Some will want him dominating game after game before they consider him as arrived. l don’t.
Me too.
If he is having an impact every game then I would call his season a massive success.
Whoa!! Stop the presses guys. Club reckons Stringer is training well and will play in the midfield!!!
Jake Stringer emerges as Jobe Watson’s replacement in Essendon’s midfield
ESSENDON “beast” Jake Stringer has emerged as a potential replacement for retired champion Jobe Watson in the Bombers’ engineroom.
Stringer, 23, sat out a large chunk of Friday’s intra-club at Tullamarine as a precaution after being “stomped on”, but assistant coach Hayden Skipworth said the former Bulldog remains on track to play majority midfield in 2018.
The Bombers have closely monitored Stringer throughout the pre-season, keen for the 2015 All-Australian and premiership star to fill a void left by retired duo Watson and Brent Stanton.
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“He’s going to get his tank well enough to spend 70 per cent in the midfield and 30 per cent forward,” Skipworth said.
“At the moment, he’s probably more 50-50 (but) what he’s shown around the ball — it’s been super.
“He’s been a clearance beast … he’s one of those guys that can win a clearance and turn a contested situation into uncontested situation with his speed and power.”
Jake Stringer fends off David Zaharakis.
Stringer typically played at about 92 kilograms, but Skipworth revealed the explosive big-bodied goalkicker now weighed in at 95-96 kilograms.
“He’s picked up the stoppage craft really quickly, he lives in the contest, and he’s a big brute in there,” Skipworth said.
“He’s really hard to move for smaller mids, we see him play a lot inside and probably deeper forward when he goes forward.”
The Bombers were in full voice at Tullamarine, with Dyson Heppell, Zach Merrett, David Zaharakis and Brendon Goddard barking orders throughout the hotly-contested session, which finished with tailored AFLX match simulation.
Cale Hooker dominated up forward with Joe Daniher, providing strong marking targets, while Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti and Orazio Fantasia appeared to have licences to roam.
Essendon recruits Adam Saad and Devon Smith provided a spark off their respective flanks and through the midfield.
Andy McGrath chased by Darcy Parish. Picture: Jay Town
Dylan Clarke tackled by Orazio Fantasia. Picture: Jay Town
Zaharakis likes the new-look midfield approach, highlighting premiership teams Richmond and the Western Bulldogs as the benchmark for depth and versatility.
“We’ve got a lot of players that can play different positions, whether it be half-forward, half-back, wing and midfield,” Zaharakis said.
“They (Tigers and Bulldogs) rotate a lot of players through the midfield, you might have one or two that’s constant in there, but a lot of other players go through there.
“We need the development of Kyle Langford and Jayden Laverde, as well, to be able to play through there.
“They’ve been good on the track around stoppages over the last couple of months so the improvement of them as well as getting recruits in will be good.”
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I know! It’s crazy! It’s almost like journalists asked them specific questions about Stringer so they could write a piece about him in the paper because he’s a big news story.
Essendon should really just start boycotting their own press conferences when asked about him. We shouldn’t forget he cheated on his ex wife.
Am I doing this right?
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Weren’t we hearing early doors that he had actually “trimmed down” to play midfield this year for us a couple of weeks into pre-season??
I swear I have seen the same article 5 times this preseason already.
Fast forward round 1.
We all saw what our Beast Man Stringer 192cm /96kg did to Darcy 181/80. I certainly hope he is able to do 70% midfield time, even if he rests on the bench because he is a true “big body” and a very powerful unit. It will be very interesting to see how he goes against the cream of Adelaides midfield.
B Crouch 186/85
M Crouch 182/80
Sloane 182/83
Douglas 181/79
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Putting out the message;
We’ve tried Hepp
Tried Myers.
Tried McGrath
Tried Hurley
Tried Stringer, (but he’s clearly not to be trusted.)
Tried Smith
Tried Skippy & Zaha
Still a few blokes on the list to quote. (Have I missed BJ?)
Wow I thought M Crouch was way bigger than that. He looks like a unit compared to Sloane.
Does anyone remember when Stringer was a 17yr old returning from a broken leg and he kicked 9 goals, who was that for and who against?
It was for the Bendigo Pioneers against the Northern Knights.
Not sure if there is any footage available.
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thanks mate
I’m interested to see how he goes too.
Let’s face it, our midfield for the last decade has been amongst the most unaccountable midfield in the comp and doesn’t create a great deal of opportunity for our forward line.
I think this year’s mix will be a different story. And the times that Stringer goes into the midfield will be to break a game apart or to give us a chance to stop a run on.
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How lucky we were when we had Hird going into the midfield to change games, time after time.
If only Stringer could do something similar.
Boy I miss Hird out there playing, was ■■■■■■ unreal.
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This also highlights for me that all the talk in the media about our lack of size in the midfield is hogwash.
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The Media said something did it?? oh, ok. 
Honestly can’t fathom why people read any media about us, when we have plenty of the “Opinionistas” right here on Blitz, … who needs more opinions after that?
And a few are even worthy of reading, … with much better insight & knowledge than any hack Journo could wish for.
Makes it seem pointless. to read/listen to any of it, … (other than interviews with Coach’s etc)
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It’s not just in the media though. Lots of people on this site keep banging on about our midfield being too small.
The coaches don’t seem to have that view though seeing as they’re happy to add McGrath and Smith to the mix
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It’s not so much the lack of size of our midfield it’s the lack of inside ball winning ability.
You can’t argue that Sloane, Crouch X 2 are some of the better inside ball winners in the league.
Hoping Parish, McGrath and Stringer will add a lot to our inside ball this year.
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If folk don’t think the Coaches aren’t, … or rather weren’t, aware of our midfield slightly lacking in size & skill last year, … can I get some of whatever they’re smoking?
You can see what they’ve added, and what the options are on the list now to remedy that deficit, … and we’ll see soon who they think are the best candidates to do so. As Ivo pointed out,… we have plenty of options with size and strength now, … it all depends on who steps up proper.