JUH was intimidated by the crowd, you could see it in his eyes.
Welcome Welcome to Hawthorn : Calsher Dear! Rising star nom!
- Thread starter Strapping Young Lad
- Start date
- Tagged users None
JUH was intimidated by the crowd, you could see it in his eyes.
Dear will be like Belichick getting Brady. I haven’t seen a big forward move around contests like he does, mesmerisingly good.
Imagine starting your coaching journey and getting the key forward to build a 12 year team around. But then you have the wizard to add some magic into the mix.
Dears big booming voice is going to suit him well when he is monstering defenders. When your already a star at 19 the trajectory is one of the best forwards of all time…
Imagine starting your coaching journey and getting the key forward to build a 12 year team around. But then you have the wizard to add some magic into the mix.
Dears big booming voice is going to suit him well when he is monstering defenders. When your already a star at 19 the trajectory is one of the best forwards of all time…
- Nov 10, 2022
- 12,726
- 10,257
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
McCabe apparently too.
- Oct 8, 2004
- 2,691
- 3,103
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
- Other Teams
- Arizona DiamondBacks
The next Carey(on field ) I have very high hopes.
His marking and his IQ looks so high to be able to at a split second go from I'll mark to I'll tackle or I'll tap, it down.
Also the way in the final he wanted to be the man and stood up in a final, Chol was offering us nothing and we had no focal point, until he arrived.
His IQ in a contest is ridiculously high, he's seeing things and executing them before anyone else reacts.
He and the Wiz are a current day Bud and Cyril in terms of footy vision.
They are obviously not the same players as those guys, they may not be as good ultimately (to even make the comparison is a massive compliment), but that's the most obvious Hawthorn archetype that comes to mind.
Last edited:
Strapping Young Lad
Moderator
- Apr 19, 2006
- 100,983
- 253,686
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
- Other Teams
- Storm, Spurs, Socceroos
- Thread starter
- Moderator
- #1,781
RedmanWasHere
Rarely in kitchens at parties.
- Aug 23, 2010
- 28,892
- 35,111
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Exers, Gryffindor, Rich+Ess AFLW, Tassie
His voice and face do not match a bit.
You expect a squeak but it borders on baritonic.
He's still growing into that voice, going to be somewhere between his uncle Greg and Paul size wise based on those tree trunk legs.
Gunston led Liam Jones way out of the play most of the day. Rarely was Jones able to get close enough to impact any contest.
Chol also led Lobb away from the drop zone as much as he could. Lobbe was better able to hold position - a couple of times we put it on Lobb's head, expecting him to follow Chol on the lead. (Ginnivan also 'wrestled' Lobb in a few marking contests when he was the spare too.
Dear was far too good for his opponent, and Gunston (especially) tagged Jones to keep him away from Dear.
It is smart team play, and I was still super-impressed with Calsher's performance, but it was a team effort that allowed him to exploit a weaker defender all day.
KermitJagger
Professional Thread Derailer
- May 17, 2017
- 16,409
- 53,833
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
After being taken at Pick 56 in the 2023 draft, no one expected Calsher Dear to have such a high impact start to his footy career. He was, and still is, raw – lanky, undermuscled and without the junior footy pedigree of most players coming into the system. If not for an unlucky injury to Mitch Lewis, he may not have seen much senior footy – instead toiling away at VFL level, a league which has a knack, by conditions, quality of ground or quality of teammate, for not allowing absolute stand out performances by key position players.
No one could have expected the profound impact he would have on the Hawks as a whole, prior to his debut. At a very surface level, the Hawks find themselves 14-2 in games played by Dear since his debut in Round 8, with a total losing margin of 3 points. Though he found himself subbed out in quite a few of those games, his impact on contests, his ability to present was noticeable – and the only two losses in that time came during games where the Hawks collapsed after he was subbed out, with one being matched up against arguably the best key defensive duo in the competition. He is now only rarely subbed off early.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about Calsher is that, currently, he’s doing everything the hard way. When a player comes into the league without the coaching and development of the elite programs at a lower level, they find themselves at a disadvantage – movement off the ball, running patterns, leading patterns, all those little strategies that make the game easier or give you open looks aren’t engrained yet. If you want to thrive, you must thrive in the contest, which is the definition of Dear’s 2024 season.
Amongst Key Forwards who have played at least 16 games:
Calsher has scrapped for almost every goal he’s kicked this season. Where a lot of younger players will rely on being fed the ball or favourable match ups against defenders who are liable to zone off, Calsher has often fronted up against the #1 or #2 key defender against every side and acquitted himself well. Against an experienced and in form defensive lineup against the Bulldogs on the weekend, he dragged down 3 contested marks, took 7 shots on goal for 3.4 and continued his unbelievable contest work with 3 tackles I50 and 2 spoils. He embarrassed fellow youngster James O'Donnell with a Ronaldo-esque soccer goal, and left a recently rotated Liam Jones in the dust with his run and jump at the footy. He even proved himself equal to the task against an in form Rory Lobb, halving each of those matchups.
For a first year tall, he’s already acquitted himself well with 24 goals across 16 games – in recent memory only Jeremy Cameron has had a better debut season as a 19-year-old. He’s done it the hard way, just imagine what Calsher will be able to do when he starts figuring out how to get the easy ones too - we've already seen glimmers which have no doubt made other teams sit up and take notice.
No one could have expected the profound impact he would have on the Hawks as a whole, prior to his debut. At a very surface level, the Hawks find themselves 14-2 in games played by Dear since his debut in Round 8, with a total losing margin of 3 points. Though he found himself subbed out in quite a few of those games, his impact on contests, his ability to present was noticeable – and the only two losses in that time came during games where the Hawks collapsed after he was subbed out, with one being matched up against arguably the best key defensive duo in the competition. He is now only rarely subbed off early.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about Calsher is that, currently, he’s doing everything the hard way. When a player comes into the league without the coaching and development of the elite programs at a lower level, they find themselves at a disadvantage – movement off the ball, running patterns, leading patterns, all those little strategies that make the game easier or give you open looks aren’t engrained yet. If you want to thrive, you must thrive in the contest, which is the definition of Dear’s 2024 season.
Amongst Key Forwards who have played at least 16 games:
Cont Poss Rate | Cont Mark Rate | Spoils | Tackles | Tackles I50 | Marks on Lead |
58% | 37.8% | 2 | 2.4 | .9 | 0.5 |
3rd | 4th | 2nd | 8th | 11th | 35th |
Calsher has scrapped for almost every goal he’s kicked this season. Where a lot of younger players will rely on being fed the ball or favourable match ups against defenders who are liable to zone off, Calsher has often fronted up against the #1 or #2 key defender against every side and acquitted himself well. Against an experienced and in form defensive lineup against the Bulldogs on the weekend, he dragged down 3 contested marks, took 7 shots on goal for 3.4 and continued his unbelievable contest work with 3 tackles I50 and 2 spoils. He embarrassed fellow youngster James O'Donnell with a Ronaldo-esque soccer goal, and left a recently rotated Liam Jones in the dust with his run and jump at the footy. He even proved himself equal to the task against an in form Rory Lobb, halving each of those matchups.
For a first year tall, he’s already acquitted himself well with 24 goals across 16 games – in recent memory only Jeremy Cameron has had a better debut season as a 19-year-old. He’s done it the hard way, just imagine what Calsher will be able to do when he starts figuring out how to get the easy ones too - we've already seen glimmers which have no doubt made other teams sit up and take notice.
Last edited:
A good time of the year to be kicking goals!
"his 11 goals in the past four weeks also putting him behind only Coleman Medal pair Jeremy Cameron (17) and Jesse Hogan (14) for goals in the same period, and equal to Western Bulldogs young gun Sam Darcy."
KermitJagger
Professional Thread Derailer
- May 17, 2017
- 16,409
- 53,833
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
A better stat would be, in the past 4 weeks with the highest scoring game omitted:
Calsher Dear - 8
Jeremy Cameron - 8
Jesse Hogan - 8
Sam Darcy - 4
A bit cheeky I know but Cameron kicked 9 against a West Coast defence without Barrass or McGovern, hardly a fair sample size!
KermitJagger
Professional Thread Derailer
- May 17, 2017
- 16,409
- 53,833
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
I think you're overstating the case. We definitely play good team football and a fair chunk of that is the ability for our talls to play together, but most of Dear's activity didn't happen while isolated.
He took 5 Marks I50:
1. On the lead with Jones as his direct opponent
2. Contested at the top of the square with Jones, Lobb and O'Donnell all within spoiling distance (Jones started on Dear but switched to Meek for some reason)
3. Contested against O'Donnell with Duryea and English both in spoiling distance
4. Freak contested mark on the boundary with Gunston and Jones right there, Lobb had left Chol to contest
5. On lead with O'Donnell as his direct opponent
If I was being set up to exploit a weaker defender I'd prefer most of my looks happen like the last one.
- Oct 1, 2014
- 5,467
- 11,538
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
Nice work Kermit, but I disagree about not standing out at VFL level, he would have kicked bags and been impossible to ignore.
I think the main point though is that Calsher isn't getting a leg up over Cameron, Hogan or Darcy.
Every team blocks for their Key forwards, or the one most likely to take a mark in any given contest.
If anything Calsher is arguably behind the 8 ball because he's not learned how to consistently get the cheap over the back goals yet.
He was getting a lot of shots - often as many as 6, but was just missing a lot too He was also getting overlooked by teammates when he had separation.
Calsher looked a level above at VFL to my eye. He oozed high level ability there, just didn't capitalize for a number of reasons.
Last edited:
KermitJagger
Professional Thread Derailer
- May 17, 2017
- 16,409
- 53,833
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
My point was that players don't kick bags in the VFL, it's very rare. Conditions don't really allow for it and as a forward you're limited by the players around you. In my experience mids can stand out but even the best forwards can struggle.
JZedd
Team Captain
- Feb 24, 2020
- 520
- 1,236
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
Who cares about external awards. We have Bambi and that's that.
Edit: Chrome crash took my post.
Wasn't a go at Dear, it was emphasising there's more to the others play than their own stat sheet.
1. Dear was first to react, gapped Jones easily on the dropping ball.
2. Meek was playing forward against O'Donnell, came in from the fat side and put a good block on Jones, Dear had easy gap on O'Donnell. Maginess was then the base of the pack and copped the body spoils from Bontempelli and O'Donnell.
3. Broken play, Lobb was outside 50m as the kickout target, o'Donnell was slower to react than Dear to the turnover, Duryea and English couldn't get there.
4. Lobb has already given up, he was closer to Dear just before this shot. LOVE the attitude and aggression in this marking attempt. Was a real WOW moment for Dear and I think will be seen as the "Moment" by neutrals.
Attachments
KermitJagger
Professional Thread Derailer
- May 17, 2017
- 16,409
- 53,833
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
I know it's not a knock on Dear, I'm just saying that this is stuff that all forwards should be doing for their teammates and that Dear's ability to take advantage is more than just exploiting the weakest defender.
Even your initial point about Gunston dragging Jones away is wrong given that 2 of his marks were directly on Jones, and 1 he was right in frame with him.
- Jun 17, 2019
- 8,039
- 19,951
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
He wasn't invited to the national draft combine.
Similar threads
