I’ve noticed the same thing, actually.
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I agree with your assessment - but that is Ambrose elite skill - stamina/toughness. He has both of those over the other defenders. Not quite fair to single out his qualities and then say they aren’t important.
Agree with most of this except that he’s not a decent kick. Little harsh. He’s far from elite but he’s decent isn’t he? I will admit that of all the players i watch very closely, Ambrose isn’t one of them so i might be wrong.
I like his tackling too.
I guess the question is whether you would have retained Ridley and dropped Ambrose?
Ambrose was kept for the reasons you listed imo, but I probably would have prefered to keep Ridley because of his skills.
I think players like Ridley need to be kept in the side for a minimum of 6 games, unless a very good reason exists for them not to. That doesn’t quite answer your question.
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Gleeson isn’t physically tough like Ambrose nor has anywhere near the stamina yet is a 10x better defender. My point is, they arnt the qualities that makes great defenders. Defending is first and foremost and Ambrose struggles at it, he can run all day and lay hard tackles, but Hawkins, darling, de goey, Cameron etc etc are still gonna kick bags on him, because his ability to defend is poor because in my opinion, he reads the play poorly and is far too slow to react
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Due to his " reading of the play and beautiful distribution", he tends to play uncontested footy, which he does very well especially when the defence has time to reset and is not under pressure ( eg. Geelong game last year). Its the one on one stuff that I need to be convinced of. In that respect I like Redman, who is one year ahead of him in age, is tougher and would be selected before Ridley, if match fit imo.
Ridley and Marty are very similar players. There is probably not room for both of them in the team while Hooker and Hurley are in there.
Also, a comment on the way we handle older players. The tendency is to reduce their weight every year, to counter a tendency to slow down, especially off the mark. I was amazed to see a kid bump Hurls out of a marking competition on Sunday. He used to be a beast. I am not seeing the beast any more.
I am worried our defenders are more easily pushed aside year after year.
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Not quite with you there. I love Gleeks, as you probably know. ‘10x better defender’ is the kind of stuff I don’t really get into. Gleeks is an excellent mark, has dash and daring, is an intelligent footballer - and also has some negatives. I think both their qualities are important in a group of defenders. In almost every opposition team, there is a forward that would suit Ambrose. I think we have an issue coming up soonish, though, with Rids, Gleeks, Ambo, Redman, McKenna, Saad, McNiece and Dea. Keeping them all on in defense would be a mistake. If any are going to move into different positions, I feel that time should be soon. And at least 2 of those need to go end of year.
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In this side, where Ambrose is playing as a KP defender?
You have to keep Ambrose.
When Hooker is back it’s a different equation.
Experience, or lack of, has to be a factor in a side like Essendon doesn’t it? 4 games vs 60+ must play a part in the decision.
Surely the elephant in the room here is the question, has Ambrose gone past Hurley as a pure stopper, and, are there other guys who we prefer instead of Hurley to be providing rebound.
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Ivan went there…
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Thing is it does’t even really feel that controversial atm
Hurley should play one game a year on Buddy. That’s it
It’s certainly not as controversial as it once would have been.
Still not sure Ambrose is even that good of a stopper anyway. I mean, it’s been a while since he’s done a big job on an important player. Hogan last year?
Edit: I suppose he was injured, kinda makes it hard to do much.
A little premature after one round. Last year he was 7th for rebound 50s.
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Hurls did an amazing job on Buddy in the 2018 Sydney game. Suspicion is that Buddy was unfit and should not have even played that game. Contrast that with Ambrose on a fully fit Buddy in the final in 2017, with a lot of incoming, Buddy kicked about 3 on Ambrose.
Its very hard to say if Ambrose has “gone past” Hurley as a pure stopper. If Hurls plays as a pure “stopper” some other medium/tall player has to provide intercepting, cleanup and rebound. Maybe the answer is to consign Hurls to the pure stopper role and let the likes of Mary/ Redman and or Ridley do rebounding type roles ( as well as Saad/McKenna of course). Then, there is no need to select Ambrose at all.
Ambrose contract runs out at the end of this year. Hurls has several more years, so it might be the way to go.
One thing Hurley did stop last week was momentum.
His decision making was slow, not taking an early option to a free man. Instead trying a more difficult option and failing with his lack of kicking skills.
So frustrating at the game to watch the team prepare for a forward thrust only to be halted by the momentum stopper Hurls.
His kicking was once a weapon, I don’t know how it has dropped off so much. Perhaps its from wearing oven mitts on his hands.
I’m with Ivan on this, Hurls has been great but is not so much at the moment.
He should stop his player and get the ball moving as quickly as possible to the next teamate and stop pretending he is Goddard.
Hurley will play, for a while yet in this side. One of the most fascinating things for me to watch this year will be his form.
I reckon people need to lower expectations though. Hes never reaching AA level again, imo. As much as I’d like it
I’d be making Francis and Zerk the two key talls. With Hurley to be the third tall who mentors the other two for a couple of years.
Hooker forward
Ambrose is back up only.