Thomson Dow [merged]

[Diocletian]

He hasn’t been afl standard on a consistent basis and I worry that sometimes he’s a bit conditional with his effort but the reality is that his standard is about where we are at.
I don’t think there’s anyone who is leaping frogging him for his spot just yet.
Kmac 2 is still working it out, Sonsie isn’t good enough and we need to see a hell of a lot more of Smillie before he gets a go in the midfield

I think if Sonsie as given a fair go in the middle to see where he is at that would be good.

HRT how have you determined Sonise isn’t good enough? Dominates the midfield VFL level more then dow does and hasn’t got 5% of the opportunity at AFL that Dow has been afforded. I’m not even going to disagree with you about it but I’m not sure how you can give dow a pass while definitively stating Sonsie isn’t at the level.

Had Sonsie been given the same amount of chances he'd be giving us way more than what Dow's serving up - because he wouldn't even need to be that great to do so. There's blokes we've delisted and who deserved to be delisted that would be producing more than Dow right now if they were given his opportunities.

[Hard Roar Tiger]

Sonsie’s numbers this year are significantly worse this year than his first year. It’s possible he could be playing in Dow’s place more regularly but it is more probable than not that he would be delivering not much more than Dow is.
He’s had a few chances now and only a year younger than Dow, he’s played 28 games to Dow’s 43 games so the delta in games played isn’t that great.
Last year both played similar games (dow 17 and sonsie 14) and Sonsie had as many turnovers per game, lower DE, tackles, score involvements and was murdered on contested ball.
You might argument Sonsie was played out of position but I would say he just needs to impact where he plays.

Neither will nor should be in our next finals team so to me the debate lacks purpose.

Both should be overtaken by Smillie by years end. It’s clear that last year’s draft crop are being prioritised which is the most telling selection policy

[Andyy]

Sonsie’s numbers this year are significantly worse this year than his first year. It’s possible he could be playing in Dow’s place more regularly but it is more probable than not that he would be delivering not much more than Dow is.
He’s had a few chances now and only a year younger than Dow, he’s played 28 games to Dow’s 43 games so the delta in games played isn’t that great.
Last year both played similar games (dow 17 and sonsie 14) and Sonsie had as many turnovers per game, lower DE, tackles, score involvements and was murdered on contested ball.
You might argument Sonsie was played out of position but I would say he just needs to impact where he plays.

Neither will nor should be in our next finals team so to me the debate lacks purpose.

Both should be overtaken by Smillie by years end. It’s clear that last year’s draft crop are being prioritised which is the most telling selection policy

I'd make the position argument as well as TOG.

Sonsie often the sub.

[Hard Roar Tiger]

Only one game in 2024 was under 50% game time and 11 were 65% game time or more.
Doubt there was too much subbing going on there.
Neither of them are genuine regulars in a finals quality team

[Chuck17]

Thank god for small mercies

https://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/1923523/thank-you-thomson-dow

Richmond has informed midfielder Thomson Dow that he will not be offered a contract for the 2026 AFL season.

[Andyy]

Thank god for small mercies

https://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/1923523/thank-you-thomson-dow

Richmond has informed midfielder Thomson Dow that he will not be offered a contract for the 2026 AFL season.

Yep.

We kept the correct player, Sonsie, for the correct time, one additional year.

Admittedly I thought the first half of 2025 was Dow's best patch but after six years in the system we just haven't seen enough and I have virtually never seen him 'hurt' an opposition team during a game.

[Hard Roar Tiger]

We did. Sonsie a placeholder on the list until this time year unless he distorts the improvement trend significantly