Rory Hilton

[mightytiges]

The inside story on Tiger Rory . . .
Tue 4 January, 2005
Tony Greenberg
richmondfc.com.au

Versatile Tiger Rory Hilton is making excellent progress following the knee reconstruction that he underwent last July and he’s right on target to play in the opening round of the 2005 season.

Hilton, who snapped the Anterior Cruciate Ligament in his right knee during the Round 15 clash with Essendon at the MCG last season, is set to step up his training in January after spending the pre-Christmas period in the players’ rehabilitation group.

“It’s going really well. Basically, I haven’t missed a beat and I’m ahead of schedule,” Hilton said.

“I’m certainly expecting to be ready to play Round 1, and I’d like to think I could get a couple of pre-season games in before then.”

The 25-year-old, who has played 73 games for Richmond since joining the Club from the Brisbane Lions in 1999, has been buoyed by the coaching style and philosophies of new Tiger boss Terry Wallace.

“It’s been great. A new coach always brings fresh change, but I’m learning things about footy again and feeling good about myself,” he said.

“The first time I met Terry I told him I was keen to play half-back and he was really receptive to that.

“I know I’m good enough to play a full season of league football and I’m expecting to have a good season this year.

“There’s a definite buzz around the place and I really want to be part of it . . .”

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=181852

[mightytiges]

“I know I’m good enough to play a full season of league football and I’m expecting to have a good season this year.

Problem for Rory is he's ever only had one full season. Either been injured or out of form/inconsistent/not good enough. Rory's about to start his 8th season of AFL yet has only played 10 games or more per year on 3 occasions. As WP has mentioned before our players seem to find a funny knack of playing well when a new coach arrives so I could be made to eat my words but I still think given the opposition for a HBF spot he'll find it hard to find a spot and will be one of the favourites to be delisted at the end of the 2005.

Year	No.	Games	Kicks	Marks	H.Balls	Disp	Goals	Pts	H.O.	Tack	Reb	Ins50	Clear	Clng	FrF	FrA
1998	19	9	73	19	25	98	3	2		7					8	10
1999	1	8	33	14	10	43	3	3		2					4	7
2000	1	16	220	75	71	291	10	8	1	28					11	17
2001	1	22	240	81	99	339	24	18	3	40					23	18
2002	1	3	18	6	3	21	1	1		2						1
2003	1	14	118	49	35	153	3	10		16					7	17
2004	1	9	63	32	30	93	4	8	1	17					7	5
Totals		81	765	276	273	1038	48	50	5	112					60	75
High			25	11	10	30	4	4	1	6					3	4

http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/R/Rory_Hilton.html

[WilliamPowell]

Problem for Rory is he's ever only had one full season. Either been injured or out of form/inconsistent/not good enough. Rory's about to start his 8th season of AFL yet has only played 10 games or more per year on 3 occasions. As WP has mentioned before our players seem to find a funny knack of playing well when a new coach arrives so I could be made to eat my words but I still think given the opposition for a HBF spot he'll find it hard to find a spot and will be one of the favourites to be delisted at the end of the 2005.

I reckon his knee injury saved him at the end of 2004.

His biggest problem in my view is his inconsistency - we applauded him against the Demons when Neitz cannoned into his shoulder and that destroyed season 2002 but up until that point he'd struggled. He seems to be another of those gifted players that just furstrates supporters with his inconsistency

I watched him a couple of times at Coburg in 2004 - he looked dis-interested one minute and super star they next - bloody frustrating

[LondonTiger]

Hilton had a really good year in 2000, and was a great player in the 2001 (as were the entire backline)

He is a great bloke to have around the club, and I hope he gets back some consistency in his footy.

He will be another like pettifer who will have to claim spots this year

[Life goes on]

Rory,s kicking lets him down

[mightytiges]

Rory,s kicking lets him down

Not a good deficiency to have if you're playing across the HB line and distributing the footy forward. We don't need a repeat of Chaffey's "form" last year  . Newman, Joel and even Pettifer are much more reliable kicks.