Underwhelming/Underachieving players

[PiesUserName]

Who are some players that maybe a year or two into their careers, you thought would be absolute stars but just never reached those heights?

One for me is Daniel Rich. I thought he was going to be an absolute gun. He turned out to be ok, a C+ to B- type of player.

Hurley is another decent player, but I thought he was going to be much better. I still have a visual of him early in his career as a forward...a game maybe against Hawthorn. Had the ball from just outside 50, off a few steps on his left foot just put it straight through the middle. I thought he was going to be one of the elite players of the competition.
He has turned out to be a solid defender, but thought he would have been so much more.

 

[Football God]

Tex.

 

[Yojimbo]

Jake Stringer
Tim O'Brien
Mason Wood
Sam Mayes
Lukas Webb

 

[Cotchins Hair Piece]

Hipwood.
Callum Mills.

 

[nahnah]

All of Norths youth

its like as soon as north drafts them they become a low possession player

 

[Aussie_boy]

Mills and Wood are both good calls, haven't shown much improvement since starting off their careers relatively well.

I'll throw in some Carlton youngsters like Petrevski-Seton, Dow and O'Brien, I get that they're young but they just don't do it for me yet. It's little wonder they can't win games of football when blokes are gifted games like this.

 

[bixente]

Yeah most of the time Petrevski-Seton flatters to deceive, remember one game he had where he ran the show at the MCG, think it was against Collingwood? But games of such influence have been few and far between it seems.

He is young of course so he's got time. Weitering was struggling but he's playing some good football for them now.

 

[sprockets]

Zac Dawson. Was cut down early in his career with an injury to his ability muscle. And it wasn't just a strain.

 

[ShadeyP]

Zac Dawson. Was cut down early in his career with an injury to his ability muscle. And it wasn't just a strain.

He's a bag holder

 

[raskolnikov]

Going back a while, and showing my age, but Ricky Olarenshaw was great as part of the Baby Bombers in 1993, but never really did anything after that year.

 

[adammania9]

Daniel Rioli is in his fourth season now and still masking frequently poor performances with particularly low pressure numbers with the occasional flash of brilliance in front of goal.

Rory Atkins must be unbelievably frustrating for Adelaide fans. One week he might rock up with 25 and two goals but the next three weeks he'll average 12 and no score.

Somebody scolded me during the pre-season for identifying Mills as having not improved one bit since his debut season which was overhyped to begin with. And in his fourth season now, he's still the slow, short, unconfident defender who won't take the game on that he was when he started.

Jy Simpkin headed for this list, who has lost all signs of smarts and spark that he had when he came to the club and is the #1 reason I have a problem with North Melbourne's development of young players.

 

[Ishikawa]

Rich didn't turn out the superstar he looked in 2009, but certainly a quality player over a long stretch of time.

I don't agree on Mills either. Gets the job done consistently and as hard as a cats head. Suffers from the inevitable comparisons to Heeney.

 

[Jcpdragonx]

Rich didn't turn out the superstar he looked in 2009, but certainly a quality player over a long stretch of time.

I don't agree on Mills either. Gets the job done consistently and as hard as a cats head. Suffers from the inevitable comparisons to Heeney.

Mills was drafted pick 2 as a midfielder, hasn’t played there

 

[HTT]

Dean Polo

 

[OnceWeWereKings]

Mills and Wood are both good calls, haven't shown much improvement since starting off their careers relatively well.

I'll throw in some Carlton youngsters like Petrevski-Seton, Dow and O'Brien, I get that they're young but they just don't do it for me yet. It's little wonder they can't win games of football when blokes are gifted games like this.

Just for perspective, I’ll throw in the Adelaide players from the 16/17 drafts, how are Gallucci, Poholke, Himmelberg, Fogarty & McPherson tracking?
Get some context, 2nd & 3rd year players FFS.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Whats going on?
No mention of Jack Watts?

 

[Foucault1989]

Certainly this thread is for players who showed signs of potential in their first 4 years but turned out to be average. Why are people nominating 20 year olds? Everyone acknowledges that players generally peak between 24 - 29....how could a player be under achieving when they are still developing? Classic kick the youth of bottom clubs while there down while youth from top clubs get a free ride on the back of established stars and no media spotlight or scrutiny. Dow is 19 and was scrutinised last week for a few bad kicks like a 28 year would. Ridiculous

 

[Yojimbo]

Whats going on?
No mention of Jack Watts?

Don't know that he ever did anything early that indicated stardom, other than being Pick 1.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Don't know that he ever did anything early that indicated stardom, other than being Pick 1.

Like every pick 1.High expectations.

 

[Roobs321]

Whilst I can relate to the OP, Rich & Hurley could yet end up being influential in coming finals campaigns. A couple years ago I wouldn't have predicted Rich to still be best-22 at the Lions in 2019, and Hurley seemed to have peaked, or felt overshadowed by other key position bombers. Hurley's game against the Lions last week shows what he might be capable of in 2019.

Mills like the above two is quality, too early to call.

 

[class78]

Luke McDonald
Luke Dunstan

 

[treegreen]

David Swallow isn't a bad player per se, but in the context of a number one draft pick he is definitely underwhelming.

 

[the harry]

David Swallow isn't a bad player per se, but in the context of a number one draft pick he is definitely underwhelming.

Wasn't just another pick one either, had very big expectations. Suspect injuries haven't helped however.

 

[La Dispute]

Good calls on Callum Mills. Has gone from being a gun inside ball winner as a junior to being a dour back pocket player with average kicking skills.

His debut season he played his role effectively, but he was a top draft pick in a strong side with plenty of support so nothing he did was especially remarkable.

He also provides very little actual drive out of defence.

I get that Sydney don't rotate players to the same extent other clubs do, and in any case you want to keep your defence relatively stable, but I think it's actually hindering his development sitting in the same spot all game. He's genuinely stagnating.

 

[La Dispute]

For us, Marchbank had a great start to his Carlton career in 2017 but has been injured and down on form since. Can be a liability with his kicking skills out of defence, and in hindsight we gave up a lot for him for very little output thus far. It's not as though he had a clean bill of health at GWS either. Still has time to turn it around, but he's passably best 22, and arguably not even essential to our lineup.

Other possible ex-GWS candidates:

Matt Kennedy - Was supposed to be a bargain pickup, but is struggling to get a game and is another who might not even be necessary with Setterfield coming on board. Showed plenty in his first full year at the Giants, including decent goal sense, but it's actually possible could be out of the system in a few years.

Lachie Plowman - Another who polarises Carlton supporters, and like Mills, is incredibly one-dimensional and dour for a top draft pick. Actually lacks some defensive ability despite being a permanent lock-down defender. Goes to show the gap between TAC Cup footy and AFL - especially if your main attribute (in his case, his rebound) becomes ineffective against faster, smarter footballers.