Former Richmond forward Nathan Brown thinks Tigers star Shai Bolton is the best player in the AFL currently.
Bolton is having a career-best year in 2022 as he averages career-highs in kicks, goals, clearances and inside 50s, but it’s not on that stat sheet that impresses most.
Given the 23-year-old’s freakish ability, it’s his impact per touch that is most astounding as his possessions constantly turn to scores for Richmond whether he’s kicking them or setting up teammates.
Following his starring four-goal, 17-disposal outing in Saturday’s win over Port Adelaide, Brown explained why he has Bolton as the competition’s best.
“I think he’s the best player in the game right now,” Brown said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“Obviously (Clayton) Oliver, (Lachie) Neale and those types are going to be up in the Brownlow, but there’s nobody that’s doing what he’s doing right now.
“There’s no one that can get a ball in a contested situation and do what he does.
“For that, I think he’s the best player in the game, he was tagged a bit last night by (Ryan) Burton and still got the job done.”
While Bolton has been dominant in yellow and black, his season could’ve been even more impressive if he had kicked straight.
With 39 behinds to go alongside his 39 goals, Brown believes Bolton could even reach heights that no other AFL player has ever reached if he becomes accurate in front of the big sticks.
“If I’m the footy club and if I’m Shai Bolton, I’m practising so much my goalkicking over the pre-season because that could take him to a stratosphere that maybe an AFL player hasn’t been to,” Brown said.
“He’s kicked 39.39, if he had kicked 50 or 55 goals this year, he would be winning the Brownlow medal.
“That’s the only weakness in his game, he gets enough shots on goal so if he has a big pre-season, works on that and gets to 70 or 75 per cent (goal accuracy), then you can’t stop him.
“You can’t stop him in the air, you can’t stop him on the ground, they’ve tried to tag him and they can do it.
“He’s the best in the business.”
Bolton and Richmond will look to continue their finals push when they face Hawthorn at the MCG next Sunday.
"That could take him to a stratosphere that maybe an AFL player hasn't been to." 🤯
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) August 7, 2022
Nathan Brown says Shai Bolton is the best player in the comp right now, but can still go to another level if he works on one area of his game.#9AFLSFS | Watch on @Channel9 pic.twitter.com/Hty9J1BDWH