Welcome to the Bulldogs - Tim English

[bornadog]

The only thing I thought he did poorly last week was his marking. He got clear grabs at the footy a few times even against smaller opponents and yet didn't hold on to them.

In time he should become a very difficult ruckman for opposition teams to counter.

The other thing I thought he should have taken advantage of, was to grab the ball in the air out of the ruck. He had a few opportunities to do it, but decided to tap it down.

[Ghost Dog]

Ditto. I just watched the footage too. I think i would describe English as a midfielder who can ruck because of his height. He moves really well and his kicking and technique is very sound, and looks every bit a midfielder. He has the added benefit of being able to ruck. If Bevo could create a prototype ruckman, I think English would be exactly it.

He takes off fast. That last intercept and kick into 50, I was surprised how quick he sped up. He doesn't have it in his head he is just a ruckman. Able to flick the switch into other roles wonderfully.

[Go_Dogs]

As he gets more confidence in his body and learns how to use it he'll be unstoppable. At the moment he still gets outbodied and his hands aren't quite as sharp in the contest (or weren't last week) as I'd hoped to see.

He's coming along nicely, but think it's still a few years before we see Timmy reach his potential.

[Ghost Dog]

I will put it out there. I don't think Tim should be playing in the ruck. He's so quick and agile, his strengths are in the forward line. Let's just lose the ruck battle and throw him up forward.

[bornadog]

I will put it out there. I don't think Tim should be playing in the ruck. He's so quick and agile, his strengths are in the forward line. Let's just lose the ruck battle and throw him up forward.

How do you come to the conclusion his strengths are in the forward line?

[FrediKanoute]

He needs time. In another era of football, he would have played as the second ruck behind a big experienced ruckman and then come into his own once that ruck retired. He would have been held up by the competition as the prototype ruckman.

The reality is today that there is only one ruck. Either we let him rot in the reserves playing against weaker opposition, or wethrow him in at the deep end where he learns a lesson every week.

I think the strategy with him is sound.

[Ghost Dog]

How do you come to the conclusion his strengths are in the forward line?

Do you remember a time when I said Picken should be a forward and you told me I was out of my mind?
The kid is seriously tall, agile, skilled and has a great kicking action. His strength is in the air, let him use it. He can grab the thing, kick it and run. Nothing says he cannot be a forward. Why couldn't he succeed in the forward line?

[jeemak]

English should be kept in the ruck, but the conundrum is he needs a bigger bodied relief ruck (i.e. Tom Boyd or Trengove and not Schache) to help him out, and this stifles our development of Schache as a forward.

I actually believe that we can play all of Schache, Boyd/Trangove and English in the same team, we just need to get the rotations through the middle right.

Ultimately English will continue to get too fatigued without a bigger body hammering into his opponent for a few minutes a quarter at least. When forwards like Gowers are barely tackling what do we lose by playing a bigger forward who probably tackles just as much in his place?

[jeemak]

Do you remember a time when I said Picken should be a forward and you told me I was out of my mind?
The kid is seriously tall, agile, skilled and has a great kicking action. His strength is in the air, let him use it. He can grab the thing, kick it and run. Nothing says he cannot be a forward. Why couldn't he succeed in the forward line?

English has had four of five opportunities to finalise good work with goals this season and has fluffed every one of them. Possibly playing him forward for a bit more time might increase his confidence and he might execute, or it might keep going the way it's going.

He needs less fatigue and more opportunity to help out between the arcs to start with. If he builds his confidence doing that then he'll likely go forward from time to time and benefit from that confidence. Putting him forward in my view will make it worse for him.

I was like BAD as far as Picken being a forward was concerned, I also didn't think Boyd could be an all Australian back flanker at the time. The game plan made these two what they turned out to be, not sure our current game plan helps anyone transitioning from ruck to forward, but happy to be surprised.

[Ghost Dog]

Play him and Naughton in attack. Huge defensive headache.

[Dancin' Douggy]

Do you remember a time when I said Picken should be a forward and you told me I was out of my mind?
The kid is seriously tall, agile, skilled and has a great kicking action. His strength is in the air, let him use it. He can grab the thing, kick it and run. Nothing says he cannot be a forward. Why couldn't he succeed in the forward line?

A la Paul Salmon.

[bornadog]

Do you remember a time when I said Picken should be a forward and you told me I was out of my mind?
The kid is seriously tall, agile, skilled and has a great kicking action. His strength is in the air, let him use it. He can grab the thing, kick it and run. Nothing says he cannot be a forward. Why couldn't he succeed in the forward line?

No I don't remember that, and if I did say that well I was wrong.

However, with Naughton, Schache, Tom Boyd in the team, I don't think we should be looking at English as a key forward. We are desperate for a young developing ruckman and English at 205cm is our best prospect.

[Mofra]

I will put it out there. I don't think Tim should be playing in the ruck. He's so quick and agile, his strengths are in the forward line. Let's just lose the ruck battle and throw him up forward.

He spent a fair chunk of pre-season up forward. He just seems a year or two away from being physically developed enough to take the big grabs.

I actually think he's shown promise, although he's getting smashed in the hit outs. He's starting to find a lot of the ball and is one of our best tacklers so his second efforts are there.

[The Pie Man]

How do you lose hit outs so comprehensively - and not have even one hit out to advantage - when you're 205 cm? He's 3 cm taller than Grundy.

His technique needs serious work - fix it and be better in the centre *right now*, play forward if he can or in the VFL.

Sure, he's got to develop - but why at the expense of our senior team when we have mature bodies ready to play stuck at VFL level. Isn't that what the level down is there for?

*EDIT - this is more a crack at the selection, not a young kid. I think he'll be a wonderful player down the track. He's just not ready.

[Sedat]

How do you lose hit outs so comprehensively - and not have even one hit out to advantage - when you're 205 cm? He's 3 cm taller than Grundy.

His technique needs serious work - fix it and be better in the centre *right now*, play forward if he can or in the VFL.

Sure, he's got to develop - but why at the expense of our senior team when we have mature bodies ready to play stuck at VFL level. Isn't that what the level down is there for?

*EDIT - this is more a crack at the selection, not a young kid. I think he'll be a wonderful player down the track. He's just not ready.

Correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t his U18 hitout numbers just as low? I wonder if he will be more like a Dean Cox around the ground ruck-rover type more than a Sandilands ruck stoppage king type. Would be nice if he could do both like a Gawn type.