahead overall, but the gap isn’t ’a country mile’
One thing that impressed me re: Darcy is his ability off both feet, he was almost the best field kick for the Dogs on Friday night. Left or right foot, and them commentators were noticing it. Not sure where the idea that Thillthorpe is clearly ahead on that metric would come from if that's the standard Darcy sets.
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I hate comparisons so I'm going to make one.
Riley Thilthorpe will be the Tom Hawkins to Sam Darcy's Buddy Franklin.
Both in the top echelon of forwards for their respective clubs, but if given the choice, nobody is taking Hawkins.
Riley Thilthorpe will be the Tom Hawkins to Sam Darcy's Buddy Franklin.
Both in the top echelon of forwards for their respective clubs, but if given the choice, nobody is taking Hawkins.
What would people say are the main differences between them?
Darcy is able to take more contested marks than RT, due mainly to his extra height, but RT is just as strong as contested mark, if that makes sense. In other worlds, RT is a shorter version than Darcy. (How crazy is it that we can say a 201cm forward is a smaller version of anyone?).
Accuracy at goal, RT is ahead slightly.
Ruck work, both are good, but the extra height of Darcy might give him an advantage.
Speed, I think RT is quicker and more explosive. RT has a huge tank and works his way up the ground more than Darcy does.
Skills outside of marking and kicking I would absolutely give to RT. His ability to kick freak goals are almost small forward like, and he is very good below his knees, and his disposal to another player is better.
In the sole definition of a forward in taking marks and kicking goals, with the ability to also ruck part time I would give to Darcy.
Its the extra bits that RT has that makes him special.
Darcy is able to take more contested marks than RT, due mainly to his extra height, but RT is just as strong as contested mark, if that makes sense. In other worlds, RT is a shorter version than Darcy. (How crazy is it that we can say a 201cm forward is a smaller version of anyone?).
Accuracy at goal, RT is ahead slightly.
Ruck work, both are good, but the extra height of Darcy might give him an advantage.
Speed, I think RT is quicker and more explosive. RT has a huge tank and works his way up the ground more than Darcy does.
Skills outside of marking and kicking I would absolutely give to RT. His ability to kick freak goals are almost small forward like, and he is very good below his knees, and his disposal to another player is better.
In the sole definition of a forward in taking marks and kicking goals, with the ability to also ruck part time I would give to Darcy.
Its the extra bits that RT has that makes him special.
Small sample size, but RT has 10% on Darcy this year for kicking efficiency
RT was hitting up multiple targets I50 with ease on Saturday, now the quality (or lack thereof) of the Bombers defence helps but that’s not easy to do for anyone over 200cm
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You didn’t watch much of Hawkins’ first 6 seasons did you. Before he did his back he had a lot more than just power
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Everything I'm saying is with the full belief that RT will be a star, so it's not meant as a criticism, more that Darcy simply in a different conversation.
What do the extra bits actually mean though?
SD averages more shots, kicks more goals, more disposals, more tackles, more hit outs, more marks (despite less marks inside 50, suggesting he's better around the ground), more inside 50s.
This is all whilst RT is unlikely to get much bigger or stronger, and is one year older than SD.
Assuming this is taken from last year where Riley was coming back from a long injury lay-off? Because half those stat comparisons aren’t true for this season
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I've used career to date comparisons.
Utterly pointless doing year to date comparisons given we're only two games in.
T2B_
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Only 2 games in this season and both were high scoring smashings, so can't take too much from stats and definitely would be some recency bias.
That said his body of work last season actually looks pretty good all things considered stats-wise, often hitting double digit possessions, good amount of marks and often reliably kicking 2 or 3 goals. I did watch most of those games and don't remember noticing him quite that much, it could be Darcy is the more "eye catching" while Riley flies under the radar.
That said, if I was to try make predictions right now, it's still hard to go past Darcy who just has all the tools and is absolutely freakish at his size, but Riley will be one of the best in his own right.
Not all rate of development is equal. RT didn’t look like he’d be within multiple tiers of Darcy territory before he put on his current strength, but has become a totally different beast in the back half of last season and so far this year
I agree Darcy’s ahead overall, that size combined with his sticky mitts is just too much of an advantage
Just don’t think the gap is absolutely huge, like some say
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Yeah I think I agree that the gap isn’t absolutely huge, my view is more what will the gap look like in a few years, whilst RT isn’t the finished product, he’s closer to it than SD - which means it could go the other way as well.
Double team?
Wtf is Naughton doing?
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Easily forgotten, you say?
No, he’s going to be fantastic, it’s just far too early to even consider where you’d place him. There aren’t many forwards who come in and kick 25 goals in their first season (consisting of just 17 games). Is he true key position size? My memory was he was a fraction shorter.
Iceman!
Brownlow Medallist
Darcy kicked more than 2 goals just 4 times last year, 2 of which were against Richmond and North.
He is an exceptional talent and gun to my head i am picking him over anyone else. But some people need to relax a little bit with claiming it isn't even close.
He is an exceptional talent and gun to my head i am picking him over anyone else. But some people need to relax a little bit with claiming it isn't even close.
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He kicked more than 2 goals 5 times.
3 against Geelong, 3 against Fremantle, 4 against Richmond, 3 against Collingwood and 7 against North.
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