Rating our list 2020 Roarke Smith 37

[Hotdog60]

I thought with the delay of the football it's time to assess our list so I hope I've started this in the right way.
We can evaluate each player on our list starting with the highest number Lin Jong down to Matthew Suckling.
The poll will run for a week and when your post in the poll if you can give a reason on your thoughts so we can share your insights.
At the end we'll see how our list looks in the eyes of WOOF members.

[Hotdog60]

A few stats:
Age : 23
Height: 181cm
Weight: 81Kg
Games:17

The Bulldogs took athletic defender Roarke Smith from the Calder Cannons with their first pick in the 2014 NAB AFL Rookie Draft (No. 5 overall) At 182cm, Smith brings pace and an impressive left foot and is known for his close-checking style. Smith is an athletic, medium sized defender with a capacity to go into the midfield, that has a proven ability to play above his height. An impressive vertical leap is a standout feature amongst Smith's attributes, and has shown he's more than adept at winning his own ball. Smith was a member of the Calder Cannons' 2014 TAC Cup Grand Final side. Smith debut in Round 21, 2015 against the West Coast Eagles before suffering a knee injury at VFL level that ended his season. After missing the first half of 2016 rehabilitating from the knee reconstruction, Smith worked his way back into the senior line-up for the Round 22 clash against Essendon. That was to be his only senior game of the year, however he was a strong contributor to the Footscray Bulldogs' finals run and eventual premiership win. Smith again suffered an ACL injury in 2017 playing in the VFL, and returning to the field in 2018 saw him add 10 senior games to his tally. Opportunities were limited at the top level for Smith in 2019. Impressive form for Footscray in the first half of the year earned the 23-year-old a mid-season promotion, where he played five games between round 14 and 18. The left-footed utility spent time at both ends of the ground across the year, and showed promise as a forward in the AFL side. Smith signed a one-year contract extension at the end of 2019, ensuring his place on the playing list for 2020.

LINK (https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/players/1144/roarke-smith#playerbio)

[GVGjr]

He's close but just far enough off being an AFL quality player. I suspect injuries have slowed his progress

I've always struggled to find his point of difference to others

[bornadog]

He's close but just far enough off being an AFL quality player. I suspect injuries have slowed his progress

I've always struggled to find his point of difference to others

I agree with your assessment that he is close but not quite at AFL level. His point of difference was, he was very athletic and had a very good leap, but two ACL's have ruined his progress and he is now competing with players that are ahead of him.

I can't see him making it but I may be wrong.

[jeemak]

He's played a couple of AFL quality games, but he probably should be at another club if he wants the time to see if he can play many more.

I think he has enough to be a role player in an AFL side, just not sure he is better than who we have instead.

[Mofra]

He's done ok on a wing but I'd have him glued to Doc as we don't have another shutdown BP on our list and that would be his best bet of nailing down a best 22 spot. Takeover Doc's spot in a couple of years.
Seems a very coachable kid who follows team instructions so that's a big tick.

[GVGjr]

He's done ok on a wing but I'd have him glued to Doc as we don't have another shutdown BP on our list and that would be his best bet of nailing down a best 22 spot. Takeover Doc's spot in a couple of years.
Seems a very coachable kid who follows team instructions so that's a big tick.

Could we really keep Roarke Smith on the list for another couple of years to eventually take over from Duryea?
He needs to earn his spot now

Yes he is a coachable player but the same could also be said about the likes of Porter and Garcia being able to be groomed to cover Duryea as well

[Mofra]

Could we really keep Roarke Smith on the list for another couple of years to eventually take over from Duryea?
He needs to earn his spot now

Yes he is a coachable player but the same could also be said about the likes of Porter and Garcia being able to be groomed to cover Duryea as well
Roarke is more proven than both of those guys.
Porter has played inside mid at VFL level the last year, and Garcia hasn't pulled a jumper on yet at any level.

[soupman]

I think he showed good signs pre knee injuries and i guess some good signs since, but he is too far off to persist with for mine. He is a 23 year old (turning 24 in September) that has spent about 6 seasons on the rookie list for stuff all return thus far. To give you an idea how long he has been at the club for, he was picked up in the months following shock-tober, and has outlasted Tom Boyd, Mitch Honeychurch, Joel Hamling, Shane Biggs, Lukas Webb, Declan Hamilton and Jordan Kelly all picked up in the same off season. He has played 17 of a possible 117 games in that time period.

As a player he is not overly clever, nor skilfull, nor physical, in fact it's hard to see what separates him other than work rate from the rest of the fringe AFL player crop. Pre knee injuries I think he was tracking quite well to be atleast very athletic and capable of being a higher up the ground Easton Wood type with a big leap and decent marking ability, but now he fits in the Ed Barlow/Nick Lower mould of being neither an asset nor a liability, but much closer to the latter than the former.

I would cut him, mainly because my list management philosophy (which is a complete opposite to Beveridges) is to keep churning through the last few spots on the list. In the time he has been on the list we could have given 3 rookies 2 years each. That's three chances at finding a genuinely good player (2 other players in this case after Roarke is cut). The rookie draft is in a way a numbers game, identify talent and give as much of it a chance as possible. Giving someone we rated as highly as Christian Howard when we drafted him is one thing, giving someone that wasn't in his draft top 80 prospects endless chances despite never really showing that much is another. I certainly don't want to keep him for another 3+ years in the hope he can be an effective Duryea replacement. That would be 9 years on the list to have a borderline best 22 back pocket.