Over-rated / Under-rated #5 - Tim English

[Vred]

So you're saying A?

Capital A, bold and underlined.

[mighty_west]

For the position he plays i'll rate him a B-, the issue for me is that he's a very bloody tall utility having to play ruck....cos he's big!!! and to me, that's just not his game even though he was drafted as a ruck, as a utility to cover the ground the way he does and push forward he's edging A status because he does that well as he showed in his AA season, but because he plays ruck and get's pushed around so much it hurts him as a player imo, the oppo rucks know this, they plan to attack when playing against Tim, Grundy, Gawn, Sweet, even bloody Meek had a field day with him in that final yet Meek was in the wilderness not that long ago before being picked up by the Hawks, Tim is an AA ruckman yet Meek couldn't get a look in with Freo for many seasons and owned him.

I believe the best way as a team to help Tim out is to play more harder edged players around the ball, problem now is that Bont, Richards, Treloar even Libba struggles to keep up at times on the defensive efforts and we have seen other mids destroy us with their ruck playing the strong game giving their mids the best chance to dominate too often, a Jai Newcombe is that perfect player we need to give us harder edge and better defensive midfield game, Petracca and Oliver just dance around us and get the ball moving with ease, we have players to use but are they good enough around the ball to make a difference?

West, Garcia, Kennedy are needed to step up to bring that hardness and defensive efforts that others struggle with, Gags was also used at times but still finding his feet, Sanders the same, Freijah could be a wildcard at some stage in the guts but will most likely play the majority down back again.

The lack of defensive efforts from the mids in the middle hurt Tim as a ruckman.

[Brody23]

A- Horrible contract too and not many premiership teams invest that much in a Ruckman.

[SonofScray]

I'd trade him tomorrow if it was upto me.
Never rated him, never will.
I'm sick of seeing him get humiliated by younger rucks to the point that Bevo has to switch Lobb into the center square to compete.
The best season we've had in recent history was in 21' when he wasn't the starting ruckmen for over half the season. We looked so much better with Stefan Martin in the ruck and English as the third tall up forward.

Incredibly overrated.

Absolutely would have flipped him in a heartbeat.

[jeemak]

I think Tim's an excellent footballer, and he'll be better for having had a full preseason.

He isn't ever going to be a grinding crash and bash ruck. That's OK. However, he can't have lapses where he doesn't influence in other areas because that's when he becomes a liability.

Both overrated and underrated.

[Vred]

Absolutely would have flipped him in a heartbeat.

Should of gone Grundy, Melbourne should of gone Lobb, they needed a Jackson replacement and we needed a Stefan Martin replacement. We could of kept English as our third forward (70/30) and backup ruck, and Grundy could of taken the ruck work in the middle.

Both teams screwed up and chased the wrong targets.

[Rusty12]

He was massively over-rated last year, based on his 2023 form and impact on winning.
No point judging him on his early years; he was still developing
His AA in 2023 was legit and well-earned.
He played last year like a guy wrapped in cotton wool all pre-season and in-season.
Properly rated for now; however, he has his 6-year deal, and 2025 is his defining year.

[GVGjr]

He was massively over-rated last year, based on his 2023 form and impact on winning.
No point judging him on his early years; he was still developing
His AA in 2023 was legit and well-earned.
He played last year like a guy wrapped in cotton wool all pre-season and in-season.
Properly rated for now; however, he has his 6-year deal, and 2025 is his defining year.

Good points, he was in cotton wool for most of the preseason and never quite delivered on his ability.

[merantau]

Too inconsistent for me and lowers his colours to players he should monster. When he's good, he's very good. You know the rest.

[soupman]

I think properly rated. Elite in all the cool stuff not expected of rucks, transition game, intercept game, ability to push forward, covers ground, good with ball in hand. Makes a few clangers (The Hawks kickout being one) but what ruck doesn't make stupid mistakes, and at least Tim's remaining 15 touches are much more constructive than say Toby Nankervis'. His one downfall is ability to own and influence the game via the ruck contest, and it's a big downfall considering thats the position.

Also don't agree with the Timid comments that come in sometimes. He is on ocassion caught not being as strong or committed to a contest as he could be but considering the work he puts in with everything else and that virtually all other players have similiar moments as well except they are 205cm blonde blokes then i think he deserves to not be known for those moments.

[mal68]

I think he is underrated as a solution to our problems on the wing

I always feel like he is just a super tall winger and because of his height he gets played in the ruck which sucks for him.

Wod love to see him get a run on the wing and am sure it would go terribly, but at least it would satisfy my curiosity

[jeemak]

I think he is underrated as a solution to our problems on the wing

I always feel like he is just a super tall winger and because of his height he gets played in the ruck which sucks for him.

Wod love to see him get a run on the wing and am sure it would go terribly, but at least it would satisfy my curiosity

Welcome to the forum mate. Sorry to have to disagree with the first post of yours I've read though......

While he technically has strong running capacity, I think the sheer pace in covering ground the very best wingers let alone those who are just competent at it rules him out of playing that role completely. However, there's a poster around here who mainly shows up and posts the crap out of things when we lose during the season, who has championed Tim as a better CHB than even a forward/ ruck rather than a ruck/ forward which most people get behind.

How would you see his prospects behind the ball?

[Go_Dogs]

I think he’s properly rated. He does some stuff well and some stuff not so well. He needs to deliver in big moments to move the needle and be a bit more combative

[JanLorMill]

A-will cost us in finals again if he is our main ruck. How many finals do when need to prove it?

[JanLorMill]

Should of gone Grundy, Melbourne should of gone Lobb, they needed a Jackson replacement and we needed a Stefan Martin replacement. We could of kept English as our third forward (70/30) and backup ruck, and Grundy could of taken the ruck work in the middle.

Both teams screwed up and chased the wrong targets.

That boat has sailed. Lobb is our CHB now. No guarantee Melbourne wanted Lobb, we were the only silly club at the time to chase him but its worked out ok atm. Our forward line is too tall already without shoehorning English in there.