Player Watch Welcome to Hawthorn : Jai “Duke” Newcombe - 2024 Peter Crimmins medalist

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Ripper first quarter. Newk and Mitchell ran the show.

Ran out of puff but still had 23 touches and 539 metres gained. Second only to Mills who was BOG by a country mile.
 
Ripper first quarter. Newk and Mitchell ran the show.

Ran out of puff but still had 23 touches and 539 metres gained. Second only to Mills who was BOG by a country mile.
I like that he looks to move the ball on aggressively but seemed to just be bombing it long every time as game went in (which was getting cut off). Metres gained is such a useless stat.

Seemed like the swans put a fair bit of work into Jai and Mitchell after quarter time. The attention will be a good challenge for him. I note he was recorded as only 2 clearances for game.
 

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One of the commentators mentioned that Swans were tagging him a bit after 1st quarter. Probably first time it’s happened to Jai at AFL …….. good learning experience for the kid. Sam probably wanted it to happen for his development!
 
So if the hawks getting good numbers early were being nullified late, then eat ones with a quiet early should have been putting in late.

But those potential names were probably on the injury list, or dropped like Shiels
 
One of the commentators mentioned that Swans were tagging him a bit after 1st quarter. Probably first time it’s happened to Jai at AFL …….. good learning experience for the kid. Sam probably wanted it to happen for his development!
Send Worpel to him
 
When watching Duke over the last two weeks, it is pretty clear he is actually an outside mid with class that is also a tackling machine. His game is not built around winning the first possession at stoppages (not yet anyway). In the first quarter, he had about 10 odd touches and only two were contested. The rest were either fed to him by handball or uncontested possies. He also had I reckon over 200m gained in Q1.

I think we typecast him as an inside mid because of his physicality but he is our most damaging meters gained player and is the one getting on the outside at stoppages for the release handball. He actually got taught a bit of a lesson by Parker after Q1 and couldn't get near it in tight and once the supply from Titch slowed, he phased out of the game.

I reckon this is encouraging because we don't necessarily have to hit the draft looking for a pure outside mid because with him and Ward they are both very good in that hybrid inside/outside role.

In his development, I would love to see them focus on mixing up his foot disposal when he gets on the move. Work on that hit up kick so he becomes less predictable. If he adds the clearances and contested possessions to his arsenal then he is going to be the full package.
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The stats support the above. Contested possession rate below average, stoppage clearances below average but bounces elite and Metres gained above average. Outside indicators
 
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Interesting commentary from Sam in his presser today about the strength of Sydney's list as they have youth around the 30 game mark, and that's generally where you've got to get players to before they start to get a feel for it and begin playing good AFL footy, but he then mentions Newk and says that he's playing like a 30 gamer, with only 12 games under his belt.
 
Interesting commentary from Sam in his presser today about the strength of Sydney's list as they have youth around the 30 mark game, and that's generally where you've got to get players to before they start to get a feel for it and begin playing good AFL footy, but he then mentions Newk and says that he's playing like a 30 gamer, with only 12 games under his belt.
Nuke is playing right now how I think many of us expect Worpel should be playing after winning winning that PCM a few years back.
 
He is probably our most damaging midfielder so far this year.

Most damaging midfielder for us since our golden era, a decent chunk of his clean possessions forward of center seem to hit a forward now.

He's improving rapidly too, already gone up a couple of gears this year and we're not even half way through the season.
 
When watching Duke over the last two weeks, it is pretty clear he is actually an outside mid with class that is also a tackling machine. His game is not built around winning the first possession at stoppages (not yet anyway). In the first quarter, he had about 10 odd touches and only two were contested. The rest were either fed to him by handball or uncontested possies. He also had I reckon over 200m gained in Q1.

I think we typecast him as an inside mid because of his physicality but he is our most damaging meters gained player and is the one getting on the outside at stoppages for the release handball. He actually got taught a bit of a lesson by Parker after Q1 and couldn't get near it in tight and once the supply from Titch slowed, he phased out of the game.

I reckon this is encouraging because we don't necessarily have to hit the draft looking for a pure outside mid because with him and Ward they are both very good in that hybrid inside/outside role.

In his development, I would love to see them focus on mixing up his foot disposal when he gets on the move. Work on that hit up kick so he becomes less predictable. If he adds the clearances and contested possessions to his arsenal then he is going to be the full package.
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The stats support the above. Contested possession rate below average, stoppage clearances below average but bounces elite and Metres gained above average. Outside indicators

During his R/S performance he only had 2 clearances. He played essentially the same again against Sydney, as you've pointed out.

I think Newcombe and Ward will both develop into complete midfielders for us. MacDonald probably has that ability too. We obviously need midfielders that can win a clearance and also hurt teams on the outside.
 

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During his R/S performance he only had 2 clearances. He played essentially the same again against Sydney, as you've pointed out.

I think Newcombe and Ward will both develop into complete midfielders for us. MacDonald probably has that ability too. We obviously need midfielders that can win a clearance and also hurt teams on the outside.
Correct weight. I wouldn't draft an outside mid over a balanced mid that wins lots of contested possies and clearances. We need to fix that in the middle
 


Tad overreaction, should stamp out the supplementary period as well

Lol we took him pick 2! North were never going to take him. I feel that is a mistake. You will have players decline to join a list or decline to nominate at all if they have to move interstate for basically 3 months with no guarantee beyond that.
 


Tad overreaction, should stamp out the supplementary period as well

Even if it was all just a ploy to try and get him with our second rounder, there was nothing stopping another club from picking him with their first rounder. It's not like the contract terms were outrageous for the player he immediately showed he was - not could be, was. Anyone who picked him on his nominated terms would have still scored a bargain.

Really just comes down to all these other clubs being too chicken shit to not take a chance on a kid if it wasn't on minimum chips for 6 months, rather than pay him what he's worth and deserves - which again, is still more than we are currently paying him.
 
Lol we took him pick 2! North were never going to take him. I feel that is a mistake. You will have players decline to join a list or decline to nominate at all if they have to move interstate for basically 3 months with no guarantee beyond that.
Exactly no other club were going to get him. It only shows that all the clubs are having a little tizzy fit because we have acquired a good one …… for not much!
 

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Player Watch Welcome to Hawthorn : Jai “Duke” Newcombe - 2024 Peter Crimmins medalist

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