Player Watch #22 Jacob Hopper

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his disposal was incredibly ordinary & he just looks clumsy & struggled to land tackles (2).

There are guys that are always in the wars as they put their head over the ball, & there are guys who are like that because they are just awkward and clumsy. I think this guy is both - i cant see him having many seasons where he doesn't miss games. He hit the scoreboard & ended up with 23 touches, but at 52% DE and only 3 clearances, when Rowell got 20 - it is nothing to celebrate. He got better, but he is meant to be a high grade inside mid & he was utterly flogged in that area and kicked the ball like a mule.
 
RJK Tiger said:
his disposal was incredibly ordinary & he just looks clumsy & struggled to land tackles (2).

There are guys that are always in the wars as they put their head over the ball, & there are guys who are like that because they are just awkward and clumsy. I think this guy is both - i cant see him having many seasons where he doesn't miss games. He hit the scoreboard & ended up with 23 touches, but at 52% DE and only 3 clearances, when Rowell got 20 - it is nothing to celebrate. He got better, but he is meant to be a high grade inside mid & he was utterly flogged in that area and kicked the ball like a mule.
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Bc he is a mule. A slow, dumb and clumsy footballer.
 

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Morro said:
Only our fans could call him a spud after that game.

Never change people
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Spud is a strong word, but the guy was recruited as a top tier inside mid and just got flogged 20clearances to 3 by a 22 year old. The list of players who got more clearances than him - Rowell (20), Witts & Anderson (8), Naismith (7), Prestia (5), Taranto (4). He did well in the Contested Possession (2nd overall, 13CP) , but his disposal usage was the absolute pits - he was the worst user of the ball from all the midfield blokes, closely followed by more of our own - Taranto, Baker etc. And if our inside group a;low that to happen in the clearances, we wont get close to a win. Its game over before half the team has a chance to react.


He definitely worked hard after half time & his 2 goals certainly helped. But if he & Taranto perform like that more often than not, we will not win many, if any games. He at least showed some ticker and fought out the game, but in the process looked like he was injured about 6 times. I just don't see him being elite where we need him to be & reckon he will likely be a player that is constantly injured

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RJK Tiger said:
Spud is a strong word, but the guy was recruited as a top tier inside mid and just got flogged 20clearances to 3 by a 22 year old. The list of players who got more clearances than him - Rowell (20), Witts & Anderson (8), Naismith (7), Prestia (5), Taranto (4). He did well in the Contested Possession (2nd overall, 13CP) , but his disposal usage was the absolute pits - he was the worst user of the ball from all the midfield blokes, closely followed by more of our own - Taranto, Baker etc. And if our inside group a;low that to happen in the clearances, we wont get close to a win. Its game over before half the team has a chance to react.


He definitely worked hard after half time & his 2 goals certainly helped. But if he & Taranto perform like that more often than not, we will not win many, if any games. He at least showed some ticker and fought out the game, but in the process looked like he was injured about 6 times. I just don't see him being elite where we need him to be & reckon he will likely be a player that is constantly injured

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I agree with a lot of what you said and with your doubts about him becoming elite. To be honest though, but I’m more concerned about Taranto than Hopper. I didn’t really expect Hopper to be a top-tier mid. I just wanted him to be decent or good. Yes, we traded for him like he was elite, but I think he can reach the level I expect of him. His disposal in the first half was terrible last week, but at least he had a great 3rd quarter. He also played well in the second half of this year’s intraclub and in the Melbourne preseason game. He has his great moments, so I can see how he’d contribute to our next era.

Taranto though is far off what I expected. Maybe I was delusional, but I really thought he’d be the next midfield star in the game. I was so stoked when we landed him. However, his kicking, slow pace, and decision-making since coming here isn’t elite at all apart from that 5-game purple patch. It’s been a year now and it’s mostly the same thing. Get the ball, rush the disposal because he’s either too slow or not strong enough to get separation from the opposition, turn the ball over. That’s why I don’t really care for his disposal count much. He just doesn’t use the ball as well as the best midfielders in the competition. Happy to be proven wrong, but that’s where I sit with him.

On a side note, this would explain why GWS used to play Taranto as a forward so often.
 
Lsta062 said:
I agree with a lot of what you said and with your doubts about him becoming elite. To be honest though, but I’m more concerned about Taranto than Hopper. I didn’t really expect Hopper to be a top-tier mid. I just wanted him to be decent or good. Yes, we traded for him like he was elite, but I think he can reach the level I expect of him. His disposal in the first half was terrible last week, but at least he had a great 3rd quarter. He also played well in the second half of this year’s intraclub and in the Melbourne preseason game. He has his great moments, so I can see how he’d contribute to our next era.

Taranto though is far off what I expected. Maybe I was delusional, but I really thought he’d be the next midfield star in the game. I was so stoked when we landed him. However, his kicking, slow pace, and decision-making since coming here isn’t elite at all apart from that 5-game purple patch. It’s been a year now and it’s mostly the same thing. Get the ball, rush the disposal because he’s either too slow or not strong enough to get separation from the opposition, turn the ball over. That’s why I don’t really care for his disposal count much. He just doesn’t use the ball as well as the best midfielders in the competition. Happy to be proven wrong, but that’s where I sit with him.

On a side note, this would explain why GWS used to play Taranto as a forward so often.
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They are both concerning. And the trade will haunt us. Said it at the time & got chewed out.

Taranto, at least has runs on the board. He won the B&F. Has been fit. 1 bad game to start the year i can quickly forget about. But agree, if both perform like they did on the weekend, we will finish bottom 2-3, without doubt. If they both play like they did on the weekend, "Dimma's Legacy" trade will haunt us for a decade & will likely keep GWS a contender for that entire time.

I wont forgive Dimma & the club for being so egotistical to think that trade was going to make us "contenders" again. It was a total, "Im out the door if it fails anyway, **** it - just do it and see if we get lucky". It was the worst move an outgoing coach could endorse. Wont forgive it anytime soon
 
RJK Tiger said:
They are both concerning. And the trade will haunt us. Said it at the time & got chewed out.

Taranto, at least has runs on the board. He won the B&F. Has been fit. 1 bad game to start the year i can quickly forget about. But agree, if both perform like they did on the weekend, we will finish bottom 2-3, without doubt. If they both play like they did on the weekend, "Dimma's Legacy" trade will haunt us for a decade & will likely keep GWS a contender for that entire time.

I wont forgive Dimma & the club for being so egotistical to think that trade was going to make us "contenders" again. It was a total, "Im out the door if it fails anyway, * it - just do it and see if we get lucky". It was the worst move an outgoing coach could endorse. Wont forgive it anytime soon
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Yeah it’s not looking too good right now. I was for us getting them 100% when we did, but maybe I was wrong too.
 
Yeah not saying he’s a bad player but he’s not good enough in what we need from him as the team we have right now, would much rather seeing us give up 11 goals in a row with the two draftees we gave away for this bloke
 
RJK Tiger said:
Spud is a strong word, but the guy was recruited as a top tier inside mid and just got flogged 20clearances to 3 by a 22 year old. The list of players who got more clearances than him - Rowell (20), Witts & Anderson (8), Naismith (7), Prestia (5), Taranto (4). He did well in the Contested Possession (2nd overall, 13CP) , but his disposal usage was the absolute pits - he was the worst user of the ball from all the midfield blokes, closely followed by more of our own - Taranto, Baker etc. And if our inside group a;low that to happen in the clearances, we wont get close to a win. Its game over before half the team has a chance to react.


He definitely worked hard after half time & his 2 goals certainly helped. But if he & Taranto perform like that more often than not, we will not win many, if any games. He at least showed some ticker and fought out the game, but in the process looked like he was injured about 6 times. I just don't see him being elite where we need him to be & reckon he will likely be a player that is constantly injured

View attachment 1925101
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Can't have 5 players with more of the ball than all of our players player 3-2 maybe but not 5.
 

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TigerImposter said:
I'm glad your happy HH and accept his level of mediocrity. lol
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I'm certainly not happy with the performance of the TEAM on saturday...

And like you, I would like quite a ferw changes...

But I also realise where we are at, and that we will go through a bit of pain for the next 1-3 years...

But calling a pretty good footballer and one of our best on the day a Spud, well it's an overreaction IMO.

I would be genuinely interested in what you think should be our 23 this week against Carlton
 
Hank Heavenly said:
I'm certainly not happy with the performance of the TEAM on saturday...

And like you, I would like quite a ferw changes...

But I also realise where we are at, and that we will go through a bit of pain for the next 1-3 years...

But calling a pretty good footballer and one of our best on the day a Spud, well it's an overreaction IMO.

I would be genuinely interested in what you think should be our 23 this week against Carlton
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HE CAME back in second half , but the game was shot in first 20min and he was nowhere to be seen. His first 7possessions were zero percent effective. He always plays better in sec halves bc the oppo mids slow down. He's an issue as we have at least four others similar to him. Only can carry two
 
TigerImposter said:
HE CAME back in second half , but the game was shot in first 20min and he was nowhere to be seen. His first 7possessions were zero percent effective. He always plays better in sec halves bc the game the oppo mids slow down. He's an issue as we have at least four others similar to him. Only can carry two
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Yeh, but who from our team played well in the first half... no one really. Maybe Vlas, but that was because the ball was down there a lot.

What's your 23 this week????
 
Hank Heavenly said:
Yeh, but who from our team played well in the first half... no one really. Maybe Vlas, but that was because the ball was down there a lot.

What's your 23 this week????
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it starts from the midfield as they're the ones that give us control of the game. It doesn't start from the BL . Flossy being our best is bc of the massive mf dominance by them and he was in the cauldron. lol
 
TigerImposter said:
it starts from the midfield as they're the ones that give us control of the game. It doesn't start from the BL . Flossy being our best is bc of the massive mf dominance by them and he was in the cauldron. lol
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I'm well aware of that, and how the game is played. Every single one of our mids was comprehensively beaten in the first half.

WHo is your 23 for this weeks game v carlton???
 
Was massive last night especially 1st half. Was quiet after but stuffed rotations and 4 day break after a hot game plenty of justified reasons. Poor in praccie against pies as was whole team. Killed it against Dee's. Vlastuin, Balta and Hopper leading Jack Dyer medal then daylight. Just turned 27 so should get 150 games out of him. Think he'll win most critics over by eoy. Taranto can only improve, Ross chomping at the bit and Sonsie and Mccauliffe fighting for spots I reckon we might be looking ok with the mix sorted in couple months. Hit the draft and FA hard hopefully snag a speedy skilled mid. Prestia can't be trusted going forward. 3 game blocks with lower minutes then rested timed for interstate games.
 

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Player Watch #22 Jacob Hopper

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