George Dimer: Dime-a-Dozen? Or Diamond in the Rough?
At 173cm, George Dimer does a lot of what you’d expect from a small forward. He gets front and square, is clean below his knees and can do damage close to goal.
What makes him more interesting is what he can do further up the ground. He can come up through the middle as a high half-forward, find enough of the footy to stay involved and help create chances for others. In time, I think that’s probably his AFL role.
The standard caveat on all of this. My assessment comes from watching full game replays and full player involvement edits, rather than just the highlights. I haven’t seen Dimer live.
He knows where the footy is going
Dimer’s positioning is one of the best parts of his game.
He knows when to lead up at the kicker and when to turn and find space back inside 50. When the ball is going to a marking contest, he reads where it’s likely to come off hands and gets front and square.
He's very clean below his knees, arguably one of the cleanest in the draft. He has a low centre of gravity and can gather without needing an extra touch to get himself organised. Close to goal, that can be the difference between getting a shot away and being wrapped up.
His game against the Allies showed both sides of his forward play. He kicked 3.2 and set up three goals directly for Vic Metro. One of his goals came from reading the drop of a marking contest, getting through traffic and snapping from about 20 metres.
Agile in traffic. How quick off the mark?
I have a question mark over Dimer’s first few steps. There are passages where I don’t see him put much distance on an opponent in a straight line, but his ability to change direction stands out. He doesn’t need much space. If there’s a gap, he can find his way through it.
The testing backs up the agility. Dimer finished third at the national Combine in 7.893 seconds. He wasn’t in the AFL’s published sprint top 10, not the be all and end all but it probably does explain what the eye sees, or doesn't see and that is a lack of an explosive first few steps.
He’s slight and can struggle to push through a tackle once an opponent gets hold of him. That makes his positioning, clean first touch and ability to change direction all the more valuable. They give him ways to deal with pressure before he has to absorb it.
The kick can hang in the air
Dimer straightens up well and his kicking action looks sound overall. The issue I see is that the ball can float off the boot.
To my eye, his guiding hand sometimes gets a little far from his body on the drop. That’s most noticeable on set shots, but it can also make life harder for a leading forward. A pass that hangs in the air gives a defender time to close the gap Dimer’s teammate has worked to create. I don't yet think he's reliable with ball in hand, but not something that looks beyond development for him.
One thing I do like is that he’ll use his left. He’s a right-footer, but he’s prepared to go on his left when the play calls for it. That gives him more options in the tight spaces where he does some of his best work.
Pressure when it’s there to apply
When the ball is in Dimer’s area, he’ll chase and tackle with intent. I’d like to see more of the repeat efforts that make defenders feel rushed even when he doesn’t get a hand on them.
Does he go again when the first chase doesn’t get there? Can he close down the next option as the ball moves away from him? Those are the efforts I want to see more often, particularly if he’s going to play higher up the ground, getting from contest to contest defensively is an important part of the modern half-forwards role.
Where I see him at AFL level
For Essendon, the appeal is a small forward who can create a goal close to the sticks and also get involved in the passage that brings the ball inside 50. His game sense, clean hands and agility give him a few ways to do that.
I can see him starting closer to goal and growing into a high half-forward role. His kicking needs to become more reliable, and I’d like his pressure to carry across more of the passage. The reason I’d back him to develop into that role is how often he puts himself in the right spot to do something useful with the footy. He’s already good at that.
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