The fact he only played 70% game time suggests he’s building into the season, he certainly gets to the right spots I reckon he’s taking time to transition to way we play , no problems
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Welcome to the Tigers Jacob Hopper
- Thread starter tigerman
- Start date
To brute or not to brute, that is the question?
Cotchin - 183cm, 85kg
Hopper - 187cm, 86kg
Taranto - 187cm, 88kg
Martin - 187cm, 93kg
I think we are talking 'brute' more in the way they hit the ball, the opponent or go through a pack than the actual 'size' of them.
I always considered Cotchin a brute cause of how he plays the game, but going on his size you may well argue he's not?
If your a Hunky Brute, at 178cm and 94 kegs i must be a tank or maybe just a fat middle aged balding man!
No, the people saying play Sonsie over hopper do realise that.
It's exactly why that suggestion is being made.
I want a class user who is composed and creative in the trenches and can get the ball from inside to outside.
I said it last year when everyone was bemoaning our lack of big body mids. We don't need big bodied mids. We haven't lost big bodied mids.
Our biggest, and least discussed loss, is the loss of Lambert and Edwards. Edwards gave you the kind of clearance that sets up goals, and did it flying through a scrum. Sonsie has a little of that.
Lambert moved from contest to contest, driving the ball forward, linking clearance to outside. Sonsie has a little of that.
Judson is another who has some Lambert about him.
I think Hopper is a good acquisition. He's got seven years to be a Richmond Midfielder. But I don't think he's had a great prep, I don't think he's in good form, and I don't think he's immune from playing VFL.
I'm also not sure where he fits yet. We have lots of big clearance players in the side at the moment, some playing in weird positions. I don't think the mix is right. Hopper, Dusty, Cotchin, Taranto, Prestia are all pure clearance players, though some are being played out of position. To me, the balance looks better with one less of those and Sonsie in the side. Seeing Sonsie play on the weekend, I know why he didn't get picked, he was very clearly underdone. But he won't be very soon.
That’s EXACTLY what Hopper is, if you’ll actually give him some time to settle and not write him off after one game…..
It's easy to completely fabricate a point and then call it ridiculous isn't it?
In no way have I written him off. All I have said is that if we are not playing well, and he is not performing after a couple of weeks he may need a spell in the VFL while he learns how to play Richmond footy.
I'm not sold that what he's doing right now is what we need.
They’re not all the same kind of midfielders though. Prestia and Taranto are transition mids, fantastic two way runners. Cotchin and Hopper are more inside mids who crash in hard but won’t clock up as many kms. Dusty is playing forward if you haven’t noticed. Graham is also a great transition mid and we have Shai who adds the electricity to the mix. We will definitely see Sonsie at stages this season but I highly doubt it’ll be at the expense of Hopper.
“im not sold that what he’s doing right now is what we need” after playing 86 minutes of football. Please just stop
“im not sold that what he’s doing right now is what we need” after playing 86 minutes of football. Please just stop
He's played 3 games in Richmond colours that I've watched this year. And I'm not sold.
It's not a particularly controversial stance, I would have thought. For me, it's a wait to see what happens. On current output and team balance, I'd rather a different mix.
But you seem very upset about this, so maybe it's best to agree to disagree.
I’m not upset I’m frustrated as the same thing happened with Prestia back in 2017, as well as Lynch in 2019 and that frustrated me then too. People need to give these guys a chance. The two I mentioned are now our two most important players yet people were ripping on them unnecessarily in their first few weeks/months with us!
Cant believe how quite you guys give up on a player
Hopper is the exact type of player we have been crying out for for 5 years
Hopper is the exact type of player we have been crying out for for 5 years
Seeing we won two premierships in those 5, I'm not convinced we desperately needed him. One of them was even against him...
Lambert and Edwards are the ones I'm crying over now.
But I also couldn't see Lamberts real value at the start either, so what do I know.
