Rate a Tiger's year - 30. Reece Conca?

[one-eyed]

Next up is Conca.

Our first round pick from last year's draft played 17 games in his debut season in the AFL with six consecutive 20+ possession games between rounds 4 to 9. His best statistically being 23 disposals, 8 marks and 3 tackles in the round 9 Dreamtime win against Essendon.

          Games   Kicks   Hballs   Disp.   Marks   Tackles   G.B    1st poss.  Clear.   In50   R50   1%ers
2011     17        8.2      7.4     15.6     4.0        1.8      0.5       1.4         1.7       1.6    2.5     2.2

http://finalsiren.com/PlayerStats.asp?PlayerID=2062&SeasonID=ALL
http://www.pro-stats.com.au/psw/web/player_profile?pid=2011006


How did we all rate Conca's debut year?

[tony_montana]

Very solid debut season. Shown enough that he ticks the boxes for mine.

Faded badly bc of inuries and low fitness base coming off an op. Give him a full preseson and expect him to be part of key mid rotations in 2012

6

[WilliamPowell]

For a first year player I gave him a 7

Good poise under pressure and good skills

Needs to work on his conversion regarding shots at goal though

Watched the round 1 game against the blues over the weekend...then the Dreamtime game ...

Just steady improvement as the year went on

Will be a very good player for us long term 

[10 FLAGS]

for me his season was 6. only a kid and made a contribution. looking forward to seeing him improve in 2012.

[tigs2011]

Gave him a 7. Showed a lot for a first year kid with an interrupted pre-season but still a fair way to go. I look forward to his 2012.

[Smokey]

Gave him a 7 based on his performance as a first year player.  Thought he did very well and showed heaps of potential - I really think he will be almost as good as Cotchin in a few years time.  If I was rating him on his value to the side this year then it would have only been a 6 but for a first year player I was very happy and comfortable with what he did.

[eliminator]

shows good composure. impressed. hopefully has a good preseason and a better year next year

[tigtuff12]

agree with all - reviewing him solely as a first year player i'd say he was a 7...showed he could play, good skills and likes a contest - also looks like he makes good decisions and has a bit of composure...with a full pre-season or two under his belt i think he'll be handy off the back & another mid rotation...if you were rating him overall/compared to all senior players then i think he'd slip back to a 6/6.5 but that's only based on the "end of season fade out" which a lot of young blokes get & in all honesty he was far from our worst...think he'll be a valuable member of the team going forward....

[Absolut Tigers]

I think Conca had a reasonable year considering he had little to no pre-season and it was his first year of AFL. My concerns with Conca were his kicking (shanked it at times) and being caught too often "holding the ball" in the back half. Richmond over the past few years has had undersized midfielders who when they were tackled tended to either turn it over or have a free kick paid against them. The premium midfielders rarely turn it over in this situation - think of Judd, Ablett, Selwood, Boyd. For all of Shane Tuck's shortcomings he has a tremendous ability to stand up in tackle. Therefore I think Conca needs to work extremely hard in the gym over the summer.

[tigtuff12]

Therefore I think Conca needs to work extremely hard in the gym over the summer.

^ agree mate...i think he showed enough dash/carry & decision making to show that he has the ability to develop into a good player for us long term...def needs to spend some time getting fitter and stronger over a couple of pre-seasons - which will also help with his ability to pick up/maintain the speed of the game (obviously such a massive jump up from juniors where you can dominate and have all the time in the world)...

...also probably doesn't help when some of the senior peanuts further up the ground don't give appropriate targets

[Penelope]

hard to work out how to actually grade him.
On straight out output would be around a 6, but i upgraded to a 7 as a first year player.

..plus i really like what i see. I cant think of any other first year player who looks so smooth and calm in traffic. At times he finds space and time where you would expect him to rush and you're not real sure how he did it. No big baulk or push away, just an awareness of where to position himself.

You simply cannot teach that.

[Smokey]

I think Conca had a reasonable year considering he had little to no pre-season and it was his first year of AFL. My concerns with Conca were his kicking (shanked it at times) and being caught too often "holding the ball" in the back half. Richmond over the past few years has had undersized midfielders who when they were tackled tended to either turn it over or have a free kick paid against them. The premium midfielders rarely turn it over in this situation - think of Judd, Ablett, Selwood, Boyd. For all of Shane Tuck's shortcomings he has a tremendous ability to stand up in tackle. Therefore I think Conca needs to work extremely hard in the gym over the summer.

I agree with your point about getting caught holding the ball too often AT, and I can recall a similar thing happening to Cotch a few times in his first season also.  Awareness will come with experience and I like the skillset and attitude he already brings to the game.

[yellowandback]

Showed more than enough to show he will be a great player for a long time to come.  People might not know he had sore groins for most of the 2nd half of the year.

As Goldmember said in the Austin Powers flick "Dis wuns a kieper"

[JVT]

7 as a first year player, same output next year will earn him a 6.

Has shown glimpses as the season wore on that he was a very good selection at pick 6 and should be a very good player for us with a pre season under his belt.