Karp3_dm
Brownlow Medallist
- Jun 29, 2018
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Yeah he was really good last night.. very clean
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AFLW 2024 - Round 9 - Indigenous Round - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Player Watch #22 Jacob Hopper
- Thread starter Jimmy Jess
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Future Third
Draftee
- Dec 12, 2023
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Went toe to toe with one of the best in the business in Cripps - great to see and exactly what we recruited him for.
The fact he went 20/5 tells me more rotations req he should have had > 30
- Nov 26, 2013
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The full pre season has certainly helped his good start to the year and perhaps the team not playing dimmas negative football is also a factor
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Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com
He was much better & in our top 5 for the night. In all honesty though, i thought the quality of the game was not very high. Would still like to see more tackles, clearances & better skills at time - but he impacted the game in a lot of ways. He was probably 10th-15th on ground for the night
In regards to him taking this game a bit more personal due to Cerra & he both being targets/options for us in 2021-23, he certainly won that battle., which was great to see too
In regards to him taking this game a bit more personal due to Cerra & he both being targets/options for us in 2021-23, he certainly won that battle., which was great to see too
- Jul 15, 2014
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Criticism of him is still valid, and this week’s game didn’t dispel all warranted criticism.
He’s shown that he can play well, but he needs to play a complete game. 20 of his 25 disposals came in the first half, and he successfully laid 2 tackles all game.
So he still has a way to go before he lives up to what we traded for him. If he can be more consistent in playing the way he plays in those good periods, then most on here should end up satisfied with the trade. Overall though, it’s a pretty good start to the season for him. Probably one of our least concerns right now.
Hopper has a very good habit of being where the ball is , my knock on him is that he’s too oft taken easy options , Thursday was a def a step in right direction , keep it up hop
Seems to play his best footy when we stick him on the oppo's best mid.
Muddiemoose
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- Aug 24, 2017
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Seems that way
Loves an old school head to head match up
Morro
Brownlow Medallist
He will likely never live up to what the eventual trade cost us but that’s not on him. We ****ed up not Hopper.
Yes he faded in the second half but regardless he dominated the first half despite many calling for him to be dropped and some labeling him a VFL player who won’t hold his spot.
Absolute least of our worries and given his heart condition he needed more rest which we couldn’t give him in the second half due to Prestia
Nice one Morro. I think there's a better than fair chance that those who wanted him dropped have no idea. Just some aggressive ranting on their part - probably thought they were on a facebook comments section with the rest of the nuffies of the world.
We're paying Hopper $700k/year, which is only about 50% above the average player wage. That is, just above about the 20th best player on any playing list. And it's going to be even closer to an average salary by the time Hopper's contract is expired.
There's blokes who have changed clubs at $800+ to just run off the half back line. Yet we've got a bloke that goes head-to-head with Cripps, blankets his effectiveness, and still wins his own footy.
I never wanted to give up a future pick - it was and always has been a fool's game. But I no longer care about the draft picks we conceded - it's no longer relevant.
I wonder who from the club pushed for hopper. Once we had taranto it made absolutely no sense to also offer 7 years to hopper. We still have 6 more years and t he aint getting better. It was the type of deal you offer a free agent - but we also trade first rounders. You give that for sure things. And taranto/hopper havent fixed our clearances and now we are stuck with it. Plus they are both slow. Just a terrible and desperate decision by the club, probably pushed by hardwick who now realised this and jumped ship.
- Aug 13, 2017
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Hopper and Taranto aren't a problem, they are doing the grunt work , the other mids need to lift
Muddiemoose
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What exactly do you mean by they haven’t fixed our clearances?
We conclusively beat the blues in the centre Thursday night who are one of if not the best centre groups in the comp
- Jul 15, 2014
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I totally forgot that Hopper has a heart condition, and I didn’t consider this. It’s been a long time since I last heard about it tbh.
OK, I accept what you’re saying and get where you’re coming from because people do say he’s not up to it, and that’s definitely not true. He’s probably been our best mid so far this season IMO, and I’m pretty happy with it
Tiger_Of_Old
THE_GUN:"Why don't you use your reg acc"7/9/24
Takeout both from Thurs.
Prestia (hammy by qtr time)
Left with for next week
Bolton/Dusty/Dow/Sonsie/Macullife.
Pretty thin.
Absolute gun ... has the AFL record for most disposals on debut at 32... last full season 2021 ... avg 26 disposal with 13 contested and had 15 Brownlow votes. In 2021 he ranked fourth for stoppage clearances and ninth for total clearances in the league and made the All Australian squad. While in 2019 (the other year he was injury free and played every game) he was sixth for total stoppage clearances and eighth for total contested possessions.
His numbers so far this year are 26d and 13 clearances just above his 19 and 21 seasons ... going to be a ripper of a year I reckon
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Morro
Brownlow Medallist
Just needs to stay fit.
Dr Tigris
Brownlow Medallist
Taranto and Hopper were recruited to fix the inside mid problem we had as Cotch got old and Prestia got more injury prone. Post 2020 this was a huge problem. We fixed it, a bit late.
The problem is not TT and Hopper, it's the balance and operation of our midfield. 2023 we played like we previously had. Which is stupid given we had 2 quality inside mids. This year is still a work in progress.
My main issue isn't the ex Giants. It's that we need to put speed and skill around them. I'd love us to play Shai in the midfield a lot more. He is exactly the sort of guy who these 2 can feed. Sonz could be gold with those 2.
The midfield is an ensemble of parts. TT and Hopper are core to that group. But only part fo it. If we can't use them and what they do that's a coaching problem. But they still have to play well. Hopper is, TT patchy.
I see things improving over the year
The problem is not TT and Hopper, it's the balance and operation of our midfield. 2023 we played like we previously had. Which is stupid given we had 2 quality inside mids. This year is still a work in progress.
My main issue isn't the ex Giants. It's that we need to put speed and skill around them. I'd love us to play Shai in the midfield a lot more. He is exactly the sort of guy who these 2 can feed. Sonz could be gold with those 2.
The midfield is an ensemble of parts. TT and Hopper are core to that group. But only part fo it. If we can't use them and what they do that's a coaching problem. But they still have to play well. Hopper is, TT patchy.
I see things improving over the year
100%. Dimma and Dimma mkII brought in 2 inside bulls but the played the same outdated win the ball back as the priority game plan.
The sooner Sonsie and McAuliffe come in to provide some skill and pace the better too.
He was better this week, but he equally shares blame against the GC (among our other mids too) as Rowell completely destroyed our entire midfield.
Agree he seems the best match up to go H2H all game in a partial negating role to the oppositions big bodied clearance mids.
Agree he seems the best match up to go H2H all game in a partial negating role to the oppositions big bodied clearance mids.
Lord of the Wings
Premiership Player
He is twice the player Tarantino is this year.
Morro
Brownlow Medallist
I posted similar, we have been starting 3 inside mids in the centre FFS, no other team does that.
Dr Tigris
Brownlow Medallist
I get wanting to win the ball. But just playing our top 3 mids without balance makes no sense. To me anyway.
Why I want Shai in the middle. Coz he is amazing in tight and is about the best in the business for moving the ball to our advantage.
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