Analysis Best Young Key-Forward in the Competition

[Cyclops]

Hope Tilthorpe continues his upward trend, great to see big forwards part of the game.

Seems likely, although not a guarantee: for every Tom Hawkins there's a Paul Dear or a Randall Bone, but you'd say only injury will slow this kid down.

Darcy is already a dangerous forward. He's only mediocre in the ruck, as you'd expect from a kid, but add th he two sided kicking and small man skills.

I fear injury more for him, giants moving so fast and nimbly feels like they stress more.
Guys like Lee Walker and Sean Rusling for us (minor figures, tall with huge potential and bung joints) and above all Salmon who looked set to destroy the league until his knee went. Potential far beyond what he's already realised.

 

[craffles]

I like the freo double threat of Amiss and Treacy, will be good to watch in the coming years. That being said For sure Darcy is the most unique proposition and has a great chance of becoming a great but all it takes is one injury and the bigger you are, the harder you fall……

 

[Freomaniac]

He doesn't play for a Vic team, and Vic supporters tend to not watch anything outside of their own teams games.

I live in Adelaide so I can play neutral view.

I can be biased as a dockers and can say Josh Tracey who kicked 45 goals last season, or Jye Amiss who kicked 40 goals in 2023 or Luke Jackson.

But Riley Tilthorpe and Darcy Fogarty proves there is life after Tex Walker

 

[Freomaniac]

What's happened to the Hawks supporters claiming Dear is better than Thilthorpe... like no bias at all.

Going to be great watching the respective careers of Darcy & Thilthorpe as both are going to be guns.

Agreed. Scary what crows did to Essendon on the weekend. They did a number on them.

Tilthorpe was going to develop slowly. Pick 1 in 2020. So yeah 5th season now.

I always rated Fogarty.

Tilthorpe, Fogarty, Rankine and Rachele is a very nice and Dangerous forward line is a forward line I would like.

Sit back and watch them help the crows contend for finals for at least 5 years.

 

[Freomaniac]

Darcy
Treacy
Thilthorpe
Morris

All bloody good.

I would of added Nick Larkey on this list. But he is already 25 or 26 years old.

 

[craffles]

Agreed. Scary what crows did to Essendon on the weekend. They did a number on them.

Tilthorpe was going to develop slowly. Pick 1 in 2020. So yeah 5th season now.

I always rated Fogarty.

Tilthorpe, Fogarty, Rankine and Rachele is a very nice and Dangerous forward line is a forward line I would like.

Sit back and watch them help the crows contend for finals for at least 5 years.

I would take absolutely nothing out of what Adelaide did to us last weekend, we were literal witches hats in the backline. Actually no, a witches hat would not create a turnover and might actually stop something. Apologies to any witches hats I may have offended.

 

[Northernsoul74]

 

[Boundryump]

What sets Riley apart is that he is very agile for a guy his size

 

[Cleric]

Agreed. Scary what crows did to Essendon on the weekend. They did a number on them.

Tilthorpe was going to develop slowly. Pick 1 in 2020. So yeah 5th season now.

I always rated Fogarty.

Tilthorpe, Fogarty, Rankine and Rachele is a very nice and Dangerous forward line is a forward line I would like.

Sit back and watch them help the crows contend for finals for at least 5 years.

Thilthorpe had a number of injuries which held him back. His first game against Hawks with 5 goals showed he was ready early on.
He would start to get a run, then injured.

No doubt he is far more capable bodywise now than when he first debuted, but the potential was on show real early.

I actually think the fact that he got to go to the Crows, who he was a mad supporter of, helped his progress.
Same goes.for Rankine. He has stepped his game up big time since coming home.

 

[TruRoo]

What sets Riley apart is that he is very agile for a guy his size

Does it set him apart though?

treacy is agile for his size, Logan Morris is agile for his size, Darcy is agile for his size, Buddy was agile for his size. Plugger was agile for his size (seriously - go watch his St Kilda highlights). Carey was incredibly agile.

Nearly every good key forward we've seen in history has been agile.

 

[MrBarry]

RT absolutely dominate again today.

 

[LOLchie Schultz]

With Pick #7 in the 2021 AFL Rookie Draft, The Fremantle Dockers select...

A ****ING BEAST!!!

 

[RonnieRaven]

Amiss not the best but he would be a good bet to finish his career with most goals
Treacy up there with Darcy for impacting a game at the moment.

 

[conrad_437]

Treacy is so underrated. What a gun

 

[Golumless]

RT absolutely dominate again today.

Yup, RT had a hell of a three game stretch to start this year. 9 goals, 7 goal assists, 22 score involvements, 6.7 marks with 2.3 contested and 2.7 marks on lead, and 15.3 disposals going at 70% KE.

Just needs that 5+ goal game to really cement his reputation in this run (and it's inevitable if TT stays healthy), but the underlining numbers to start this year are monstrous.

 

[leaper]

Not saying he is the best but Logan Morris is still 19 and has kicked 29 goals from 22 games and has a premiership medal. Fair effort.

On SM-A217F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

I've used career to date comparisons.

Utterly pointless doing year to date comparisons given we're only two games in.

i think using career stat this early also doesn't make a for a great comparison.

Thilthorpe has spent much of his early career playing 3rd fiddle and being starved of the ball, despite getting to good positio, because Tex was the main target.

I would judge them both on how they perform as the main target.

 

[Cleric]

Yup, RT had a hell of a three game stretch to start this year. 9 goals, 7 goal assists, 22 score involvements, 6.7 marks with 2.3 contested and 2.7 marks on lead, and 15.3 disposals going at 70% KE.

Just needs that 5+ goal game to really cement his reputation in this run (and it's inevitable if TT stays healthy), but the underlining numbers to start this year are monstrous.

That's the issue he faces when the Crows have so many strong scoring options.
You have Tex, Fog, Keays, ANB, Rochelle and Curtin all in competition to have their leads honoured out of the forward lines, while mids like Soligo, Dawson and Rankine are also far more than capable to kick the goals themselves.
Even Draper and Cummings have kicked multiple goals in a game.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Thilthope almost 2 years older and more physically developed…. Averages 0.2 goals a game more than Cadman

lol it's pretty stupid to talk about about career averages and extra physical development in the same sentence when the older player has been injured for a decent chunk of the time gap.

 

[Purple Suit]

Not saying he is the best but Logan Morris is still 19 and has kicked 29 goals from 22 games and has a premiership medal. Fair effort.

On SM-A217F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Is Logan Morris a Key Forward though? He's only 191cm so he should be playing midfield or 3rd tall at best.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Does it set him apart though?

treacy is agile for his size, Logan Morris is agile for his size, Darcy is agile for his size, Buddy was agile for his size. Plugger was agile for his size (seriously - go watch his St Kilda highlights). Carey was incredibly agile.

Nearly every good key forward we've seen in history has been agile.

Morris is listed at 191 cm, Thilthorpe at 200 cm.

I would say that Riley is more agile than Sam.

The last 3 were some of the greatest key forwards the game has scene, if Riley ends up near them, Crows fans will be pretty happy.

 

[Bald]

i think using career stat this early also doesn't make a for a great comparison.

Thilthorpe has spent much of his early career playing 3rd fiddle and being starved of the ball, despite getting to good positio, because Tex was the main target.

I would judge them both on how they perform as the main target.

Are we just going to pretend like Sam Darcy hasn't also played third fiddle to Jamarra and Aaron Naughton?

It's actually very appropriate to compare them to date thus far.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Are we just going to pretend like Sam Darcy hasn't also played third fiddle to Jamarra and Aaron Naughton?

It's actually very appropriate to compare them to date thus far.

maybe in his first couple of seasons, when he only played 7 games.

Darcy was getting way more attention from his teammates last year than Thilthorpe was in his 3rd season.

Thilthorpe also played a lot more games in his first 2 season, which tips the scales against him, unfairly imo.

 

[Bald]

maybe in his first couple of seasons, when he only played 7 games.

Darcy was getting way more attention from his teammates last year than Thilthorpe was in his 3rd season.

Thilthorpe also played a lot more games in his first 2 season, which tips the scales against him, unfairly imo.

Experience works against him? That's an interesting idea.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Experience works against him? That's an interesting idea.

no, weighted average works against him.

This is pretty simple if you understand how averages work.

All players, especially key forwards don't play at their best form in their first 2 seasons. This is also true for Darcy and Thilthorpe.

Thilthorpe has played 45% of his total games in his first 2 seasons.

For Darcy it's only 22%. It's fairly likely that Darcy's career averages would be lower if he had played more games in his first 2 seasons.