AFL Player # 8: Ben "Goblin" Hobbs - Lower leg injury at training - 18/1

[VelvetSledge]

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

 

[Old man fletch]

Heppell may be the weakest Link for us on the outside of the fence but the consistent word from the players and coach is he is bringing a level of calm to the players on field And under pressure. His form has clearly picked up in the last two weeks as well.
As long as the players are responding to his on field leadership then he is not the weakest link .
At this stage Menzie would be the one under the most pressure but he has done nothing all that wrong yet other than being a bit low in the tackling numbers the last few .

Hobbs may have to come into the side and then go back to the VFL for now. His situation is a bit different to Voss and the comments Scott made about getting a good run at it and being ready. Hobbs is ready but in the line. Voss has been working on some aspects of his game .

Not to derail the thread, but this is a great summary of the situation. Heppells performance in an in form team (even though good in the last 2 weeks) is much less an issue with the rest of the team performing well. The benefits from his leadership are not outweighed by his performance because the rest of the team is able to cover for his deficiencies.

Back on Hobbs, this is hopefully the start of a new era for Essendon. So often over the laat decade you'd see top teams play a youngster seemingly out of the blue and wonder how they were killing it from day dot, when in fact they'd had 3 or 4 years honing their craft in the vfl and forced their way in,l

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Heppell was great against Melbourne and didn't go too bad against GWS either.

He was okay vs Melbourne. He's still done.

 

[ant555]

Hobbs is also an exceptional leader, Heppell doesn't play half-back either.
Heppell is cooked, Hobbs is a future gun. Play your guns.

Not watched any games the last few weeks ?
Heppell has played half back the last 3.
Hobbs is a second year player. He plays midfield.
As I said Heppell still has the respect of the players and coach. They all talk about his claiming influence on the ground. I will go on how the players rate him.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Not watched any games the last few weeks ?
Heppell has played half back the last 3.
Hobbs is a second year player. He plays midfield.
As I said Heppell still has the respect of the players and coach. They all talk about his claiming influence on the ground. I will go on how the players rate him.

Please, I have watched each of our games multiple times.
I am saying he can't play half-back, read between the lines ant.
He just can't play football now.
Get Hobbs in, move somebody into Heppell's spot.

Of course the players like him, he's a good bloke, I don't doubt that.

 

[Megabattimus]

He was okay vs Melbourne. He's still done.

Clearly the coaches don't agree. If he can replicate his Melbourne and GWS performances the rest of the season, I'd almost offer him another one year deal.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Clearly the coaches don't agree. If he can replicate his Melbourne and GWS performances the rest of the season, I'd almost offer him another one year deal.

That you Dys? The Melbourne game sure, but not the GWS game.

 

[ant555]

I am saying he can't play half-back, read between the lines ant.

How do you read between "Heppell doesn't play half back " ? That is pretty plain in what it says.
I have been critical of Heppell but I also respect what I hear coming from inside the club. They backed him to regain a bit of his mojo and they rate his leadership on the field.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

How do you read between "Heppell doesn't play half back " ? That is pretty plain in what it says.
I have been critical of Heppell but I also respect what I hear coming from inside the club. They backed him to regain a bit of his mojo and they rate his leadership on the field.

He doesn't play half back, he doesn't play AFL level football (unlike Hobbs).
Sorry that you struggled so badly with that dude.

 

[ant555]

He doesn't play half back, he doesn't play AFL level football (unlike Hobbs).
Sorry that you struggled so badly with that dude.

Really. Im done.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Really. Im done.

Nice chat rofl.

 

[TheGrizz]

He doesn't play half back, he doesn't play AFL level football (unlike Hobbs).
Sorry that you struggled so badly with that dude.

He plays at half back.

To what standard is a different question. To artificially conflate the two by saying he plays so poorly he couldn't actually be playing is incredibly disingenuous when that is clearly not what you said.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

He plays at half back.

To what standard is a different question. To artificially conflate the two by saying he plays so poorly he couldn't actually be playing is incredibly disingenuous when that is clearly not what you said.

You're right, I actually meant to finish the sentence off with something witty, but forgot to come back to it.
Then doubled down when ant made a good point about my poor sentence structure.
I clearly know what position/s Heppell plays. Neither of which are at AFL level IMO.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Hobbs is also an exceptional leader, Heppell doesn't play half-back either.
Heppell is cooked, Hobbs is a future gun. Play your guns.

tell me you know nothing about leadership without actually telling me you know nothing about leadership

 

[JT_the_Man]

I disagree with leaving him out of the 22.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

tell me you know nothing about leadership without actually telling me you know nothing about leadership

If Dyson Heppell is such a good leader, why didn't we win a single final under his reign? Joel Selwood and Luke Hodge are who I think of when it comes to good leaders.

 

[boncer34]

If Dyson Heppell is such a good leader, why didn't we win a single final under his reign? Joel Selwood and Luke Hodge are who I think of when it comes to good leaders.

Bro

 

[VelvetSledge]

If Dyson Heppell is such a good leader, why didn't we win a single final under his reign? Joel Selwood and Luke Hodge are who I think of when it comes to good leaders.

Because we kicked less points than our opposition. That's got nothing to do with Hep.

Anyway, back on track now because this is the Hobbs thread. As you were

 

[dank420_]

If Dyson Heppell is such a good leader, why didn't we win a single final under his reign? Joel Selwood and Luke Hodge are who I think of when it comes to good leaders.

Just chill brother. Second year players spend time in the VFL.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Please, I have watched each of our games multiple times.
I am saying he can't play half-back, read between the lines ant.
He just can't play football now.
Get Hobbs in, move somebody into Heppell's spot.

Of course the players like him, he's a good bloke, I don't doubt that.

Heppell's been good the last two weeks. What are you talking about? Drop someone due to perception instead of actual form?!

 

[Ati Tude]

To steer this away from Heppell who was never going to get dropped after last week, it seemed the decision was Davey vs Hobbs. I think Hobbs would give us more forward than Davey for the moment given the extra year's experience and given he is hard at it if you want F50 tackling. Hopefully Hobbs is the sub (or has Hind nailed it down NLM style) and will get a run.

 

[ant555]

To steer this away from Heppell who was never going to get dropped after last week, it seemed the decision was Davey vs Hobbs. I think Hobbs would give us more forward than Davey for the moment given the extra year's experience and given he is hard at it if you want F50 tackling. Hopefully Hobbs is the sub (or has Hind nailed it down NLM style) and will get a run.

Think it was more Hobbs v Caldwell with Davey moving back into the forward line and Snelling taking over the spot Caldwell had forward when Davey was in the side. Not sure I totally agree with the selection as Caldwell was doing a very good job as far as pressure forward goes.

 

[Cup_o_Jobe]

Playing people in their best position is a big part of the Brad Scott ethos this year and it's the thing I most like about the change at EFC in 2023. Bringing Hobbs into the 23 just to languish in a forward pocket is peak Worsfold/Rutten era thinking. "Pick your 23 best players and positions don't matter" might have worked in the 90s but not in modern footy. Every position is a specialty: e.g., look how much better our team has looked since we started playing wingman on the wing.

If Hobbs comes in, the question becomes which inside mid is he replacing? Parish? Setterfield? Shiel? (who is an inside/outside type, so you're losing flexibility in the on-field mix)?

He'll come in when either one of our inside mids gets injured, the opposition or weather suggest we need an extra inside bull in the rotations, or when his form suggests he's surpassed the incumbents. He's a gun, but he's not pushing one of them out yet.

 

[ant555]

Refreshing that we currently have some midfield depth.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

We held Ridley back in the reserves a few years back after he had played solid games in our seniors. Must have had him working on deficiencies and did him no harm. He came back better.

I suspect the same is the case with Hobbs. It is easier to concentrate on an issue at a lower level and get it right...rather than trying to do it under max pressure.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Good to see my drunken grammar, is better than my drunken opinions.