They say tall players can take longer to develop and I think this is Young's ninth season since he made his AFL debut with the Dogs but, with our current list of injuries, he seems to be making a greater contribution than at any time other than his first season with the Blues.
He might not become anything more than a useful depth player (as a defender or desperation ruck option) but recent coaching seems to have developed or unlocked some previously undiscovered skills - especially as a tall forward.
He has looked slow when playing in defence and trying to mind an opponent but he now seems quicker when he initiates a lead and he has shown some skill in putting his body in the way to create space for teammates.
The couple of times he has been omitted this season seem to have been to accommodate a better player or for team balance, rather than because he failed to play his part. At 202 cm and still a relatively young player (no pun intended), it will be interesting to see if he can continue to improve and establish himself as a regular player.
He was our best performer in the first half vs Adelaide i thought. Competing well.
His move to defense brought back panic merchant Lewis and i think asking him to go forward and compete relieves pressure in a way that playing in defence doesn't.
He clunked everything in his first year with us, if he can recapture some of the form and confidence, he will be very handy for us.
Lewis youngs biggest enemy is his listed height.
As a result he has been played as a Key defender, key forward and a ruck. He is rather average at all.
However, if he is a 3rd.....any of them, he is very good.
He doesn't do well with physical contact, and with his height, he is always asked to play on the biggest and baddest....which has hurt him.
He did play some blinders a few years ago, but they seem to be few and far between. However, the emergence of Jack along with the fitness of Weiters, Charlie and Harry means the pressure is off Young to perform. So he is.
Still not sure he plays when we have a fit Kemp, Gov etc, but he deserves a spot on the list.
He's been servicable this year, and he gives us options.
One of the things I'd like to see is him do is moving the ball on a little quicker.
He'll often take possession and hold up a quick movement giving the opposition time to cover.
He seems to be looking for the safe option, a little afraid to make an error.
It's a confidence thing.
Safe is good, but it often stops a strong forward movement.
Not a player I have a lot of trust in, his height makes him handy as he can play several positions which is a plus but much like the entire club you are not sure what version of him you are going to get each week, ie the first year version where he was a great player and looked to have cemented a place in the team down back in that 2nd key defender role or the version we have seen more often in recent seasons where his attack on the ball has been poor, fumbly marking attempts or a sloth like lethargy that doesnt even enable him to make many contests and where he has looked to avoid any physical contact even vs much smaller players. Lucky for him we have zero in reserve to challenge for a senior position in terms of tall Kp players and he will have more opportunities to prove his worth but I'll need to see a lot more consistency in effort before I have complete faith in him.
That momentary delay from possession to disposal is my only real criticism of Young. He is a very good mark, he generally kills the ball when he spoils and he rarely loses aerial contests. He’s not quite as reliable when the ball hits the ground but not many 200cm blokes are nimble.
Someone must have done a power of work on his goal kicking once he became a KPF option and Jordan Russell deserves credit for giving Lewis running patterns that complement Charlie and Harry. Similarly, Matty Kreuzer must have put in a heap of work to teach Young basic ruck work. He hasn’t been competitive in the ruck prior to this season.
Playing Harry in the ruck is good for Harry and his ruck work is respectable. Having another competent genuine ruck-sized backup ruckman to spell Tom and Harry makes us less predictable and keeps the pressure on opposition rucks.
It seems that Lewis took his exit interview feedback seriously and has worked hard to get the MC to take him seriously.
Having a 202cm, 100kg KPP who can play forward, back and ruck is invaluable. Young may miss out when we’ve got a full list to choose from, but he won’t be out of the MC’s considerations.
Given his form this year, I reckon he's a keeper.
In my mind, he offers more than Pittonet,
I don't think we can go into too many games with TDK, Harry and Pittonet in the team.
If TDK was out you would not want to be 1st rucking Young, or worse still 1st Rucking BigH and running him into the ground.
You could ruck Young if necessary. His ruckwork has improved significantly since his lacklustre efforts last season and, at worst, Kreuzer could equip him to nullify the opposition ruckman. Our midfielders are good enough to rove to a break even or losing ruck.
Using Young as our first ruck may be a "break glass in an emergency" situation but it means that we won't be using Harry. Of course, Skull is developing very well and would now be competitive against AFL ruckmen.
In terms of ruck ability/output.
TDK/Pittonet
Harry/Jack/Cripps
Okeefe/Lemmey/Kennedy (yes i know he's not with us anymore)
...
Young
He is not a 1st choice, 2nd choice/6th choice ruck.
Lemmey :)) :))
He's giving us more value than some of our small forwards so may as well leave him up there. He gets the 3rd best defender, which must help.
That was true in previous years, but he's doing better this year.
He's at worst ahead of your 3rd line and possibly a better ruckman than Harry.
Make or break next season. Charlie leaving might help his cause.
He was largely a forward as a junior, has played back and ruck at AFL level. He mixes good with bad.
He certainly played forward at times this year and looked alright. He's contracted until next year but then again, so was Liam Jones once upon a time.
Think he will be needed down back as we seem to have forgotten we don't have a CHB anymore. Id be looking at Jacob Blight ex Richmond but Young's ability to play a few roles probably makes him valuable in the short term given it's now a best 23 scenario.
There was one game in the VFL this year when he started like a house on fire. He was dominating the game and had 13 possessions in the first quarter...and then he got injured.
He's the definition of a 'confidence' player.
If only he believed in himself ::)
Well, what's happened? Curnow has left, and we don't really have a second KPD (readymade, Dean is at least a year and a half away most likely) yet. And still some questions remain with this guy next year.
Lewis Young has turned into the 'Accidental AFL listed player', right place, right time. The Mario Bortolotto of the 2020s........
Alas, without Mario's penchant of playing his best games in the big ones.
Harry reckons he’s going to play in round 1 and most of those who follow the under 18s reckon he’s right. Of course, he may play as third tall defender rather than KPD.
I would get Lewis Young to work with Matty Kreuzer over the off- and pre-season. He’s a big lump of a lad and he needs to learn how to use his size and strength to seal his opponent, whether he’s playing KPD, KPF or ruck.
It may not be a popular view but I don’t mind Young. His best footy is pretty good and, with a bit of work, he could produce that consistently.
Harry, haynes and weiters should be able tp cover most options and allow us to baby step dean into the role.....assuming all are fit.
Young i think plays his best footy down back but for the benefit of the team and deans development i think we use him forward/ruck.... only because i don't like our other options....or we dont have any.
I’d be inclined to play Skull ahead of Young as KPF/ruck purely because Skull is a more naturally physical player and a more reliable kick for goal.
That said, Lewis had some moments last season where he gave a pretty good impression of a genuine KPF.
Then there’s the five man bench and how we use our rucks, particularly with Harry, Skull and Young able to compete in the ruck. Reidy could be a wild card too, particularly as he’s a reliable kick for goal.
How long before the match sims start? 🙂
Peter Dean is 60 crikey he was still going at it at 42
With Curnow, TDK, Silvagni and McGovern gone, Lewis Young will probably be our most important player next season. If he can hold down CHB it will go a long way to ensuring we have a better season next year. Had a pretty good year last season.
McGovern is still on the list at the moment. O'Farrell will be out for a lot of next year. There certainly is a role to be filled early next year at CHB. Or forward. There appears to be an opportunity, or two, for Lewis Young next year. Will he step up to it?
Id doubt it ,the club told him to look around same time they did Kennedy which is shorthand for we dont want or rate you, he has failed to cement a senior role and is only being considered as we have failed to address our KP inadequacies and are shorthanded in those roles through injury(OFarrell) and poor list management.
McGovern will be wanting much more than one year.......
That's cruel EB, but it made me smile :)
:)) :o Can't, or we might lose Dean and Walker due to another salary cap breach. Only paying the team unders.
Ta ta McG, if HOF hadn't done his knee he would have been delisted a month ago ... Still think he's surplus to requirements and any contract should be minimum chips after his last one. Lots of promises, delivered very little.
Yep, as I said previously I'd take Ryan Burton as a DFA and say bye to McGovern.
I saw somewhere that we are definitely looking at that as an option.
Not sure we can afford to cut loose Gov for the same reasons we 'must' keep Young......we have SFA as backup!
Boak will tell us whether Burton is a yes or a no.
Why on earth would you jettison a seasoned if somewhat flakey but versatile player for a mediocre DFA who couldn’t get a game for Port Adelaide.
By all means move Gov on if there’s a better option but Ryan Burton? Give me a break!
Ethan Phillips would be a much better pick up than Burton.
Philips is a KP player who cant kick with one AFL game and Burton is a running half back with 162 games and can kick the ball well....two different players...con on Burton has been his injuries so he would need a careful medical check. I watched Philips get intimidated and well beaten by some no name VFL journeyman from Frankston so no thanks.
As I have said previously I would prefer Jacob Blight ex Richmond as a backup KP defender over Philips.
Burton is comparable to McGovern in size and the latter has been a over paid disappointment for years now and thats why he hasnt been offered a contract and the powers at be denied him a trigger game for a new deal, not really a vote of confidence and id expect him to join Burton as a DFA and maybe the likes of West Coast can give him a home.
I’m glad you don’t have any influence over our list management decision making EB.
We debunked Gov's contract $ ages ago, the fact it keeps getting mentioned is a tell regarding cognitive bias, once you learn or are exposed to something you can't unlearn it.
It's the principle behind RedTrump's weave, why he continually repeats lies, like fake news assertions, you can't erase it from your subconscious. Even when you know it was wrong it still influences the opinions you form.
McGovern has given us nothing and got a healthy initial contract.
Been a recruiting fail....
If he was paid less, would it have been good recruiting?
If we paid him half what he got would it have been good recruiting?
If we paid him half what he got and lost the other half because we 'had to use it or lose it' is that good recruiting?
I probably could have managed to make decisions without the new CEO having to baby sit me and hold my hand on the final day of the trade period unlike our resident list manager. That was a good look ..not and symbolic of the shambles of a club we have become with 25-30 years of failure to show for it.
AFL lists must be lodged by the 24th November (damn qwerty keyboard mistype). The saga about Mitch McGovern's future will surely go on later rather sooner. There are lots of feelings about him for the time being. Just as much as there is Lewis Young.
If McGovern stays on and hopefully for not too long, it appears it will be in the forward line and hopefully, as cover only. Down back, Haynes and Dean are ahead of him. What the forward line will look like is more unknown than the back line.
This thread is so Freudian.........
It's supposed to be about Lewis Young, yet the whole last page is talking about a bunch of other players. He can't even get a gig on his own discussion thread!
When you become a moderator you soon learn that it's easier to go with the flow than swim against the tide :) And, to be fair, discussing players who may be competing with Young for a KPP/ruck role is on topic.
But back to Lewis Young ...
We don't know what was discussed in his 2024 exit interview but we know that Lewis was told that he was free to explore options elsewhere. It may have been a simple as Lewis asking to be guaranteed AFL games and being told that he'd have to go elsewhere to get that. Another possibility is that we had a player lined up who could fill his role. However, we delisted Marchbank in 2024 and had Nick Haynes lined up to replace him. Tall defenders don't grow on trees and it's unlikely that we had two lined up. We do know that Jack Silvagni's exit interview saw the idea raised that he could play as a KPD, and that may have been the catalyst for Lewis being given the go ahead to look around.
According to Cal Twomey, Lewis quickly decided that he didn't want to leave. He simply rolled his sleeves up and worked hard at whatever role he was given; in the VFL, AFL, KPD, KPF or ruck.
Yes, he makes me nervous when the ball is heading his way and when he has the ball in his hands but I don't think you can fault his work ethic, effort, durability and, on his 2025 performance, versatility.
If he paid us to play it would still be poor recruiting...
Never the jellyfish and no flip flopping from EB 🤣
I think this year was Govs worst for us.
When he’s confident he’s fairly good or maybe he’s confident when he’s fairly good, dunno but he wasn’t this year.
He attacks, so I expect an error or two.
I guess if he’s fringe 22 we could do a lot worse.
Back to Lewis young, he was given the option to move and decided he would rather tough it put with us.
On the back of the last 12 months that lifts him up a few notches especially compared to other more capable players.
Hes our bastard.
Yes Thry, that’s the point I was trying to make.
Even if Lewis just provides depth, it’s good to have blokes who just try their best to do what’s asked of them, even if that best leaves a bit to be desired.
Gov’s in the same boat but isn’t as durable as Young. It was astute list management to bring him on board, particularly since the claims about his contract value are rubbery. If he’s going to be let go, as seems likely, it will be because we’ve got a better replacement lined up.
Or was it there was no interest in him and seeing out his contract was his only option. Never understood how his form tapered after a very good first year where he was very safe with the ball and ultra reliable..
you can thank weitering for that. He was not very forgiving of young, and placed him under pressure to perform. Ruined his confidence.
Maybe he didnt have options maybe he did. Either way he elected to take the route of stay at Carlton. Maybe he saw the storm coming and said percentages say im better off staying. Who knows.
I’m not so sure about Weitering’s role. He has always been supportive of his fellow defenders and particularly Plow and Marchy. I suspect that, if anyone put Young under pressure, it would have been Sammy Hamill.
Yes, we don’t know what was put to Young or what his options were. All we know is that he’s still on our list and trying his hardest to get a spot in the 23.
That’s good enough for me.
Good luck to him, there is certainly an opportunity open.
My memory says that Young was very good without Weitering… truth or perception 🤷🏼♂️
Focussing on Young is a smokescreen, our fortunes do not hinge on the likes of Lewis Young.
But he might have a role, or two, or three, next season. And losing a key forward, ruckman, and key defender means that for the time being, Lewis Young might be a person of real importance for us next year. As a role player.
I think they do, but only as one piece of the puzzle that is on field success.
If you can bear watching it, the highlights of Young's first game show a very different footballer. Apart from kicking a grubber, Young was playing with a freedom, flair and aggression that seems to have been coached out him. Playing at CHB on Levi Casboult, Young had 21 disposals and nine marks and kept Levi to four marks and one goal (and a poster from 15m out and almost directly in front).
Ash Hansen has been an assistant coach throughout Young's career, and perhaps that's part of the problem. If Hansen can turn the clock back and get Young playing as he did in that first game, or even as he did in 2022, our defence will be more solid and a springboard to attack.
I think you're memory is correct. Youngs best footy is played sans weitering but I dont know enough to understand why.
Perhaps he thrives on more leadership in defense rather than being told where to go and what to do. I think weitering is guilty of playing mister fix it at time when he doesnt have faith in his teamates. This actually works against everyone involved and sees us concede goals too easily at times but im not sure if its because someone else left a man, or if weitering did to cover someone else who ended up out of position.
Im a round ball defender. I can play all roles in a Sunday league team in defense and was guilty of trying to do too much at times. Found the less I did personally and the more instructions I barked the better everyone played. Took maturity to figure that out.
Perception I think.
Young's best season for us was 2022 when he and Weiters played 15 games together. Young's worst games that season were during that mid-season period when Weiters was out injured.
I tend to think there was an issue with Young and Weitering at one stage.
There was a rumour around a few years go to that effect and it coincided with Young dropping out of the side and returning when Weitering was absent. When Weitering was there and Young played it was more as a ruck than a defender.
I've seen Weitering have a go at Young in one game, I've also seen him more recently giving him a "well done."
Whatever issues there were, may have been resolved.
Understand that Young replaced Jones who Weitering could depend on, and who took a lot of the pressure off him.
Suddenly Weitering's job was a whole lot harder and Young was a level below Jones in terms of support.
There may have been a honeymoon period that first season but understandable that there may have been a bit of friction at some stage.
I think is Young is very much a confidence player.
I think I mentioned it before, that I've seen him dominate a game at VFL level when his confidence was up...for a quarter. Then he got injured. I remember thinking at the time that this guy was much too good for VFL and was hoping he'd get a quick promotion back to the seniors...but the footy gods intervened.
I actually like him as a forward and I don't think he's out of place there.
Forward, Back, Ruck....we've lost one of those and need something similar.
Hopefully he has a really good season.