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THE Tom Boyd that cost the Western Bulldogs $6 million is not what they paid for.
Most people thought the Dogs had landed the next Jesse Hogan or Tom Lynch with their audacious, seven-year play for the Greater Western Sydney young gun —a big, dominant power forward, who would rule the roost deep inside 50m for a decade.
But the 200cm, 103kg Boyd who arrived at The Kennel at the end of 2014 is not that man at all.
It doesn’t mean it’s a bust, but if the massive investment in the 2013 No.1 pick is to pay off it will be different to how we — and maybe even the Bulldogs — anticipated.
To me, Boyd is more in the Kurt Tippett mould.
He’ll end up splitting his time between the ruck and up forward and, if he can get to Tippett’s level, could be just as valuable as Hogan, Lynch or Jeremy Cameron.
Big, brutish, stay-at-home key forwards like Tom Hawkins are rarer by the season. Boyd, 20, will have to be more than the bear in the square to thrive.
He will play his third-straight game in the VFL this weekend after a shoulder injury and is being kept out of the seniors by big Jack Redpath.
There are still a lot of questions to be answered about Boyd
He must improve his endurance and his agility. He’s got a good jump and is balanced and powerful in the contest, but he must become a better ground-level player and get his touches up.
He would want to start performing at a higher level fairly soon.
His teammates will have patience while he’s still developing and understand that he wasn’t the one who decided the size of his contract.
But failing to live up to your pay cheque can be challenging and it comes back to the resilience of the individual. How well can he cope mentally? Some blokes struggle under that weight of expectation.
Boyd is still in the grace period and from what I hear is a solid and hard-working character committed to the game.
He’s not a natural born killer, but he’s far from timid, either.
He’s happy to crash a pack and you can see some subtle changes in his body shape. He’s starting to chisel up and get a frame for the modern game.
In the TAC Cup he was the big-boned kid in the schoolyard. He murdered them because he was always far bigger.
Boyd is in his third AFL season and still getting paid for his potential, but that was always going to be the case.
His coach Luke Beveridge has publicly declared that Boyd is in the Dogs’ best 22 and that’s very important. He’ll get a crack at it in the next few weeks.
I got a huge amount of confidence as a youngster from Leigh Matthews being in my corner, pushing me and encouraging me to be one of his key forwards.
It’s hard to be critical of the Dogs’ decision to go after Boyd. They had to land a big fish.
Don’t forget, when the trade went down they were a basket case — players wanted out and the coach was sacked.
They wanted to make a statement because their captain Ryan Griffen was walking out the door.
The Dogs have some outstanding veteran leaders in Bob Murphy, Dale Morris and Matty Boyd and the way they embraced the Boyd transaction would have permeated through the group.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they were consulted about the move and told the club: “Yep, we’re making a splash and we’re happy for you to go and get him.”
At the time, the Dogs probably didn’t realise the quality and depth already on their list, led by Marcus Bontempelli, Jake Stringer, Luke Dahlhaus and the three father-sons — Lachie Hunter, Tom Liberatore and Mitch Wallis.
Redpath is providing real grunt this year and is ahead of Boyd because he’s allowing Stringer to head into the midfield.
You could play Redpath and Boyd if Boyd played big minutes in the ruck and could also contribute as a hit forward, but Tom Campbell and Jordan Roughead are doing the job in the ruck so far this season.
That’s the conundrum for Boyd and I can assure you the money he’s pocketing won’t affect the coach’s consideration at selection.
If we get to the end of next year and he still hasn’t come on you’d be starting to worry, but I always think of Tom Hawkins at the end of 2011, his fifth season.
A month after a lot of people had written him off, he won Geelong a premiership.
Hawkins struggled right up until the finals and there was push to play an ageing Cameron Mooney ahead of him.
Boyd may yet make a major impact this season.
I’m confident he’s going to be a player, but not declaring him just yet.
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