AFL Player # 8: Ben "Goblin" Hobbs

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Could honestly be a massive bolter next year (pardon the pace pun). You just never know.

He’d have to play for that to be the case.

And play where he was picked to play, in the midfield.

If these stats are right - I think they are - it shows exactly where he is.

Centre Bounce Attendances (2024)

Zach Merrett (23 matches) 521
Sam Durham (22) 305
Jye Caldwell (23) 300
Darcy Parish (12) 212
Jake Stringer (23) 204
Archie Perkins (18) 178
Dylan Shiel (9) 137
Will Setterfield (4) 70
Ben Hobbs (12) 21
Nic Martin (23) 11
Jade Gresham (22) 6
Elijah Tsatas (7) 0

Who is he displacing? Stringer and Shiel, sure - though even that’s up for debate.

But he’s behind Merrett, Durham, Caldwell, Parish, Perkins.

He’s not going anywhere as a 6th midfielder. He knows that and so does everybody else, hence a little bit of trade interest.

As for Tsatas, he doesn’t even get a look in.

We simply don’t have a spot for either of them.

People talk about trading Parish - that’s because he’s slipped behind Caldwell and Durham. But he’s a massive roadblock for Tsatas and Hobbs.
 
He’d have to play for that to be the case.

And play where he was picked to play, in the midfield.

If these stats are right - I think they are - it shows exactly where he is.

Centre Bounce Attendances (2024)

Zach Merrett (23 matches) 521
Sam Durham (22) 305
Jye Caldwell (23) 300
Darcy Parish (12) 212
Jake Stringer (23) 204
Archie Perkins (18) 178
Dylan Shiel (9) 137
Will Setterfield (4) 70
Ben Hobbs (12) 21
Nic Martin (23) 11
Jade Gresham (22) 6
Elijah Tsatas (7) 0

Who is he displacing? Stringer and Shiel, sure - though even that’s up for debate.

But he’s behind Merrett, Durham, Caldwell, Parish, Perkins.

He’s not going anywhere as a 6th midfielder. He knows that and so does everybody else, hence a little bit of trade interest.

As for Tsatas, he doesn’t even get a look in.

We simply don’t have a spot for either of them.

People talk about trading Parish - that’s because he’s slipped behind Caldwell and Durham. But he’s a massive roadblock for Tsatas and Hobbs.
Of course this is only the case if nothing changes. No one gets injured. Someone else gets moved to another position.
Would have have put Durham in as the leading player for center bounce attendances at the end of 2023 ?
Anything can happen.
 
He’d have to play for that to be the case.

And play where he was picked to play, in the midfield.

If these stats are right - I think they are - it shows exactly where he is.

Centre Bounce Attendances (2024)

Zach Merrett (23 matches) 521
Sam Durham (22) 305
Jye Caldwell (23) 300
Darcy Parish (12) 212
Jake Stringer (23) 204
Archie Perkins (18) 178
Dylan Shiel (9) 137
Will Setterfield (4) 70
Ben Hobbs (12) 21
Nic Martin (23) 11
Jade Gresham (22) 6
Elijah Tsatas (7) 0

Who is he displacing? Stringer and Shiel, sure - though even that’s up for debate.

But he’s behind Merrett, Durham, Caldwell, Parish, Perkins.

He’s not going anywhere as a 6th midfielder. He knows that and so does everybody else, hence a little bit of trade interest.

As for Tsatas, he doesn’t even get a look in.

We simply don’t have a spot for either of them.

People talk about trading Parish - that’s because he’s slipped behind Caldwell and Durham. But he’s a massive roadblock for Tsatas and Hobbs.

Tsatas a a non fun size midfielder is a walk up start. There’s a reason Stringer and Perkins got such a high number of CBAs despite having significant flaws. It’s their physicality.

Jake seems gone and Archie’s likely gone back to HHF with a more balanced list. So there’s 2 midfield spots availiable for stronger/bigger mids. Durham will get 1, Tsatas another and 1 more will be either Setters or a new player signed this offseason.

Only want to fit 2 fun size mids on the list so either 3 of Caldwell/Merrett/Parish/Hobbs/Sheil find secondary positions or they won’t be best 23 at Essendon next season
 
Merrett mentioned in his speech that maybe a positional change to get more midfield time for Caldwell and Hobbs.
 

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AFL Player # 8: Ben "Goblin" Hobbs

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