Welcome Welcome to Hawthorn: Cooper Stephens

[Iceman!]

I still don't have him in the 22 for Round 1.......at this stage

Will be one of the watches over the pre-season

I think it is so open at the moment so it is really hard to say, is he more ready to play big midfield minutes than say Macdonald for example? Time will tell.

Newc, Worpel, Ward, Macdonald, Stephens, Moore, Finn, any draftees that are ready to go could all potentially play big midfield minutes from Round 1 next year. This is both exciting and a little scary. Outside of Newc and Ward i have no idea how our round 1 midfield will look.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[Mojo]

Handsome.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

I'm still shattered he's gone. You have a gem on your hands.

 

[Dewnior]

I'm still shattered he's gone. You have a gem on your hands.

I'm praying he's a diamond

 

[Judd2Sewell]

This is the part you are trying to pass off as fact.

The point is, we accepted unders for Hill to accomodate his request (his position and achievements and are entirely irrelevant). Geelong accepted unders for Stephens so they could get Henry. Had Stephens asked for a trade earlier in the week, he probably would have been knocked back. Asking at the last minute when they were desperately trying to get Henry over the line and Collingwood not moving with them or with us and Mitchell, meant they had little wiggle room. They were also in a position to accept unders as they made out like bandits in the Bowes trade.

Henry is in no way worth Stephens AND pick 25. They either overpaid for one, accepted unders for the other or both. You refuse to accept the possibilty they took unders and just assume they broke even, therefore they must not rate Stephens. At best you can really only argue that they rated Henry more than Stephens, but your comment was that they rated Bruhn and Bowes higher, which you have nothing to back that up.

Of course they'd rather keep pick 7. Who wouldn't? It's worth more than all 4 blokes discussed. Comfortably.

None of Stephens, Bruhn and Bowes have shown a huge amount, certainly nothing to suggest a definitive pecking order.

Seems it's more or less confirmed now.

Stephens was given Geelong's blessing to look at his options once they brought in Bruhn and Bowes. They wouldn't be doing that if they rated him higher then the players they went to an effort to bring in.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Glad to hear they parted on amicable terms, and we have to appreciate the fact Geelong didn't stand in his way. I imagine that is a testament to his character as much as anything.

 

[chopflop]

Seems it's more or less confirmed now.

Stephens was given Geelong's blessing to look at his options once they brought in Bruhn and Bowes. They wouldn't be doing that if they rated him higher then the players they went to an effort to bring in.

Think he is a free swing. Will be a good clubman regardless

 

[Mojo]

We're continuing to bring in quality people by the sounds of it, aren't we? Stephens, Meek, Amon, Kade Simpson

6

Kade Simpson

Age

40

Ht

183cm

Wt

75kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.3

5star

K

14.0

5star

HB

7.3

5star

M

5.7

5star

T

2.6

4star

MG

409.0

5star

D

16.3

4star

K

11.9

5star

HB

4.4

3star

M

3.9

4star

T

0.8

1star

MG

258.6

4star

D

2.0

1star

K

1.2

1star

HB

0.8

1star

M

0.8

1star

T

1.6

4star

... all just seem likeable, clubmen-type guys.

 

[Sixpence]

Seems it's more or less confirmed now.

Stephens was given Geelong's blessing to look at his options once they brought in Bruhn and Bowes. They wouldn't be doing that if they rated him higher then the players they went to an effort to bring in.

How is it confirmed? He wasn't told to "look at his options" after recruiting the others, he asked to be traded right at the end of the trade period. They let him go because he asked AND they picked up others to fill his role. Again, they may rate the others higher, but it does not explicitly mean they do.

 

[BIGHAWK23]

Seems it's more or less confirmed now.

Stephens was given Geelong's blessing to look at his options once they brought in Bruhn and Bowes. They wouldn't be doing that if they rated him higher then the players they went to an effort to bring in.

Stephens was looking at potentially moving when Hopper was looking to come to Geelong

This isn't a last minute thing from a Geelong perspective, no matter how you frame it, we just came late and he picked us

 

[eldorado]

Think he is a free swing. Will be a good clubman regardless

I'm sure he can be relied upon to put the urn on early for the half-time cuppa...

 

[Jazzfan]

Seems it's more or less confirmed now.

Stephens was given Geelong's blessing to look at his options once they brought in Bruhn and Bowes. They wouldn't be doing that if they rated him higher then the players they went to an effort to bring in.

Yep.

Have others actually not read the article? It's pretty clear.

Stephens even goes as far to say that it was discussed early in the trade period if the Cats landed A, B and C he would look to move with their blessing.

Seems if the Cats didn't make those trades, he would have stayed. So yeah, pretty evident how they rated players.

Anyway, hopefully he cements himself in our best 22 by the end of 2023. A huge year for him next year, fourth year in the system. He needs to really show something at this stage of his career and with the opportunity he will get.

For some reason I feel a bit of Will Setterfield about Stephens. Not sure if that's good, bad or meh TBH.

 

[wahawk]

So drafted at the end of 2019

No games in 2020 due to a pandemic, not many 1st Year players would break into that midfield without playing reserves footy.

No games in 2021 due to an ankle injury

By Rnd 8 of 2022 (his REAL 1st year of AFL footy) he is playing senior footy in a strong team that won 18 of the 22 H&A games plus 3 finals that included 71point & 81pt thrashings of their oppo.

He’d be going extremely well to get & hold a spot in that team

Good luck Cooper.
You’ve done well so far.

 

[JZedd]

Can't wait to see him play in practice match simulations.

Great character. Hawthorn supporter. Bring it on.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

So drafted at the end of 2019

No games in 2020 due to a pandemic, not many 1st Year players would break into that midfield without playing reserves footy.

No games in 2021 due to an ankle injury

By Rnd 8 of 2022 (his REAL 1st year of AFL footy) he is playing senior footy in a strong team that won 18 of the 22 H&A games plus 3 finals that included 71point & 81pt thrashings of their oppo.

He’d be going extremely well to get & hold a spot in that team

Good luck Cooper.
You’ve done well so far.

Trust me, he can play..

 

[wahawk]

Trust me, he can play..

Yeah I’m sure he can.
I can’t see Sam going for players who can’t.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Yeah I’m sure he can.
I can’t see Sam going for players who can’t.

You have a gun on your hands.

I'm still in mourning. He's a ripper kid that's been very unlucky with injury.

Hopefully he can show his bag of tricks and fullfill his potential. And remain injury free in the process.

 

[Howe Amazing]

You have a gun on your hands.

I'm still in mourning. He's a ripper kid that's been very unlucky with injury.

Hopefully he can show his bag of tricks and fullfill his potential. And remain injury free in the process.

We missed out on Bruhn (which was always on the cards) but you could argue we are better off with Stephens and no draft collateral lost (we gained further draft picks thru Pies too. Hindsight will show this is a great trade

 

[JZedd]

We missed out on Bruhn (which was always on the cards) but you could argue we are better off with Stephens and no draft collateral lost (we gained further draft picks thru Pies too. Hindsight will show this is a great trade

Yep agree. I'm very bullish regarding Cooper. He's the ideal size and I don't think his kicking will be a big deal.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Big Burgoyne fan.

 

[eldorado]

He'll be taking #9 from CJ's cold, dead hands...

 

[rei154]

Big Burgoyne fan.

Like the idea of Coops being a big motivator and someone who can help Worpel through the middle.

I'd say we're the biggest wildcard team in the 2023 season and this man is one of the reasons why.

 

[burger09]

Big Burgoyne fan.

I think I'm falling