Probably played his best ever game for Essendon last night.
Got involved with some creative disposals instead of being solely a negative spoiler 100% of the time.
Took a step forward with a performance which will do wonders for his self belief.
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Noticed this too. It was great to watch and is something he has over Ambrose at the moment.
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i liked that he was looking to go in the corridor every time. was clear he was following strict instructions.
he set up two goals with it on the weekend. albeit with a shank to conor and a little inboard chip that set up an attack. both from intercept marks on on the wing flank iād add.
His field kicking is really underrated. Wish he got a bit more of it.
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Maybe we could see Harts as a mobile HBFāer on the 3rd tall?
Just had a beer vision of him defending, and running, and getting the chance to bomb more 65 metre snags.
He is pretty mobile. 
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Definitely a beer thought alright. Lie down mate, itās midnight haha
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We genuinely have to try him at full forward.
I donāt know if it would work, but if it did, then it instantly makes a bunch of pieces fall into place.
Would it though? Harts forward so Hooker back I guess? Where does Ambrose fit?
Oh, Iām a 3 tall backs person. I would be playing Hartley, Hurley and Ambrose all back when Ambrose is ready to go. I felt it didnāt work at the start of the year because Hurley was out of form. Whereas now I could see him being exceptional in that 3rd tall back role.
So for me it is just about the potential of swapping Hartley and Hooker. Hartley is certainly a better kickā¦ whether that means he can kick straight when kicking for goal in an actual game I donāt know. He isnāt as good a mark, and probably isnāt as strong. But that kickā¦
On the lighter side, weāve tried Hurley, Carlisle, Ambrose, Hooker there, and it just seems like the right thing to give a go at some stage.
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Im also all for playing all of Ambrose, Hartley and Hurley. It gives us greater flexibility and it allows Hurls to play that āFletcher roleā
Having both Hartley and Ambrose would make our defence to dour.
Hartley is a beautiful kick but rarely uses it. Can mark but prefers to punch.
Itās one or the other for mine and would prefer Ambrose.
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We need to distinguish between the roles of defenders when we set up a zone / press or when their opponent goes āhighā. Under these circumstances our defenders can safely go for marks instead of spoiling, which is required when pushed back inside the arc.
Further, when evaluating performance of any defender on a week to week basis, we need to look at the opponent they are on.
All too often we ignore these factors when evaluating the performance of players.
Harts played well against North, and took a good share of what intercept marks we took. Hurley, Gleeson and Kelly were down in that area in the North game and they smashed us for marks inside 50ā¦
Until Mason arrivesā¦
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Dear Michael
Being a backman means staying with your man, maybe even going with him when he leads, oh and possibly try and spoil the ball too, sort of casually trailing him as he takes a mark and almost knocks us out of the finals is kind of ā ā ā ā and makes you look like an absolute truck of a footballer
three weeks now of the sloppiest most pathetic attempts on not even quick footy players is unacceptable
Kthanksbye
Reckon we donāt have a choice (depending on opposition )
Hurley is terrible 1 on 1 (hopefully he gets back to his 2015 ability regarding this)
For the meanwhile though Ambrose takes on the no 1 KPF, Hartley no 2 and Hurley on the 3rd tall which allows him to zone off
Casboult averages 1.5 goals per game & 5.6 marks per game this year. Against us he got 1.3 & took 6 marks, so he had the very definition of an average game - as did Hartley, but this week you either have a choice of him or Brown & I would take Hartley every day of the week.
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Considering Brown is out after surgery recently yes Hartley gets picked firstā¦
Francis and Dea worth considering.
Neither of them are big enough to play on the big forwards.
When we are coughing the ball up from over possession across half back though, it doesnāt matter who we play, they will get beaten.
Honestly think Hartley will be an AA defender in a few seasons. Laser like kick, great at spoiling and very mobile for his size. Just needs time.
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Needs to take front position more and watch the ball better
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