So who is the most underrated player in the AFL?

[My name geoff]

I also think Mitchell is every bit as good as Diesel, yet that is normally scoffed at.

Why?

He wins the hard ball, does it every week and it incredible by hand and foot on both sides of this body. People who say Diesel was better mystify me. Both all time greats.

The only difference I can think of is that diesel hit the scoreboard

 

[Dylan8]

Picken joining the likes of Jones, Smith and Schulz as guys who are mentioned so much as being underrated that they are actually adequately rated.

 

[WCE_phil]

The only difference I can think of is that diesel hit the scoreboard

Diesel is to mitchell as michael voss is to luke hodge in that other thread on the main board yesterday. Mitchell is a great player but diesel is one of the all time very, very best.

 

[MAGA]

I say Alex Rance still. It's hard to fly like an eagle when you are surrounded by turkeys but somehow he manages to do it.

 

[rapido]

Dale Morris. And he's been underrated for the last 10 years, at least.

 

[Bardo State]

Robbie Gray. Well, kinda. People know he's good, they just don't know how good he is.
Here's the top 30 players in the AFL. A couple of really underrated players in there.
View attachment 290247

Interesting number 9 there.

 

[THATSGOLD]

Picken joining the likes of Jones, Smith and Schulz as guys who are mentioned so much as being underrated that they are actually adequately rated.

Needs to be recognised in an All Australian team.

 

[Thrawn]

I also think Mitchell is every bit as good as Diesel, yet that is normally scoffed at.

Why?

He wins the hard ball, does it every week and it incredible by hand and foot on both sides of this body. People who say Diesel was better mystify me. Both all time greats.

Diesel could kick bags of goals in addition to that. Mitchell is the modern-day Williams, but I don't think he's as good.

 

[MitchRobinson12]

Diesel could kick bags of goals in addition to that. Mitchell is the modern-day Williams, but I don't think he's as good.

Diesel had 53 disposals and 6 goals in a game. He also had 31 disposals and kicked 5 in a grand final.

Diesel consistently accumulated 30+ disposals most games in a time where the disposal counts weren't inflated due to chipping backwards and multiple 1 2's.

Mitchell is easily the best comparison to Diesel in this era and is one of the all time greats, but Diesel is AFL team of the century great.

 

[My name geoff]

I say Alex Rance still. It's hard to fly like an eagle when you are surrounded by turkeys but somehow he manages to do it.

Easton wood is a better and more underrated player for mine. Does what Rance does, but actually marks the footy. Unbelievable player.

 

[My name geoff]

Diesel is to mitchell as michael voss is to luke hodge in that other thread on the main board yesterday. Mitchell is a great player but diesel is one of the all time very, very best.

I think Mitchell is a supremely skilled, elusive player, but Williams was a freak who could see the play unfolding two steps ahead of everyone else.

The amount of times you would see Williams anticipate an opposition mistake when no one else would or get to the right spots for a spillage was amazing.

 

[ManOfClay]

Patrick Cripps. Highly rated but being in a shit side, people don't appreciate how good he is. Top 5 mid in the comp right now.

Cripps is more overrated. Especially based on how much Carlton fans talk him up. Gets talked up based on raw numbers but doesn't have enough of an effect most of the time.

A top 5 mid in the comp either needs to kick the ball more than eight times a game or use the ball more efficiently than Cripps does.

Not even being in the AA squad of 40 is a good indication Cripps isn't in the top 5 mids. Might be pushing top 10

 

[wce4premiership]

Scott Thompson from the crows.

Just gets the job done every week. At his best would hold his own against the best mids in the comp but would never get a mention.

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

No way.

I've seen a bit of Adelaide, horrible kick and as slow as they get. Seems to turn the ball over at the worst times. Should have probably retired.

 

[Garlic muncher]

Picken from the Bulldogs, barometer of their desperation, skills are underrated as his desperation is on show all the time.

Collingwood missed out on a good one here.

 

[autocol]

I always have to double take when I hear that he's 30. He looks about 12.

Picken is 30!? I would never have guessed that!

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

I'm sure he's been mentioned before, but Kade Simpson for me.
Averaged nearly 21 touches a game over 260+ games.
Only played less than 20 games in a season once in the past 11 seasons (19 games in 2012), so very durable. Hasn't averaged under 21 touches a game for the past 8 seasons. Only averaged under 5 marks per game once in the past 11 seasons (4.68 in 2007). Always one of the smallest guys on the ground, but always one of the hardest.

From another team, I would say Nathan Jones. I like the way he goes about things. Averaged over 25 touches a game over the past 5 seasons, but rarely gets the accolades.

 

[Supersuns]

Steven May, playing in a team that hemorrhages goals he is fantastic defender, able to shut down on forwards, good intercept marking and can easily kick it 60 odd meters. Also a great leader.
But he is hardly mentioned in the best defenders in the league

 

[Coops93]

Cripps is more overrated. Especially based on how much Carlton fans talk him up. Gets talked up based on raw numbers but doesn't have enough of an effect most of the time.

A top 5 mid in the comp either needs to kick the ball more than eight times a game or use the ball more efficiently than Cripps does.

Not even being in the AA squad of 40 is a good indication Cripps isn't in the top 5 mids. Might be pushing top 10

Hard to have an effect in our team. Who is a forward in our lineup to kick to efficiently? On the handball numbers, if Cripps isn't inside getting the ball out, who else would? The amount of times he is inside a pack feeding the ball out is ludicrous. It's not as though he's in a position to choose between kicking and hand balling.

But overall I agree he does need to kick more, but it's hard when 19 of your 25 touches are contested. His contested ball and clearances are the best in the AFL. Clearances by a significant margin too. That should put him in consideration for top 5. But I'd put him maybe at 6 or 7, for the same reasons you gave. But his dominance in the other areas make up for it to an extent. He's definitely not overrated, but I wouldn't say he's underrated either. He's fine the he is rated right now imo.

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

Hard to have an effect in our team. Who is a forward in our lineup to kick to efficiently? On the handball numbers, if Cripps isn't inside getting the ball out, who else would? The amount of times he is inside a pack feeding the ball out is ludicrous. It's not as though he's in a position to choose between kicking and hand balling.

But overall I agree he does need to kick more, but it's hard when 19 of your 25 touches are contested. His contested ball and clearances are the best in the AFL. Clearances by a significant margin too. That should put him in consideration for top 5. But I'd put him maybe at 6 or 7, for the same reasons you gave. But his dominance in the other areas make up for it to an extent. He's definitely not overrated, but I wouldn't say he's underrated either. He's fine the he is rated right now imo.

I honestly don't think Cripps should be included in this thread. Would he get more recognition if he was in a better side? Without doubt, but I don't think that makes him underrated as such. He's just very new to being a top player.
As far as his kicking vs handballing goes, I trust that a Cripps handball will be more damaging than a Cripps kick. He rarely handballs to a player under pressure, usually while under immense pressure himself. He always seems to have more time than most and makes sure he looks for the best option. Can't say I can think of any specific occasions when I have thought 'Cripps really should have made that 40m kick to a 50/50 contest instead of that 25m handball to a player in space'.
His lack of recognition is similar to the likes of Merrett. Just hasn't really been doing it long enough yet, but the recognition will come in the next year or two. 1-2 seasons isn't very long to be considered one of the best in the league. Bontempelli is probably slightly ahead of the curve. He's played a few more games than Cripps, but similar to Merrett, but has been playing in a better side and playing finals.
If Merrett continues to play to his current standards next year when the banned players are back and Cripps continues his upward trend from this season, they will both start getting the accolades.

 

[year of the cat]

Cam Guthrie

Easily Geelong's most underrated.

 

[Coops93]

I honestly don't think Cripps should be included in this thread. Would he get more recognition if he was in a better side? Without doubt, but I don't think that makes him underrated as such. He's just very new to being a top player.
As far as his kicking vs handballing goes, I trust that a Cripps handball will be more damaging than a Cripps kick. He rarely handballs to a player under pressure, usually while under immense pressure himself. He always seems to have more time than most and makes sure he looks for the best option. Can't say I can think of any specific occasions when I have thought 'Cripps really should have made that 40m kick to a 50/50 contest instead of that 25m handball to a player in space'.
His lack of recognition is similar to the likes of Merrett. Just hasn't really been doing it long enough yet, but the recognition will come in the next year or two. 1-2 seasons isn't very long to be considered one of the best in the league. Bontempelli is probably slightly ahead of the curve. He's played a few more games than Cripps, but similar to Merrett, but has been playing in a better side and playing finals.
If Merrett continues to play to his current standards next year when the banned players are back and Cripps continues his upward trend from this season, they will both start getting the accolades.

As I said, he's not underrated but definitely not overrated. He's fine the way he is viewed right now.

But yeah, I've not seen an issue with him handballing so much more at this point in his career. I'd trust him to hit a 20m handball under pressure than to hit a 20m kick under no pressure. He will get better at kicking, but he's still developing. Just remember he's only 21 yrs old. Still 3 or 4 years from his prime. Same with Merrett and Bont. It's easy to think that these guys are in there primes right now and can't get any better. But they're all still well off of there best footy yet by a good 2-5 years!

Scary!

 

[captain cotch 9]

Nick Vlaustin is under rated by oppo supporters IMO.
Im not saying he is a superstar but he is a bloody good player

 

[My name geoff]

Cripps is more overrated. Especially based on how much Carlton fans talk him up. Gets talked up based on raw numbers but doesn't have enough of an effect most of the time.

A top 5 mid in the comp either needs to kick the ball more than eight times a game or use the ball more efficiently than Cripps does.

Not even being in the AA squad of 40 is a good indication Cripps isn't in the top 5 mids. Might be pushing top 10

Not being in the aa squad of 40 is exactly why I view him as underrated..

If you put him in the crows line up on sat night I think that they would have beaten the swans.

The only other midfielders I think could have had that same level of dominance to decide the game would be fyfe, Kennedy, Dangerfield and Bont

 

[TheDyerLegacy]

Clive Waterhouse.

 

[Major Colvin]

Nick Smith from Sydney - utterly destroyed that showpony Betts on the weekend. Betts might have a pocket on every ground in Australia, unless of course there's a decent opponent guarding that pocket. Smith has been getting the job done for years, I'd love him at the Dees.