What Will He Bring - Tim O'Brien

The Western Bulldogs signed their first player of the AFL Trade and Free Agency Period last Thursday after securing Hawthorn key defender Tim O'Brien on a two-year deal as an unrestricted free agent.

The 27-year old played 19 games in 2021, taking his overall tally to 97 matches since debuting in round one in 2014.

O'Brien isn't a big name by any means but he fills a need for the Dogs after previously playing some serviceable football down back for the Hawks while he didn't affect our draft hand after costing us minimal salary-cap space.

All that's left now is to find a capable ruckman but there aren't too many on the market and it seems that the Dogs are rather content in building up a pool of draft picks to snare promising Father-Son prospect in Sam Darcy.

Let's see what Sam Power can conjure up over the final few days of the Trade Period.

Tim O'Brien flies high against the GWS Giants Source: AFL Photos

THE TRADE:

Western Bulldogs Receive:

Tim O'Brien (Unrestricted Free Agent)

Hawthorn Hawks Receive:

No Compensation for the Unrestricted Free Agent.

WHAT WE SAID:

“We’re thrilled to welcome Tim to the Bulldogs, and we’re looking forward to what he will add to our playing group."

“We’ve seen Tim’s strengths at either end of the ground during his time at the Hawks, but we see him adding the most value to our team as a defender.

“We’re excited by his ability to read the play and win back possession through his intercept marking, and he has impressive speed for a tall player" - General Manager of List Management and Football Projects, Sam Power.

2021 SEASON:

O'Brien played a career-high 19 matches this season but spent most of the second half of the year playing as a defender, which allowed him to make the most of his high flying and intercept marking abilities.

Playing as an intercepting third tall, O'Brien took 39 of his marks in his last five games of the season (7.8) while he also had a career-high 14 intercept possessions against the Bulldogs in round 22.

O'Brien took 23 intercept marks in his 19 games, with 16 of those coming between rounds 18 and 22 while he also took multiple contested marks in nine matches this year, including taking three contested marks on four separate occasions.

Once a Hawk, Tim O'Brien is now a Western Bulldog. Source: SEN.

WHAT WILL HE BRING?

A massive point of difference that is currently lacking in our back six is a tall, mobile interceptor.

Of the four clubs who competed in the preliminary finals, we were the only side without a renowned specialist intercepting tall defender. We have seen just how influential intercept defenders are with Jake Lever, Steven May, Allir Allir, or Tom Stewart and they are massive reasons why Melbourne's, Geelong's and Port Adelaide's defence are rather settled.

Obviously, O'Brien isn't in their class but it's more so that he could have a positive flow-on effect on our other defenders and that he might allow in our defensive set up to do.

Easton Wood and Hayden Crozier have done the job in recent seasons but of course, they have been a bit indifferent in recent times with the former closer to the end than the start of his career while the latter's form has fallen right off.

We did have that role covered when we recruited Alex Keath in the 2019 Trade Period but we have since utilised him more as a genuine key defender and he has since turned himself into a very capable number one defender. At this point in time, defensive options in Ryan Gardner and Zaine Cordy have provided decent support for Keath but it is an area of their game that has been lacking. People might have thrown up the idea of Lewis Young (who is now of course at Carlton) as intercept marking was a strength of his, but there were other parts of his game that were lacking down back.

As a defender, O'Brien has been involved in 67 one-on-one contests but what is impressive is that although he has won just 12 of those contests, he has lost just 25% of those one-on-one contests and has neutralised 56% (38) of them.

Confident under a high ball (25 contested marks), O'Brien is also a clean spoiler of the ball, (rated elite - 2.9 per game), has good closing speed - which is essential in this modern age of football - and this certainly complements our zone defense which is built off teamwork and trust in one another.

For key defenders, O'Brien was rated elite for intercept marks (1.2), intercept possessions (2.9) kicking efficiency (70.1%), and effective disposals (8.7), while he was rated above average in marks (4.7), metres gained (205) and disposals (11).

DID YOU KNOW?

The Western Bulldogs already have a link to Tim O'Brien and it goes back to the 2012 AFL Trade Period.

The Dogs originally held pick 27 which was exchanged, alongside Brian Lake for Hawthorn's first and second-round picks in selections 21 and 44.

Hawthorn of course then selected Tim O'Brien with pick 27 while we drafted Nathan Hrovat (21) and traded in West Coast's Koby Stevens for pick 44.