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Well we are into our final 10 to 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.
A few stats:
Age : 20
Height: 185cm
Weight: 80Kg
Games: 41
Bailey Smith was recruited to the Western Bulldogs with the seventh pick overall in the 2018 NAB AFL Draft, and made his debut in Round 1, 2019 against the Sydney Swans and never looked back The first-round draft-pick featured prominently in the Bulldogs midfield alongside superstars Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae and Josh Dunkley, and played every game in his debut season including the club's Elimination Final against the GWS Giants. Smith showed he could match it with the best – earning a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination in round nine and finishing fourth overall in the award voting. Although primarily ball-winning onballer, Smith has an ability to play multiple roles, including across half forward and as a running defender. Smith is strong around the contest, with his elite endurance a strength. He captained the Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup in 2018 and represented Vic Metro in its Under 18 carnival, where he was awarded MVP honours. Smith averaged 25 disposals in the 2018 Under 18 Championships and earned All-Australian selection, before suffering a season-ending achilles injury.
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AFL Quality, incredible pick up, and future captain of our club, sign him long term and never look back.
He's had an almost faultless start with us.
I reckon that while being a more inside oriented player he has some Brad Johnson like attributes and could have the midfield career that Johnno didn't (after moving forward for the benefit of the team).
My hope is he keeps a really solid balance between outside and inside, rather than being too far drawn to the latter as he gets bigger and stronger. He has the zip and quick thinking to be really dangerous in each role.
Hope we can hang onto him because he's definitely the next Bulldog to have a heavy bag thrown at him.
I like Baz but have some concerns about his game.
Struggles to distribute the ball cleanly by hand (his hb technique is ugly af), and his kicking is no where near as good as the general public think it is. I do like his hardness and his propensity to get in the face of the opposition is sorely needed in our team of nice guys.
I think his ceiling is someone like Luke Shuey rather than the real upper echelon types like Danger or Dusty.
Shuey has been a top 10 player in the comp for the last two years hasn't he?Quote:
Originally Posted by comrade
Underrated. I'd take that.
Great observations and it will be interesting to see who he develops in the next 2 or 3 seasons. We should be able to iron out or at least improve his kicking and hand ball skills especially given his almost Daniel Cross like dedicationQuote:
Originally Posted by comrade
I think Shuey comparison is around close to the mark of where he might plateau and he will be a highly rated player in the competition
I really like Shuey so would be more than happy if Baz has a similar career. But Baz has had more hype in his first two years than Shuey has had his entire career and has regularly been lauded as potentially the best player out of the 2018 crop (obv mullet, social media buzz, good looks etc all play a part).Quote:
Originally Posted by Mofra
Spot on about the handball technique. Every handball looks like he's doing it for the first time. But otherwise I really think there's a ton of upside with him. I think he could do worse than model his game on that guy we just got from Collingwood.
His kicking is pretty good isn't it? Unless I'm watching the games wrong as per usual.