Retired #26: Cale Hooker - Has announced his retirement at season's end 🍷

Remove this Banner Ad

sfdsf.jpg
Contract Status: Retiring at the end of Season 2021
Last Game Played: Round 19, 2021 (omit)
Injury Status: n/a
 
Last edited:
ant555 said:
Have not passed the FA/trade period yet. Anything could happen.
How many thought Harry was going to play 15 odd games and help out the forward line like he did. We are not in the premiership window. Who says Harry may not get better , Wright keeps doing what he does and maybe Nick Bryan steps up so we can use one of the resting rucks as the deep forward for a short period. Or maybe we go with a slightly different set up that allows Harry to do a lot of lead up work.
Hooker has gone backwards in the last 6 weeks. We will not miss what he is currently giving us. In fact I would have more confidence with just Jones and Wright and playing two rucks.
Click to expand...
Yeah I agree we havent passed that period yet and who knows if they are eyeing off someone. What’s really out there though Weideman I’m not sold on at all, how much has Riccardi really shown except for his first couple of games, Fogarty I think would be a solid option as a closer to goal forward. Harry should improve next year, but as I said if don’t manage to sign anyone and hooker goes, is it sustainable having relying on Jones and Wright + whatever we get out of the younger guys for the season, I think it’d be safer having hooker still on the list as cover, he doesn’t have to play every week. I’d love them to give hooker a week off coming up as he has looked tired lately (he has played every game) and have a look at the Bryan +
Draper combo with Wright permanent forward, or even though he hasn’t been dominating at vfl level give Eyre a taste to show him where he’s at.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Definitely deserves another year. Ideally if we actually had a healthy list and a bit of key forward depth, he wouldn’t be required to play each and every week.

Poor bugger needs a rest but we’ve been unable to give him one and he’s still contributing as best he can. Great clubman - one more year.
 
I think he does.

The way the list is shaping up, we're probably looking at holding on a number of players with a bigger cull coming at the end of next year.

I can see us making as few as 5 list changes, Hooker not being one of them.
 
andleanback said:
Yeah I agree we havent passed that period yet and who knows if they are eyeing off someone. What’s really out there though Weideman I’m not sold on at all, how much has Riccardi really shown except for his first couple of games, Fogarty I think would be a solid option as a closer to goal forward. Harry should improve next year, but as I said if don’t manage to sign anyone and hooker goes, is it sustainable having relying on Jones and Wright + whatever we get out of the younger guys for the season, I think it’d be safer having hooker still on the list as cover, he doesn’t have to play every week. I’d love them to give hooker a week off coming up as he has looked tired lately (he has played every game) and have a look at the Bryan +
Draper combo with Wright permanent forward, or even though he hasn’t been dominating at vfl level give Eyre a taste to show him where he’s at.
Click to expand...

Maybe it could be a small step backwards but personally I would rather look forward. We would need a massive step up to be a serious contender anyway.
There could even be the situation where Reid comes on well enough for Stewart to resume forward duties at some stage next season. As much as I have been a fan of Hooker over the journey I think his time has come and we would be wasting time using him as a stop gap for another year.
We may even find the forward line can function better with an extra small forward.
 
I don't hate the idea of him playing on, although I imagine his role next year would be mostly VFL to offer some protection for the younger talls as they develop. If he needs to play through injury then so be it but don't think we'd be well served giving him regular games as we're better off taking a long term view and playing Eyre/Bryan/Baldwin/McBride as much as possible.
 
I cant see it personally. He can barely run. I struggle to see how he wants to go though another pre season to be honest. Absolutely love him though and seeing him play in a winning final that breaks the drought would be the perfect finish. If he goes around again and plays 12-15 games so be it but will need regular rests.
 
I think its time for him to move on and i hate to say this but he's seriously so cooked these days. Even when he's kicking 3+ goals a game he's a defensive liability and its not reasonable to expect him to keep up at this pace all year. When he's kicking 0-1 goals we'd be way better off with a random small forward that can apply a bit of pressure.

If they decide to keep him on then so be it - i'll still be wishing him all the best, but I don't think its the right call when you think about things logically.
If they were genuinely willing to play him for say 10 games then sure he'd be fine but i don't think he or the club want to do that.

We are going to want to start getting games into Bryan as well and it makes sense that double ruck may become a thing again with Wright playing more forward. Plus hopefully Stringer and Langford as those medium tall forward options will spend more time in the forward line. We probably don't even need 3 genuine talls.
 
Let’s not forget how totally cooked he was last year, people even calling for him to put his hand up and retire rather than subject the club to another year of him. Idiots 😂

Is he any slower than he was then? Nope

I’m sure the season gets to the old bodies so he probably needs to be managed a bit if he’s around next year. He’s played every game ffs!

We have quite a mobile forward line which covers for him, and there’s very much a role for a beast forward to suck the ball in their direction.

If we can bring someone in then great, if not then I’d say he probably goes again.

Ambrose will go. Hurley is obviously a very dicey proposition. Stewart can’t be relied upon… he’s played 20 games in three seasons. The value of Wright is he’s flexible, the last thing we want to do is tie him to the goal square. Baldwin? Brand? McBride? Please.

It’ll all depend on whether we bring in a replacement.
 
Hooker has never been a great runner and built his game around intercept marks when in defence, and contested marks and goals when in attack, so I dont think saying - 'he cant run' is a valid reason behind deciding if he goes on in 2022 or not.
If we look at some basic stats it shows Hookers first 12 rounds were great, and then we had the bye in round 13 and it seems to have all went down hill for him after that...
During his first 12 rounds he averaged; - 12 disposals, 4.1 marks & 2.4 goals a game - very decent stats for a key forward
Yet after the bye his output has dropped off significantly with the averages over the last 5 rounds poor: 10 disposals, 2.2 marks & 0.6 goals a game
With Jones out for the rest of the year and Stringer playing more midfield minutes + 2MP helping in the ruck Hooker remains a pivotal focal point - certainly for the rest of this year - if he can have a couple of big games in the last 5 rounds that would do our finals chances (and his chances of going on next year) the world of good. He's been such a great servant of the club in my view he deserves another year - even as a break glass forward option should one of Jones/Stringer/ 2MP get injured and as others have pointed out if he are unable to secure another key forward then Hooker is a pretty decent back up option. If he does play on though I think we need to manage him much better and there's no way he should be playing every game next season.. Cant help but love the big fella and hope he gets another year and plays 8 - 10 games in 2022
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

I think we call it time.

The way May stitched him up stamped his papers, because it showed that if he’s not atleast halving contests in the air, he’s redundant once the ball hits the mat.

This year’s been invaluable allowing Harry to blossom under his wing, who I think with another pre season will be ready to launch in his 3rd season alongside Stringer & 2MP. Bear in mind we’ll have Hurls to throw forward to fill his void & failing that I’d prefer us to trial Bryan as a ruck/fwd.
 
Last edited:
May's stitched up a few players tbf.
 
This is a tough one, do we show him some loyalty and reward him with another year to help develop the youngsters or do we open up another list spot ?
If it was I making the decision I would have to seriously look at how many times he just can't get to the contest or doesn't bring the ball to ground ?
He's been a great player over a long period of time and it wouldn't be an easy decision but I can't see him being allowed to go on.
 
I think he's welcome to another year on the list, simply because I'd have plenty more that I'm happy to get rid of as well, we're not going to be short on for list spots. But he's very much a break-glass option for 2022. He shouldn't be playing right now if we had an alternative.

But he's one of very few that has earned that right - if he's happy with that for 2022, then I'm happy to give it to him. If he's not, that's also fine.
 
He’s old and slow but still good enough for another year was very good early, obviously could do with a rest and the amount of travelling this year couldn’t of helped
 
rumply said:
Body language has become an issue for Chook - that crap while Hepp was taking his set shot & his demeanour afterwards simply isn't good enough.

Clean that sh*t up & finish off the season reasonably well then ok, go around again. If not, the club needs to make the hard call.
Click to expand...
what did he do?
 
rumply said:
Body language has become an issue for Chook - that crap while Hepp was taking his set shot & his demeanour afterwards simply isn't good enough.

Clean that sh*t up & finish off the season reasonably well then ok, go around again. If not, the club needs to make the hard call.
Click to expand...
You got me super intrigued cos i didn't see anything live.

Its about 52 minutes into the kayo stream. 6 mins to go before half time.

I get him calling for it. He was unmanned in the square. But the whole body slump after not getting it passed to him as a goal sails over his head was poor I agree.
I think i agree with you if he's doing that sort of thing frequently.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Retired #26: Cale Hooker - Has announced his retirement at season's end 🍷

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top