Needs more time, which he will get. I can see him making it. Needs that experience when to handball to right position and players around need to understand his patterns. waiting for his handball. Well done Thompson.Was good in patches. Also had 8 tackles. I'm still a way off being convinced but he was one of our better players last night.
Has a habit of handballing into trouble, when he should be kicking.
Was good in patches. Also had 8 tackles. I'm still a way off being convinced but he was one of our better players last night.
Until last night's level becomes the standard jury gonna be out. But yeah gotta admit progress has been made. If only his kicking was as good as his hands. In and under shouldnt be his go anyway. It's getting to the outside sometimes freakily. Needs muscle around him.
And Diesel and Flea were great kicks.A big problem I see is that he relies so heavily on handball as his preferred choice of disposal and unless you're Greg Williams or Dale Weightman, your effect on games is going to have a limited ceiling.
He had a number of chances to kick and instead delayed it and changed to a forced handball as he just doesn't have enough confidence in his kicking.
Perfect summary.Dow is a loose ball swooper. When the ball is on the ground and no one's standing over it, he can beat everyone to it. Swoop, depart, release. Blink of an eye. But can he do anything else? His reluctance to kick or burst through a hole he often opens himself, instead handballing sideways/backwards to a hot teammate must change.
Fitness yeah, does not chase hard ALL the time.Right there is the biggest issue with Dow.
His 1 wood is winning the ball and handballing but at AFL level he's not big enough to be able to do that consistently, and rack up 15 contested possessions in a game. His body screams outside runner, but his fitness isn't a strength (still only in the low 70's TOG at 22 years old, and either with his kicking being weak, or his reluctance to kick, he prefers to handball, he hasn't had a game yet where he has had more kicks than handballs, you can't make it as a midfielder without kicking the ball UNLESS you are a big in and under player like Rowell, that will just keep winning it at the source recently.
He's bits of this player, bits of that and whilst last night was a much improved display, I still have massive question marks of his role in the team going forwards.
Yeah this is so obvious Spook. The space opens up for him based on his lateral movement but he refuses to take the grass. His first option is the sideways hand pass.Dow is a loose ball swooper. When the ball is on the ground and no one's standing over it, he can beat everyone to it. Swoop, depart, release. Blink of an eye. But can he do anything else? His reluctance to kick or burst through a hole he often opens himself, instead handballing sideways/backwards to a hot teammate must change.