Brayden Fiorini has spent some time in the AFL wilderness, banished by Damien Hardwick to play VFL while the coach figures out what the best mix is for his midfield to make finals for the first time in the club's history. With Sam Flanders also outside the ten looking in to start the season, Dimma obviously valued hardness at the contest over run-and-carry skills, as Fiorini and Flanders possess the latter in abundance but are B-grade at best at the former. They are both in the 22 for now, but one wonders if the triple premiership coach has a different role for their talents.
Brayden Fiorini has spent some time in the AFL wilderness, banished by Damien Hardwick to play VFL while the coach figures out what the best mix is for his midfield to make finals for the first time in the club's history. With Sam Flanders also outside the ten looking in to start the season, Dimma obviously valued hardness at the contest over run-and-carry skills, as Fiorini and Flanders possess the latter in abundance but are B-grade at best at the former. They are both in the 22 for now, but one wonders if the triple premiership coach has a different role for their talents.
Brayden Fiorini has spent some time in the footy wilderness in 2021, having earned a reputation as a prolific outside midfielder but perhaps lacking something in the area of two-way running. He has returned to the senior side in recent weeks as an inside mid and looks to have reinvented himself, emulating somewhat Touk Miller's elevation to a new level of workrate both in and between contests. He is firming as a very interesting option for next year's salary cap competitions, as with Miller and Matt Rowell taking attention, he could become a very high floor premium scorer.
Brayden Fiorini is one of a number of Gold Coast Suns who have been wallowing in the twos while the senior side is populated with the next breed of draftees. Like Will Brodie and Alex Sexton, he might be in danger of seeing his AFL career peter out at the end of his current contract if the club continues on with its policy of turning over the list to find a winning combination. Fiorini has shown in past years that he can find the footy, but can he run both ways and be part of a functioning all-team defensive structure? Today he gets a chance to prove it.
Wild Fiorini in autumn
A ball magnet throughout his opening four campaigns at the Suns, onballer Brayden Fiorini took another step in 2019. The 2015 second round draft selection flew out of the gates, gathering 30 or more disposals on six of his initial twelve appearances. His highlight performance came against the Power in round 9, gathering a career high 38 disposals, seven marks and a goal. The Sun required off-season groin surgery which has delayed his start to preseason, expected back in January. It may stand to reason that his post-bye decline was at least partially related to the injury. A dominant fantasy option with evidence of upside, selection in the early rounds is shrewd... unless it looks like Hugh Greenwood is muscling in on his turf.
Brayden Fiorini is in one of the worst midfields in the competition but personally has put up some big fantasy scores, drawing the occasional nickname of GOATorini. For him to be truly considered great he has to string together those scores on a more consistent basis, and games where the Suns come up against dominant midfields like tonight against Geelong present a big challenge for a player who doesn't have a lot of support around him in the engine room. Not that you'd sit him, but temper your expectations.
Brayden Fiorini has returned to the Gold Coast midfield after three of the previous four years were mostly destroyed by injury, and the group around him has thinned out considerably with Ablett and Lyons leaving in the off season. The Suns have enough half back flankers so he has been called upon to work through the midfield, but given that the team gets belted in clearances most weeks and he is an outside runner, that has been a formula for scores that are far less than startable, even in some wins. Perhaps a Q Clash will change that trend.
Brayden Fiorini has a lot of hope vested in him by Gold Coast, and not just because they burned so many draft resources to get him in 2017. He was instrumental in their shock win over the Swans last season when all had looked lost for the team and the franchise, and the departure of Aaron Hall means they must look to him to provide that industrious inside-outside burst game just as much as Hall used to in red and gold. He showed in that Sydney game that he is capable of doing it, now we get to see if he can string a whole season of it together.
Fiorini on all cylinders
Stuart Dew told Brayden Fiorini early last year that a spot on the wing for the Suns was his to lose, which was music to his ears as he had struggled for continuity of selection under Rodney Eade. The result, apart from a mid-season ankle injury, was a near-doubling of his metres gained stat as his disposal ratio shifted from 11:11 to 15:7. He also managed to increase his contested rate and his tackle count, showing he is not just an astronaut. Imagine what he could do if the Suns had a decent inside mid brigade! Oh wait. Fiorini has proven that he can rack up stats regardless of whether the team's engine room is spluttering or firing, so unlike some of his teammates you don't need to mark him down for overall club mediocrity. Like any wingman in a bad team there will be quiet days, and those will probably tend to come earlier in the season. He should be a valuable (and underpriced) asset in fantasy finals, and deserves a late pick.
