no he wasn’t hes was a decent kick without being elite.
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I like DP3, I think he is actually an inside mid, has great hands and likes the tough stuff.
Has mongrel, something our team has lacked.
3rd year kid only in our best 4-5 midfielders every game this year = stagnant vanilla.
Never change, Blitz. Never change.
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The bloke needs to be at the coal face extracting the ball out of stoppages and breaking the lines. He’s an aerobic beast! All for the sake of development (apparently) he’s played elsewhere by the coaches.
I value Killer Mikes views but I note he made reference to Parish’s 12 possessions to 3 quarter time on the weekend without acknowledging the 7 he collected in the last which to my way of thinking says more about the players ability to lift in adversity / when the teams being challenged. Without looking at the replay it’s possible the coaches moved him into a position where he could accumulate / impact the contest more. Of course, KM’s entitled to his views in wanting more from a third year player but I put that on the coaches than the player himself. Reckon in time he’ll be in the top 10 most important players at the club. Go Darc …
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I think people are misinterpreting @Killer_Mike’s view on Parish.
KM isn’t saying he’s going badly. In fact, I think he agrees that he’s contributing solidly.
But considering how badly our midfield has been for a long time, the fact Parish was pick 5 and has had a good opportunity in the seniors for his whole career so far, he’s just hoping for more from him. ie. hoping he’ll take some games by the scruff of the neck.
I think if he continued with the same output for most weeks but added 3 or 4 games over the season where he was one of the best 3 or 4 players on the ground (out of both teams) everyone would be delighted. It would be good if he had one of those games soon.
Any fears of him stagnating would disappear if that happened
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The 7 possesions he collected in the last included 3 handballs in the back pocket in 1 chain of play.
As @aboods has quite rightly pointed out below my assessment of Parish is not of his contribution to date but what he’s contributing to our overall results and the expectations of being a good side.
We currently have 1 midfielder(Merrett) we could consider elite and even he has flaws.
If we are to compete with the big boys on the big stage we need to develop our midfield fast and history tells us you have to have a minimum of 2 elite mids plus a few A-Grades.
I have Merrett as borderline elite.
Heppell and Goddard(when played in midfield) as A-Grade.
Parish, Smith(close to A-Grade) & Zaca as very good.
Langford, Laverde, Begley, McGrath as developing.
Guelfi(1 game), Mutch, Clarke as untried.
My personal assessment of Parish is he’s a bit Vanilla(not a popular opinion I know) and projects to be just a good solid citizen that may reach A-Grade at some stage.
If we want to be a quality side then midfield is where the game is played and we need to either have players step up faster or start trying different combinations of players in there to find the perfect balance.
My criticism is not of Parish but more of the fact that we aren’t giving other players enough opportunity to see if they have what it takes like other sides do.
If you listed our top 5 most important/best players and then did the same for most other teams I think you will see just how far behind we are in the middle of the ground.
We lack quality.
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Yep, midfield continues to be an area of need although it feels like improvement is happening before our eyes.
It also feels like Parish’s development as a genuine mid is being stunted by coaches playing him predominantly as a half forward/wing because whenever he’s played on the ball (short bursts) he excels. In his first year he was doing it all but unfortunately with the return of senior players in 2017 the coaches decided to scale back his midfield responsibility. If they’d left him there it’s possible supporters would see a more advanced version of the 2016 model. But having said that I would also like to see Parish get 25+ possessions a game and impact the contest more … reckon it will happen sooner rather than later
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Seems to have a bit more pace about him this year.
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It’s the star quality thats really being commented on.
Parish whilst being a solid contributer hasn’t ever looked like being a BOG /match winning player. And it’s mainly as he’s not getting enough footy
But in his juniors he was exactly that, the star player. The question is, will it come at AFL level?
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Yeah, I’m not trying to be critical of Parish in general as I know he’s putting in 100% and has some very good qualities.
i just am taking a step back and looking at our midfield in general and seeing where the improvement is going to come from and its going to take longer than we think.
For mine we need to look at different combinations and also different players to try speed up the development.
If we are serious about where we sit in the grand scheme of things we need to target a young mid from another team in the off season. Shiel would be the obvious one but he’s contracted.
I know some don’t think we need a Gaff type but he collects 25-30 touches every week and runs all day and is only 25. i would have a very good look at him.
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By definition very few are elite, but very, very, very, very few are elite at the start of their 3rd year.
There’s a lot more slow builders than instant stars.
Jobe took til year 3 or 4 to get a game, year 7 or 8 to become damaging.
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Needs to show a bit more composure when having a shot for goal, always seems to just blaze away.
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Yeah, I agree with that.
It’s really a personal opinion on how you believe they will develop.
I don’t see him reaching Jobes heights and I just don’t think we give enough opportunities to others.
My concern is that we are going down the same pathway we have in the past where we fill our midfield with vanilla guys with no point of difference. Just my own thoughts.
As others have said, he’ll end up the bankable 200+ gamer as a very solid B Grade mid, without quite reaching the elite height Zach/McGrath/Fantasia likely will.
I agree with most of what you are saying, I just don’t get the connection to Parish.
If you were making an argument to move past guys like Myers or Zaharakis, or to reduce Goddard’s minutes in the middle, or to switch up Smith and Raz, or to use a young developing mid instead of a third small forward, or anything like that, I’d get it.
But if our midfield is the big issue and we need to develop young guys, then putting development into a 20 year old who has looked up to the standard since day 1, and is actually a genuine bona fide midfielder (not a flanker who might one day get there), seems to be the least of our concerns.
To me, it’s actually one of the few things we’re doing right.
For the record, I don’t think he’ll ever be Nat Fyfe levels of good. But he should be David Mundy levels of good, at least. And that’d still be pretty friggin handy to our midfield for many years.
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Darcy hasn’t really had his break-out season just yet. He has just been good from day 1.
I think that break-out / step up is still coming.
I think he can be an A-grade midfielder.
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Merrett is a better mid than hepp and bj and cleary so. He is quick, skilled, tough, defensive and creative, everything the modern midfielder needs. He could perhaps be slightly better over head and work on his right side but he is already one of the stand out mids in the comp in my, completely biased, opinion.
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I think we’re seeing parish grow into the season. we’re slowly seeing him get more of it at stopagges and his quick hands and mind are beginning to come to the fore, it’s his biggest asset.
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They way I see it is Merrett and Heppell are guaranteed starters and I also add Smith to that group because he is already performing at a very high level and can also play forward.
We also can add Stringer to the mix at different times as the club has said they want him to play 60% mid and 40% forward.
For mine I would continue to develop McGrath on the wing this year before adding him to the on ball brigade next year. McGrath is the player that I believe can become that Elite/A-Grade player that we need.
It’s after this that I believe it gets more complicated.
You have Parish, Langford, Clarke, Mutch, Begley and for arguments sakes Laverde and Guelfi that are in the developing group that we need to step up to be complete players.
For mine its that group that we need somebody with a point of difference to add to the above group or we start looking a much of a muchness. Heppell, Merrett, McGrath and Parish in my book are similar size and and each has strengths in different areas but none of have game shaping ability.
Parish for mine has the least ability of that group and is also very one dimensional(can only play midfield) with in my opinion questionable star ability. Some may rate Parish far higher than me like yourself. If he got to Mundy levels then I would be ecstatic as I think he is one of the more underrated players in the league of the last ten years.
I just feel we are going down the rabbithole with parish a little in the hope that he develops into a linchpin. If we are to be a contender each year the reality is we actually need somebody better than our best mid in Merrett.
I think we need to start developing a game changer or at least see if we have one and if we don’t we need to go out and get one.