Okay, time for me to admit that I speculated early in the year that Stringer was a potential negative for team culture when we were in the bad form patch that culminated in the Carlton loss and Neeld’s demise.
I did say the jury is out on the matter, and with the retirements/delistings of Watson, Heater, Stants, BobCat and James Kelly and the introduction of the SSS’s, it was inevitable that there would be a major change in the team chemistry and leadership for Heppell to deal with.
Post round 8 our team chemistry has obviously turned around and it is time for me to bring my jury in on Stringer after seeing Fanta on AFL tonight and his comments of Jake’s leadership, support and bonding with a shared tatt.
The jury’s verdict is:
He seems to have embraced our club as a new beginning and is really contributing positively to the club culture.
Looking forward to seeing Jake play this Friday night, and may it not be the Buddy show, but the String, Fanta, Walla, Dev , Conor, Saad, Zaka and Zerrett excitement machines magic show!
And TBH it was a fair question, given that was how he was (quite publicly) slated as that at the Dogs
Shows you how much of a difference context and environment makes: a guy who acts up at one club, under one coach, might be the complete opposite at another club under another coach.
Scientific studies have been done over many years, where a new school teacher will be told that a certain child (who is a trouble maker) is an exceptional student and the brightest child in the class… then in contrast the opposite is done to the most gifted children. Evidence shows that people live up to the standards, identity and labels that have been placed on them by people in power.
There has been a lot of research done on this.
A change of working environment can be massive for people.
He is only turned 24 in April, he was all Australian at 21 and dubbed “the package”.
Very understandable that it all went to his head, and that he understandably wanted to start again after the wheels falling off at the dogs.
He obviously loves his kids and now that he is at the age when a person’s brain* is almost fully developed he probably wants a different life.
*There is a reason why car insurance is cheaper once you turn 25, and they enlist soldiers at 18 - the last ability that the brain develops is the ability to judge risk. The ancient Greeks defined adolescence as finishing at 25 and they were right.
I was actually pretty happy with his game. Quiet possession wise but I feel like he did enough with the ones he did get on top of his time spent in the ruck which meant he did alright. Has the same effect as McKnernan does in the ruck in that he becomes an extra midfielder when the ball hits the deck.