Ryan Garthwaite profileafldraftcentral.com.auTall Defender | Murray Bushrangers/NSW-ACT/Allies
10/09/1998 | 192cm | 80kg
Player comparison: Lachie HendersonSnapshot:Ryan Garthwaite is an interesting prospect who has had his fair share of injuries early on in the season, but has bounced back to finish the year with plenty to like. While his unconventional kicking style is probably the most awkward I have ever seen, it is effective and so are most of his defensive traits.
Garthwaite plays the role as a third tall, rebounding defender who will often peel off his man and spread to find space and relaunch from the defensive 50. While not overly strong, Garthwaite is good overhead and will back himself against most forwards one-on-one.
His greatest strength is his ability to read the play from the back 50 and position himself in the right spot nearly all the time. An example came in the finals series against Oakleigh Chargers where he was manning up against Patrick Kerr deep in defence. As the only two in the forward 50, the kick came in and Kerr headed back towards goal. Instead of following his man, Garthwaite judged the ball drop perfectly, standing 10 metres forward of his opponent, taking the mark and then playing on to rebound it back out. It told me that he is not afraid to leave his opponent if he feels he can have an impact otherwise.
Garthwaite’s disposal is also quite effective, with 71 per cent of his kicks in the TAC Cup hitting targets, with an overall disposal efficiency of 74.4 per cent. Most draft watchers will wonder how because of his awkward kicking style that almost has to be seen to be believed, but it is effective, so whatever works.
Garthwaite is also not afraid to kick long, with a 50/50 split between long and short kicks in the TAC Cup this season. He ended the season averaging 16.6 disposals and 6.5 marks per game. While he headed into the season with a number of injury niggles, he was still able to test in the TAC Cup pre-season and while he recorded an above average beep test of 14.2, he recorded a well below average agility test of 8.8 seconds and poor standing vertical jump of 56 centimetres.
It is no surprise that agility and vertical leap are the two biggest improvements that Garthwaite should look to build on, whether that means changing a style or if his injury niggles have held him back early in the season.
Overall, the tall defender is a prospect that will go somewhere in the early stages of the National Draft, and while there are still improvements to be made, he certainly has a good base to work with going forward.
Statistics:
Strengths:
Reading of the play
One-on-ones
Disposal
Good overheadGarthwaite is a reliable tall defender who is not afraid to peel off his opponent and take a team-first approach. His reading of the play and subsequent positioning is one of the best in the draft pool, while his disposal and strength overhead is very impressive as well.
Firstly, his reading of the play and positioning is the first aspect that jumps out at me. He is very intelligent at reading the ball in flight and positioning himself, regardless of the situation or pressure he is under. He assesses the situation and will calculate his best move to make at that point in time.
While not as developed as some tall defenders, he does not try and engage in an armwrestle too often, but in those situations will opt for a spoil rather than attempt a mark. When one-on-one, if Garthwaite can get clear, he will try and drop into the hole to take an uncontested mark and slow play down and switch play to the other side of the ground. Often, you will see Garthwaite waiting for the receive in the back pocket, then raking it forward to the wing where he will more often than not hit a target.
His much talked about kicking style, while needing improving is working for him, so he might as well stick with it until he is coached otherwise. A long range kick, Garthwaite balances the need between short and long kicks, hitting the target three quarters of the time. While not the most penetrating of kicks, he can gain distance and is a clever kick of the football, putting it to his teammates’ advantage regularly.
Finally his ability to win the ball overhead and rarely drop a mark is quite impressive. Averaging a contested mark a game in the TAC Cup, Garthwaite became an impenetrable force at times and was a key cog in the Murray Bushrangers’ defence. If he can continue his development at AFL level, he will be a valued member of any side in the competition.
Improvements:
Kicking style
Vertical leap
AgilityThere is no doubting his kicking style needs improving, but it is hard to fault that it gets results. While I say the style works stick with it, he will no doubt be coached ways of altering it because to try and summarise, he has the rare double-hand ball drop. The double-hand ball drop is okay if you are in space or kicking off from a mark, but in a contested situation such as AFL level when the pressure is immense, sometimes you do not have the luxury of having both arms free. If an opponent pins an arm in a tackle, while a concern for anyone, would be more so for Garthwaite as it interrupts his usual ball drop.
Secondly, his vertical leap is an area to work on, because he is on the lower end of that scale. It has not seemed to impact him greatly and can be disguised because of his strength overhead, but he might struggle against the high flyers of the AFL. It is a bit odd in the sense that Garthwaite has the build of a player that is quite mobile and while his endurance is right up there with the best, both his vertical leap and agility are quite low. This could be a result of the frustrating injuries earlier in the season and we might get a better idea in the early seasons of his career.
While his spread is quite good – getting from one place to another quickly – his agility is a hindrance. All it means is that Garthwaite is unlikely to be able to sidestep an opponent and not get caught, so the likelihood is that he will need to dispose of the ball quickly rather than dance around a forward.
Highlights: https://youtu.be/NlzDsNbO8xkSummary:Ryan Garthwaite is one of only a few taller defenders in the draft that could go early. While most of the others are more lockdown defenders or athletic versatile movers, Garthwaite is the intercept tall defender. It adds a point of difference to his game and while he is a Greater Western Sydney Academy kid, there is no guarantee he will land there. With so many of the Giants’ academy prospects in this draft, it will be interesting to see who they take and who they pass on.
Regardless of whether he ends up in Blacktown or not, Garthwaite will find an AFL home and with a few tweaks to his game a little time in the gym, expect him to continue his upward trajectory to become a very solid AFL player.
https://afldraftcentral.com.au/player/ryan-garthwaite/
