Prediction Jhye Clark 2024

[Mr Meow]

Where a player was drafted is a sunk cost as soon as the draft is done. I honestly couldn’t care about where a player was picked and if a player picked after our player turns into a better player, etc. there is nothing to be gained thinking that way. What are you going to do if gibney turns out to be better than Clark? Sulk for the next 20 years? Conversely, if Clark is better will you give a little fist pump every night for the next 20 years safe in the knowledge that we made the “right” pick? What is the point of that?

I just want Clark to be good, and I want to enjoy watching him play footy. I hope Gibney is also a good player and I hope WC fans enjoy watching him play, but I won’t think about him more than any other opposition player.

I feel the same way about players traded out, even if I would say it's more understandable in that situation to "follow" the player closely and feel despair if they thrive. Because we have had an emotional attachment following their journey and maybe they were even one of our favourites. A very different situation to a new draftee.

Ultimately like you say we just need/want Clark to become the best version of himself. Not becoming the new Selwood, not hitting 10/10 on the "Ginbey" meter, not being better than Bruhn as soon as this season. I'd love to see him crack 10 games and show his potential at this level in 2024, and anything beyond that would be an absolute bonus.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

On talent Jhye should be ahead of Tanner I guess, based on very limited viewing obv.

But talent is maybe 40% of the equation. There's a lot of preseason to play out here.

They both are very hard workers and will both be best 22 long term clark just has a bit more class.
It all depends on clark having an uninterrupted pre season. If he is fully fit and builds his tank i expect him to play 15 games this year and best 22 by 2025.

 

[D BRIDGE]

Where a player was drafted is a sunk cost as soon as the draft is done. I honestly couldn’t care about where a player was picked and if a player picked after our player turns into a better player, etc. there is nothing to be gained thinking that way. What are you going to do if gibney turns out to be better than Clark? Sulk for the next 20 years? Conversely, if Clark is better will you give a little fist pump every night for the next 20 years safe in the knowledge that we made the “right” pick? What is the point of that?

I just want Clark to be good, and I want to enjoy watching him play footy. I hope Gibney is also a good player and I hope WC fans enjoy watching him play, but I won’t think about him more than any other opposition player.

I agree with plenty of this, once the draft is done it's done and you just make best with what you have... It's impossible for me not to compare the player we took in the top 10 and the player taken directly after him... But that's just me, If you don't care at all that is completely fine.

I hope Clark ends up a star for us (not the Pies).

I did say early in the year that he looked very similar to Butters, and that was before Butters went next level, so fingers crossed he can follow a path similar to Butters (4 or 5 years to reach that level though).

 

[Hinkley29]

I agree with plenty of this, once the draft is done it's done and you just make best with what you have... It's impossible for me not to compare the player we took in the top 10 and the player taken directly after him... But that's just me, If you don't care at all that is completely fine.

I hope Clark ends up a star for us (not the Pies).

I did say early in the year that he looked very similar to Butters, and that was before Butters went next level, so fingers crossed he can follow a path similar to Butters (4 or 5 years to reach that level though).

The next Butters? Now we are talking

 

[Footy Smarts]

Both Bruhn & Clark are huge pieces of our future, not just 2024.

In an ideal world, they're both overtaking Atkins, Guthrie, and even Danger. Same goes for Holmes & Knevitt.

That should be the goal. Obviously we want the youngsters to have friendly competition amongst each other, but their goal should be beating out their senior contemporaries and bringing in the new era.

For this year thats just not going to happen.

Guthrie didn't solidify a place in the team until his 3rd season and that was as a small defender. Unless he drops off a cliff which would be a major problem there's no way Clark at 20 with 10 minutes of AFL football under his belt will go past a guy who has played AA quality football since 2020.

Bruhn is a bit more realistic but is still a 2-3 years from hitting his peak and is unlikely to go past Atkins or Guthrie.

We want them to be going past guys like Bews, Tuohy and Rohan. Then pressuring guys like O'Connor and Bowes to be at their best to make the side. And probably those guys shifting back to defence rather than running through midfield unless they step up big time.

 

[Hamingja]

I'll be hoping Ginbey doesn't put a big gap on Clark this year.

It is way too early to make a call on any of them but I wouldn't have any Ginbey regret at this point. Eagles fans can froth over a few tackles because they had very few positives to grab a hold of last season. I would want to see a bit more than that out of a top 10 pick.

 

[Hamingja]

Except Jhye played 1 quarter and had a bunch of standout traits when he came on - albeit for limited time.

He was quick out of the contest with a good sidestep (not overly fast, just had a good first few steps to get out of congestion), he was tough - laying 5 tackles in a bit over a quarter -, and he found the ball easily in such a short time.

He'll be a very good player, and he's ready to go if he's over his foot issues. Won't be a slow burn at all.

With the criticism of Holmes and Bruhn on this board I wish you luck fighting the fight for the next couple of years. Our fans have zero patience.

 

[D BRIDGE]

The next Butters? Now we are talking

Yeah he plays a similar style... but probably just without that Butters sidestep.

Both the same draft pick, both the same size, and both play with that Viney tenacity and hunt player and ball harder than most.

There are plenty of similarities.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

For this year thats just not going to happen.

Guthrie didn't solidify a place in the team until his 3rd season and that was as a small defender. Unless he drops off a cliff which would be a major problem there's no way Clark at 20 with 10 minutes of AFL football under his belt will go past a guy who has played AA quality football since 2020.

Bruhn is a bit more realistic but is still a 2-3 years from hitting his peak and is unlikely to go past Atkins or Guthrie.

We want them to be going past guys like Bews, Tuohy and Rohan. Then pressuring guys like O'Connor and Bowes to be at their best to make the side. And probably those guys shifting back to defence rather than running through midfield unless they step up big time.

They will fast track clark as hes one of our best young talents in a long time. I agree he wont push guthrie out.
But i see times where danger wont play full time mid anymore because physically he cant do that load (as injuries show)
I also see times where blitz will have to play as the frontline ruck (as stanley is almost done and conway isnt ready) and sdk or henry will end up as the 2nd ruck (much as i dont like it) unless we play neale.
That will create room for an extra mid which will likely be clark.

The other option is they might start clark as a hbf to get him in the team-its not that hard to drop one of bowes or moc or bews to get him in (those 3 played 48 games between them this year) and we may have tried him there this year if he was fit.

My point is id be very surprised if he isnt in there a lot in 2024. We were a much better team full of elite mid aged players in 2010 (compared to what we are now) which is why guys like guthrie had to bide their time more than what clark will need to.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I assume cos Ginbey was the pick after Clark in last year’s draft (i.e. he’s hoping we didn’t make a mistake choosing Clark over Ginbey).

Ginbey could end up the better player and if there's not much in it then we've probably still made the right decision. We'll never know but Clark not so much a flight risk over Ginbey.

If Clark asks for a trade we well and truly done goofed

 

[Kobe Gryant]

It is way too early to make a call on any of them but I wouldn't have any Ginbey regret at this point. Eagles fans can froth over a few tackles because they had very few positives to grab a hold of last season. I would want to see a bit more than that out of a top 10 pick.

If we'd taken Ginbey and our fans actually got to watch him every week rather than look for the headlines/highlights, then it would be a very similar response to what we're seeing with Clark, Bruhn, Holmes & Knevitt.

Could genuinely pictute posts like this in my mind from a few on here:

"Yeah, he's a good tackler...but you'd want more from a top 10 pick surely? He can't find the ball, and if anything he's more of an Atkins replacement than a Dangerfield clone"

 

[Shadow89]

With the criticism of Holmes and Bruhn on this board I wish you luck fighting the fight for the next couple of years. Our fans have zero patience.

Dw mate, I'm usually the one who fights the fight - so I'm no stranger to it, haha. Been defending Bruhn for a year since we thought about trading him in. Been defending Jhye for a year over Phillipou and Ginbey since it was apparent we were going to select him.

I honestly think we hang way too much shit on our own sometimes on here. Nothing wrong with critique, but it always seems to be a 'grass is greener ' attitude with some about our players - despite not having the same access to high end talent...but yet being the most successful team of the modern era.

We can't change who our players are, they're at our club and we love our club - so we should love our players and back them and the club in. 16 years of relative success should allow us to trust in those that are much more qualified to judge than we are.

 

[Footy Smarts]

With the criticism of Holmes and Bruhn on this board I wish you luck fighting the fight for the next couple of years. Our fans have zero patience.

Most 3rd year players receiving 20 coaches votes in a year are looked upon as future stars. With Holmes we have fans suggesting he be traded and wondering if he'll make it

 

[Mr Meow]

Most 3rd year players receiving 20 coaches votes in a year are looked upon as future stars. With Holmes we have fans suggesting he be traded and wondering if he'll make it

I'm guilty myself, but I think we expected too much too soon in 2023 - particularly in the midst of a never ending injury crisis. Until we had to front up without Danger (on top of many others) in round 9, Holmes was playing really well. He lost consistency after that but that's normal for a young player.

Holmes did improve his ball winning capacity but lacked polish with the footy - his score involvements, goals and goal assist tallies all took a hit. If he cleans that up he's already a damaging wingman with Rozee-like potential on ball in years to come.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

So Jhye Clark 13.......how ARE you feeling about the season ahead?

Very good after today.

 

[you pick one]

Same reason why St Kilda ended up caring that they took Billings over Bont or Richmond taking Tambling over Buddy or Richmond taking Fiora over Pav.

It would have been a toss-up between Ginbey and Clark... We went with the local kid, and that's fair enough... I'll be hoping Ginbey doesn't end up making that look like a bad call.

Fingers crossed Clark makes it look like an inspired call.

Plenty of water to go under the bridge though, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on Ginbey (it's impossible for me not to).

Hawks taking Mitch Thorp at 6 leaving Joel What's his name to us.

 

[D BRIDGE]

Hawks taking Mitch Thorp at 6 leaving Joel What's his name to us.

Hopefully we can look at the Hawks taking McKenzie the pick before Jhye Clark in time and feel the same way about it as we do Thorp over Selwood.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Hawks taking Mitch Thorp at 6 leaving Joel What's his name to us.

Talk dirty to me!

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Hopefully we can look at the Hawks taking McKenzie the pick before Jhye Clark in time and feel the same way about it as we do Thorp over Selwood.

Unfortunately it looks like McKenzie will be a good player....

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Unfortunately it looks like McKenzie will be a good player....

We can't win them all by a ridiculous gap (Thorp, Selwood) but I'd say both clubs are pretty happy with how that one went down.

We needed a young bull to complement Bruhn because we already had the Holmes and even Dempsey types to provide some polish and speed.

Hawks were kinda the opposite. Already had Newcombe, Worpel, & Nash as pure contest guys, they wanted the first receiver rather than another grunt type like Clark.

Not to say that Jhye doesn't have class, he does, but they're different players who excel in different areas.

 

[D BRIDGE]

Unfortunately it looks like McKenzie will be a good player....

McKenzie should be a solid player.
Clark should be a solid player.

I just hope Ginbey doesn’t turn out to be a real star.

Anyway Clark still has plenty of time to develop.

He is two years behind Bruhn/Holmes and they haven’t really hit their straps yet.

Hoping Clark can fast track it but just looking at his body size and the way he plays, I think he is still a while away from being a difference maker.

He is probably going to be a real raging bull type in the middle (Viney style)… but at his size, he can’t do that right now.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

McKenzie should be a solid player.
Clark should be a solid player.

I just hope Ginbey doesn’t turn out to be a real star.

Anyway Clark still has plenty of time to develop.

He is two years behind Bruhn/Holmes and they haven’t really hit their straps yet.

Hoping Clark can fast track it but just looking at his body size and the way he plays, I think he is still a while away from being a difference maker.

He is probably going to be a real raging bull type in the middle (Viney style)… but at his size, he can’t do that right now.

Ginbey could become the player of the draft, but also, his main weapon is his size and strength. Here is an 18 year old kid smaller than him putting him on his arse during training for reference

https://www.reddit.com/r/westcoasteagles/s/XXBWrswgqT

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Ginbey could become the player of the draft, but also, his main weapon is his size and strength. Here is an 18 year old kid smaller than him putting him on his arse during training for reference

https://www.reddit.com/r/westcoasteagles/s/XXBWrswgqT

He also makes Tanner Bruhn look like Greg Williams in terms of his ability to find the footy.

I rate the kid and wish him all the best, but I wouldn't be stressing about taking Clark over him thus far.

The watch is Phillipou for mine. Still hasn't done anything unprecedented, but playing every game for a team that played finals as a kid born in December is pretty impressive.

He's a watch this space, but I guess he came with his own bunch of issues that put a lot of clubs off, and rightfully so.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

He also makes Tanner Bruhn look like Greg Williams in terms of his ability to find the footy.

I rate the kid and wish him all the best, but I wouldn't be stressing about taking Clark over him thus far.

The watch is Phillipou for mine. Still hasn't done anything unprecedented, but playing every game for a team that played finals as a kid born in December is pretty impressive.

He's a watch this space, but I guess he came with his own bunch of issues that put a lot of clubs off, and rightfully so.

Phillipou could end up really good but also may just be a forward long term. Plus he was a flight risk iirc right?

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Phillipou could end up really good but also may just be a forward long term. Plus he was a flight risk iirc right?

I'm not sure he was a flight-risk. He was pretty open about wanting to play for a big Victorian club, and play at the MCG during finals.

I think clubs just thought he was a d**khead who was a bit ahead of himself.

I remember reading on the Saints board that during an interview Dodoro said to him that they wouldn't be drafting him, and he responded with "You'll pay for that".

If true, I kind of respect his self belief and I don't mind a bit of FIGJAM (providing you can back it up), but I can understand that could have turned a lot of clubs off, including us.