Selwood does every week what Hurley was accused of when Hanneberry hip and shouldered him in the head and he didnt even get a free kick…lead with the head…Hurley On the other hand had his head down following the ball.
We were crying for Hanneberyy to be reported, and AFL came out and said was Hurleys fault…laughable…Sydney are a protected species…
He did tag selwood for a short period of time.
Only on Blitz would someone accuse the coaches of being stupid for playing someone who doesn’t usually play midfield in a tagging role on one of the league’s premier midfielders.
In a practice match.
BLITZ ON!!!
Not in this instance.
Article in the Sun. “Stringers role remains flexible” “Essendon has not ruled out Jake Stringer being used primarily as a forward, but will continue to experiment with him in the midfield.”
… " Worsfold tries to mould him into an explosive onballer" …
… " It will be about finding the balance of how long he spends in the middle" Dyson Heppell said yesterday.
Nothing new there really.
However, Hepp goes on to say Matty Dea is the next in line for Marty’s spot in the team, with Mason Redman a possibility.
Redman been doing his thing in 2’s waiting for this. In terms of agility, pace & endurance would have Dea well covered, and for disposal also.
As a like for like probably a better fit to replace Gleeson. Dea obviously got the experience behind him though.
Could well be Redmans time to shine
I reckon Redman is competing with the likes of Bags, Saad and McNiece for a spot rather than Gleeson and Dea.
Honest question, Dea has proven he can defend a taller opponent and play against the third tall. What about Redman in VFL? Does he play the third tall defender role?
Redman’s listed 1cm taller than Dea, Gleeson is a fair bit taller than both.
Which is to say- I’m not sure Redman is going to be an effective cover for Gleeson, but I’ve Dea try in that role and he’s definitely not.
Dean plays taller than Redman.
I would certainly consider Redman a ground ball player where Dea is good in the air.
By Michael Gleeson22 March 2018 — 4:23pm
Jake Stringer didn’t do one big thing wrong at the Bulldogs, he did lots of little things. Or rather, he didn’t do lots of little things. Those things that would make him better. Those things he said he would do and didn’t.
It was exhaustion that got them in the end. The Bulldogs had had enough.
Luke Beveridge and the football department heads met with Stringer and his management Paul Connors and Robbie Dorazio and discussed his future. They would look at moving him on. Why? Because on balance they had more people there who would rather Stringer wasn’t there.
Stringer should now be playing like Robbie Gray. He should be equally damaging and explosive on the ball as forward of it. But he isn’t.
The frustration at the Bulldogs was that despite what he said, the club felt they were keener than he was on making him a better player. He always had an excuse, just dog-ate-my-homework type fibs, but they were transparent.
Stringer left school as soon as he could, when he was about 15, halfway through high school. It was not for him. He knew football was ahead of him and that was where he would go. His dad’s successful dairy industry business was a plan beyond football.
Life moved along quickly. He was drafted, he got married, he had two kids. He was All Australian. He was playing for Australia. He split from his wife. He developed a gambling problem. He won a premiership. His ex-wife wrote of their personal life in the press. He moved to a new club. He is 23.
Most of us were finishing uni and backpacking in Europe by that age. We were allowed to fall and fail and be cringingly immature because we were immature and we were anonymous.
In a simplistic sense, Stringer’s trade to Essendon was seen as making him a scapegoat for ‘the hangover’. The idea was he was sacrificed to save the group, to redress a culture. The Bulldogs vehemently reject this suggestion but do not reject that he was sacrificed to improve a culture that doesn’t tolerate a lack of commitment and preparation.
Talent is as attractive as it is rare in football. The Bombers were not put off by what they heard because, as a club, especially one with their recent history, they knew to separate what people said from what they knew.
They did their own research and were not dissuaded. Stringer was an elite talent and they felt his failings were overstated. They believed they could manage him better. They spoke to their leaders about him before the talks about a trade went anywhere. Should they take him? What did they know? They met with him, each of them and on their own, and reported back to the club. They wanted him.
Hayden Skipworth coached Stringer when he was still a 17-year-old at the Bendigo Pioneers, and played a few games for Skipworth’s Bendigo Bombers, before he was drafted to the Bulldogs.
Skipworth is the Bombers midfield coach. He is Stringer’s mentor at the club, working with him to straighten him out on the field and away from it. Thus far, Essendon have not seen evidence of the type of things that frustrated the Bulldogs.
He has been doing everything asked of him. He is living with his mum and dad but regularly sees his kids. He would doubtless rather not read about his life in the Herald Sun columns that his ex-wife is inexplicably hired to write, but he can do nothing about that. He has hired a counsellor to help him get on top of his gambling troubles.
He turned out in his first JLT game for Essendon with a bleached-blond man bun. It was an unwise styling choice, not just because blond man buns look daft but because, for a player at a new club trying to change a reputation and work hard, it looked frivolous. A few senior players cut him a look about the new do. He cut his hair the next day.
“Jake had arrived before I got here but, from what I have seen and what we have seen since he has been at Essendon, there have been no cut corners at training or when he is around the club,” said Essendon football manager Dan Richardson, who was hired from Richmond late last year.
“From what I see and what I am told, he is in a good place. He is open and honest with us and we have been given no reason to doubt anything. He is doing everything we have asked of him and could ask of him.
“Is there room for improvement on and off the field? Of course there is. But that is true of most players.”
Richardson had been at Richmond for a long time. He saw Dustin Martin as a young player too and understands how players mature and evolve at different rates.
“He is a likeable character Jake," he said. "He didn’t come in here with a strut, he has come in and gone about his business. He knew he had to work to build relationships in a new club and earn respect in a new club and he has been doing that.”
Since we’re posting articles here’s one from the HS today …
Essendon playing Jake Stringer as a midfielder is setting him up to fail, writes David King
David King
MEMO John Worsfold: Don’t set up Jake Stringer to fail.
The Package isn’t a midfielder’s backside.
Jake has never been an uncontested ball accumulator, nor does he win clearances.
It’s rip, tear and bust through congestion or packs, which exhibits a threatening visual but Jake is a centre-bounce clearance option only and that’s as far as his midfield minutes should stretch.
In Jake’s 89 games he has never amassed more than 21 disposals. He averages one clearance per week.
Cyril Rioli hasn’t had more than 21 disposals for four years but his defensive work is supreme; Jake’s is at the other end of the spectrum.
I remain a believer that Jake can regain his star status but only as a deep forward.
Jake’s freakish skills and considerable physical attributes are difficult for most defenders to stifle. Remember, Stringer kicked 56 goals in his All-Australian 2015 season, at just 21.
He kicked four goals or more eight times but has managed that feat just twice in his past 25 games.
Jake Stringer has been running through the midfield for the Bombers. Picture: AAP Images
Only 20 AFL players have kicked 50 goals or more in a season over the past four years.
High volume goalkickers are hard to find and clearly Jake isn’t without flaws as a player, but the on-field assessment of Stringer has become unfair and unbalanced.
The “set-up to fail syndrome” speaks of the blame apportioned to the employee (Stringer) rather than those managing (Worsfold) the tasks or roles he performs.
If Jake Stringer plays 25 per cent of his game time as a midfielder, as part of his rotation, don’t be shocked by little returns — but don’t blame Jake.
If Essendon only learnt one thing from last season’s Richmond premiership, then it must be to maximise your assets.
Low possession forwards like Stringer are the harshest judged commodities in our game, especially those that have shown a disliking to engage when their team doesn’t have possession.
Jake’s challenge is to chase, harass and tackle more to warrant his teammates’ respect.
The Tigers have also shown just how futile and ultimately pointless it is to attempt to change a player like Jack Riewoldt from a deep forward to a roaming type.
That didn’t work for Jack nor Damien Hardwick and don’t expect it to work for Jake Stringer or John Worsfold.
Stringer’s journey has reached soap opera type levels because of the off-field rumours and innuendo. There’s enough evidence to suggest the penny has dropped for Jake but only a fool would think it’s not a work in progress.
Jake has become extremely popular with his new teammates, comfortable and content living with his parents who’ve sacrificed Bendigo for the Docklands and happily settled in a fresh relationship. It appears that Jake is in a great space to once again thrive.
The wise move to cut short an overseas holiday in the off-season drew immediate praise as a strong and arduous pre-season was required.
Stringer hasn’t missed a session and surely that’ll pay dividends.
One facet that didn’t always come to the fore at the Western Bulldogs has been Jake’s honesty about his world in totality, but the Bombers hierarchy are impressed with his evolving maturity.
Not sugar-coating or glossing over the underlying reasons as to why Jake finds himself at Essendon, but embracing change.
Worsfold is the perfect person to steer and mould the off-field revival of Stringer, having encountered all in his lifetime in the AFL environment, but the on-field needs to match. Worsfold must maximise all the Bombers’ assets but particularly those with genuine star quality.
There’s no doubt Essendon’s defensive integrity is on watch as the free-flowing Adelaide look to cash in on anything short of AFL standard.
Do the Bombers defend effectively enough via system or will they need to revisit the defensive personnel, particularly in the injury absence of the understated Martin Gleeson.
Gleeson is an elite interceptor and rarely beaten one-on-one last season and this may force the hand of Worsfold to utilise another known product as an intercept commodity — Cale Hooker. Hooker is a goal-scoring threat, the only question is what is valued higher? The interceptor or a 40-goal season from Cale, the 2014 All-Australian backman.
Essendon is my selection for premiers in another very open year and like all other contenders they have strengths and weaknesses but one thing’s for sure, if the Bombers don’t absolutely maximise their stars, others will and 2018 will come and go.
Sometimes it’s difficult to see the forest for the trees, but Jake Stringer isn’t a midfielder.
He’s a deep forward, low-possession, maximum impact player … maybe just leave him there.
Robbie Gray comparison is interesting…
What’s more interesting is Gray didnt do anything till his 8th season.
Jake is entering his 6th.
Farkin lol
While I think it’s perfectly reasonable to argue that Stringer won’t make it as a midfielder, talking about his low possession and clearance counts isn’t really relevant. If he has been played overwhelmingly as a deep forward, then it follows he hasn’t racked up midfield numbers. Might as well argue Hooker can’t play forward because he only kicked 7 goals in his first 7 years of AFL football.
“Jake had arrived before I got here but, from what I have seen and what we have seen since he has been at Essendon, there have been no cut corners at training or when he is around the club,” said Essendon football manager Dan Richardson, who was hired from Richmond late last year.
“From what I see and what I am told, he is in a good place. He is open and honest with us and we have been given no reason to doubt anything. He is doing everything we have asked of him and could ask of him.
No one knows whether Jake is cutting corners or applying himself 100%. I’m sure the bulldogs made every effort with him, their flag was won by having all players (except Jake) buy in on disciplined game plans and preparation. So really, what he promises means squat, although it was obviously enough to convince us to recruit him. I hope to see him realise his best as it’d be amazing to see such a talent at our club.
I was paying for Uni and ogling backpackers.
I had finished Uni and was earning a salary equivelant to Jake Stringers boot studder.
We knew there would be a slew of articles on Stringer close to the leadup to the first game. Its only going to be outdone by the avalanche of articles that will come after the game. ( and each game for the first 6 weeks of the season. ) These articles have clearly been well prepared. Not just off the cuff. The articles in furture will be much more reactionary.
Playing him as a mid in the practice matches might just make him think more about locking the ball into the forward line when he hasnt got the ball.
Cant be a bad thing if he doesnt cut it as a mid if ge improves that side of his game.
