Player Watch Callum Brown (Delisted 2022)

[Anzacday]

I thought some of his movement in traffic was excellent, very hard to tackle.
He only really gets caught when he’s blindsided by a tackler.
First option is not always best.
Although, I find myself thinking that is/was in hindsight when a player doesn’t take it.
My main knock on him is he doesn’t kick through it when having a shot.

 

[Finnishpie]

Early to mid last year C Brown was well ahead of Daicos. Brown’s pressure was much higher, he was kicking goals...

Brown looked viable as a long term pressure forward...

I had written Daicos off last year. He always had the smoothness, smarts and kicking... but he looked like he couldn’t cover the territory, didn’t know which option to take and had little impact on the ground.

How times have changed...

I was never sold entirely on Brown. Thought he could be a good role-player.

 

[nahnah]

should not be in the team, has been awful apart from the first game vs bulldogs and the opening quarter vs richmond. Seems to be an auto select for the match committee though.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I have faith. Especially while we have injuries hes in our 22.

The mistakes he is making are from over thinking and trying to avoid turning it over.

 

[manicpie]

After being disheartened by weeks of poor play, I looked up Brown’s 2019 highlights..


His first reactions didn’t seem to be “look for handpass” or “start spinning around” (maybe that’s the benefit of a highlights pack).

There were immediate snaps for goal, running forward after receiving the ball, I also heard a 48metre goal in there somewhere (although no idea where the ball bounced before crossing the goal line).

What happened? Are team instructions getting in the way?

Perspective?


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I think team institutions might be getting in the way

 

[Horaceg]

I thought some of his movement in traffic was excellent, very hard to tackle.
He only really gets caught when he’s blindsided by a tackler.
First option is not always best.
Although, I find myself thinking that is/was in hindsight when a player doesn’t take it.
My main knock on him is he doesn’t kick through it when having a shot.

Distance on his kicks, lack of penetration

 

[Jasper84]

Not Brown's fault but look at the 190cm + players taken straight after him in the draft:

35 Brown
37 Rotham
38 Darcy
39 Battle
40 T Stewart
41 B Cox

Even if Brown becomes best 22 its hard to see this becoming a win with our obvious KP issues.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Not Brown's fault but look at the 190cm + players taken straight after him in the draft:

35 Brown
37 Rotham
38 Darcy
39 Battle
40 T Stewart
41 B Cox

Even if Brown becomes best 22 its hard to see this becoming a win with our obvious KP issues.

Sam McLarty at pick 30 was the problem.

We also picked up Kirby, albeit later.

We also promoted Keefe off the rookie list that year and had a lot of faith that he would develop into something good and then he self imploded

It’s extremely simplistic and misleading to blame The drafting of Callum Brown on us missing out on talls.

 

[Kappa]

I thought some of his movement in traffic was excellent, very hard to tackle.
He only really gets caught when he’s blindsided by a tackler.
First option is not always best.
Although, I find myself thinking that is/was in hindsight when a player doesn’t take it.
My main knock on him is he doesn’t kick through it when having a shot.

Very hard to tackle yet every week gets caught with the footy at least once...

 

[Kappa]

Sam McLarty at pick 30 was the problem.

We also picked up Kirby, albeit later.

Yep, that was an almighty draft shocker.

Couldn't even hear properly at the VFL ffs.

 

[Jasper84]

It’s extremely simplistic and misleading to blame Callum Brown on us missing out on talls.

Which is why I said it's not Brown's fault.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Which is why I said it's not Brown's fault.

You blamed the selection of brown though. Not him personally.....I have edited my comment

 

[jathanas]

FWIW Cal is being played out of position due to our "midfield riches", he is an inside mid. He still needs to gain size and improve his kicking penetration but I feel that he will be a huge improvement on someone like Wills a year or 2 down the track. He is excellent in traffic and can create space for himself.

I think that the club has drafted too many similar types and as a result we are shuffling players around in positions that are not ideal for them.

 

[Leviathan Pie]

He'll never make it. And wouldn't be playing senior footy if it weren't for such a season/associated injuries.

 

[Kappa]

FWIW Cal is being played out of position due to our "midfield riches", he is an inside mid. He still needs to gain size and improve his kicking penetration but I feel that he will be a huge improvement on someone like Wills a year or 2 down the track. He is excellent in traffic and can create space for himself.

I think that the club has drafted too many similar types and as a result we are shuffling players around in positions that are not ideal for them.

Cal is not being played out of position due to midfield riches, Rupert Wills is not a midfield rich.

He's being played out of position because he's not a very good midfielder and he struggles to kick 35 metres

 

[LuckyLee]

Cal Brown seems a terrific person, great clubman, etc but is essentially Jarryd Blair v2.0 - small, hard-working, slow & can’t kick more than 35m - but in his favour he does have a much more revered surname.

I wish we’d take a leaf out of Hawthorn’s book and stubbornly refuse to recruit players who are not excellent, penetrating kicks of the footy. It’s the most important and basic skill in the game and should be the most non-negotiable selection criterion.

Mayne C.Brown Wills Phillips Madgen and Cox would all have failed the test among those on our current list. No great losses there.


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[frizzle]

I have a lot more faith in Cal's development than most of you guys it seems. He has speed & good evasion skills, but continually stops to handball backwards because we have no forwards further down the field. They are all with him the middle or defensive half. I think he is suffereing in part because of our game plan.
Sure his penetration in his kicking needs work, but I haven't written him off yet.

 

[sr36]

I have a lot more faith in Cal's development than most of you guys it seems. He has speed & good evasion skills, but continually stops to handball backwards because we have no forwards further down the field. They are all with him the middle or defensive half. I think he is suffereing in part because of our game plan.
Sure his penetration in his kicking needs work, but I haven't written him off yet.

I'm still bullish. Balance, awareness, tracks the ball beautifully in traffic, slippery as an eel. Cracks in.

Jeez his unwillingness to kick is frustrating though. Is he that bad a kick or just unconfident He looks mechanically fine, but just tries to avoid doing it or when he does, he just pokes at it.

 

[Kappa]

I'm still bullish. Balance, awareness, tracks the ball beautifully in traffic, slippery as an eel. Cracks in.

Jeez his unwillingness to kick is frustrating though. Is he that bad a kick or just unconfident He looks mechanically fine, but just tries to avoid doing it or when he does, he just pokes at it.

Have you seen his set shots? his kicking is horrible, both in distance and accuracy.

 

[JB1975]

I have a lot more faith in Cal's development than most of you guys it seems. He has speed & good evasion skills, but continually stops to handball backwards because we have no forwards further down the field. They are all with him the middle or defensive half. I think he is suffereing in part because of our game plan.
Sure his penetration in his kicking needs work, but I haven't written him off yet.

I agree with this.

Not sure why, but some people are too keen to write off players who have room for development and could go either way.

He hustles better than most, his buzzing pressure often makes things happen, he's got above average hands in close, solid evasion, mongrel attitude.

None of this necessarily adds up to success, not unless he irons out a few deficiencies, but it seems reason enough for more patience than he's been given on this board.

 

[sr36]

Have you seen his set shots? his kicking is horrible, both in distance and accuracy.

That can just be confidence though. I think distance is always going to be an issue, but most inaccurate kicks have a pretty obvious mechanical issue. He looks compact. It's weird.

 

[nahnah]

he's got above average hands in close

He has been fumbling non stop over the past 5-6 games

 

[JB1975]

He has been fumbling non stop over the past 5-6 games

I'm not impressed with his latest, but I've seen enough of his previous form to know that he's in a dip.

This is an irregular season, to put it mildly. He's a chance to be something better.

 

[Jasper84]

You blamed the selection of brown though. Not him personally.....I have edited my comment

I genuinely hope Brown comes good and I am proven wrong but the selection of Brown is endemic of a real problem the club has. It was clear at the time and now that we didn't that type of player but picked Brown anyway. It was nepotism. Same as a president who's tenure is tied to the coach, hiring assistant coaches that are best mates with the coach (Sanderson), former team mates (Rocca) to be pseudo ruck coaches and wasting list positions on "stable buddies" (Golds).

The club always appears to be compromised by a jobs for the boys mentality over pure on field success.

 

[jathanas]

Cal is not being played out of position due to midfield riches, Rupert Wills is not a midfield rich.

He's being played out of position because he's not a very good midfielder and he struggles to kick 35 metres

Agreed on Wills. He is getting games simply to add defensive capability in stoppages, he does not create opportunities for us that will lead to a score.

Callum can win his own ball, evade, and create space for himself in tight situations. He has excellent hands but he has not showcased that consistently at senior level. His kicking was better when he was a colt, and it needs to improve, period.

On his potential I think you're being harsh if not myopic. IMO he can become an effective inside mid but there are no guarantees that this will be the case.