JLT 2 vs Geelong, Colac, Sunday 11/3/18 1.05pm Fox

McGrath bursting out of the midfield side stepping players then hitting up green from 50 rather than blazing away was a sight to see. I had to rewind and watch again.

Also that McNeice tackle, the Long pickup, hand off to devon smith and run down the wing and deliver forward was also another great bit of play.

Rare praise from Ivan for Myers, good to see. Iā€™m in the minority here where I rate Myers as a very important player for us for the next 2 seasons.

This is where I see McGrath causing a lot of damage later in games this season, where he is less likely to be smashed than in the first half of games.

The underselling of Hookerā€™s 2017 is borderline embarrassing. I usually enjoy your posts but jeepers thatā€™s way off.

How many times did Hooker get us over the line or back into games? He clunked pack marks. Defenders didnā€™t know whether to double him or JD. The defensive pressure that was off JD due to Hooksy in the forward line is immeasurable.

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And Hooker helps Stewarts game by him getting third best tall, when Stewart has second best he usually gets smashed.
Interesting prospect for opposition defence they need there tallest defender for Daniher And Strongest for Hooker.
We also need to hit up Hooker more when he has a good matchup.

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If the sub rule was a thing iā€™d consider long for it r1.

actually like what hes done. but not sure it warrants a seniors selection.

You only have to look at the North game. His goals got us over the line. But, you could also say having him back would have stopped Sideshow Brown. Good arguments for forward or back.

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Yeah Brown would have been a perfect match-up for Hooksy. Would have been a great battle.

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Myers was good on the weekend, played his role.

I thought Long was pretty good too when he came on in the last quarter. Seemed a bit more focussed than the previous game. These is something in there to work with.

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This is kinda my thingā€¦ as I said we kinda need one of him up forward and down back. I guess I have expressed it completely incorrectly, he absolutely has an impact up forward both measurable and immeasurableā€¦ but I personally just feel he has more value down back.

That North game is the perfect exampleā€¦ his goals were the difference but they were scored against a young defender and maybe we donā€™t need those goals if we werenā€™t leaking so many down backā€¦ particularly with forwards like Brown and Hawkins ripping us a new one every time.

I think there are truly good arguments to play him in either position, hence why I wanted to be clear that is just my personal opinion to have him back.

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Does anyone know where the replay is for Sunday (aside from the AFL site where you need to pay), thanks

Was anyone on the wing in the last when ambrose spear tackled some poor Geelong kid?

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there inlies somewhat of the problem. in that example, there is a spare man lose and instead of trying to find them, they have bombed it long to hooker blocking 2 players and daniher in a 1 on 1.
instead of finding the loose man.

I know itā€™s not as simple as that. but kicking the ball long and hoping hooker can just mark in a shitstorm of opposition players trying to maul him and daniher is not smart tactically.

It reminds me of the whole when zoning came in, too many people were stuck in the mindset, oh that wonā€™t work, you need to play man on man, because itā€™s all they knew and understood.

Long bombing to contested situations is not going to be the best way to win games. The trend is and has diverted from that.
cos once you nullify that aspect of a team who plays that way, their whole system falls apart.

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Oops!

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The tactic of kicking long to Hooker isnā€™t that bad of an option. He rarely gets marked against and we were scoring from every second inside 50. The best position to defend is within your 50.
Also last years grand final and Richmondā€™s style goes completely against your last paragraph.

I actually think you mentioned it in here before I did and I had it in the back of my mind when I re-watched it.

I donā€™t care how we do it, I want a win.

Given it resulted in one of the highest conversions of F50 entries into scores in the league last year, hell yes. Our issue was not enough F50 entries, not what we did with it when it got there.

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Itā€™s not just about Hooker marking & kicking goals. Itā€™s also about him not being outmarked & bringing ball to ground for our dangerous smalls who then kick goals themselves.

Whereas JD and Stewart can both be outbodied in a wrestle, Hooker pretty much cannot, and the strongest kpd has to go to him which allows the other two better match ups. Stewart in particular will always get someone shorter also.

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I do think itā€™s a fair point to raise, however, that when Hooker missed games we were mostly screwed. And a game plan that falls apart with a single player missing is not ideal.

Edit: which I suppose is a depth issue rather than a style issue. But then again if we had credible depth at that position Hooker wouldnā€™t be playing there in the first place.

Wasnā€™t everyone coming from the line though through that period?
We looked better with extra numbers throughout I thought.