Well, he’s not going to sign a contract, if he doesn’t want to do it… obviously.
1 more year for mine.
I think Jones and 2MP probably have a greater appreciation of Hooker than Blitz does. He still draws opposition defenders to him and often takes the opposition’s best KPD.
He isn’t hitting the scoreboard or clunking pack marks as regularly as you’d like, but structurally he’s still important. He’s also still capable of delivering “in the clutch” as he showed last Sunday.
It’d be great if Baldwin/Eyre/McBride could step up next season, but they literally have 15 VFL games combined to their names. I wouldn’t be banking on any of them getting any more than a taste of senior footy in 2022. Our other young KPF (Jones) is currently sidelined for the 2nd year in a row with foot “awareness”.
Ambrose and Hurls are just as (if not more) cooked than Hooker.
If 2MP is in the team, I’m not sure we’d go with more than 1 pure ruckman in the side. None of Draper/Bryan/Phillips have proper exposed form as permanent forwards.
We could throw Francis forward, but who knows what the future holds for Franga?
We could throw Stewart forward, but I think Truck will stick to the plan of making a defender out of him.
So, baring a trade that lands us a proper KPF, I think Hooker still has a role to play in 2022… something like Mumford at GWS this year, just in a different position.
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Agreed.
Pending us not pulling off a Ben King/other heist
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Should we give Hooker another year? Will we?
- We should, and we will
- We should, but we won’t
- We shouldn’t, but we will
- We shouldn’t, and we won’t
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I think we’re doing the exact right thing.
Hooker, approaching retirement, has had a very good season for the most part. He has looked tired (or done) the last few games. Seeing which is which by the end of this season, a handful more games, will determine whether he remains on the list next year working at some level. It’s the right way to do it and has been indicated by the coach, anyway.
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Hear this a lot… it’s a pretty low bar we’ve set for Hooker if that’s his biggest selling point
Stick Phillips up there if that’s all we want from a key fwd… at least Phillips can chop out in the ruck.
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Surprising!
Hooker still has 30+ goals this year. Think that’s a good selling point too. 2MP is perfectly suited to the forward/ruck chop out role.
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This young king lad for st kilda would make the perfect addition
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I don’t like the justification of “he takes the opposition’s best defender” like it’s an actual reason why he should go on. soon enough, teams will work it out and just put a athletic defender on him to run off him all day.
you’ve gotta do more than take a good defender. it’s not 2005 anymore
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It’d be fine if it was true.
How many marks did lever and May have between them, nearly 20?
Is it clogging the list in the case where there are no other options though? That’s the scenario I’m talking about. The one where we don’t pick up anyone to replace him. Or, is playing Baldwin or McBride preferable? Or use Bryan or Flipper in a multi ruck type scenario? That seems to make us look very green or wonky forward for mine.
Yeah, pretty much what my response was without reading yours.
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yeah, I was gonna bring up the may thing, but I don’t really want to lay it on him
let’s just enjoy the last 5 weeks, and hope he’s got 1 last bag in him. we all know where he’s at.
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There are plenty of options. And if we want to accelerate their development for 2023, they should be playing. Options include:
- Hurley fills Hooker’s shoes for a year.
- Play Wright & Jones, with Waterman and Stringer support.
- Play Wright & Jones and two rucks, with one of Draper/Bryan/Phillips playing as the third tall forward.
- Play Reid in Hooker’s role, since we don’t really need him in the backline.
- Get games into Baldwin, Eyre or McBride.
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Yeah, fair call. I can certainly see some logic in that.
What’s surprising?
I remember last year when people on here were crying about daniher and raz leaving and the catchcry then was, OMG’z where’s the goals going to come from now.
outside of everything else, 19 weeks later into the 2021 season they have what the fourth ish highest scoring side of the comp, with
A cast off from GC who didn’t play a game last year
a kid in his second year officially but first actual season
a backman who got kicked out of there cos he was cooked
an angry midget who spends more time arguing with umpires
now before the season is even finished, people are so worried about how they’d kick goals next season without hooker. it’s almost as if people never learn, even from events that literally just happened.
If they don’t have hooker next year, you know what they’ll find ways to score without him, just like they have this year without daniher and raz, because it’s their job to do so.
and no they probably won’t find someone specifically to play THE EXACT SAME WAY hooker does.
maybe they find another jones type but a lil bit more further down the development path who has more tricks to their bow than standing around waiting for the long high ball. maybe he moves around more creating more space and helps create more oppotunites for others as well as kicking a similar amount of goals, all while making us less predictable than kicking it high and long to a guy who can barely move.
even with this years biggest highlights being cox jones and perkins, the amount of people paralyzed by the fear of not having what they perceive is irreplaceable in hooker and his game, is really astounding, even for this place and there “there’s no one better” life motto.
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12 contested marks all year.
11 goals last 10 games.
6 goal assists for the season.
There are legitimately no selling points based on how he is playing.
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