Preview Round 7: Essendon vs Western Bulldogs, Carrara, Friday 17/07/20, 7:50 PM

[Lore]

Can someone refresh my memory on Stewart. Is he a genuine marking key forward or is he more like Mitch Brown that is a tall guy playing a medium forward role?

The latter. More of a chest mark dude. But he was very mobile for a big bloke iirc

 

[Ambrosia]

I don't doubt his ability up forward. But given he made AA as a defender I have the mindset of that's where he stays. I love it just as much as the next person when he's "kicking bloody goals", but again my opinion is that he's more serviceable up back. Happy to be proven wrong if they swing him and he kicks a bag.

Yeah I don't mind that opinion while Daniher is set to return at some point this year allowing to put a spine of Daniher - Mckernan - Hurley -Hooker together. However if Daniher suffers a setback and is no longer in the frame to play this year Hooker has to be moved forward. I'm already uncomfortable with the way are effectively playing Townsend ahead of BZT/Francis by not playing Hooker forward now.

 

[eth-dog]

Can someone refresh my memory on Stewart. Is he a genuine marking key forward or is he more like Mitch Brown that is a tall guy playing a medium forward role?

He's not a great contested mark but he's certainly better than Brown in that regard. Also quicker than Mitch (but the OP may have affected that).

 

[Ambrosia]

For me it comes down to where we have depth. BZT & Francis are both solid KPD's that can provide a large portion of what Hooker does down back, and are available.

They are also hopefully a big part of future Essendon sides. Getting games into them now should be some sort of priority imo.

 

[cAsEy_18]

It's an interesting point, our forward line doesn't look overly potent on paper - but we kicked a score on the weekend that you can probably win with it seems this season on a fair number of occasions. We genuinely should have kicked probably another 5 goals in all honesty.

Worth noting two things though:
1) How much of that was down to North? (I recall Langford's 2nd goal in particular, Laverde crumbed, handballed to him and Langford snapped, with a couple of North guys genuinely just hovering, watching).
2) We kicked incredibly accurately against Carlton and Collingwood, and still posted low-ish/medium scores for the game.

Having said that, hard to argue changing the structure too much at this point in time.

 

[Ambrosia]

He's not a great contested mark but he's certainly better than Brown in that regard. Also quicker than Mitch (but the OP may have affected that).

Hopefully he's retained his athleticism as he was an excellent pressure forward.

 

[faible]

Can someone refresh my memory on Stewart. Is he a genuine marking key forward or is he more like Mitch Brown that is a tall guy playing a medium forward role?

Bit of column A, bit of column B. He's a pretty mobile, hard-working player given his size. But doesn't take a contested mark as well as you'd think someone that big would.

He's more capable of playing as a KPF target than Brown imo.

They are also hopefully a big part of future Essendon sides. Getting games into them now should be some sort of priority imo.

Yes and no. We should be selecting the best team to win games now, until such time as we either can't make finals, or playing the younger guys is not detrimental to performance.

Simply playing them because they're young isn't good policy imo, but we've definitely given older guys a lot of leeway when it comes to form.

 

[Ambrosia]

Yes and no. We should be selecting the best team to win games now, until such time as we either can't make finals, or playing the younger guys is not detrimental to performance.

Simply playing them because they're young isn't good policy imo, but we've definitely given older guys a lot of leeway when it comes to form.

Agree we shouldn't be gifting games to kids but changing our structure to drop Townsend/Laverde for Francis/BZT doesn't fall under that category.

As I said in a post above while Daniher remains in play for this year I'm not too concerned with the decision to leave Hooker back.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Hooker played permanent forward in the year we were the highest scoring team in the comp.

He’s clearly a better KPF than Mckernan and we have plenty of options in defence. I’m not saying he should definitely play forward but it’s fairly obvious why it’s discussed.

Probably helped that Joe kicked 65 that year. He's far better as a defender, defence is rock solid. Plus in slippery conditions he'll be less effective up forward, although there are certain opponents where it would make more sense to play Hooker forward

 

[andleanback]

Hooker played permanent forward in the year we were the highest scoring team in the comp.

He’s clearly a better KPF than Mckernan and we have plenty of options in defence. I’m not saying he should definitely play forward but it’s fairly obvious why it’s discussed.

Do you not remember all the essendon fans ripping into him saying he has no clue how to play forward for most of the season. Or what about last year against port, he gets lost when he starts the whole game there.

 

[Ambrosia]

Probably helped that Joe kicked 65 that year. He's far better as a defender, defence is rock solid. Plus in slippery conditions he'll be less effective up forward, although there are certain opponents where it would make more sense to play Hooker forward

Hooker kicked 40 goals in that year as well. I also think his ability to play as a deep forward and allow Daniher to roam around the ground was a big factor in why Daniher had a career best season.

 

[eth-dog]

There are teams who we probably need Hooker in defence for, given their forward structure. This is one of them. We simply do not have a good match up for Bruce without him

 

[Ambrosia]

Do you not remember all the essendon fans ripping into him saying he has no clue how to play forward for most of the season. Or what about last year against port, he gets lost when he starts the whole game there.

He kicked 40 goals in his only season as a permanent KPF. Was top 3 in the league for contested marks and top 10 in marks inside 50. We were the highest scoring team in the comp and the most efficient going inside 50.

On what basis are you saying he had no clue? Outside of Daniher Hooker is the only player to reach the 40 goals mark in 10 years.

 

[citizen-erased]

if we weren't travelling well and this didn't look winnable, BZT to FB to develop around Hurley, Francis, Redman and Ridley would be good
But feel we lose too much if Hooker isn't down there.

And it's probably a little early for Stewart to come back in
We either go small with Smack, Townsend & Laverde....or ponder a lumbering TBC as a tall target out of the square and give up mobility around the forward stoppages

Given what we've been running has been working, i'd be keeping to it.

McKenna -> Redman
Shiel -> Cahill or Francis and we shuffle roles around.
Leaning towards Cahill for some added forward line pressure on Daniel and JJ. Also Daniel is tiny enough to play Cahill on
Possibly look at Gleeson for Francis, but i like the way Hurley plays when Gleeson is in

 

[andleanback]

He kicked 40 goals in his only season as a permanent KPF. Was top 3 in the league for contested marks and top 10 in marks inside 50. We were the highest scoring team in the comp and the most efficient going inside 50.

On what basis are you saying he had no clue? Outside of Daniher Hooker is the only player to reach the 40 goals mark in 10 years.

That’s my point he kicked 40 goals that year and everyone was still calling for him to get to get moved back because some weeks he was a liability to team structure. He just gets lost in games when he’s playing on a decent defender, our backline is currently one of the best in the league, there’s no reason to change it at this moment.

 

[Mr Bultitude]

I'm already uncomfortable with the way are effectively playing Townsend ahead of BZT/Francis by not playing Hooker forward now.

But it's working

 

[Ambrosia]

That’s my point he kicked 40 goals that year and everyone was still calling for him to get to get moved back because some weeks he was a liability to team structure. He just gets lost in games when he’s playing on a decent defender, our backline is currently one of the best in the league, there’s no reason to change it at this moment.

Can’t agree that everyone was calling for him to be moved back. I fail to see how he was a liability to the team. Him anchoring FF and allowing Joe to roam around CHF was a big part of what made that forward line successful.

 

[Ambrosia]

But it's working

Do we have to wait to we lose to try and improve our forward line? Surely you see that Francis/BZT are long term players for the club and Townsend/Laverde will be lucky to be on the list come 2021

 

[TheFrenchCut]

Do you not remember all the Essendon fans ripping into him saying he has no clue how to play forward for most of the season. Or what about last year against port, he gets lost when he starts the whole game there.

I don't remember anyone saying he had no clue how to play forward. From memory, the criticism of Hooker was his set shot kicking. Leading at the ball carrier, contested marking and following up were all strengths of his. He's the second-best key forward on our list.

Hooker was garbage against Port because he was crook. I was at the game and at no point did he look fit.

Watson reveals Essendon defender was in hospital days before Port clash

"I think he may have only been released from the hospital on Friday."

www.sen.com.au

 

[Mr Bultitude]

Do we have to wait to we lose to try and improve our forward line? Surely you see that Francis/BZT are long term players for the club and Townsend/Laverde will be lucky to be on the list come 2021

What improvements need to be made? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I think Franga will play ahead of BZT this week, but at this point BZT is depth. Lav maybe, but Towner, he's creating his own "luck". I wouldn't be surprised if we still see him next year, particularly if Joe sticks around.

 

[Milanista28]

Stewart started to take some nice contested marks in the VFL finals before his injuries from memory.

 

[andleanback]

Can’t agree that everyone was calling for him to be moved back. I fail to see how he was a liability to the team. Him anchoring FF and allowing Joe to roam around CHF was a big part of what made that forward line successful.

 

[andleanback]

I don't remember anyone saying he had no clue how to play forward. From memory, the criticism of Hooker was his set shot kicking. Leading at the ball carrier, contested marking and following up were all strengths of his. He's the second-best key forward on our list.

Hooker was garbage against Port because he was crook. I was at the game and at no point did he look fit.

Watson reveals Essendon defender was in hospital days before Port clash

"I think he may have only been released from the hospital on Friday."

www.sen.com.au

Lyon: Cale Hooker is a liability

Former Melbourne champion, Garry Lyon, has questioned Essendon’s Cale Hooker, as the 28-year-old is struggling to adjust in a forward role.

www.sen.com.au

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Hooker kicked 40 goals in that year as well. I also think his ability to play as a deep forward and allow Daniher to roam around the ground was a big factor in why Daniher had a career best season.

We had Fantasia kicking 40 as well. Hooker wasn't getting best tall defender either. Following year he played a few games forward and wasn't as effective as no. 1 target.

 

[Ambrosia]

Lyon: Cale Hooker is a liability

Former Melbourne champion, Garry Lyon, has questioned Essendon’s Cale Hooker, as the 28-year-old is struggling to adjust in a forward role.

www.sen.com.au

Hooker was bad that day. Should have kicked 2 or 3 goals but dropped a few simpler marks. Don’t really see it as proof he was a liability up forward.