Has this been reported anywhere?
2 min vid - chats about his dogs, doing a coaching course (not sure if he wants to be a coach but is testing it out) and his injuries.
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So, we have the answer to who was the best Key Defender this year. Hurls , way way ahead of Rance.
Hurls 7 Brownlow votes including 2 BOG performances in rounds 4 and 19, topped the Brownlow votes for Key defenders
Alir 3
Andrews 2
M. McGovern 2
Carlisle 1
Astbury 1
Steven May 1
Rampe 1
Rance Zero Brownlow votes. ( much bemoaned by many. Of course midfielders took all the votes off him. )
What does all that mean? Hurls is playing like a midfielder.
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Sore ankle, ankle sore.
Apparently hurt at training today. Club says he is walking and it is an ankle strain. NFD
Dead
RIP restfully and peacefully in peace, Hurls.
We hardly knew Ye.
Could have been anything.
The Bear will roar again this year.
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Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you.
We all know how brilliantly Hurls intercepts. I doubt Rutten would teach him anything new there, but it will be fascinating to see how Hurls goes in 1/1 contests with body positioning. He did very well when given the assignment on Buddy so signs are encouraging.
Gone are the days when on gaining possession in the back half, almost all the forwards flood back into the midfield to get a superior number, releasing pressure on defenders, who can then switch or do what they like. I suspect oppositions are going to especially target older defenders. Hurls and Hooksey will have multiple forwards climbing all over them, whenever they get the ball. We started to see it last year and they targeted BJ a lot.
So lets hope the Rutten drills will help us address that susceptibility.
Hopefully Hurls has been working on whatever stuffed up his distribution by foot last year.
Otherwise opposing forwards will encourage him to take the kick option.
Don’t care about any of that defensive crap. Just want to see more goals from outside 50 off his left.
I got the new Kayo subscription (at $25 a month - Foxtel on a winner there!) and have been watching replays on the big screen. Yeah, Hurls had some moments over the year but generally played well. Obviously, he didn’t perform at 2017 levels but he was ok. I’m expecting Hurls, along with the rest of the team, to put in a huge year. He’s too good a player to have “ordinary” successive years
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This guy is a serious worry for mine.
Looks to have picked right back up from where he left off last year which was being diabolical defensively and being scared of the contest.
Hasn’t been the same since the suspension and I don’t think he ever will be unfortunately.
Hopefully he proves me wrong. I would’ve loved to have seen him put on 5-6kg’s of muscle this off-season and get back to the Hurley or 2015.
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I thought he was a lone soldier back there and quite good. There was no pressure in the midfield and he was surrounded by junior types in Long, Ridley, Francis and Hartley who struggled.
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I agree.
I thought Hurls was the least of our problems. Looked to be moving really well in my opinion.
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Yeh. I thought he did ok. Quite often saw him intercepting or at least impacting the contest.
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2017:
All-Australian Center-Half Back
6th in the Best and Fairest
2018:
Most Brownlow votes of any Key Position Back
7th in the Best and Fairest
He gets very harshly judged I think.
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Carltons forwardline was also whack.
They only had mackay as the genuine kpp and then McGovern and Curnow as the awkward small/tall.
So while they were playing small we we had a taller group of defenders who didn’t have much experience playing as a group before, which was exploited by a dominant FCFC midfield.
Saad McKenna and Long were our smalls and they aren’t natural lock down and are offensive first types
Hurleys kicking was back to being good which for me was a huge positive.
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The only reason he gets votes is because he gets cheapies out the back and distributes from pocket to pocket.
When it comes to actually defending his man he is sub-par.
The old Hurley would bust through 3 players at full steam and couldn’t be stopped one on one, the present Hurley weight 5-6kg’s less and is used as a third tall who can’t mark above his head and is the master of the massive swing with his fist and get nothing but clean air instead of ball.
He is a shell of himself.
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Gets beaten by the likes of Tim Membrey.