Having said that, I hope you dont go over to the Conor or Saad threads and gush about how fantastic our half back line is with Hurls being an elite rebounder , while Saad and Connor switch on the afterburners and slice through our opponents.
With Stringer Hooker will have even less attention playing deep forward, he also won’t have to have the best accuracy if he’s clunkin them 10 metres out. Hooker either marks it, or just monsters the ball to advantage and kicks the goal.
FFS, Stringer forward really? FFS
at some point some bright spark will suggest he is our new inside mid.
But what do you really think of our backline and 2018 prospects?
In attack or go back? Hooker unsure where he’ll play
By Ronny Lerner20 March 2018 — 2:44pm
Despite playing as a forward in 2017, and training all pre-season long in that role, Essendon big man Cale Hooker admits he isn’t entirely sure if he will be used in attack against Adelaide on Friday night.
With key defender Patrick Ambrose now expected to miss a month due to a fractured wrist, and Mitch Brown (adductor) unlikely to line up against the Crows at Etihad Stadium, Hooker might be forced back to his natural home in defence where he won All-Australian honours and a best-and-fairest.
“Paddy’s an important player for us, we know we’re going to miss him,” said Hooker, who kicked a career-best 41 goals last season.
“Hopefully we can get him back pretty quick and until then I’m not sure [where I’ll play], that’s for the coaches to work out.
“I just love playing footy so I’m happy wherever.”
Despite looking ominous at times as a key target up forward in 2017, with bags of five, five and four to his credit, Hooker still doesn’t believe he has done enough to prove wrong the critics who have doubted his ability in attack.
“It’s more about proving to myself that I can do it and just being part of the team and helping the team, that’s what it comes down to,” he said.
“I feel like I personally improved a lot last year and as the season went on, so I’ll be looking to build on that and I’ve had a big pre-season.”
Last year Essendon enjoyed the fruits of assembling their most potent forward line in a decade and ended up being the third-highest scoring team in the AFL.
Hooker and Daniher (65 goals) were the first Essendon key forward duo to combine for over 100 goals since Matthew Lloyd (62) and Scott Lucas (61) in 2007.
Orazio Fantasia (39), Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (34) and James Stewart (22) also chimed in and with the additions of Jake Stringer and Devon Smith, Hooker was confident the forward line would continue to gel as the season progresses.
“Last year was great to have a year all together as a group, especially as a forward line. We hardly trained together [in 2016],” Hooker said.
“I think we made a lot of good improvements throughout the year and we’re looking to build on that as the year goes on.”
Given the previous five seasons had been either dogged by the fallout of the supplements saga or the club managing the re-integration of 10 previously suspended players, Hooker believes this is the most settled the team has been heading into a season for quite some time.
“It’s been good to have some continuity all together,” he said.
Hooker anticipated Essendon would get a good early indication of where they sit in the AFL pecking order when they tackle last year’s runners-up this weekend.
“You want to test out against the best teams and Adelaide have certainly shown they’re a quality side,” he said.
“We’ve worked on a lot of things over the pre-season and we’ll be looking to put them in place on Friday night.
“The JLT [Series] is a bit like dancing with your sister, it’s fun but nothing like the real stuff and it’ll be good to get into the season.”
New recruits Stringer, Smith and Adam Saad are all expected to line up amid much hype and anticipation, but Hooker was keen to avoid placing additional pressure on the trio.
“Those guys have been great, they’ve come in and put their best foot forward and shown great attitude,” he said.
“That’s all we expect from them on the weekend, we don’t expect anything special, we expect them to come in and play the Essendon way and we’ve enjoyed having them at the club and it’ll be good to see how they go.”
Third-year midfielder Darcy Parish trained on Wednesday and is likely to be available for selection after being sent for scans earlier in the week.
Adelaide have beaten Essendon in their past four meetings by an average of 76 points.
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He’s going to need to go back for at least some of this game. We’re two key defenders and a Gleeson down with no obvious replacements and Hurls is the rebounder. That leaves Harts and… Chooker. People aren’t going to like it but McNernan comes in as forward/pinch ruck for mine until one of Ambrose, Brown and Glees are ready again.
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Is Bagley injured as well?
That’s misleading. We arnt 2 key defenders down, brown trained and we don’t ever play Hurley, Brown, Ambrose and Hartley all together. Dea is perfect cover for Gleeson
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Delete
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What a terrible article. He admits he’s not sure where he’s gonna play? No he didn’t. Infact, it’s no coincidence they left out this
“I’ve played all last year as a forward and trained as a forward all pre-season, so I think you’ll see me starting down there,” Hooker said after training on Tuesday
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Reckon Wines and McGovern should be our 2 key targets
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I think we should stick with Daniher and Hooker
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As in Hooker back? Move Hooker back and then get Lynch and Wines. I don’t see ethier Brown or Hartley as players who would help us to 17.
I think Hooker should play forward.
However…I think we will lose stoppages, but our midfield will pressure the ball handler more than last year - with MCGrath, parish and Zerrett in there with opposition sending high bombs into our backline. Meaning we really need a intercept defender who is a good mark. With Gleeson down we need to find a replacement.
Maybe JD runs all the way down the ground spending some time in defence. He has a great kick to set up play down the ground.
But hooker will also need to spend more time down there as well.
Ideally Ridley turns into a gun intercept defender, or Brown/ Hartley improve.
Maybe Goddard moves to that role and turns back the clock. Although i think we need him to play more inside mid / tagging roles.
Wouldnt mind seeing Heppell back there as well, but he is really needed in the engine room you would think.
Maybe Hartley will come in and free Hurley up to be third Tall, As he is great loose. But also our best stopper.
Would Goddard be able to do a tagging job on Sloane?
Sloane isnt that fast, so i would say yes.
But would you tag sloane or Gibbs?
I guess Hooker didn’t confirm either way in his interview today.
The author has made some pretty big assumptions though.
The great thing about being part of the media is the lack of accountability for what you put out there.
Sloane.