Ben Lennon

[KingDingAling 3,593]

3 hours ago, Nasher said:

Did you just open a post containing your opinion by first telling us all you have a very astute eye?

Yeah it makes the readers job easier. They are reading an opinion of someone who has a very astute eye. Considerate of me I know.

[Demon trucker 1,743]

He is no good, you don't delist top 20 picks after 4 years if they are any good, if a 4  year player is rated at least 1 team would have traded for him.

[Dr evil 1,185]

On 10/29/2017 at 7:45 PM, don't make me angry said:

He is no good, you don't delist top 20 picks after 4 years if they are any good, if a 4  year player is rated at least 1 team would have traded for him.

Carlton chased him last year but he decided to stay with the Tigers, i wouldn't be surprised if they grab his as a DFA 

[Deestroy All 14,261]

He's mates with my cousin so I've always kept an eye him. 

Definite no thanks from me. 

Decent VFL player at best. 

[Hardley Benial 460]

His grandfather disagrees with the rhetoric that he's useless. At last night's seance he (John) was adamant that Ben could play the cymbals or triangles - to a rock beat...yeah yeah yeah yeaah!

[Mach5 4,482]

I was a fan of Lennon in his draft year. Thought I could see a Steve Johnson type there, but better overhead.

Not only was I completely wrong, but he is not really what we need at all.

[Dr evil 1,185]

On 10/31/2017 at 5:47 PM, Mach5 said:

I was a fan of Lennon in his draft year. Thought I could see a Steve Johnson type there, but better overhead.

Not only was I completely wrong, but he is not really what we need at all.

I must admit i wasn't really sure why Richmond weren't giving him much of a look in, but having watched him pretty closely in the VFL finals it's really hard to see one aspect of his game that is AFL standard. He's slow, not a great mark, fades in and out of games, average ball use, doesn't seem to read the game well and was lucky to get on the end of a few easy goals. 

[durango 1,976]

Maybe he was told that he wont be on the list next year and was going through the motions of playing. I know that some players become despondent when they are told they are not required the effort and energy is sapped by the emotion.

I remember when I was a young man and informed by a VFL club that I was too small and the effect it has has on you. 

[nosoupforme 3,085]

On 10/27/2017 at 7:05 AM, Whispering_Jack said:

I went all the way back to around this time four years ago when poster Fifty-5 raised this long post by Bigfooty poster Quigley who summed up Ben Lennon as follows:-

"Ben Lennon
DOB 5/7/95 Ht 189 Wt 80

Lennon has been a Twomey love child this year, putting out several articles telling us how great Lennon is and how he is a virtual certainty for the top 10. Play anywhere on the ground, explosive, elite kick yadda yadda yadda. Well personally I do not see it. He looks like the typical second tier Metro kid who finishes the year well and they are talked up out of all proportion. A lot of people on BF have jumped onboard the Lennon love train and it is possible that I am wrong but if he is taken in the top 10 I am going to be shocked. This is not a case where I rate his tools a bit differently to others I just do not see him having those tools to start with.

Lets start with probably the big issue. Of the flanker/midfield groups he would sit firmly at or very close to bottom for athleticism and very real questions have to be asked about whether he has the athletic ability to play at AFL level most especially in his preferred HFF role. Lets start physically. 189cm is pretty good for a midfielder but it is getting to be pretty average for a flanker and combine that with short arms and small hands and we are not off to a fantastic start in supposedly his strength area. Another thing which gets talked up is his explosiveness. Well he was bottom 20% (this includes rucks remember) over the first 5m of the 20m sprint and his back half was nothing out of the ordinary leaving him with a time in the 3.20 range. So pace and explosiveness are a cross. I will say that his repeat sprints were better but that only put him up into the average category.

I have seen show a good lateral movement to evade tacklers but I have also seen him get nailed by tacklers that I thought he should have been able to step around and so I was interested to see what he scored in the agility test. Bottom 5%. The only players who scored worse than him on the agility test were a few rucks and many of them scored better than him. I will say that I was surprised with the result. I had a big range in my mind where he could go but bottom 5% was well below where I thought he would end up. Beep in the mid 13s was nothing to write home about and a bottom 25% in the 3km was disappointing. A lot of the highlights for Lennon are him taking nice marks so jumping was expected to be decent at the very least. Well he was bottom 10% in the vertical and below 50% in each of the running jumps. 

If I am honest I will concede that these results surprised me a lot. I did not expect him to be a stand out athlete but I did think he was probably going to be above average. He obviously plays better than he tests but these sort of athletic deficiencies are often found out at AFL level when playing against guys who are just as smart as you are as a footballer and are much superior athletes. So even before we start to look at his game there are big question marks.

Okay onto his game and I hear a lot of talk about how great a kick Lennon is. Pin point passes over 50m to hit guys in stride on the chest. Well I have to say that I have missed those ones. I would say that Lennon is a good kick but I am not seeing it as being elite and it is probably a fair way from that. He does have good penetration and can hoof it 55m. His usual approach is to go with long or 3/4 kicks which are most often to contests. He does not tend to look to use short to intermediate targets as much as he should and will probably be instructed to lower his eyes more at AFL level. I do not rate his decision making or vision as being anything more than average for his position. He tends to take obvious targets which is not bad but I do not see him setting up play like Billings say who played a similar role at the Champs. Around goals he could also be better and will miss goals you would like to see him get. He waves the ball a little in his set shot approach but nothing too bad. As with his field kicking he has good range and might actually be better further from goal where the pressure is on him a bit less.

Okay I have been very harsh on him up to this time. What does he do well? Well his marking gets a lot of praise and I would tend to agree with that. I think his hands are good (but not great) and he uses his body excellently in marking contests. He is strong through the core and maintains focus and balance really well in body on body situations. He judges the ball in the air pretty well and marks most that come his way. With the ball on the ground he has really clean hands for a flanker and this gives him a bit more time to work with than others. He can swoop and collect at pace and make opportunities.

Lennon does have some class about him and good things do often happen when he is involved in the play. This is a little hard to explain but I think he has good football IQ about some things (reading the play, body work, positioning around goal) but I probably couldn't say that about everything (decision making, leading and passing lanes). In most games there will be a wow moment or two which really make you notice him - a spin move out of a pack, a swooping pick up and go etc.

Teams have wanted to see him more as a midfielder this year (you can probably hide athletic deficiencies a little more there) and credit too him that he stood up and put up some good numbers there in the TAC. He did not play a heap of games but averaged 25 disposals a game over the year and 28 disposals over the last 4 or 5 games when playing a lot of midfield time. He played as a half forward at the Champs and only managed 12.6 disposals per game which I did not think was a particularly good return. I particularly followed him in the SA game where he matched up on Scharenberg quite a bit and Scharenberg gave him an absolute bath. The difference in ability was very evident in that game and cemented for me that he was not in that class and definitely not a top 10 pick for me.

If I was looking at him I would be trying to develop him into a Sidebottom type midfielder who can go forward. Sidebottom is also not the most athletic player in the world and has a similar good but not great kick. Sidebottom's decision making are probably better than Lennon's but you would hope that would come. Lennon's clean hands also allow some prospect that he will develop a decent inside game as he gets more time on ball. I have been pretty harsh on Lennon but I have to stress that I actually don't mind him as a prospect. I just think talk of him being a top 10er should be way off base."

... and that possibly explains why he didn't make Richmond's grand final team and why he's on the outer today.

Don't you  think that Richmond  were developing Lennon since he arrived there.Had his chances and didn't grasp them and the 1st rounder was delisted. Hope he gets picked up by other than us and does well . However he did not make the Premiers side and l don't rate the Tigers and good luck to them. No vital injuries. No lets develop our own back yard and bring in some young fresh faces.

[BenJamin on Deesy St 792]

2 hours ago, nosoupforme said:

Don't you  think that Richmond  were developing Lennon since he arrived there.Had his chances and didn't grasp them and the 1st rounder was delisted. Hope he gets picked up by other than us and does well . However he did not make the Premiers side and l don't rate the Tigers and good luck to them. No vital injuries. No lets develop our own back yard and bring in some young fresh faces.

I’ve been developing my backyard with some fresh new faces:

[nosoupforme 3,085]

2 hours ago, Ben E said:

I’ve been developing my backyard with some fresh new faces:

     HA HA!  The red hat gnomes look ok.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,394]

15 minutes ago, nosoupforme said:

     HA HA!  The red hat gnomes look ok.

They look OK now. But you should see them in their horrible away strip.

[nosoupforme 3,085]

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

They look OK now. But you should see them in their horrible away strip.

NIGHTMARES !!!!!!!!

[pringle 42]

From some knowledge of Lennon as a junior, I would surmise that the issue is personality/attitude rather than related to football ability.