Sorry but who the fark is tayte pears?
Surely you’re all talking about His Royal Hotness?
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Both of these statements are just wrong
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Yeah peak Hurley in defence was all sorts of domination.
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Don’t argue about what he coodabeen. He was sensational that year, then cut down just before he really got going, and never the same again. Very sad for the Essendon Football Club; a tragedy for him.
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At the time of his injury (his career as a good footballer died on Anzac Day 2010), he was streets above Hooker, and this is coming from Cale’s number 1 fan back then.
He was ahead of Hurley too, but he was a year older, and yes, I agree he’d have to have had a damn good career to be ahead of 2014-15 Hurely.
It’s all hypotheticals, of course. Hooksy and Hurls had stellar careers, Pears didn’t. All I was saying, was at the time… He was the pick of the bunch, imo, and I rated all 3 from the get-go.
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The floodgates opened in that 2011 final v Carlton when Pears was subbed off.
Healthy Pears doesn’t change the result but his subbing was around the beginning of the huge run of goals they kicked after our initial surge.
As I recall Hurls was the pick of the bunch, but maybe had the hype due to being the higher pick, and going alright against Riewoldt and that big bloke from Port… and that we thought he’d do good as a forward.
I met Tayte at one of the “sponsors nights” (I was a sponsor through blitz). He was so nice I thought he’d mixed me up with someone else, Bellchambers was telling him to hurry up let’s go and Tayte was happy to keep chatting to me. Hooker was similarly modest, could t believe he was being considered on the same level as guys like Hurley - “Nah mate, not me”. I told him he was highly rated on blitz, a cult favorite, and his response was he was just trying to get selected the next week. (He had no idea what blitz was BTW).
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Looking back at the game 10 years ago is interesting. So much space and generally slow.
The game is played at a much quicker pace nowadays with more focus on team defence.
Agree that Pears would’ve had a great career if not for injury. He was a favourite of mine for sure.
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Hooksy was the quintessential “project player” in his early years. Bottom age, missed most of his junior footy due to glandular (iirc) and they must have decided early that he was too slow to act, because at a reserves game at Box Hill his explicit and only instruction was to play on, lol.
“I don’t care where you are, don’t think, don’t care if you get caught, don’t care if you stuff it up, if you take a mark just bloody play on.”
None of which has the slightest relevance to a Tayte Pears thread.
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he also got to play generally as a 2/3rd tall so getting a bag kicked on him wasn’t likely to happen. the 4 goals against him ironically is in the carlton game against fev despite his run and attack.
Generally hooker got the monsters and the bags kicked on him, despite playing pretty well with lil to no defensive support from our midfield 
.
Reckon he’d have been found out eventually though cos his defensive game was questionable like eastie alluded to, it was just the run and carry in the run and game knights era made us stand up and go hey.
except for severity of injuries, his career trajectory reminds me a bit of gleesons. Was good for a year as a 3rd tall intercepting mark, got injuries and now that role is taken up by others ridley/francis ( in pears case his role was taken up by a combo of hooker, hurley, carlisle and still fletch).
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Nah, Fev kicked 2 that night, it was Kozi who kicked 4 on him. And he played on every top forward that year, except Buddy. He very rarely played third tall
And then a Gleeson comparison? Fair enough, you don’t remember him, and that’s fine.
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who does peos love more, orazio or tayte?
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Now? Tayte.
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Who’s your new favourite player Peos? Please don’t select anybody good or anybody we don’t want to lose. May I suggest Marty Gleeson perhaps?
Love me some Tommy Cutler!
The Cuts!
Edit: I actually had to double check that his first name was Tom.
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Yeah not sure how one compares Pears to Gleeson.
The story from that match-up was that when Darcy lined up on Fev at the start of the game, Fev told him “I bet you 50 bucks you’re moved off me by three-quarter time”. Darcy didn’t say a word to him the whole game until the start of the fourth quarter when he turned to him and simply said “you owe me 50 bucks”.
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And Fev paid up straight after the game, so the story goes.
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A year or two later at the Lions he was probably spewing he gave away the 50 bucks. Could have been put towards a quaddie at Happy Valley at midnight on a Wednesday.
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