I think we get over excited about “break out” seasons of dramatic change, but what you realistically want to see from young players is linear improvement. And Perkins’ development fits that trajectory right now, which is positive. Ditto Draper, Durham, Caldwell and a couple others.
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Perkins hasn’t reached the heights of the draft hype expectations. Fans are disappointed. Cal Twomey pointed out that that he’s in the top 2 or 3 for games played from his entire draft year. He’s actually doing incredibly well compared to his peers.
I’m hoping to see a bit more of the brilliance that he is capable of but rarely taps into. A bit less vanilla. But either way, I think he’ll be a quality contributor in 2024.
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The media generally calls a breakout season about 3 years too early. Some players just take longer to develop.
That whole 2020 draft is pretty lacklustre overall, wouldn’t be surprised to see them take an extra year or so to reach their best than what you’d normally expect
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In his first few years in the AFL, although displaying surprising strength to stand up in tackles and fend players off, it’s always going to be hard to do it against seasoned AFL men.
Each pre season that goes by has to benefit a player who plays the way that Archie does.
With more good players around him this year and added strength, I think he could really push ahead. I’m pretty optimistic on him.
Scott is also the perfect personality type IMO to get the most out of Archie.
This year the players are Scott’s players. My prediction is that factor will have a noticeable impact.
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He’s only 3 years into his career. Of course Perkins hasn’t reached expectations, because he shouldn’t be expected to.
The Daicos and Sheezel who breakout immediately are the exceptions, not the rule
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Uhhh…
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OMG its Archie Perkins
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Maybe rephrase that to “hasn’t met fan expectations because the fan expectations were unrealistic”
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Did well in the time trial. Its time for those 3 top 10 draft picks from 3 years ago to start dominating. This kid is a powerhouse, but he needs to get more of the ball. It should go without saying, he needs to tackle and pressure more, force errors and create turnovers and thats a really good way to get more of it.
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Call it the lingering effect of the Covid lockdown factor.
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Going way overboard with the expectation on Cox and Reid.
Get them on the park for a full year at least before expecting them to ‘dominate’.
I don’t see Perk dominating games, but fair enough to have increased expectations of him.
The raising arms and getting handballs away hasn’t been there as often with him the last few years. Maybe because opposition players have worked him out a bit and he’s still trying to find a way through it.
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Will have a long career and get better each year. Too good looking to fail, that’s how the world works. Just look at Pendles…
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Once the season is underway, the first thing that I’d recognise as being a telltale sign that it has clicked for Perko is if we see him showing urgency to close down space and apply defensive pressure.
To me that would immediately signify that he is truly mentally locked in to going to the next level as a player but it would also show that he’s buying into the team aspect.
You listen to most of the elite players and you hear them talk about their AFL journey and they say that in their first few years their focus was mainly inward and how they can do well and how they can stand out but there’s a transition that happens where they eventually see their role in the context of what they can do for those around them and in the context of being a successful team.
Physically he can do it. He’s good aerobically and has enough power and speed.
If the coaches at the club have managed to get through to him on this then I think it will be a harbinger of future success for this group.
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I think you are right to say its too much to expect. However, Cox was a sensation in his first season, alright, he needs to learn a new position but is it too much to ask of him to play as well as he did when he was 18 and improve on that? As to Reid, I agree, but the strength and conditioning deficits he had have surely been addressed in the gym, on the alterG etc. So given his skill set he should eat his opponents in the VFL for breakfast and be playing AFL again in 2024
If we cannot get top 10 draft pick levels of performance out of these 2 we are in deep trouble in the area of tall draft talent and the early indicator of this is the need to get McKay in.
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Strength and conditioning is one thing.
Game experience and how to use all your skills and training on match day under pressure (from the opposition) and under duress (running 13km) is another.
Playing games is the biggest part of development they need. For me, I hope they get through the first half of the season playing almost all games at VFL level. And do well enough to warrant senior selection during that time.
By the end of the season, I’m hoping they get 5 AFL games into them.
Any further injuries and setbacks, and you may as well shift that timeline out another year.
An injury free (even if that means modified group) pre-season will do them the world of good.
I think he was tracking really nicely as a half forward, which I believe is his best position. He certainly didn’t look like he enjoyed his work in the midfield and looked genuinely lost in there at times. Hoping Setterfield and to a lesser extent Stringer can take back those midfield minutes and keep him forward of the ball. I think he has plenty of upside and I’m encouraged by his fitness levels this preseason so far.
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True. We all got it. Just an odd way of putting it.
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I like how in that interview he didn’t say he wanted to be a midfielder.
He understands his strengths and what a weapon he can be at Half Forward.
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Im hoping Jake Stringer never sets foot in our midfield ever again.
Perkins with growth can play that role if we need him too, which hopefully wont be the case with Tsatas, Hobbs, and Caldwell coming through.
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