Had my Hooker shiraz hand delivered by big hooksy’s mum today (who was a total darl I might add) and if that’s not worth another contract I don’t know what is.
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Is Mr’s Hooker a looker?
Furry log pls…
…of course she is, have you seen how beautiful Cale is?
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Well said. That entire piece of logic people use is just a coping mechanism to justify his ineffectual performances.
Imagine how much better we’d look if we had 3 marking targets who can ALL run, ALL mark and ALL kick goals and ALL apply pressure. Instead of just 2 and a meatshield.
Take his game against May. Using that logic; you’d say he’d had a great game because he took May and allowed our other forwards to “do what they like”. But if you actually saw the game, you’d know that May give him a spanking defensively and then murdered us offensively because of the opportunities he could create through Hooker’s lack of accountability.
Personally - I think he’s cooked. It’s believe it’s been apparent to anyone not wearing rose-tinted glasses for the last 2 years. To see some people justify his performances by rattling off his Goals kicked or other cherry picked stats like Fantasy points is just absurd.
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Fixed.
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It’s a pretty solid metric to use for judgement of a deep forward i would have thought.
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It is to the layman. The modern game requires your forwards to offer more than just kick goals (which he hasn’t been doing for the last couple months). He’s a large part of why opposition teams transition the ball out of our F50 with such ease - it’s effectively 17v18 when the ball is going the other way.
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I understand that. But when he’s in the top few goal kickers in the comp, he’s doing a big part of his job.
And now that he’s not… then yes, the other weaknesses are glaringly obvious.
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If next year is still a development year then we need to let Hooker retire with honour. There are plenty of options as outlined above and Jones would grow having the best defender on him, just like Lloyd all those years ago. Giving Baldwin/Eyre/McBride the opportunity with perhaps having Hurley as a mentor/protector will help us sort out if one of these guys will make it. If not, then all out on someone else as a key forward alongside Jones/Stringer/Wright.
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I agree. He needs to be kicking 3 goals a week to A) contribute to our forward setup and B) offset his painfully apparent defensive limitations.
So the question being - does he go around again? For me, the answer is obviously a no.
People have also said things like - we should keep him around as “handy depth”, let him play VFL etc. If this is what Cale is ok with - then I wouldn’t be completely against it. But at some point - isn’t it just for the betterment of your legacy/the team going forward to let your career end on a high note? Surely he wouldn’t want to risk tarnishing his wonderful career with large stints in the VFL with the occasional call up to senior footy where he risks more scrutiny for lacklustre performances.
I thought the same with Jobe and BJ as I do with Hooker right now. Could he/they have played another year? Sure. Should they have? No.
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l for one, hope that he has multiple bags of goals still to kick. The end is nigh, l doubt that the club will want him to go around again next year. Rutten’s words were an attempt to break the news of his impending retirement in as soft a manner as possible. I very much doubt that he will go around again, Essendon is looking forward, l don’t believe Cale is not part of that vision.
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I think his contract is entirely dependent on if we can attract a KPF in the trade period.
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See, this is the bit that’s annoying me. People seem very happy to lay the blame for this purely at Hooker, because he’s old and slow. Apparently the rest the of forward line is filled with mobile talls who all pressure and work hard defensively.
Our problem is, we’ve been going in with three talls for much of the year, plus Waterman for some of it. Here’s a couple of defensive stats for our forward line:
| Tackles - total (av) | Tackles inside 50 (av) | Pressure acts (av) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tippa | 3.2 | 1.5 | 15.3 |
| Hooker | 1.5 | 1.1 | 8.1 |
| Stringer | 4.1 | 0.9 | 18 |
| Jones | 1.3 | 0.6 | 8.6 |
| Wright | 2.1 | 0.6 | 7.2 |
| Snelling | 4.5 | 1.4 | 19.2 |
| Waterman | 2.1 | 0.7 | 9.3 |
| Smith | 4.2 | 1.1 | 20.6 |
| Perkins | 2.4 | 0.7 | 15 |
I dunno, I just don’t look at those numbers and think Hooker is our sole problem. Having him, and 2MP, and Jones, and waterman all in the same side so regularly, when NONE of them offer fark all defensively, is the problem imo. Yes, Hooker is a liability defensively (no doubt) but the idea that it’s 17 v 18 with him out there, is missing the rest of the picture.
I’m happy to give Harry Jones a pass, but 2MP’s defensive efforts are just as much of an issue as Hooker’s (and 2MP isn’t 32 and cooked) and Waterman’s are a bigger issue, imo.
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I love it when Peos brings the stats.
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That’s exactly what I do straight after hitting the big red reply button.
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Conversely, two whipping boys offer quite a bit in there.
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Agree.
It’s not as if Hooker’s opponent, the opposition full back, is starting forward thrusts from the back of the square, or streaming down the ground cutting us apart.
And I’ve still got a suspicion that the defensive connection between our high half forwards, wings and mids, is a significant part of any problems.
Though anyone watching how Norf was able to cut up FarkCarlton yesterday, with much longer & more corridor based kicking than they employed against us, might want to rethink what’s actually damaging defensive transition.
Rather than merely being annoying.
I think those numbers tell us what has been obvious to the eye- 1. that playing three talls up forward really stuffs up our pressure game; 2. We would be ■■■■■■ if Tippa went down, we really need to find another high pressure goal scoring forward
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Wright has twice Hooker’s contested marks and 150 taps to Hooker’s 9.
Wright’s performing other roles.
Waterman’s on the rookie list… he is by definition a punt who the club see might have some upside.
Sure, and Hooker has twice the goals, a lot more marks inside 50 and score involvements than Wright.
But I was just discussing the defensive side of things, and how we have multiple weaknesses in that area, not just one.
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