He was very good, but playing as a third tall defender is probably the “easiest” role in footy. He was a good second-tier CHF IMO - not as good as Tredrea, Riewoldt or Brown, but still good.
Prediction How Will The Cats Fare in 2025?
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I.e the purple patch he had in 2005 when he was kicking goals, setting them up, crashing packs, looking awkward and getting a bit of the ball.
That would be super.
His development wasnt linear, but the talent he displayed was on par with nathan ablett. He oozed class and natural ability. He was probably more a victim if anything of the game shifting from your monster forward to more athletic endurance key forwards who can cover ground. In many ways hawkins had to re invent himself from scratch which took alot of hard work and made him a little fish out of water eske at times.
I dont think neale has this same problem, neale is a modern day prototype.
Just an observation.
In the twos Neale led well. He was not always honoured by the kick, but when he was, his kicking at all distances was pretty good.
It's a one wood he can fall back on if need be.
Playing in a side as 3rd banana means spaces you might like are pretty much devoured by established forwards. Cameron is not conventional but does get into open spaces really well..and often . That means Neale can't just attack space, he has to forgo opportunities.
Watch the newbies in the ones (Dempsey is a great example) and you will see them defer.
Neale offers a lot, IMO. Getting to 50 games would see him be a "target" rather than part of the support ( but important) players in the forward line.
I am also bullish on Henry. His development has been steady, and without checking stats, his involvement seems to be more consistent. He will grow into a big body (check Jack out) and take marks on the ground as well as on the fly. He will be a match up nightmare. Scoring in 2025 should not be a problem . If you are an optimist.
Next season looks to be a good chance to go top 4. Even without a Conway.
In the twos Neale led well. He was not always honoured by the kick, but when he was, his kicking at all distances was pretty good.
It's a one wood he can fall back on if need be.
Playing in a side as 3rd banana means spaces you might like are pretty much devoured by established forwards. Cameron is not conventional but does get into open spaces really well..and often . That means Neale can't just attack space, he has to forgo opportunities.
Watch the newbies in the ones (Dempsey is a great example) and you will see them defer.
Neale offers a lot, IMO. Getting to 50 games would see him be a "target" rather than part of the support ( but important) players in the forward line.
I am also bullish on Henry. His development has been steady, and without checking stats, his involvement seems to be more consistent. He will grow into a big body (check Jack out) and take marks on the ground as well as on the fly. He will be a match up nightmare. Scoring in 2025 should not be a problem . If you are an optimist.
Next season looks to be a good chance to go top 4. Even without a Conway.
OHenry will kick goals, thats not his issue, 41 goals then 37 and next year I think he goes close to 50.
What he needs to work on is holding marks and not going to ground in every marking contest. Fix those two things and he will have a monster season.
Pure_Ownage
TheBrownDog
He does but he has concrete hands at times which will hold him back unless he improves on it.
Pure_Ownage
TheBrownDog
Smith certainly is a key and we need a few of the blue chip kids like neale and osullivan and Clark to take steps forward and we desperately need Conway to be fit.
It will be interesting to see how we integrate the new players in as we have a tough 6 weeks or so to start the year and then having Carlton and Collingwood big G games in b2b weeks. The good news is the back half of the year is quite soft with us basically having 2 extra byes (that's what playing Richmond will be in 2025) plus a bunch of very winnable games at skilled in the run home.
The first 2 months will tell us if we can contend or not. If we can go say 7 and 3 through the 10 week block then we are a chance for top 4.
MacStradbroke
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If Neale kicks 35 goals this year I’m confident we go real deep and top 4 is not out of the question.
I feel that this issue has been significantly overstated relative to his actual output
- Aug 18, 2018
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I really liked his change in awareness in bringing the ball to ground where the opportunity called for if this year. Much improved on the previous year. I feel like he got around the ground more too later in the season
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I definitely agree with this take. Took some good contested grabs late in the season and wasn't targeted really early on.
I think one of the biggest head shaking moments i had on this forum was when he played in Darwin against Gold Coast. He was quite obviously creating space for Henry in a premeditated manner, to the point where the umpires called him repeatedly for holding the defenders so Henry could come over the top. People just criticised him for not marking balls that were clearly intended for Henry. He also kicked 2, narrowly missed a 3rd, and had 6 score involvements. I just didn't understand what the criticism was for.
I remember vividly a game against Adelaide that year where he was clearly the best forward on the ground… then did his shoulder before the end of it and was never the same again
I suspect it’s nerves, given he doesn’t seem to have the same issue in the twos.
He seems better when he’s in a contest for it, and he doesn’t have time to think about it
I think we will see Neale more confident this year because I suspect he was expecting the tap on the shoulder by the end of the season to let him know he was getting dropped for Hawkins.
Next year the position is his, and that sort of confidence in a player can be massive.
Just have to hope the MC backs him in, but then with Cameron and Stengle taking the best two defenders each week theres a big chance for him to play mainly forward, occasionally give a chop out in the ruck, and try to kick up towards the 40 goal contributions be it goals, assists or crashing packs etc that leads to goals from spills.
Next year the position is his, and that sort of confidence in a player can be massive.
Just have to hope the MC backs him in, but then with Cameron and Stengle taking the best two defenders each week theres a big chance for him to play mainly forward, occasionally give a chop out in the ruck, and try to kick up towards the 40 goal contributions be it goals, assists or crashing packs etc that leads to goals from spills.
Taper
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Playfair was unfairly malinged, similar to Spriggs as people forget they were never the same after their injuries.
I fear De Koning may be another to join the 'what if he didn't have that injury' category.
His facial injury was so bad it was akin to a car crash injury, after his 2022 season I was thinking he could become an Adam Goodes type player eg someone who can play anywhere on the ground and excel in the position.
He was looking very good in the Blicavs role this year from about Rd 16 (the week after the Blues match) til Rd 19 while Blicavs was pushed into defence and then SDK copped some late season niggles but I think having him up the field was a better use of his running ability and strong marking.
He also isn't given the credit for his ball use. If they intend on using SDK as a 2nd ruck/mobile tall when Conway is fit, and pushing Blicavs into defense as a tall defender then we will see SDK having 20-25 touches and hurting teams.
The reports of SDK's demise are greatly exaggerated.
I just never seen Playfair or Spriggs as good quality footballers, before or after injuries, a bit like Murdoch who miraculously played a 100 games..... when those guys were in our side I just seen it as a downer of which in most circumstances they were.
Disagree, Spriggs in particular was extremely promising.
- Aug 18, 2018
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You know I sat back to consider how we went last year, because I went away with the impression we were bad right up until a flourish of games in the back end.of the season.
But it dawned on me, we were only ever out of the 8 for two rounds - opening round (where we were yet to play) and round 1 (where we won).
But it dawned on me, we were only ever out of the 8 for two rounds - opening round (where we were yet to play) and round 1 (where we won).
We agree to disagree..... there was a lot of hype on Spriggs, yes he was athletic but lacked 'football nous' to be a top footballer.
Vdubs
Hall of Famer
Great first game
OK first 2 seasons
Horrible after that, Cats and Swans.
Too short with a pathetic kick. Injury has been raised, but he never lost his pace. Just could not use the ball or read the play properly.
Yep. Started brilliantly and finished quite well (minus a couple of disappointing outliers), with that awful mid-season rut leaving the sour taste for a while - that's my summary. Even in that awful rut there were a couple of very close games, where if you flipped the result our season wouldn't have hit such a slump.
What happened during that mid-season malaise? We tried to give cooked Hawkins and Cam Guthrie every chance to find form. We were convinced Blicavs could still function as a midfielder. We tried to play every tall forward imaginable in the same side - arguably it hurt all of them. We didn't trust Mannagh yet and wanted Humphries to develop in the VFL despite both looking very good. Dangerfield was missing and then needed a game or two to get up to speed. Bowes and Bruhn had their worst periods of the season for form or availability.
While we were never dominant (our middling % indicated as much), we were very much a strong team for the first and latter thirds of the season. Replicate that and we're a top 4 team in 2025. If that "middle slump" was actually our true form (which I really doubt), we will finish 12th-14th.
Pure_Ownage
TheBrownDog
Yes and no. The actual number of times he does it isn't as bad as some but when he does drop them the drops are bad or obvious ones. The issue is I'm trying to work out is this a technical flaw or is it more a mental one and as he develops confidence he will just overcome it? Athletically he has a lot of the other attributes but it will hold him back from being a top kpf rather than a role player if he can't. But he's still young.
