If they can get Hartley clunking til the early morn, he’ll be an absolutely top line defender. Kind of wish Wellman was still around, he seemed to be very good at teaching that stuff to key defenders (Hell, he got Frawley an AA at Melbourne).
Wouldn’t MOST defenders attempt to spoil the ball 9/10 times?
If only we had a key defender that could clunk til the early morn 
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Not good ones, no.
Ask Cale.
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I would, but he’s all the way down the other end…
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Intercept markers, good ones are hard to find, there’s only a few inthe league who are really good at it. Hartley is great at killing a contest, I wouldn’t say that’s the issue behind his omittion. He could do with zoning off a little better and getting more of the pill, that’s probably why brown is favoured because he can get it 25 odd times
I like hartley, hope he’s back soon
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Hartley spoils many, many balls he could mark. Probably the one major weakness in his game.
I don’t mind him not zoning too much, he’s the “gorilla minder”.
So do I, so do I.
It’s not that he can’t mark them well.
Purely confidence to do it under pressure of game scenario where innately just wanting to beat his man/kill the contest.
As woosha said. Going back to twos where he can have pressure taken off and feel more comfortable flying for marks/ leaving his man to go intercept with less on the line - 4pts VFL vs 4pts AFL
Hartley ultimately is still just learning his craft and not settled as a walk up best 22 defender so understandable he’d feel nervous about stuffing up. They need him to just back himself regardless.
If he gets that right and it takes time, Hooker was nowhere as a defender at Hartleys age, then he has everything else to be a topline defender.
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um… Jackson Merett?
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My observation is Hartley spoils when it’s needed - It’s actually reading the ball well enough to get into a position to intercept which is his issue.
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I know it isn’t cool to disbelieve the coach.
However I feel as if Hartley was dropped last week because he didn’t successfully spoil in a number of marking contests with Hipwood. He was there, he was in position, he just failed to kill the contest.
The whole “needs to take more marks” thing is fine, but I’m not 100% convinced that’s why he was dropped.
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I think he also needs to take off more to receive the handball. He’s a big unit with a massive kick, and big backs charging through worry small defensive forwards when they get momentum up. (Unless the small forward is Walla)
Well it ain’t Walla …
This.
FFS, can we bring this guy back in? I don’t care how his attacking efforts are he is the one key defender we have (while Hurley is discombobulated) who can actually handle strong key forwards. Don’t get me wrong Brown has looked ok ,and Patty has been good. But if they won’t drop Hurley (which they shouldn’t) they have to bring big Harts back in, our backline looks better with him in it.
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Hopefully he can relieve hurley of his kickout duties too.
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Hartley needs to improve his one-on-one defending and being an effective part of a team defence.
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Bring him back. Pls.
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Who do you drop?
Ambrose is currently our best and most flexible KPD. Brown was really good tonight and actually offers something offensively.
Didn’t think Harts was that great in the VFL although he did pretty much blanket McCartin.