2021 Player Reviews: #50 Ben Brown

[Demonland 72,133]

Made up for a slow start after recovering from injury with a solid back end of the season from Round 17 when he combined well in the Demons’ attack with Tom McDonald to finish with 25 goals.

Date of Birth: 20 November, 1992
Height: 200cm
Weight: 100kg

Games MFC 2021: 13
Career Total: 143

Goals MFC 2021: 25
Career Total: 312

Games CDFC 2021: 5
Goals CDFC 2021: 12

Premiership Player

[durango 2,007]

He played very well in the finals particularly in the last 45 minutes of the Grand Final and had improved his synergy with Bayley Fritsch in the later part of the season.

I think he will be even better in 2022 because he has now some understanding how the other forwards interact with him.

At one stage during the GF he was playing as the CHF and not gave them a target but made the play.

If you look at his involment in the Petracca goal in the 3rd quarter his kick was virtually so deep it got to the back of the pack for Pickett and Petracca to be 2 on 1 with Dunkley.

Lots of people questioned whether he would come back to his pre-2020 form and could modify his game to fit into the 3 talls Demons forward line, well it was answered emphatically. 

[Diamond_Jim 12,567]

Could be the key to back to back premierships.

Our home and away forward line was hit and miss but got the job done. A solid contribution from BB in 2022 could be just that little thing that explodes our forward line.

Great finals series.

Thanks Ben

[Bay Riffin 1,474]

Brown finding form at the end was the fairytale dream we could see as a possibility but so often doesnt happen. The stars aligned perfectly.

He had a great finals series, the Brisbane game was imposing to start off the new 'finals' season and he stood up on the big stage for the rest of the finals.

Now the exciting part is our biggest doubt this year,  the forward line, has come together nicely so we look strong all over the ground. I can easily see him injury free kicking 50 plus next year and having the occasional day out to win an easy game or two.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Bay Riffin

[DeeZone 9,818]

Well BBB lived up to all our expectations and then some. What a difference having a 200cm mature key forward standing the best defender makes. Ben is so calm and competitive didn’t even let Cordys dumb antics get to him and as Durango pointed out he just got to his feet and kicked a Beautiful 50m dart resulting in Traccs dribble goal. Ben And Fritta we’re like the cavalry arriving just when we needed them most.💕❤️💙

[Chook 15,012]

Ben Brown marking it at full stretch above his head is truly one of the great football sights, right alongside things like the Dusty don't argue, the Liam Ryan speccy, the Charlie Cameron dribbler, the Langdon gut run, the Viney tackle, the Petracca burst from a stoppage, the Oliver handpass, the Rich kick inside 50, the Lever intercept, the May spoil, the Jackson followup, and Gawn ruck tap.

The fact than Melbourne players feature so heavily in that list just shows the quality of our best players, and the point of difference they all have.

[leave it to deever 17,511]

2 hours ago, DeeZone said:

Well BBB lived up to all our expectations and then some. What a difference having a 200cm mature key forward standing the best defender makes. Ben is so calm and competitive didn’t even let Cordys dumb antics get to him and as Durango pointed out he just got to his feet and kicked a Beautiful 50m dart resulting in Traccs dribble goal. Ben And Fritta we’re like the cavalry arriving just when we needed them most.💕❤️💙

Spot on. I was so excited when the club signed him and lost that norf didnt fight to keep him.

He copped some slack here but proved his worth and then some.

 

[Wrecker46 2,966]

The scary thing is our forward line is still a work in progress. Everyone has their role but that changes from week to week depending on match ups and structures.

BBB will be much more consistent next year.

[Fritta and Turner 4,403]

At last we have an umpires friend.....used to infuriate me when at Norf now loving it....

[Maldonboy38 6,397]

He looks so awkward and gangly most of the time, with elbows and knees out of alignment with his arms and legs, a jerky running style, and looks to be out of position. I have to admit that at times, watching him play makes me want to look elsewhere due to the lack of smoothness. But he has 3 traits I just love:

1. He attempts to mark the ball at the highest point of his leap, the one thing defenders find difficult to combat, and even makes it difficult for the third man up trying to spoil. 
2. When he is looking awkward and out of position, he gets an arm in here, his body in there, runs across someone ensuring the ball comes to ground: he does something to try and get the ball to ground. 
3. He leads in a straight line, demanding the ball. Half the time he has concrete hands, but his leading is a thing of beauty. 

And stuff me, I can not for the life of me figure out why North were so keen on letting him go. We can build a very powerful forward line around this bloke for the next 3 years. 

[Guest]

A bloke who was one of my most disliked players at the Roos is one of my favorite players these days. His struggle to get back into the team after a 'mare of a '20 season had me cheering him on. 

Even though he didn't set the world on fire against Port in his comeback game, you could tell the effort was there. We just got to see it all come the last 7 or so games of the season. When it counted.

[John Crow Batty 8,863]

He is the kind of forward that is better in a potent forward line contesting and kicking 2-3 goals a game rather than a solo focal point in a poor side kicking 4-5 a game. He demands a dedicated opponent which stretches defences and opens up other goal avenues.

[BDA 22,742]

Go Go Gadget Arms

Came good in the end. Just needed some time to find his groove

[CHF 2,732]

I see this season a a really good first season by him for the Dees. 

The way that the fitness and coaching teams work with him in the early stages of the season to get him fit and in form was excellent. On the surface Brown did not kick up a fuss or make any demands to be in the fist team, he merely went about his work and let the game come to him.

Come finals he was very, very good the way he worked with the rest of the forward structure. 

Considering the chopping and changing that the forwards went through during the season, it is great to have Brown there to build around.

Looking forward I can see Ben dominating a lot more than he did this last season.

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 10,817]

10 hours ago, Maldonboy38 said:

He looks so awkward and gangly most of the time, with elbows and knees out of alignment with his arms and legs, a jerky running style, and looks to be out of position. I have to admit that at times, watching him play makes me want to look elsewhere due to the lack of smoothness. But he has 3 traits I just love:

1. He attempts to mark the ball at the highest point of his leap, the one thing defenders find difficult to combat, and even makes it difficult for the third man up trying to spoil. 
2. When he is looking awkward and out of position, he gets an arm in here, his body in there, runs across someone ensuring the ball comes to ground: he does something to try and get the ball to ground. 
3. He leads in a straight line, demanding the ball. Half the time he has concrete hands, but his leading is a thing of beauty. 

And stuff me, I can not for the life of me figure out why North were so keen on letting him go. We can build a very powerful forward line around this bloke for the next 3 years. 

Can add to that list that he has great forwards goal sense and skills set.  Always knows where they are, is surprising agile, has good ball handling skills and is quite capable of snagging a sneaky snap or kick out of a pack if the ball hits the deck as well.

[DeeZee 7,377]

Utmost respect for this guy and how he fought his way into the team.

Didn’t  disappoint when the chips were down, kicking three goals in a grand final

[FarNorthernD 5,861]

I’ve just posted similar in the AFLW forum but considering Ben Brown seems to be an exceptional person and a bloody good key forward, does anyone know why North were so reluctant to keep him? Seems like madness on their behalf

[Fritta The Hair G.O.A.T. 510]

7 minutes ago, FarNorthernD said:

I’ve just posted similar in the AFLW forum but considering Ben Brown seems to be an exceptional person and a bloody good key forward, does anyone know why North were so reluctant to keep him? Seems like madness on their behalf

Maybe they thought his knee was shot? Or maybe they knew they were going into full rebuild mode and wanted to give Larkey the reins as the primary KPF?

[jnrmac 20,058]

I heard one of the coaching staff say before the season started that they thought BB would be a bust as his knee was cooked. Glad he was wrong.

BB is a terrific player that fits well with out style of play. Always dangerous. Smart. Very difficult to match up on. Keath gave away two frees for arm chopping against him in the GF

His kicking is terrific and the 666 rule suits him perfectly for fast breaks from the middle.

Hopefully Weideman learns fast from this bloke.

[loges 6,767]

On 11/2/2021 at 10:50 PM, CHF said:

I see this season a a really good first season by him for the Dees. 

The way that the fitness and coaching teams work with him in the early stages of the season to get him fit and in form was excellent. On the surface Brown did not kick up a fuss or make any demands to be in the fist team, he merely went about his work and let the game come to him.

Come finals he was very, very good the way he worked with the rest of the forward structure. 

Considering the chopping and changing that the forwards went through during the season, it is great to have Brown there to build around.

Looking forward I can see Ben dominating a lot more than he did this last season.

Will be super important going forward. Forward line will be built around him and Fritta

[FritschyBusiness 1,478]

16 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Hopefully Weideman learns fast from this bloke.

This could be the best bit about getting BBB on the list 

[dee-tox 4,835]

On 11/2/2021 at 2:49 AM, Maldonboy38 said:

And stuff me, I can not for the life of me figure out why North were so keen on letting him go. We can build a very powerful forward line around this bloke for the next 3 years. 

We need to remember that Brown's management knocked back the 750K that was apparently offered to him midway through the season.

Brown could have accepted and he'd still be at North. In doing so he forced North's hand who made a decision not to pay any more or make another offer.

The ironic thing of course is that Brown is currently getting much less with us than he would have if he accepted North's first offer.

[leave it to deever 17,511]

I dont think we have seen BBB near his best yet,

BBB with a great pre season will see our forward line (more) awesome.

Fritta is going from strength to strength as is Jackson.

Kozzie is on the rise.

If Tmac can play like he did for the first half of the season again, I pity other backlines.

I stil dont understand why he copped so much flak. He had one bad year before having three incredible ones prior to landing at the MFC. Thanks Norf.

Edited November 5, 2021 by leave it to deever

[leave it to deever 17,511]

On 11/1/2021 at 10:42 AM, durango said:

He played very well in the finals particularly in the last 45 minutes of the Grand Final and had improved his synergy with Bayley Fritsch in the later part of the season.

I think he will be even better in 2022 because he has now some understanding how the other forwards interact with him.

At one stage during the GF he was playing as the CHF and not gave them a target but made the play.

If you look at his involment in the Petracca goal in the 3rd quarter his kick was virtually so deep it got to the back of the pack for Pickett and Petracca to be 2 on 1 with Dunkley.

Lots of people questioned whether he would come back to his pre-2020 form and could modify his game to fit into the 3 talls Demons forward line, well it was answered emphatically. 

He seems to have superceded tmacs role of coming down the ground and presenting.

I didnt understand why he was dropped after his three games but i guess the club felt bound to give Sam a run.

But Im glad they put him back not long after. It took a few weeks for things to gel but he became better and more confident each week and was good in our finals.

He was certainly no slouch and even if he didnt play like his 2019/18/17 self, I reckon coaches and players were always mindful of the damage he could do.

Cant wait to see him get back to those glory days. Tx Norf.

 

[BDA 22,742]

Nice succinct summary of his journey with us this year