Position Defender Discussion
- Thread starter IDIG
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94 AFLF, 61% TOG of any interest.
Tbh I had forgotten he was playing all star when I posed the question, but just know that I reckon I've had both Petracca and Mills at some point in each of the last 4 years and they've both appealed as highly rated midfield juniors who have teased at SC and never really had the expected role, while scoring ok ish for forward and defence (such that when I'm desperately looking for mid season filler they look appealing enough when I have no more money)
Maybe I should roll the dice one more time...
Tbh I had forgotten he was playing all star when I posed the question, but just know that I reckon I've had both Petracca and Mills at some point in each of the last 4 years and they've both appealed as highly rated midfield juniors who have teased at SC and never really had the expected role, while scoring ok ish for forward and defence (such that when I'm desperately looking for mid season filler they look appealing enough when I have no more money)
Maybe I should roll the dice one more time...
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[QUOTE="Herbie66, post: 564654, member: 281"]What position did Houston predominately play as a junior ?
I thought he debuted as a forward.[/QUOTE]
2015 Player Profile: Dan Houston
July 1, 2015 by Staff Writers
Dan Houston
Oakleigh Chargers
Height: 187 cm
Weight: 83 kg
Position: Key forward/third tall/utility
Strengths: Overhead marking, set shots, vision and crumbing
Weaknesses: Undersized, flexibility, tackling and forward pressure.
Player comparison: Mark LeCras
First-year output: Long-term prospect
Kicking: Average
Marking: Excellent
Endurance: Above average
Speed: Average
Statistics:
Oakleigh Chargers (TAC Cup) – five games, 9.6 kicks, 5.2 handballs, 15 disposals, 72 per cent disposal efficiency, seven marks, 2.6 tackles, 1.6 goals
Vic Metro (Under 18s Championships) – three games, 7.3 kicks, two handballs, 9.3 disposals, 66 per cent efficiency, five marks, two tackles, 1.6 goals
Dan Houston is a future prospect, who could develop into an important player if he is able to add more strings to his bow. Most would know him from his work in Oakleigh’s grand final win last year, where he took several telling marks in the forward 50, and casually slotted even the toughest of attempts.
Houston is an undersized key forward in the way he plays, but he’s got many forward aspects to his game. Houston has a bit of Mark LeCras about him in his game style. He is one of the hardest working players on the lead, as he continually leads up towards the 50, but then he’ll double back and do second or third leads.
He’s one of the best key forwards in this year’s draft crop when the ball hits the deck. He has great special awareness, and strength to bust out of tackles. He can duck and weave through traffic and he is a tremendous finisher around the body. He can crumb his own work, so he’s got the ability to fit in any forward line as a unique forward.
The big question mark over Houston is his ability to do it more often. Besides from his four goals against South Australia, he has not set the world on fire at the under 18 championships. He averages seven marks per week for the Oakleigh Chargers, but just 1.6 goals. This is attributed to the fact he spent the first few games in defence – a move that did not work out.
After switching back to the forward line, Houston booted five goals against the Eastern Ranges last week. He has that ability to be very good, he just needs to apply it more often. The majority of Houston’s marks come from his hard leading, but his athleticism allows him to create separation on his lead. He’s also got a pretty good leap and excellent aerial skills, which allows him to take overhead pack marks.
Houston is one of the better set shot kicks in the TAC Cup. His ball drop and kicking action are quite good. He’s clearly spent plenty of time on this, as he has improved his goal kicking accuracy. Quite often, Houston will have two or three really difficult shots from long range or from a tough angle, but it often does not worry him. This is not to say he is an unbelievable shot at goal, but he is up there in terms of set shot kickers.
Houston kicked 26 goals and 14 behinds from 13 games as an underage prospect last year. His two best games statistically were his seven-goal haul against Queensland and then his nine marks (five contested) and three goals against the Geelong Falcons the following week.
Houston has great vision, and in the right AFL setting, he could play as a high half forward delivering the ball into the forward 50. His passing isn’t quite as good as his kicking on goal, but it is still very effective.
Despite having all these talents, Houston is a bit of a gamble for some clubs. His size is obviously an issue, as clubs wouldn’t want to take someone who has played his best football as a key tall, yet is less than 190 centimetres. His type is the least draftable player in football, with very few finding their way through to the AFL.
One only has to look as far as Gippsland’s Josh Scott who dominated as an over-ager and he failed to find a place on an AFL list. They are a similar type and Scott was booting bigger bags that Houston, although to the Oakleigh forward’s credit, he has better athleticism than Scott.
Houston is well built, athletically gifted and has the skill set to play in a traditionally smaller player’s role. Oakleigh tried to play Houston off the half back line and occasionally through the middle. Unfortunately, he just didn’t have his usual influence, and couldn’t find the ball enough to be damaging. It was only a small sample size, but it looks abundantly clear that his skill set is best suited up forward.
Kyle Langford played a very similar role to Houston last year for the Knights, but it was Langford’s versatility that got him drafted so highly. Importantly, Langford was able to lay plenty of tackles, and increase his disposal numbers to around 15-20 touches most weeks. Langford was also excellent as a backman too. Indeed, Langford was also a similar height at 190 cm, although he was much skinnier. Houston needs to follow in Langford’s steps and show that he can get better defensively inside the forward 50.
In order to get drafted, Houston needs to ensure he is not pigeon-holed as an undersized key forward. He needs to keep building on what the coaches have tried to do by moving up the field, or dominate inside forward 50. This means raising his goals per game average to between three to four goals and becoming a dominant key forward.
If he can do this, he stands a good chance of being drafted, but he needs to put his hand up and demand to be picked with strong performances in the second half of the season, because his best is very good, he just needs to do it more often.
I thought he debuted as a forward.[/QUOTE]
2015 Player Profile: Dan Houston
July 1, 2015 by Staff Writers
Dan Houston
Oakleigh Chargers
Height: 187 cm
Weight: 83 kg
Position: Key forward/third tall/utility
Strengths: Overhead marking, set shots, vision and crumbing
Weaknesses: Undersized, flexibility, tackling and forward pressure.
Player comparison: Mark LeCras
First-year output: Long-term prospect
Kicking: Average
Marking: Excellent
Endurance: Above average
Speed: Average
Statistics:
Oakleigh Chargers (TAC Cup) – five games, 9.6 kicks, 5.2 handballs, 15 disposals, 72 per cent disposal efficiency, seven marks, 2.6 tackles, 1.6 goals
Vic Metro (Under 18s Championships) – three games, 7.3 kicks, two handballs, 9.3 disposals, 66 per cent efficiency, five marks, two tackles, 1.6 goals
Dan Houston is a future prospect, who could develop into an important player if he is able to add more strings to his bow. Most would know him from his work in Oakleigh’s grand final win last year, where he took several telling marks in the forward 50, and casually slotted even the toughest of attempts.
Houston is an undersized key forward in the way he plays, but he’s got many forward aspects to his game. Houston has a bit of Mark LeCras about him in his game style. He is one of the hardest working players on the lead, as he continually leads up towards the 50, but then he’ll double back and do second or third leads.
He’s one of the best key forwards in this year’s draft crop when the ball hits the deck. He has great special awareness, and strength to bust out of tackles. He can duck and weave through traffic and he is a tremendous finisher around the body. He can crumb his own work, so he’s got the ability to fit in any forward line as a unique forward.
The big question mark over Houston is his ability to do it more often. Besides from his four goals against South Australia, he has not set the world on fire at the under 18 championships. He averages seven marks per week for the Oakleigh Chargers, but just 1.6 goals. This is attributed to the fact he spent the first few games in defence – a move that did not work out.
After switching back to the forward line, Houston booted five goals against the Eastern Ranges last week. He has that ability to be very good, he just needs to apply it more often. The majority of Houston’s marks come from his hard leading, but his athleticism allows him to create separation on his lead. He’s also got a pretty good leap and excellent aerial skills, which allows him to take overhead pack marks.
Houston is one of the better set shot kicks in the TAC Cup. His ball drop and kicking action are quite good. He’s clearly spent plenty of time on this, as he has improved his goal kicking accuracy. Quite often, Houston will have two or three really difficult shots from long range or from a tough angle, but it often does not worry him. This is not to say he is an unbelievable shot at goal, but he is up there in terms of set shot kickers.
Houston kicked 26 goals and 14 behinds from 13 games as an underage prospect last year. His two best games statistically were his seven-goal haul against Queensland and then his nine marks (five contested) and three goals against the Geelong Falcons the following week.
Houston has great vision, and in the right AFL setting, he could play as a high half forward delivering the ball into the forward 50. His passing isn’t quite as good as his kicking on goal, but it is still very effective.
Despite having all these talents, Houston is a bit of a gamble for some clubs. His size is obviously an issue, as clubs wouldn’t want to take someone who has played his best football as a key tall, yet is less than 190 centimetres. His type is the least draftable player in football, with very few finding their way through to the AFL.
One only has to look as far as Gippsland’s Josh Scott who dominated as an over-ager and he failed to find a place on an AFL list. They are a similar type and Scott was booting bigger bags that Houston, although to the Oakleigh forward’s credit, he has better athleticism than Scott.
Houston is well built, athletically gifted and has the skill set to play in a traditionally smaller player’s role. Oakleigh tried to play Houston off the half back line and occasionally through the middle. Unfortunately, he just didn’t have his usual influence, and couldn’t find the ball enough to be damaging. It was only a small sample size, but it looks abundantly clear that his skill set is best suited up forward.
Kyle Langford played a very similar role to Houston last year for the Knights, but it was Langford’s versatility that got him drafted so highly. Importantly, Langford was able to lay plenty of tackles, and increase his disposal numbers to around 15-20 touches most weeks. Langford was also excellent as a backman too. Indeed, Langford was also a similar height at 190 cm, although he was much skinnier. Houston needs to follow in Langford’s steps and show that he can get better defensively inside the forward 50.
In order to get drafted, Houston needs to ensure he is not pigeon-holed as an undersized key forward. He needs to keep building on what the coaches have tried to do by moving up the field, or dominate inside forward 50. This means raising his goals per game average to between three to four goals and becoming a dominant key forward.
If he can do this, he stands a good chance of being drafted, but he needs to put his hand up and demand to be picked with strong performances in the second half of the season, because his best is very good, he just needs to do it more often.
Hi guys. I'm looking forward to getting back into it again - 1 guy that I (everyone) had last year was Sydney Stack. That worked out pretty well... There's a bunch of DEF maybes in that range (pros, cons) - but Stack has plenty of upside imo, has shown he can score alright & Tigers will win plenty of games again. Thoughts?
(there's probably a reason that I haven't seen his name mentioned lol)
(there's probably a reason that I haven't seen his name mentioned lol)
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I've seen worse options and that's not being derogatory, just that I've seen worse options.
His numbers for a first year player were great, just the issue of being a first year player because although there is an expectation to progress, this isn't always the case and some players stagnate or even regress.
Go with your gut if you prefer him over other options, I wouldn't be suprised to see him improve personally, he's alerady shown he can get the numbers, now just needs to show he can do it consistantly.
His numbers for a first year player were great, just the issue of being a first year player because although there is an expectation to progress, this isn't always the case and some players stagnate or even regress.
Go with your gut if you prefer him over other options, I wouldn't be suprised to see him improve personally, he's alerady shown he can get the numbers, now just needs to show he can do it consistantly.
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Got better as the game went on. Took the kickouts and the last time he played they didn’t have the kick in rule either.
We know what his scoring capacity when fit is like, if he gets even 85-90% there, that’s good enough for me. Perhaps can add 3-5% upside on his prior scoring history due to kick in rules as well.
We know what his scoring capacity when fit is like, if he gets even 85-90% there, that’s good enough for me. Perhaps can add 3-5% upside on his prior scoring history due to kick in rules as well.
Remember that Docherty's history IS pre the 'new' kick in rule, this is an important consideration as we all know the positive effect it has players like Hurn, Rich, etc.
He took the majority of their kick ins that he was near yesterday (and was the target if he wasn't taking them) and worked his way to looking like the Docherty of old the deeper the game went. He may not return to his previous heights, but with the kick in rule, he may get very close.
I was just looking for his range of movements and TOG in that game, he exceeded my expectation on both counts.
He took the majority of their kick ins that he was near yesterday (and was the target if he wasn't taking them) and worked his way to looking like the Docherty of old the deeper the game went. He may not return to his previous heights, but with the kick in rule, he may get very close.
I was just looking for his range of movements and TOG in that game, he exceeded my expectation on both counts.
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Cheers. It’s good to talk through the issues with guys like Doch in order to get a balanced view. Especially with a plethora of mid price Def & Mids now popping up there are now quite a few to choose from - even last nights game throws up Acres & Aish as possible alternatives ( at a lower price) to be considered ? ( probably not Aish, but Acres is an interesting one)