Brandon Ellis | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Brandon Ellis

Col.E.Kurtz

Tiger Legend
Apr 4, 2005
10,698
1
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

From Quigley

Brandon Ellis
DOB 3/8/93 Ht 181 Wt 83

Ellis is a powerfully built HBFer who should be able to step in and play AFL right away. He has all the physical tools to let him start from round 1 next year. He is physically mature and has an excellent engine as evidenced by his 15.4 in the beep test (4th overall) at Combine. He understands his position well and was a bit of an unsung hero for Metro at the Champs I think.

Time and again at the Champs he was the one at the back tidying up the mess. He covered an enormous amount of ground and was able to sniff out when there was a problem and got to the right place to clean it up. This was particularly evident at the end of games when everyone else seemed to be tiring. Defensively I think he reads the play very well and positions himself to influence the play. Going forward I am not so sure about his play reading ability.

In attack I think Ellis does not read how play is going to develop particularly well. He makes plays to guys who whilst open have few options open to them or who were open to make a play a short time before but by the time they receive the ball the chance has been shut down. That is not to say he takes bad options at junior level but I do have some concerns that these poor reads will be exploited more at AFL level. His option taking is usually fairly conservative and he works it out of the back half most often with short chip passes.

His kicking style is a little awkward particularly on the left but he is pretty good at hitting his targets off either foot most particularly with his short to medium range kicks. He has reasonable penetration with his long kicks and gets surprising distance with his non-preferred. He can sometimes overestimate his length and underestimate the time it will take to get there but I really don’t see much wrong with his kicking at all. He has pretty quick hands for a HBF in the contest and he can get a bit of zip on his handballs. Again he can go a little bit beyond his range with the handball on occasions forcing the receiver to wait but overall he is one of the better long handballers in this draft.

Athletically he is excellent except for one thing and that is his pace off the mark. From a standing start he is very slow but once he gets things moving he actually has a pretty good top end speed. In the sprints at Combine he was in the bottom 10% over the first 5 metres but he picked up speed on most others over the remaining 15 metres and ended up with a reasonable time of 3.05. This good top end speed was also borne out in the 30m repeat sprint where he managed a very good time to place him in the top 13% of those tested. That’s pretty good for a guy with significant pace concerns. In addition to the very good endurance tests he also was just outside the top 10 in the agility and both the standing and running jumps. The agility and jumping were great for a guy with his build and are important when assessing his ability to hold his own as a defender at AFL level.

Defensively he is not often a tight marker but that is a function of the way junior football is played. With his skill set I think he could play as either a HBFer at AFL level or could move into the midfield as a tagger who can win his own ball. Down the track I could easily see him being one of the better taggers in the game. At the moment he is a hard at it style of player but is not probably as physical as his physique would suggest. He can throw his weight around but he is not a big hitter in the tackles nor does he overplay the physical contests. He will try to break tackles but he does not get through them all that much but credit to him he is not caught holding the ball much even when he is caught. I like his tenacious style and the dependable nature of his work in the defensive half and I think whoever picks him could get a reasonable player who goes about his job quietly and does the little things which will help teams win.
 

lamb22

Tiger Legend
Jan 29, 2005
11,484
1,545
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

Well done Brandon. In my youngest daughter's year at High School. Good kid.
 

Tigerdog

Tiger Legend
Dec 18, 2002
9,776
77
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

Interesting kicking style.
Positives. Can hoof it 60 metres. Can kick both feet.

Negatives. Awkward style. A lot of 'up and under' chip kicks. Short passes always seem ballooned.
 

seven

Super Tiger
Apr 20, 2004
26,335
12,211
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

Geez, why did we go for another HB flanker?
 

Ian4

BIN MAN!
May 6, 2004
22,180
4,679
Melbourne
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

i don't jump on BF, so i have no idea if this quigley guy has any idea what he's talking about... but still, this concerns me

Col.W.Kurtz said:
Defensively he is not often a tight marker

we don't have many accountable small defenders as it is. although i guess that's why we recruited morris. but if this kid turns out to be a replacement for our dud skipper, then all the better
 

Col.E.Kurtz

Tiger Legend
Apr 4, 2005
10,698
1
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

Quite the kid http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/125249/default.aspx


Ian4 said:
i don't jump on BF, so i have no idea if this quigley guy has any idea what he's talking about... but still, this concerns me

we don't have many accountable small defenders as it is. although i guess that's why we recruited morris. but if this kid turns out to be a replacement for our dud skipper, then all the better

It shouldn't worry you, the reality is that almost no one comes into the AFL with tight marking skills. If your good enough to make the AFL in u18 people mark you, not the other way round.
 

Sintiger

Tiger Legend
Aug 11, 2010
18,199
17,593
Camberwell
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

GEDS1 said:
Quigley doesn't rate him
Quigley's only claIm to fame is that he writes more words than anyone else on the draft . His analysis is not always right .

I'll stick with the opinion of FJ and the boys
 

goose

Tiger Matchwinner
Apr 11, 2005
541
0
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

Tigerdog said:
Interesting kicking style.
Positives. Can hoof it 60 metres. Can kick both feet.

Negatives. Awkward style. A lot of 'up and under' chip kicks. Short passes always seem ballooned.

No issue with his kicking - stats out of the Nationals show he was int he top couple of kicks in the country when playing against the best opposition.

Great pick.
 

pahoffm

No one player is bigger than the club.
Mar 24, 2004
21,145
1
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

Yeh, a bit of bad luck with the handful of picks directly before ours.

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the ones that we were hanging on to fall to us didn't.
That's the way the crumble cookies.

Ellis looks ok. His kicking reveals alot of ineffective kicks.
But he does get a heap of handball receives and takes quite a few marks considering his height.

http://www.sportingpulse.com/team_info.cgi?player=Brandon%20Ellis&action=PSTATS&pID=192113022&client=1-3020-0-150804-14528497

If he's AFL ready, he does fill a hole in defence.

I think, a good hard working, blue collar footballer.
A 'Hardwick' type.
I think I've run out of positives.
 

GEDS1

Richo's last lap
Apr 15, 2007
3,828
2
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

Will be a gun a tough footballer.

Must support the lad through and through.
 

Barnzy

What about me?
Mar 6, 2009
11,543
1
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

I rate Ellis and think he is a safe bet who will at least be a good solid player similar to Conca but the question is was he the right fit? Do we really need more HB's? Especially one's who are more rebound than defend and lack pace off the mark thus limiting their ability to play on small forwards? Only way I can see myself being happy picking a player who plays in a position we have the most depth in already is if it finally results in Deledio moving to his rightful place permanently in the midfield otherwise it's meh for me. He could play that quarterback role and take the responsibility from day 1 IMO. Just my thoughts.
 

johnson2richo2003

"Players stop improving is the day i leave."
Dec 19, 2002
15,189
0
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

Adams was probally the one we hoped would drop.Kavanagh was always going to be to risky with his injury history.Went for the next best option which does give us options in regard to Lids.Load up with quality kids in next years draft is probally the thinking at this stage.We can get away with it for another year.
 

toothless

Tiger Champion
Aug 16, 2009
3,929
3,051
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

CptJonno2Madcow2005 said:
Adams was probally the one we hoped would drop.Kavanagh was always going to be to risky with his injury history.Went for the next best option which does give us options in regard to Lids.Load up with quality kids in next years draft is probally the thinking at this stage.We can get away with it for another year.

Chimp, Judd and selwood were considered injury "risks"
 

johnson2richo2003

"Players stop improving is the day i leave."
Dec 19, 2002
15,189
0
Re: Welcome Brandon Ellis

toothless said:
Chimp, Judd and selwood were considered injury "risks"
Maybe so,But at least the above had runs on the board at TAC level,Unlike kavanagh.