#16 Ed Allan

[Pies2016]

Right now, Allan is in the same boat as a number of our young players. They’ve all shown glimpses but their short term futures will all revolve around their next off season and pre season ( and they are both very different commitments )
I thought Allan was very good but I’m not convinced that performance has him turning the corner just yet. It was a tough day, weather wise but I would just like to see a bit more polish with his ball use.
We have so many young young players who missed huge chunks of the season for whatever reasons and that’s where the opportunity for improvement lies for so many of the squad.
Parker and Smit - no preseasons at all
Eyre - Hamstring surgery
Dimattia - 3 months finger surgery
Ryan - multiple interruptions
Dean - no footy for previous two seasons.
Steene - no footy this season.
Conversely, Allan, MacRae and Jaith have all had uninterrupted seasons and it shows eith these guys, particularly in the last quarters when they’re the only ones still getting a kick.
I’m not saying the above will all make it but we shouldn’t be making snap judgements on young players when they can’t get on the park for extended periods.

[Durka]

Laurie Holden, it would be nice if that was a sign of things to come, but if his game on the weekend was the test for whether he was ready for senior footy, I should have opened the bowling for Oz based on my performance years ago against my kids in the driveway.
Allan is a full time, professional footballer. Richmond had 19 players unavailable through injury. He played against a team of players that were primarily cobbled together from suburban clubs, that probably don't know each other. Those players won't be full time professionals like Allan either. They will all have jobs and play footy part time.

[Pies2016]

^^^
I think that’s a bit rough on Allan. He couldn’t do much more and it’s always been easier to play poorly, rather than well, no matter what level we’re talking.
I do agree, stats alone, can be very deceptive and it was as much Smit, who played against no one, who spoon fed MacRae and Allan all game.
But without Allan’s efforts ( including the two goals ) they don’t win.
Dean was another beneficiary of stats “ plumping “ by taking so many uncontested marks from the kick out. Having said that, he was still pretty good but not because he took 15 marks.
Most of our under 21s are all still works in progress and for them, any improvement needs to start with prioritising their strength and conditioning as soon as this season is over ( and not waiting till the preseason ) Anything less and it’s going to be another tough season in 2025.

[RudeBoy]

Allan was my 'big hope' for us to have finally landed a big bodied, highly skilled midfielder. Let's hope he starts getting some senior games next year. Having watched some (not much) of him in the VFL, my worry is that he seems to be rather narrow in the hips and thus is easily knocked off the ball. Unless he fills out quite a bit and really muscles up, he may not be capable of making the transition from VFL to AFL footy. Nevertheless, he still shows a lot of promise, so I'm not counting him out just yet.

[LaurieHolden]

if his game on the weekend was the test for whether he was ready for senior footy, I should have opened the bowling for Oz based on my performance years ago against my kids in the driveway.
Allan is a full time, professional footballer.

Well, you said it @Durka, he's a professional footballer. A comparison to your driveway ambitions doesn't quite fit the discussion.
He's developed physically, over the last 2.5 years he's grown 20cm and put on 20kg. While only in his second year, he's had 1 pre-season following injury delay post his draft year.
He's contracted to 2026. By the start of that season, he'll have had 3 full pre-seasons plus coaching and mentoring to guide him through is fledgling career. While that might read like hope, a #19 pick won't be cast aside as quickly as you have assessed.

[Durka]

Where did I mention casting him aside? You just made that thought bubble up out of nowhere. Not all players come in ready made like Naicos.
I read the pre draft bio and I know what Allan has done since being drafted. The answer is, not much.
He was out of his depth in the senior team. I've read so much in the past about how quick he is, but I can't say that his speed has really stood out when I have seen him. He hasn't stood out in the twos either. That doesn't mean that he won't make it as a player in the future. The weekend was a step in the right direction but I wouldn't be getting carried away with it.
My recollection was that he was a speculative choice and that the other clubs didn't rate him as high as no.19. Time will tell.

[qldmagpie67]

I don’t get to see any VFL form so can only go on what I read here and from the club.
But I’ll pose this question
Is the form of our VFL players looking for AFL opportunities another victim of our injury crisis ?

[The Black and White Lion]

^
QLDmagpie67 First I'm going to say no as we were 2 and 4 in the VFL before the injuries really took hold and our VFL form had already tapered off with those horrible losses to Coburg and the Northern Bullants. Dean, Sullivan, Macrae and Richards were all playing decent footy and Jiath showing good signs at that point.

Secondly I'm going to say maybe from then on as we had a revolving door of outs to the AFL and one key VFL injury when Begg went down and we were left with no ruck. The pre-season /early season injuries to Eyre and Steene and the shift to fill AFL spots really bit from then. We also need to consider the impact of the MSD when we drafted a raw Smit but lost Jack Hutchins to West Coast and Ned Long to the AFL list but this coincided with his month off with a calf injury, Carmichael's concussion and Ryan's calf. So yes there is some truth to it.

Thirdly I still have no idea what our game plan is but we seem to play better with Dean and Eyre playing key back and Glover floating. We really suffered this year in the defensive half often playing only Glover with no help. The ball came in, he sent half of them back but the weight of numbers won. The VFL gameplan and structure still bemuses me

[Pies2016]

FWIW, here’s the Allan story on draft night as paraphrased by Hine.
Pies ended up with #19 and #28 on the night ( after the usual NGA and compensation picks that slid us down the list ) Collingwoods first target was always Jakob Ryan based on who they thought would have gone by the time their first pick came around. When Allan was still there at #19, the recruiting team had no choice but to pick him before Ryan because everyone expected he would be long gone. ( Twomey had him at around #14 on the night) Collingwood then sweat it out until their next pick, when Ryan was still there to be selected at #28
Some considered Allan a little speculative because he played so little footy in his draft year ( back injury ) but he came right back into calculations on the back of an excellent Combine camp.
I’m open minded on Allans future but if there’s one guarantee in drafting kids, is that as long as you continue to show dedication and application ( and plenty don’t ) height will always buy you some extra time at the exit interviews.

[K]

https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/ ... tre-circle

80m, they say! Judge for yourself. (It did bounce 4 times.)

[BazBoy]

When veiwed he unloaded a smiggin defence side of centre ball up
Sure it was a goal tho it more as likely was 65% airborne and 35% bouncing

Which ever way I was a very special goal

[Johnno75]

Really impressive tonight. Half his disposals were contested and was equal high for contested ball with Nick Daicos. Hope he can cement his place in this team next season.

[Presti35]

Could he be the rising star nomination this week?

[inxs88]

His spread and running power were impressive. Has to play in the middle next year (not on a wing). Pendles, take him under your wing, so to speak.

[Jezza]

Very encouraging performance. Looks best suited as an inside midfielder.

Great to cap it off with his first career goal. That was one of the highlights of the night.