Player Watch Riley Thilthorpe

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Peter Doherty said:
Thilthorpe has a high ceiling as a mobile ruck. A Dean Cox type.

People aren't suggesting him being a ruck with the vision of him being a lumbering tap ruck who offers nothing else.

They're thinking a mobile, contested marking beast that links in through transition between the arcs. He'll be a threat up forward even when playing ruck.

It'd be a waste to play him purely as a forward if he has the absolute elite mobile ruck potential.
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Well I can't say I've ever seen anything in his AFL ruckwork that could make me believe he had elite
ruck potential. Elite mobile roaming contested marking centre half forward now that's another story altogether.
 
1990crow said:
Of course no one is suggesting he would be a lumbering type.
I disagree it would be a waste, an elite key forward is 1000x more beneficial than an elite ruck.
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A Josh Kennedy is not x1000 better than a Dean Cox.

It's a lot closer call if the ruck is at the absolute elite tier.
 

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There's no reason to project that Thilthorpe will be the greatest ruck of all time, it's not showed in games.

People develop the same fallacy each time we get a tall mobile type, that those traits will result in a dominant ruckman. Brad Moran syndrome. It doesn't do respect to the craft of rucking. It's extremely specialised, and still less valuable than forwards.
 
1990crow said:
Of course no one is suggesting he would be a lumbering type.
I disagree it would be a waste, an elite key forward is 1000x more beneficial than an elite ruck.
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He will be also resting forward, I still recall the Collingwood game last year where he actually lead the ruck ahead of ROB who started on the bench and end up with 17 disposals, 7 marks (some very strong contested marks around the ground) and still kicked 1.3 when he was resting forward.
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ABAB said:
He will be also resting forward, I still recall the Collingwood game last year where he actually lead the ruck ahead of ROB who started on the bench and end up with 17 disposals, 7 marks (some very strong contested marks around the ground) and still kicked 1.3 when he was resting forward.
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I would rather see him as a dominant forward than a dominant ruck
 

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cleanhands said:
I would rather see him as a dominant forward than a dominant ruck
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How many shots on goal would a dominant forward have? 6ish so he wasn't far off that while playing as a resting forward and being a dominant 5th midfielder around stoppage getting clearance with his elite handball and vision and taking contested mark around the ground to start transition with his excellent aggressive kicks.
 
ABAB said:
How many shots on goal would a dominant forward have? 6ish so he wasn't far off that while playing as a resting forward and being a dominant 5th midfielder around stoppage getting clearance with his elite handball and vision and taking contested mark around the ground to start transition with his excellent aggressive kicks.
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FMD that’s a Brownlow medallist
 
Would just like him to work on his marking in the off season has all the skills and athletic ability just needs to clunk a few more marks to give him the opportunity to kick more goals/ have more possessions
 
Ruckman are relatively unimportant in the AFL.

Thilthorpe needs to become a forward. Whether that is a more athletic roaming forward a la Nick Riewoldt or an 80Fwd/20Ruck key forward like Tippett.

Absolutely wasting his talent in the Ruck.

Not to concerned - if he steps up great. Most important is we keep getting him AFL games and letting him develop. At 202cm and only 21 years old. Pencil him in to consistently dominate from 2026 onwards. If he does it earlier its a bonus.
 
ams4crows said:
Would just like him to work on his marking in the off season has all the skills and athletic ability just needs to clunk a few more marks to give him the opportunity to kick more goals/ have more possessions
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Have seen this comment a bit recently, but it's not actually backed up in reality (see a game like the one just gone or the Showdown for a perfect example of his marking ability).

As a 3rd year tall forward, he has 36 contested marks for the year to be ranked equal 8th with Tex (ahead of the likes of Naughton who is considered an elite contested mark and only 4 behind Gawn). Only 17 goals 8 behinds for the year, but he's playing in a forward line with a lot of scoring options, so obviously not as easy to standout. He isn't just limited to the scoreboard though given how mobile he is, with an average of 5 score involvements (8 goal assists in that), 1 tackle I50, 6 hitouts and 1 clearance per game.

Still could be 1-2 seasons away from truly dominating games week in, week out, but that's very normal for the majority of key forwards (hitting their best form in year 5 or 6). We have a potential star forward of the comp here, just need to be patient when he has quiet games and continue to back him in.
 
He has easily the lowest game time of any of our regularly selected players this year. He'll play more as his career develops, has all the tools and will be a star. The only question is whether it will be a top 5 players in the comp level of performance or just merely a very good player.

I think generally most key forwards start to show what they are capable of and have their first strong seasons around 22-23, and most don't peak until a good while later. Have a look around at other key forwards at 21 and you won't see a lot who are miles ahead of Thilthorpe, aside from maybe generational stars like Franklin and a few particularly quick developers. He's obviously not actually playing full time as a key forward either.

Various key forwards at age 21:
Riley Thilthorpe: 38 games, 41 goals
Taylor Walker: 36 games, 70 goals
Darcy Fogarty: 24 games, 26 goals
Tom Lynch: 38 games, 35 goals (the GC/Richmond one)
Charlie Curnow: 27 games, 25 goals
Max King: 32 games, 42 goals
Ben King: 46 games, 80 goals
Jeremy Cameron: 39 games, 96 goals
Tom Hawkins: 34 games, 45 goals
Jack Riewoldt: 46 games, 57 goals
Nick Riewoldt: 50 games, 53 goals
Lance Franklin: 56 games, 125 goals

The fact that he's not kicking tons of goals or holding down a full-time forward line spot at this age isn't a big deal. As long as he's improving a bit each year, give him until 23 or so at least.
 
NSolis said:
He has easily the lowest game time of any of our regularly selected players this year. He'll play more as his career develops, has all the tools and will be a star. The only question is whether it will be a top 5 players in the comp level of performance or just merely a very good player.

I think generally most key forwards start to show what they are capable of and have their first strong seasons around 22-23, and most don't peak until a good while later. Have a look around at other key forwards at 21 and you won't see a lot who are miles ahead of Thilthorpe, aside from maybe generational stars like Franklin and a few particularly quick developers. He's obviously not actually playing full time as a key forward either.

Various key forwards at age 21:
Riley Thilthorpe: 38 games, 41 goals
Taylor Walker: 36 games, 70 goals
Darcy Fogarty: 24 games, 26 goals
Tom Lynch: 38 games, 35 goals (the GC/Richmond one)
Charlie Curnow: 27 games, 25 goals
Max King: 32 games, 42 goals
Ben King: 46 games, 80 goals
Jeremy Cameron: 39 games, 96 goals
Tom Hawkins: 34 games, 45 goals
Jack Riewoldt: 46 games, 57 goals
Nick Riewoldt: 50 games, 53 goals
Lance Franklin: 56 games, 125 goals

The fact that he's not kicking tons of goals or holding down a full-time forward line spot at this age isn't a big deal. As long as he's improving a bit each year, give him until 23 or so at least.
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I thought 'gee Tex got off to a decent start' until I saw Cameron and Franklin lol.
 
BACCS said:
Have seen this comment a bit recently, but it's not actually backed up in reality (see a game like the one just gone or the Showdown for a perfect example of his marking ability).

As a 3rd year tall forward, he has 36 contested marks for the year to be ranked equal 8th with Tex (ahead of the likes of Naughton who is considered an elite contested mark and only 4 behind Gawn). Only 17 goals 8 behinds for the year, but he's playing in a forward line with a lot of scoring options, so obviously not as easy to standout. He isn't just limited to the scoreboard though given how mobile he is, with an average of 5 score involvements (8 goal assists in that), 1 tackle I50, 6 hitouts and 1 clearance per game.

Still could be 1-2 seasons away from truly dominating games week in, week out, but that's very normal for the majority of key forwards (hitting their best form in year 5 or 6). We have a potential star forward of the comp here, just need to be patient when he has quiet games and continue to back him in.
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Is there a stat showing how many attempts? A percentage would be a lot more accurate than just who has taken the most.
I have a feeling he would be going ok there as well
 
Watching TT a lot over the last couple of weeks, was at the Gabba last night. Riley seems to take good pack marks around the ground, in Defence but rarely in front of goal. Anyone think he could grow into our version of Darcy Moore? He seems to read it better for some reason in defence and round the ground not end up running under it all the time. That and he would be more athletic below his waist than a lot of forwards he is quite attacking minded also able to hit up that 30m pass to someone in space, gather and give by hand well also

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Jetwa5h said:
Watching TT a lot over the last couple of weeks, was at the Gabba last night. Riley seems to take good pack marks around the ground, in Defence but rarely in front of goal. Anyone think he could grow into our version of Darcy Moore? He seems to read it better for some reason in defence and round the ground not end up running under it all the time. That and he would be more athletic below his waist than a lot of forwards he is quite attacking minded also able to hit up that 30m pass to someone in space, gather and give by hand well also

On Pixel 7 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app
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