#it's flanker friday somewhere | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

footyplusau · 8 years ago

Text

Not your average Joe: Daniher young and dangerous and on Friday he has the maestro – Buddy – at the other end

When Joe Daniher looks down the other end of the ground on Friday night, he’ll be eyeing off the greatest forward of the past 10 years.

When Lance Franklin glares back, he might just be staring at the best forward of the next decade and a player who shares more than a few traits with him.

Play Video Don’t Play

Blight officially becomes a legend

Play Video Don’t Play

Previous slide Next slide

FootyFix: Can Blues make it three in a …

FootyFix: Can Blues make it three in a row?

Rohan Connolly previews all the footy action ahead of round 14 in the AFL.

Blight officially becomes a legend

Play Video Don’t Play

Blight officially becomes a legend

The sum total of a 40-year career sees Malcolm Blight officially receive legend status in the AFL Hall of Fame.

AFL plays of round 13

Play Video Don’t Play

AFL plays of round 13

Darling is a ninja, Gresham is foot fancy, a Tiger stalks a Swan, Hipwood the Lion is a star and Pearce Hanley keeps goal.

Port smash Lions

Play Video Don’t Play

Port smash Lions

Port Adelaide improved from their 70 point defeat the round previous to smash the Brisbane Lions.

Carlton hold off Suns with late rally

Play Video Don’t Play

Carlton hold off Suns with late rally

Carlton managed to withstand a late Gold Coast revival to beat the Suns.

FootyFix: Can the Dees maintain the rage?

Play Video Don’t Play

FootyFix: Can the Dees maintain the rage?

Rohan Connolly previews all the footy action ahead of round 13 in the AFL.

AFL plays of round 12

Play Video Don’t Play

AFL plays of round 12

Doggies whimper against Swans, Big Tex gorgeous on the left, Gold Coast own the Hawks again, McDonald-Tipungwuti lights up Etihad and Jeremy Howe performs his usual aerial brilliance.

FootyFix: Can Blues make it three in a row?

Rohan Connolly previews all the footy action ahead of round 14 in the AFL.

Not for a moment am I suggesting Daniher will be as good as Franklin. If he becomes even half the player that Buddy is, he will have carved out a good career.

But if he gets a decent run with injury, Daniher should kick 500 goals – comfortably.

Essendon young gun Joe Daniher should kick 500 goals, comfortably, says Wayne Carey. Photo: Getty Images

While he might not be as powerful as Franklin, his speed and agility are not far off.

Despite being 200 centimetres, he possesses great athleticism, which allows him to roam up the ground and influence play.

Like Franklin, Daniher can seriously win a lot of the footy, which is one of the things that separates him from most other big forwards.

Get the latest news and updates emailed straight to your inbox.

Both also have the ability to score goals in a number of ways.

Franklin doesn’t play like a conventional full-forward, but often more like a half-forward flanker, and Daniher can be similar in that he doesn’t need to mark the footy to hit the scoreboard.

It makes it so much harder for a defender when you’re not one-dimensional and he has already shown he can cause havoc for his opposition in that regard.

Daniher has proved he can take a big grab and if not for that huge leap from Majak Daw he would have won mark of the year last season.

It’s an aspect of his game that makes him incredibly dangerous, given he already towers over most defenders.

In the past 12 months, he’s become much stronger in one-on-one contests as well.

Added to that, Daniher can pinch-hit in the ruck, ensuring he’s become a weapon around the ball who can regularly kick goals from outside 50.

We look at Franklin when Sydney are on the ropes and he can do something unbelievable, turning the game in an instant with goals from long range.

To steal a phrase from Bruce McAvaney, that’s what makes him “special”.

I’ve seen those moments from Daniher this year, too.

Already, he’s won the medals for best on ground on Anzac Day and in the Dreamtime clash, both of which were big games in front of crowds of more than 80,000.

It proves he enjoys the big moment and you can’t help but like that in any player.

Daniher has certainly come a long way from what we saw of him last year when he virtually played a lone hand in the Bombers’ forward line.

From afar, when you looked at all the young forwards in the competition, Daniher was perhaps the most difficult to get a gauge on, given he didn’t have the support or the service he has this year.

We knew he had the talent, but he struggled to get near the footy. Now, with the return of those senior teammates, that’s certainly changed.

John Worsfold has said previously his signature is the club’s No.1 priority.

If you believe the amount of money being thrown at Dustin Martin and Josh Kelly, there’s no doubt Daniher also deserves to be a $1 million-plus per-season player.

The only real question mark over him is his set-shot kicking.

Clearly, he’s been working hard on that area of his game given he’s booted 21.2 in his past six matches.

At the end of this year and even at the end of his career, goalkicking could be the difference between Daniher being judged as good, great, or somewhere near Franklin.

From personal experience, I know Franklin won’t want to hand over his mantle as the game’s most damaging forward without a fight, so expect him to be fired up against the Bombers.

Towards the end of my career, the likes of Warren Tredrea, Jonathan Brown and Nick Riewoldt were all emerging and it provided extra incentive every week.

I’d always watch closely to see how they were going.

Now the new breed is Daniher, Jeremy Cameron, Jesse Hogan, Darcy Moore and Brisbane’s Eric Hipwood.

When he was inducted as a legend, Tony Lockett said he would come straight off the ground and ask how many goals Gary Ablett and Jason Dunstall had kicked that day.

Some players aren’t concerned by that, and maybe times have changed, but I think Franklin would know he’s leading the Coleman Medal by one goal, with Daniher close behind.

That certainly makes for an intriguing battle under the Friday night lights at the SCG.

For Joe Daniher, it also presents another chance to prove he’s on the road to becoming a champion.

The post Not your average Joe: Daniher young and dangerous and on Friday he has the maestro – Buddy – at the other end appeared first on Footy Plus.

from Footy Plus http://ift.tt/2sszepw via http://footyplus.net

#Footy Plus

0 notes