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  1. #1
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    Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

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    PREMIERSHIP coach Luke Beveridge gave $6 million kid Tom Boyd a free pass.

    About 45 minutes after Boyd’s priceless performance in the 2016 Grand Final, Beveridge declared he had paid his way.

    How could he not? Boyd’s 29th game as a Western Bulldog will take some topping.
    Shortly after Boyd dobbed his third goal from inside the centre square, Beveridge was asked whether he had graduated as a footballer.

    “He can graduate, and he can go and throw his hat, and he can never come back and not play another game,” Beveridge said.

    “He was unbelievable.”

    As Beveridge placed a full stop on that answer he dropped his head into his hands in what appeared to be a mix of pride and disbelief.

    On Friday night Boyd celebrates his 50th game in red, white and blue and is just over halfway through that seven-year contract.

    Boy, what a curious career it has been.
    When you combine the headlines from a No.1 draft pick, a blockbuster trade, a million-dollar contract, a pub fight with a teammate, a mental health battle, stints in the VFL and that Grand Final you get a turbulent ride.

    Right now, there appear to be three burning questions for Boyd. Will he ever recapture that Grand Final form? What will his next contract look like? And will those premiership credits ever run out?

    Footage of Boyd’s last-quarter celebration, as he ran with outstretched arms, will burn eternally as an iconic Grand Final moment.
    As Toby McLean leapt on to Boyd’s shoulders he looked like a man ready to carry the Bulldogs for the next decade.

    But 18 months on and Boyd remains a moments player. Last week against North Melbourne there was a contested mark and his 50th career goal in the third quarter.



    Tom Boyd has a shot at goal. Picture: Michael KleinIn Boyd’s first AFL game this season there was a set-shot goal from 55m in the wet at Perth Stadium.

    The 2018 version has sculpted a much more masculine build. Boyd boasts bigger shoulders and the look is complete with a darker tan, man bun and some prominent facial hair.

    Boyd is bigger, but his presence has diminished.

    Wayne Carey said Boyd should have won the Norm Smith Medal after he grabbed six contested marks.

    Carey said that performance should’ve emboldened him. Instead Boyd has taken 12 contested marks from 20 games since.

    Some days Boyd’s hands swallow the ball, some days they spit it out.
    Boyd has played 49 games out of a possible 84 since arriving at Whitten Oval, a tick under 60 per cent.

    There have been calls from Cameron Mooney and, recently, Tony Shaw to take a pay cut.



    Luke Beveridge talks with Tom Boyd. Picture: Michael KleinAs Beveridge said on Grand Final day, Boyd was helpless to control the external pressures that have at times engulfed him.

    “I challenge anyone in the room to knock back the contract we offered him,” Beveridge said.

    “You wouldn’t knock it back. When we needed our players to find their very best performance he found his in a Grand Final. That was amazing.”

    As a junior Boyd progressed through elite basketball programs and while he was billed as a hulking full-forward at draft time, it was the ruck where he starred in under-14s.

    Eastern Ranges watchers remember a victory in Wangaratta, where Boyd went into the ruck in the third quarter and changed the game.

    Boyd’s follow-up work was imposing and he was a big kid to get around. Former Ranges talent manager Anthony Parkin called for patience.

    “I always thought he was going to be a really dominant AFL player and for a variety of reasons that hasn’t happened as of yet,” Parkin said.
    “But he is only 22.”



    Tom Boyd battles Paddy Ryder in the ruck.Boyd dominated a Grand Final just 40 days after his 21st birthday and in his 29th game. Tom Hawkins first kicked three goals in a final at 23, in his 79th game and ninth final.

    The AFL’s likely introduction of starting positions would also help Boyd.

    “His timing to lead is really good, he just needs a little bit of space to get going,” Parkin said.
    “That’s what the TAC Cup (rules) allowed.”

    Bulldogs legend Doug Hawkins wants Beveridge to isolate Boyd as a deep forward.
    “He’s not a No.1 ruckman in my opinion. The good ruckman are going to get him,” Hawkins said.

    Hawkins said Boyd was “real stiff” to not get the Norm Smith and said it was time to stay in a confined area to rediscover his high marking.

    “We’ve seen glimpses of his marking ability — glimpses of it,” Hawkins said.

    “Just go for the footy like it’s his footy. Don’t worry about anyone else — son, just go and win that footy.
    “If one of your teammates is in the way, bad luck. Look at the ball and have your name written all over it and go and get it.”

    Hawkins played in 350 games but only featured in two finals series.
    “Boyd’s Grand Final was terrific,” Hawkins said.

    “I would’ve loved to have played in a Grand Final. At the end of the day that’s what counts.”
    FFC: Established 1883

    Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.

  2. #2
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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Is it 6 mil or 7 mil? The total seems to change with each retelling.

    It was Buddy's 100th hame for the Swans last night and he is on a similiar contract? Tom has won one more flag with us than Buddy has with Sydney.

    Total premierships with current team:

    Boyd, Tom. (Western Bulldogs) 1

    Franklyn, Lance. (Sydney Swans) 0
    Have you been reading those Roddy Doyle books again, Dougal!?


    I have, yeah Ted, you big gobshite

  3. #3
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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Tom is 3 years younger than Ben Brown. So give him some time.

    So he's not playing like a No 1 key forward pick...................or is he?

    He's tracking about as good as Patton and McCartin and Schache (pick 2)

    But I would like to see some serious focus on Tom's Marking technique.

    In the north Melbourne game, every time Ben Brown took a mark, you could see his hand and fingers formed into a football sized bowl shape and his fingers spread wide and wrapping firmly round the ball like an ALIEN baby on an astronaut's face.

    Tom flies for the ball with his hands flat and his fingers not spread wide enough. (this is not just because he had a dislocated finger, this is his usual technique)

    It's a simple technique flaw, and very easy to fix. I know because I did it myself as a junior player. My technique changed, and overnight I was a much much better mark. In fact contested marking became the main strength of my game. It was my dad that taught me.

    Look at Jezza's hands here. This is how it's done. You've got to spread your fingers wide and then really wrap your fingers round the ball, like you're trying to catch a live bird. You've got to clamp onto that thing.

    I can't believe no-one at the club is tackling this. Fix his marking technique and he's a star.

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=...30336541073081

    The reason There's no photo of Jezza is because no matter how TINY I save it, even when it's blurry postage stamp size blob, WOOF still always tells me it's too big. It's the reason why I've never created an avatar image too. But I see these beautiful big nice clear images all the time on woof. Like the ones in this article.
    Confused of Flemington.
    Last edited by Dancin' Douggy; 29-06-2018 at 03:40 PM.

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  5. #4
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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Tom Boyd has been compared with Tom Hawkins often pretty much because they are both massive and were both drafted as big key position players. The articled does say how Hawkins was 23 and played 79 games on that Grand final day where he made his mark compared to Boyd 21 years old and 29 games.

    Well Boyd still isn't as old as Hawkins was in that GF! It goes to show how maligned Boyd is with negative media directed at him and not taking in to account how young he still is. I am guilty of getting impatient at times with him too but I still believe he will be that goal kicking machine before too long. Playing in the ruck may be slowing his forward craft development but it is no doubt toughening him up. He has looked much more aggressive this year than he has in the past.
    They've done studies you know, 60% of the time, it works every time!
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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Quote Originally Posted by ratsmac View Post
    Tom Boyd has been compared with Tom Hawkins often pretty much because they are both massive and were both drafted as big key position players. The articled does say how Hawkins was 23 and played 79 games on that Grand final day where he made his mark compared to Boyd 21 years old and 29 games.

    Well Boyd still isn't as old as Hawkins was in that GF! It goes to show how maligned Boyd is with negative media directed at him and not taking in to account how young he still is. I am guilty of getting impatient at times with him too but I still believe he will be that goal kicking machine before too long. Playing in the ruck may be slowing his forward craft development but it is no doubt toughening him up. He has looked much more aggressive this year than he has in the past.
    Another side benefit of him spending so much time in the ruck is the development of his tank.
    Very dangerous to have a bloke that big that can repeat lead and double back and follow up and chase etc.

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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Quote Originally Posted by Dancin' Douggy View Post
    Another side benefit of him spending so much time in the ruck is the development of his tank.
    Very dangerous to have a bloke that big that can repeat lead and double back and follow up and chase etc.
    I also like the way he is working on second efforts when the ball hits the ground.
    FFC: Established 1883

    Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.

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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Quote Originally Posted by Dancin' Douggy View Post
    Another side benefit of him spending so much time in the ruck is the development of his tank.
    Very dangerous to have a bloke that big that can repeat lead and double back and follow up and chase etc.
    The commentators mentioned after last week's game that Ben Brown run further than any player on the ground on Saturday night.

    This is the sort of workrate Tom is becoming capable of, and we'll owe it all to his time as a first ruck.

    There might just be method in the madness after all.

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  11. #8
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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Quote Originally Posted by bornadog View Post
    I also like the way he is working on second efforts when the ball hits the ground.
    It’s his damn hands when going for a mark that is so horribly wrong.

    Unfortunately he seems to have been born with the old footy Clapper for hands.


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  13. #9
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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Quote Originally Posted by Doc26 View Post
    It’s his damn hands when going for a mark that is so horribly wrong.

    Unfortunately he seems to have been born with the old footy Clapper for hands.

    It's a pretty simple technique thing to fix, but being simple and technical you can be sure we've made no effort to improve it. It's probably one of those things that will fix itself as he gets older.
    Western Bulldogs: We exist to win premierships

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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Quote Originally Posted by Greystache View Post
    It's a pretty simple technique thing to fix, but being simple and technical you can be sure we've made no effort to improve it. It's probably one of those things that will fix itself as he gets older.

    Like kicking technique. That will obviously sort itself out with no input from the coaches as well.
    Have you been reading those Roddy Doyle books again, Dougal!?


    I have, yeah Ted, you big gobshite

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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    The first thing I think of is The Simpsons. Decades ago, Homer is sitting opposite Mindy and opens up a fortune cookie about finding happiness in a new love. Then it cuts to the Chinese restaurant staff, saying they've run out of those fortune cookies, and to open the 'stick with your wife barrel'.

    It feels like The Hun journos must be completely lost and devoid of new interesting information to express in any edition any week, so they get all desperate, and the editors open up the 'stick with Tom Boyd contract size barrel' fortune cookies for the journo's inspiration.
    Rocket Science: the epitaph for the Beveridge era - whenever it ends - reading 'Here lies a team that could beat anyone on its day, but seldom did when it mattered most'. 15/7/2023

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  17. #12
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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Quote Originally Posted by bulldogtragic View Post
    The first thing I think of is The Simpsons. Decades ago, Homer is sitting opposite Mindy and opens up a fortune cookie about finding happiness in a new love. Then it cuts to the Chinese restaurant staff, saying they've run out of those fortune cookies, and to open the 'stick with your wife barrel'.

    It feels like The Hun journos must be completely lost and devoid of new interesting information to express in any edition any week, so they get all desperate, and the editors open up the 'stick with Tom Boyd contract size barrel' fortune cookies for the journo's inspiration.
    Exxxxcellent.
    Our 1954 premiership players are our heroes, and it has to be said that Charlie was their hero.

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  19. #13
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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Still, it’d be nice if he’d hold onto a mark.
    "You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can't control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone" - Marcus Aurelius

  20. #14
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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Quote Originally Posted by The Underdog View Post
    Still, it’d be nice if he’d hold onto a mark.
    That right there is why Bevo won't play him as a stay at home forward. How can he when Boyd is no more than a 10-20% chance of taking even uncontested overhead marks,
    Our 1954 premiership players are our heroes, and it has to be said that Charlie was their hero.

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    Re: Tom Boyd hasn’t had your average career but at what stage do his 2016 Grand Final credits run out?

    Quote Originally Posted by The Underdog View Post
    Still, it’d be nice if he’d hold onto a mark.
    True. Although it occurred to me Tom is graded on his ruck minutes, as a first ruck. And graded as a KPF, when he's forward.

    Almost every ruckman would not be held to the same KPF forward standards, nor as a forward held to first ruck standards. He's not both, if anything by spreading him thin, he's neither in stage of his development. I can't think of too many other players in the league that get graded on being a first ruck and also a KPF. Not saying your making it, I was thinking about a comparison Carey made earlier.

    But yeah, he should take some grippo off Gowers jumper.
    Rocket Science: the epitaph for the Beveridge era - whenever it ends - reading 'Here lies a team that could beat anyone on its day, but seldom did when it mattered most'. 15/7/2023

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