I’d be happy for Chooker to stay on for another year on minimum, packet of chips and a cup of decaf, with the clear understanding he will play a lot of VFL and be a top up only at AFL.
He would be a great asset to the young talls on the list, playing beside him would be great development for the likes of Brand, Reid and Eyre.
We don’t have a lot of solid older blokes on this list.
A mentor type role would be good for the club.
Tippa got smashed in that marking contest a few weeks ago and hasnt been any good since
Agreed
He must be so sore.
He is not running down players
I love the bloke .
There’s no guarantee he’ll get a farewell game. Are people forgetting what happened with TBC?
If we are playing MCG with 50% against Collingwood and are out of the finals race…if we aren’t resigning Hooks & Zaha then should absolutely get a send off game IMO…and finally draw a line under the saga….the start of a new era, no excuses for players, no compromising cause you know we owe em, just full on ruthlessness 
Different coach that did not care about our culture.
Rutten is very different.
I thought that was Rutten’s call? Wasn’t the narrative that Woosha was the one letting the old guys getting easy games?
Will be interesting to see if he’s changed his approach this year.
From Fox footy:
There is a reason why coaches don’t allow players to vote on team selection. It would be anarchy – think Lord of the Flies-type upheaval – but Ben Rutten’s decision to refuse a farewell game for Tom Bellchambers was immensely unpopular among the playing group.
Moreover, foxfooty.com.au understands Rutten was warned of the damage it could do and he dismissed it nonetheless. He would surely now acknowledge it was the wrong call. And if he doesn’t, that is a bigger issue than the initial mistake.
It left younger players a bit perplexed and older Dons - many of whom were close with Bellchambers throughout the tumultuous drugs saga - downright angry.
The young players? You mean the ones that were standing up and saying that older out of form players were getting picked and it was wrong? Yeah I doubt that part is remotely correct. It is correct that players like Hooker and Hurls were very upset, not so much the younger guys.
It was also the right call imo. TBell was given a farewell year when he should not have been.
Dunno - I didn’t write that. It was from an article on fox footy
Yeah sorry, I should have bracketed that the you was plural and directed more at what was written rather than you the poster.
Those comments aren’t really true. His last two games when Harry was out and we’ve really struggled have been better than the run before that. He’s taken 10 marks in the last two games, he’d taken 5 in the four matches before that. He’s laid 6 tackles in the last 2 games, 7 in the four rounds before that. He’s averaged 3 scoring shots the last 2 games, 1.2 for the four games before that.
As I said, he’s actually been better the last two games than he was for quite a while. Our form slump hasn’t had anything to do with Hooker, and Jones being out has helped Hooker.
Our drop off is almost certainly due to our key midfielders having had to carry too much for too long. Hooker wasn’t the reason Parish, Merrett, Stringer struggles to get to 20 possessions. Compared to previous weeks we were down about 40-50 possessions from those three. That was the difference.
Can’t say for sure, but l reckon Cale is made of stern stuff. l very much doubt that he is too worried about whether his absence is being called dropped/managed/omitted/rested. He would be looking forward to getting back into the team for the next match.
You do have comprehension difficulties with my posts don’t you?
Yes lets hope so
I think when we were able to have all 3 as in Wright hooker and Jones all together the 3 tall pronges gave us much better options going into the forward line then ads tippa running wild as well. Wright went out for a while then Jones and tippa seems hurt and has also dropped right off. We lost out scoring power over about a month. I don’t think it has much to do with young team fade out as some have suggested
The fact is, we are playing and scoring about as well as I imagined we would this year. It just took 15 rounds to get there.
Ha, yep
More to the point
Early rounds we were playing with aggression, unpredictability, verve. Coughing up scores at the same time, but posting some ourselves. Super exciting.
As the season’s worn on, the coaches have gotten their teeth into it, and we’ve gotten a lot more conservative. “Structured” would be how the coaches put it.
When it was a “strong move not kowtowing to the old blokes”, it was Rutten.
When it backfired, it became Worsfold’s call.
With finals on the line, if we beat Gold Coast this week there is a decent chance we’ve seen Hooker’s last AFL game.
Been an incredible career and just such a shame that the body couldn’t hold up a bit longer so he could be part of our finals push. Will always be one of my favourite players, and that 2015 game against Hawthorn where he kicked the winning goal will be a particular memory. But plenty of others with it.
love him so much - hope he signs on as back up for 1 more year, would be great to watch him mentor at windy hill