Fit Bulldog Tom Boyd ready to build on Grand Final heroics

[bornadog]

Link (http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-02-08/fit-bulldog-tom-boyd-ready-to-build-on-grand-final-heroics)

http://s.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL%20Tenant/AFL/Files/Images/boyd%20mclean%20620%20gf.jpg

(God I love this Picture)

AFTER recovering from off-season shoulder and ankle operations, Tom Boyd says he's ready to build on his starring role in the Western Bulldogs' fairytale premiership triumph.

Much maligned during his first two seasons at Whitten Oval, the high-priced key forward has gained plenty of confidence from his September heroics and expects to play in the early rounds of the JLT Community Series.

The 21-year-old's breakout game in the 22-point Grand Final win over the Sydney Swans was threatened by a shoulder concern he managed from the mid-point of last season.

"(The shoulder) is feeling better than ever now that I've had the reconstruction done and I can't wait to get back into games," told Seven News.

"(Surgeon) Greg Hoy did a terrific job, and to the medical staff's credit they really looked after me last year and got me through until the end (of the season), which was a significant challenge."

After enduring constant scrutiny in his first two seasons at Whitten Oval due to his huge salary and modest form, Boyd went a long way to silencing his critics with a finish to the season he believes matured him as a player.

The No.1 draft pick's performances up forward were complemented by stints in the ruck, a role he expects to reprise in the club's premiership defence.

"I think the whole back end of the year was a real growing experience for me and I felt more and more comfortable out on the field," Boyd.

"I take great confidence in how I finished the year."

While he's only watched a replay of the Grand Final once, Boyd looks back fondly on the last of his three goals, where a fortuitous bounce in the dying minutes all but broke the club's 62-year premiership drought.

"I was surprised (the ball) sat up like that, but that's footy because we play with an oval ball and that's the fickle nature of the sport," Boyd said.

"I was fairly excited about the initial moment, but Liam Picken got over to me pretty quick.
"He said 'just focus, because we've got a little bit of time to go'."

The task of replicating his September feats on a more regular basis in 2017 will be made easier by the arrival of Travis Cloke, and the return of Stewart Crameri from a year-long doping ban.

Boyd says the former Magpie has fitted in "seamlessly", and he's looking forward to forming an imposing partnership with the two-time All Australian.

"Trav has slotted into the club extremely well and he's a terrific guy," Boyd said.

"It's really nice have another big body (up forward), and with Stewart Crameri back as well, it's an exciting time."

[Mofra]

Cloke will do wonders for Boyd - we shoehorned Cordy into a tall forward role to split the tall defenders as Boyd was getting doubled teamed.
Cordy played his role but Cloke is an upgrade as the higher tall forward/CHF.
Will be interesting to see how Boyd goes in 2017, should see some improvement from his H&A form.

[1eyedog]

Tom Boyd says he's ready to build on his starring role in the Western Bulldogs' fairytale premiership triumph

Just read that again and have a think about it. Who would have thought hey?

[bornadog]

Just read that again and have a think about it. Who would have thought hey?

Did we really win the Granny?

http://marcscottvoiceover.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/pinch-myself-642x250.jpg

my self

[Topdog]

I hate how they call it a fortuitous bounce. That not bouncing through would have been extremely fortuitous for Sydney

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I hate how they call it a fortuitous bounce. That not bouncing through would have been extremely fortuitous for Sydney

I know! It bloody bounced in line with the goals!

[bulldogtragic]

Serious question:

Is this the first article on Tom which does not overly focus on his salary?

I can't think of one, maybe the Quayle one late last year. This just refers to him as a high-priced key forward. Maybe journos are focusing on his footy??

[Mofra]

Serious question:

Is this the first article on Tom which does not overly focus on his salary?

I can't think of one, maybe the Quayle one late last year. This just refers to him as a high-priced key forward. Maybe journos are focusing on his footy??
Perhaps.

Pretty hard to ignore his footy given very very few players in recent history have taken 6 contested marks in a GF - pretty sure Gunston as a 2nd/3rd tall forward in 2013 was the last one.

Riewoldt matched Boyd's 8 mark haul in one of his GFs but only 1 of those was contested (and Riewoldt managed 3 goals in 3 grand finals, Boyd did it in one).

Boyd was damn close to a Normie at age 21 as a 200cm player. What will he be like at age 25?

[bulldogtragic]

Perhaps.

Pretty hard to ignore his footy given very very few players in recent history have taken 6 contested marks in a GF - pretty sure Gunston as a 2nd/3rd tall forward in 2013 was the last one.

Riewoldt matched Boyd's 8 mark haul in one of his GFs but only 1 of those was contested (and Riewoldt managed 3 goals in 3 grand finals, Boyd did it in one).

Boyd was damn close to a Normie at age 21 as a 200cm player. What will he be like at age 25?

A multiple time premiership player, Norm Smith medalist and a talking point on whether he or Bonts is the most damaging player in the competition. If I had to guess.

And the comparison by Ling and others about his GF bring like Hawkin's 2011 GF. Tom did a fraction more than Hawkin's, but Tom also did it two years younger and with 40 games less experience.

[1eyedog]

I hate how they call it a fortuitous bounce. That not bouncing through would have been extremely fortuitous for Sydney

Yep would have been very unlucky to miss after it bounced.

[Twodogs]

I hate how they call it a fortuitous bounce. That not bouncing through would have been extremely fortuitous for Sydney


I know! It bloody bounced in line with the goals!


Yep would have been very unlucky to miss after it bounced.

Dont forget there was a Sydney defender approaching at a rapid rate to make the spoil. For drama that moment had everything. The lot. One of the great moments of AFeL footy and pretty much every one of us was there trying to will or blow the ball in the right direction.

The noise afterwards. Wow.

[Topdog]

Dont forget there was a Sydney defender approaching at a rapid rate to make the spoil. For drama that moment had everything. The lot. One of the great moments of AFeL footy and pretty much every one of us was there trying to will or blow the ball in the right direction.

The noise afterwards. Wow.

Oh it was absolutely fantastic and absolutely brilliantly called by Cometti but it bounced in the square and also only bounced forward about 5m so to call it fortuitous annoys me.

[1eyedog]

Dont forget there was a Sydney defender approaching at a rapid rate to make the spoil. For drama that moment had everything. The lot. One of the great moments of AFeL footy and pretty much every one of us was there trying to will or blow the ball in the right direction.

The noise afterwards. Wow.

Ok here you go... It was one of those ones slightly off the instep and I can't believe a kick actually traveled 60 that wasn't struck perfectly. It swings back in from the middle of the points and lands in line with the goals. Knowing those inswingers though they can go anywhere after they bounce.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kir3j3NA0Z0

[Twodogs]

Ok here you go... It was one of those ones slightly off the instep and I can't believe a kick actually traveled 60 that wasn't struck perfectly. It swings back in from the middle of the points and lands in line with the goals. Knowing those inswingers though they can go anywhere after they bounce.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kir3j3NA0Z0


I think he just hits the sweet spot and that's all she wrote. Sometimes in cricket the bat hits the ball in exactly the right spot and a defensive nudge will fly past cover scorching the grass on the way to the boundary and you think "shit how did I do that?"

I think that's what Tom did. He doesn't get a lot of time to think, just picks up the ball and sizes things up then let's fly and just hits it sweetly. He's doing that at 21 when grand finals are on the line.

Solid investment.

[bornadog]

I was sitting behind the goals on the 2nd level, at the end that ball went through. When the ball bounced high the whole stand were on their feet and as Commetti said " The Stadium takes a deep breath", and we did. From our angle we couldn't tell whether the ball was over the line, but when that ball landed well over, it was a great moment, it was like the Bonti moment in the Prelim. I knew there and then, we had the GF in the bag.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I'm sorry I'm having one of those moments again after watching that video. It's preseason. We're a month away from the 2017 season kick in off and WE'RE the reigning PREMIERS! I still can't comprehend what happened that first day in October 2016. Holy hell we actually did it. Finally. After all those years of hope and dreams, continually crushed. We have finally done it. Unbelievable.

Sorry I had to release that emotion yet again ��

[The Pie Man]

I was sitting behind the goals on the 2nd level, at the end that ball went through. When the ball bounced high the whole stand were on their feet and as Commetti said " The Stadium takes a deep breath", and we did. From our angle we couldn't tell whether the ball was over the line, but when that ball landed well over, it was a great moment, it was like the Bonti moment in the Prelim. I knew there and then, we had the GF in the bag.

Yep - from my view behind those goals, the ball was always going through once it got close to landing...it was the bounce in the air that delayed the celebration momentarily.

God, just thinking about those 5 minutes. I hadn't accepted we were home until I saw Bevo on the boundary line....

Anyway - reckon Tom could be absolutely monstrous as the 2nd ruck this season. The way he played up the ground in his last start should put that argument we tossed around a fair bit on this site last year to bed.

[Twodogs]

Yep - from my view behind those goals, the ball was always going through once it got close to landing...it was the bounce in the air that delayed the celebration momentarily.

God, just thinking about those 5 minutes. I hadn't accepted we were home until I saw Bevo on the boundary line....

Anyway - reckon Tom could be absolutely monstrous as the 2nd ruck this season. The way he played up the ground in his last start should put that argument we tossed around a fair bit on this site last year to bed.

I didn't see Bevo on the boundary until later. The first time I really said "Holy hell!" was when Stringer quite obviously started icing the clock by kicking sideways to Hunter who just stood and smiled and then kicked it back to him. Most of the Sydney players stopped running to contests, some visibly slumped-it must really, really hurt to lose a GF, I wouldn't know personally-and my mate slapped me on the back and said "mate, can you believe we are icing the clock in a GRAND *!*!*!*!ING FINAL?" Then there was dancing and high fives and hugging strangers. And then Bevo gave Bob his medal and made us all cry.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I didn't see Bevo on the boundary until later. The first time I really said "Holy hell!" was when Stringer quite obviously started icing the clock by kicking sideways to Hunter who just stood and smiled and then kicked it back to him. Most of the Sydney players stopped running to contests, some visibly slumped-it must really, really hurt to lose a GF, I wouldn't know personally-and my mate slapped me on the back and said "mate, can you believe we are icing the clock in a GRAND *!*!*!*!ING FINAL?" Then there was dancing and high fives and hugging strangers. And then Bevo gave Bob his medal and made us all cry.

i was never aware of bevo and the celebrations on the sidelines. I'm not really sure at what moment i realised it was ours. I think i quietly knew after Pickens last goal but really it wasn't until the final siren that i had 100% confirmation

[Twodogs]

i was never aware of bevo and the celebrations on the sidelines. I'm not really sure at what moment i realised it was ours. I think i quietly knew after Pickens last goal but really it wasn't until the final siren that i had 100% confirmation


A kid in the row in front of us was getting texts with how much actual playing time was left and I asked him a couple of times. Actually I yelled "how long to go" at him a couple of times but things were getting fairly primal at that stage so I excuse myself. He told me how long there was to go anyway.

[Greystache]

Ok here you go... It was one of those ones slightly off the instep and I can't believe a kick actually traveled 60 that wasn't struck perfectly. It swings back in from the middle of the points and lands in line with the goals. Knowing those inswingers though they can go anywhere after they bounce.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kir3j3NA0Z0

His next kick at goal at goal did the same thing. It started dead centre and swung late to miss. If that had've gone through there's no way they couldn't have given him the Norm Smith.

[Ozza]

i was never aware of bevo and the celebrations on the sidelines. I'm not really sure at what moment i realised it was ours. I think i quietly knew after Pickens last goal but really it wasn't until the final siren that i had 100% confirmation

It was strange - but once we'd gotten to 9 points in front (just before the Boyd goal) I felt very confident that 'it was happening'. The Boyd goal sealed it for me, and the Picken goal was the celebration. We just seemed to have all the momentum - and for all of Sydney's questioning of the umpiring recently - the reality was, we broke them with 7 minutes to go - they could only go with us for 113 of the 120 minutes...and if the game went 5 minutes longer - they probably get beaten by 40-50.

They ran out of steam against us in the last few minutes during the season as well - where- apart from a rushed behind, they didn't kick a score in the last 7 minutes.

[The Pie Man]

His next kick at goal at goal did the same thing. It started dead centre and swung late to miss. If that had've gone through there's no way they couldn't have given him the Norm Smith.

Loudest point I've ever seen/heard live

[The Pie Man]

A kid in the row in front of us was getting texts with how much actual playing time was left and I asked him a couple of times. Actually I yelled "how long to go" at him a couple of times but things were getting fairly primal at that stage so I excuse myself. He told me how long there was to go anyway.

I was checking the AFL twitter feed roughly about this stage - I could only find out how long was left from the Ch 7 time clock on the short clip of Boyd's goal they posted straight after it happened (5:10 left for memory)

People around started asking - 'well there were 5 minutes to go when Boyd kicked that goal, that's all I've got'

[bornadog]

It was strange - but once we'd gotten to 9 points in front (just before the Boyd goal) I felt very confident that 'it was happening'. The Boyd goal sealed it for me, and the Picken goal was the celebration. We just seemed to have all the momentum - and for all of Sydney's questioning of the umpiring recently - the reality was, we broke them with 7 minutes to go - they could only go with us for 113 of the 120 minutes...and if the game went 5 minutes longer - they probably get beaten by 40-50.

They ran out of steam against us in the last few minutes during the season as well - where- apart from a rushed behind, they didn't kick a score in the last 7 minutes.

We smashed them in the second half with contested poss. and overall had more than 20 diff+.

My mate was sitting next to Crossy, and 3/4 time he said we have this in the bag. :).

[The Pie Man]

I didn't see Bevo on the boundary until later. The first time I really said "Holy hell!" was when Stringer quite obviously started icing the clock by kicking sideways to Hunter who just stood and smiled and then kicked it back to him. Most of the Sydney players stopped running to contests, some visibly slumped-it must really, really hurt to lose a GF, I wouldn't know personally-and my mate slapped me on the back and said "mate, can you believe we are icing the clock in a GRAND *!*!*!*!ING FINAL?" Then there was dancing and high fives and hugging strangers. And then Bevo gave Bob his medal and made us all cry.

You know at first I was a little spewing Bevo didn't get in on the holding the cup with Easton photo op - but the significance of what he just did quickly turned that around.

[LostDoggy]

When Tommy Boyd kicked "THAT" goal i started to believe that it was our time in the sun.
Then not long after the re-start,MacGlynn from Sydney had the chance to cancel out Boyd's goal.
I said to the people next to me,"MacGlynn misses this then the Cup is ours"
When his shot missed to the left i knew we weren't going to lose.

[Twodogs]

I was checking the AFL twitter feed roughly about this stage - I could only find out how long was left from the Ch 7 time clock on the short clip of Boyd's goal they posted straight after it happened (5:10 left for memory)

People around started asking - 'well there were 5 minutes to go when Boyd kicked that goal, that's all I've got'


I don't know why it has to be such a mystery tgat they don't have a countdown clock on the match feed at the ground. Everyone else in the world knows how long there is to go except the supporters in the ground unless someone listening to the radio is sitting near them.

That's what I like about the spot we stand at at Etihad. If you step back a couple of steps there are two TV screens showing the actual TV feed with the time countdown showing.

You know at first I was a little spewing Bevo didn't get in on the holding the cup with Easton photo op - but the significance of what he just did quickly turned that around.

He didn't have a medal.

[bornadog]

I don't know why it has to be such a mystery tgat they don't have a countdown clock on the match feed at the ground. Everyone else in the world knows how long there is to go except the supporters in the ground unless someone listening to the radio is sitting near them.

That's what I like about the spot we stand at at Etihad. If you step back a couple of steps there are two TV screens showing the actual TV feed with the time countdown showing.


He didn't have a medal.

The guy seated next to me was giving me minute by minute count down from Tom's goal.

[1eyedog]

i was never aware of bevo and the celebrations on the sidelines. I'm not really sure at what moment i realised it was ours. I think i quietly knew after Pickens last goal but really it wasn't until the final siren that i had 100% confirmation

I put up a Grand Final catch up thread in June. I must dig that out it's in here somewhere...Didn't get many responses at the time.

[Twodogs]

The guy seated next to me was giving me minute by minute count down from Tom's goal.

Yeah, I told the kid in front of us to tell us when there was 90 seconds to go. when he turned around and said that there was 90 seconds left I knew we had it.

[1eyedog]

The guy seated next to me was giving me minute by minute count down from Tom's goal.

I was getting that at the Prelim. Its the only time I ever wanted to know how long was left ever.

[Twodogs]

I put up a Grand Final catch up thread in June. I must dig that out it's in here somewhere...Didn't get many responses at the time.


Sounds good to me.

[bornadog]

I was getting that at the Prelim. Its the only time I ever wanted to know how long was left ever.

My mate who couldn't make it the prelim was texting me the time left. At the prelim, my legs were so tense they hurt for days after.

At The GF, my heart started racing for the last 15 minutes - it was a totally different feeling.

[Twodogs]

My mate who couldn't make it the prelim was texting me the time left. At the prelim, my legs were so tense they hurt for days after.

At The GF, my heart started racing for the last 15 minutes - it was a totally different feeling.


Sitting and squirming and constantly stopping yourself from getting up and tensing your legs plays havoc on your legs at the footy. That's why I prefer to stand keep the blood circulating around. I can pace. I can jump for joy, I can stamp my feet in annoyance and no one clucks me. Actually they might cluck me but I'm usually miles away by then. I can even walk over and have a quiet word with a mate standing metres away without pushing past a bunch of people.