Tom simpkin

[cannavaro17]

Hi all, I am a big fan of him, what are people's thoughts about him playing fb? Could he do it, does he have the height? Ability? How much size must he put on?

[class of 2010]

He has the ability no doubt to play lots of AFL football, but he gives away too much height to be effective against the 195+ cm forwards of the competition. With time his strength 1-1 will increase and he'll turn into a very good 2nd defender taking the key position (but 191-195cm) forwards and providing a bit of rebound as well. He's a good spoil and mark of the ball, along with being a tenacious character and reasonably agile/quick for his size. He's one of my favourite players because of his hardness at the contest and the man. When he bumps players stay hit. Reminds me of a young maxie, but I think even maxie would have struggled with the advent of the very tall (195+ as the norm), very strong, quite quick full forwards of today, especially with the rule changes constantly making things more difficult for defenders.

[Con Gorozidis]

The guy is awesome.
But we still an extra player to go on the super talls (195cm+)

[Munga]

Could he plays in clogs?

[plugger66]

The guy is awesome.
But we still an extra player to go on the super talls (195cm+)

I thought 193 was ok?

[dragit]

Would it be u*n-ethical to have his legs surgically broken, then stretched out with racks?

[fugazi]

Would it be in-ethical to have his legs surgically broken, then stretched out with racks?

GATACA style...why not?

[Con Gorozidis]

The guy is awesome.
But we still an extra player to go on the super talls (195cm+)

I thought 193 was ok?

could be - i was saying need to to play on guys 195+

[skeptic]

IMO his career will go one of 2 ways

- he will either have a good career playing as a more attacking key back --- not a quarter back or a gorilla but playing on players around his height/weight
- he will be played against opponents much bigger and periodically get towelled up, lose conidence and be a GOP at best

The danger with him is that we can't afford to look at him as a Max Hudghton clone. Max was an absolute freak like Harvey and few players can play the way he did giving away height and weight but making up for it with good closing speed and reach.

I think he'll be a pretty good player

[rexy]

Will be a very good footballer for 200+ games IMO. May play full back but not ideally, more like a Scarlett type role!

[bigcarl]

Simpkin is a very good pure defender in the mould of a Hudghton, but we're asking a lot of him if we expect him to mind a guy like Hawkins.

He's giving away 6cm and 10kg. I'd be delighted to be proven wrong on this, but at some point sheer size comes ino it

[matrix]

gun
one of my favs

goes hard at it and goes head first
love it

hope he stays around as part of our defence for many years

[mr six o'clock]

I like his 3 inch thick cranium !
He has unintentionally injured 4 opposition player with his head , two of those times i thought he would be seriously concussed , but no ! after a bit of a rest , he was back at it . You carn't fault his commitment at the ball . I hope i'm still watching him play for us in ten yeras time .

[clarky449]

Love him, i seriously do love him. Gun, tough, seriously good at what he does. Love him.

[gringo]

One of my Richmond supporter mates hates just about every saints player but loves Simpkin because of his attack on the ball. I still like to tell people I was talking him up early days before he ever played seniors. Did say I though he was a clean handed good ball user and wasn't really a KPP so almost right, he just showed glimpses early that got me excited but he really took his chances when the door opened for him. Somehow he's made the cut despite having Dempster and Gwilt in the same height and position range. I wonder if we could play him as a half forward similar to hamill? he has the mania and Hamill could teach him how to hospitalise people with in the rules. If we get a big FB he might need to be used a little differently.