Mick Malthouse said that Ellis's kicking is elite both sides, an the tigers know this allowing him to take the kick outs. I believe Malthouse might have a little more credibility than King
Where is the source of your Malthouse quote.. Just saying.
Rance was kicking out as well. I guess that makes him an elite kick...... I reckon its more likely that Hardwick doesn't have a clue.
The commentators during the game, Darcy said he needed to work on his kicking and a little later BT said he was an elite kick. Clearly one of them was reading off a piece of paper from the Richmond propaganda machine and the other was watching the game. Probably the same piece of paper Malthouse was given.
When he isn't blindly running into opponents and getting smothered, he consistently sprays the ball and his decision making has been poor all year. Whether a couple of preseasons can cure that is another story. History shows richmond recruits get worse the longer they stay at the club.
Where he has improved over the year is his spread and his contested footy and one strength he does have is penetration in his kicking. But that doesn't make you a good kick, just a long kick.