AFL Player # 8: Ben "Goblin" Hobbs

[VelvetSledge]

Contract Status: Out of contract 2025
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 12, Schnitzengruben

 

[ant555]

Can't play half forward. He's a genuine inside mid or bust. Brad as always trying to fit square pegs in round holes.

That is the problem when you have so many round holes to fill but only have square pegs. If we had any half decent pressure forwards he would not be playing half forward. But then he would be playing VFL because we signed the golden boy for 6 years.

 

[ant555]

If only some of the other forwards worked as hard as he did. There where times he was the only bloke leading at the footy.

 

[Howard Moon]

He's the one we need to trade who has value, superfluous to us really, a bit slow too, in mind and body. Cash in while we can

 

[Old Campaigner]

That is the problem when you have so many round holes to fill but only have square pegs. If we had any half decent pressure forwards he would not be playing half forward. But then he would be playing VFL because we signed the golden boy for 6 years.

 

[naraku]

Solid coming on as a sub.

If we're keeping Hobbs, he really NEEDS midfield minutes.
Hobbs with Merrett, Caldwell, Durham, Duursma and Martin could be very good.
If Tsatas comes on or we can bring in another good midfielder, we start looking good.

Parish and Shiel (if he stays) get limited minutes and learn other roles.

 

[MarkJohnson#1]

Have to back him in next season, in the guts full time. Piss Shiel and Parish off, we are getting nowhere with these potatoes.

 

[brutus76]

If we can't give him games he's asking for a trade where he can go and get some

 

[P Money]

Prime example of a player we should be looking to trade this off-season (ideally for a future pick). Surplus to needs as a medium-paced, small inside mid with limited flexibility. Apparently getting interest from other clubs and open to a move himself.

Bombers fans get way too attached to our own players and severely overrate them (until we switch to being farcically critical a la Parish and Stringer). Hobbs trade would be a real opportunity to move on someone with value and start balancing our list.

 

[Bjchan13]

Prime example of a player we should be looking to trade this off-season (ideally for a future pick). Surplus to needs as a medium-paced, small inside mid with limited flexibility. Apparently getting interest from other clubs and open to a move himself.

Bombers fans get way too attached to our own players and severely overrate them (until we switch to being farcically critical a la Parish and Stringer). Hobbs trade would be a real opportunity to move on someone with value and start balancing our list.

Where did you see this?

 

[Runk]

Prime example of a player we should be looking to trade this off-season (ideally for a future pick). Surplus to needs as a medium-paced, small inside mid with limited flexibility. Apparently getting interest from other clubs and open to a move himself.

Bombers fans get way too attached to our own players and severely overrate them (until we switch to being farcically critical a la Parish and Stringer). Hobbs trade would be a real opportunity to move on someone with value and start balancing our list.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[jdstorm]

Of course there’s interest. Smart clubs try and take good players from dumb clubs who have them stuck in the VFL.

Whatever offered in trade for Hobbs would be under his potential return from just playing him at AFL level as a mid

 

[P Money]

Of course there’s interest. Smart clubs try and take good players from dumb clubs who have them stuck in the VFL.

Whatever offered in trade for Hobbs would be under his potential return from just playing him at AFL level as a mid

There's a reason he's playing VFL footy. Other mids have gone past him (eg Caldwell, Durham) and he doesn't have the flexibility to offer a lot of value elsewhere on the ground. Couple that with the fact that he is small and not overly quick, so he really doesn't compliment our midfield mix, many of whom fall into a similar category.

Again, we need to stop overrating players just because they wear the sash. I'm not saying he's no good but he's not someone we can't afford to lose. Holding onto him because we think we won't get a premium return really isn't going to help us re-balance the list.

 

[faible]

There's a reason he's playing VFL footy. Other mids have gone past him (eg Caldwell, Durham) and he doesn't have the flexibility to offer a lot of value elsewhere on the ground. Couple that with the fact that he is small and not overly quick, so he really doesn't compliment our midfield mix, many of whom fall into a similar category.

Again, we need to stop overrating players just because they wear the sash. I'm not saying he's no good but he's not someone we can't afford to lose. Holding onto him because we think we won't get a premium return really isn't going to help us re-balance the list.

They're also 2 - 3 years older than him. People keep forgetting that part.

 

[P Money]

They're also 2 - 3 years older than him. People keep forgetting that part.

He's not going to grow another 10cm or gain explosive pace in the next 3 years. Again it's not about him being no good, he just doesn't really add to the team based on our current mix. It just makes sense to move him on to fill one of the many holes on our list.

 

[Milanista28]

Rather trade Shiel and Parish, if they aren't moving there is no point keeping Hobbs and playing him at HF, so maybe you make the trade.

Can't see a team offering more than a pick in the 25-30 range.

 

[faible]

He's not going to grow another 10cm or gain explosive pace in the next 3 years. Again it's not about him being no good, he just doesn't really add to the team based on our current mix. It just makes sense to move him on to fill one of the many holes on our list.

Moreso that people are using Durham and Caldwell as examples, but forget that Hobbs is 2-3 years younger than both. So if they both took until 22-23 to really step up at AFL level, perhaps waiting for Hobbs to reach a similar age and have really filled out strength wise is worthwhile.

He's the only natural hard-ball player we've got on the list. Another couple of years in the system and there's every chance he can grind out stoppages in and under the way Liberatore does for the dogs.

 

[P Money]

Rather trade Shiel and Parish, if they aren't moving there is no point keeping Hobbs and playing him at HF, so maybe you make the trade.

Can't see a team offering more than a pick in the 25-30 range.

Shiel would be a token pick and realistically we're not trading Parish. Hobbs is the obvious candidate.

I'd be fine with an early second round pick for him. Dodo is gone, and hopefully so is the prerequisite that we have to 'win' the trade period. We desperately need to rebalance the list and we need to make bold moves to do that. Using an early second round pick either in the draft or via trade can fill one of the many glaring holes on the list.

 

[P Money]

Moreso that people are using Durham and Caldwell as examples, but forget that Hobbs is 2-3 years younger than both. So if they both took until 22-23 to really step up at AFL level, perhaps waiting for Hobbs to reach a similar age and have really filled out strength wise is worthwhile.

He's the only natural hard-ball player we've got on the list. Another couple of years in the system and there's every chance he can grind out stoppages in and under the way Liberatore does for the dogs.

Yep, he's almost certain to get better in the next few years. But that's a few more years of an unbalanced list chock full of small, one-paced mids. Our midfield has done pretty well this year and we still need to fit Tsatas who compliments the midfield mix much better.

 

[faible]

Yep, he's almost certain to get better in the next few years. But that's a few more years of an unbalanced list chock full of small, one-paced mids. Our midfield has done pretty well this year and we still need to fit Tsatas who compliments the midfield mix much better.

Assuming both Hobbs and Tsatas work out, I can see a midfield mix of Hobbs, Tsatas, Caldwell working nicely, with Durham and Merrett able to rotate through or play off a flank.

Gives you one in and under player in Hobbs, with two guys that have strong frames in Tsatas and Caldwell playing in-close. Would give us much more strength over the ball and allow Durham and Merrett much more freedom to get on the outside.

 

[BrunoV]

Prime example of a player we should be looking to trade this off-season (ideally for a future pick). Surplus to needs as a medium-paced, small inside mid with limited flexibility. Apparently getting interest from other clubs and open to a move himself.

Bombers fans get way too attached to our own players and severely overrate them (until we switch to being farcically critical a la Parish and Stringer). Hobbs trade would be a real opportunity to move on someone with value and start balancing our list.

Agreed.

While I think we can continue to assume that his best trick, winning hardball absorbing contact and getting the ball outside cleanly, will end up coming off at AFL level it is by no means certain. He's 3 years in and hasn't really been able to do it which is slightly concerning - slightly concerning because he is still young before anyone jumps on this point.

For this reason I think we'd be lucky to get much more than an early 3rd round pick.

Put it this way, in the last 12 months you could have picked up Bytel or Ned Long for nothing more than a list spot. You can still pick up Hately for a list spot (as I think he qualifies for a SSP spot). If that's the going rate for those guys why would another club ever consider paying a sum for Hobbs that would enable us to recover value? I don't see that as a reason not to trade him but I doubt the club shares that view.

 

[Howard Moon]

Goes to Richmond I reckon who will have a thousand picks - should work out ok

 

[bombreys]

Assuming both Hobbs and Tsatas work out, I can see a midfield mix of Hobbs, Tsatas, Caldwell working nicely, with Durham and Merrett able to rotate through or play off a flank.

Gives you one in and under player in Hobbs, with two guys that have strong frames in Tsatas and Caldwell playing in-close. Would give us much more strength over the ball and allow Durham and Merrett much more freedom to get on the outside.

This mix does sound good, but where are Parish and Shiel? The numbers just don’t add up

 

[P Money]

This mix does sound good, but where are Parish and Shiel? The numbers just don’t add up

Yep I think we all need to get our head around the fact that we are not trading Parish, so we really need to consider him in any midfield mix for the next 5-6 years

 

[ant555]

There's a reason he's playing VFL footy. Other mids have gone past him (eg Caldwell, Durham) and he doesn't have the flexibility to offer a lot of value elsewhere on the ground. Couple that with the fact that he is small and not overly quick, so he really doesn't compliment our midfield mix, many of whom fall into a similar category.

Again, we need to stop overrating players just because they wear the sash. I'm not saying he's no good but he's not someone we can't afford to lose. Holding onto him because we think we won't get a premium return really isn't going to help us re-balance the list.

Yes there was a reason he played a bit of VFL footy. He had a 4 week calf injury.
Played the first 9 games.
Out injured for 4 weeks.
Played 5 VFL games.
Played the last 3 AFL games.
One thing he does have that we lack across the board is he is hard at the contest and physical.

 

[Howard Moon]

Agreed.

While I think we can continue to assume that his best trick, winning hardball absorbing contact and getting the ball outside cleanly, will end up coming off at AFL level it is by no means certain. He's 3 years in and hasn't really been able to do it which is slightly concerning - slightly concerning because he is still young before anyone jumps on this point.

For this reason I think we'd be lucky to get much more than an early 3rd round pick.

Put it this way, in the last 12 months you could have picked up Bytel or Ned Long for nothing more than a list spot. You can still pick up Hately for a list spot (as I think he qualifies for a SSP spot). If that's the going rate for those guys why would another club ever consider paying a sum for Hobbs that would enable us to recover value? I don't see that as a reason not to trade him but I doubt the club shares that view.

I'd say he's probably worth similar to whatever we paid for Caldwell, similar stories. High pick inside mid who hadn't been playing for various reasons. We just need to pretend he's a required player like gws did.