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Welcome to the Tigers Jacob Hopper
- Thread starter tigerman
- Start date
Ha. All good!
Taranto turned out way better than thought once you see him live every week. Hopps not so much.
So far anyway.
vSony vs Hopper
Bookmark this for end of year.
Haha, I've gotta remember this from now on. Hopper might be PRE's most popular non performer. Scary the backlash saying he's not that good.
PRE apparently has it's whipping boys, and it's sacred cows. Which should be easy to remember, because he runs like one.
Given the outcry, I should qualify my off the cuff comment.
When I say he's not very good, I do mean, as an AFL quality midfielder, he's not that good. He is AFL quality, but I see him as depth for us.
Let's have a think.
If your starting Midfield is a Ruckman, 3 inside/outside midfielders and 2 wingers, does he feature for us?
Ruck: Nank
Mids: Prestia Martin/Bolton Taranto
Wingers: (Doesn't matter cause not Hopper but let's say) Banks Kmac
Who does he displace there?
More critical question, is he better than anyone else there?
(No, cause he's not that good)
Maybe he plays on the bench. Or Maybe Sonsie does (yes, he does). Then there's Graham and Ross. And our bench will be jam-packed anyway trying to get all our running backs in. Somehow have to get Short/Rioli/Baker in a backline with Young, Gibcus, Grimes, Vlastuin, Balta.
And I don't think Hopper is better than any of those players. Will he be battling with Graham for position?
I just don't think he's that good.
Yeah.
As I mentioned earlier, he may be important in a post Martin and Dion era.
But we'll be poorer for that.
My head won’t tell my body what to do. My body wants to, my head doesn’t. It keeps taunting, “winner, winner, chicken dinner,” and my body caves and eats it.
Fantastic field kick and great on the inside when fit and firing. Who’s feeling bored and argumentative?
Prestia is almost finished and very injury prone. Martin is 33 in May and Bolton still a part timer. If Sonsie, Ross, Graham and Ross are all playing better than Hopper then we should all be stoked but they are yet to prove that. A fit Hopper is a must if we are to be competitive with the top sides.
Teams don't just have 3 midfielders and 'bench players' dont exist any more.
I get it..
But if we go back to last year and if Lynch had a goal or our key backs and Nank could have spoiled (oh who says tall blokes cant play football and only get games because their bum and nose are too far apart to scratch both at the same time.)
If if if we make F2 and the cats are the best of a poor bunch.
What then? Prestia has a torn hamstring and doesnt play.
We dont like the result because we have no mid depth.
Hopper may not be a starting mid when we have Dusty Shai Timmy and Dion.
But he was starting mid for a very good giants midfield.
He is good depth.
Dusty Shai and Dion dont need to do 22 weeks of heavy lifting. We want them shiny in September
Hopper is not a flashy mid that seems to be in everything but one of the quieter ones that does the hard stuff so that the flashier ones can do their bit. Not is good to watch as Tarranto but still very important to us and if he stays fit that importance will grow
Bolton Dusty Prestia Taranto Graham is more than 3 midfielders. All in our best 22.
Ross was getting a gig, and performing. Will he? Sonsie's going to play.
Add in Short and Baker who will often be displaced from the backline.
You can say modern footy doesn't have midfielders or bench players, but there are still 18 on the field and 4 on the bench.
We don't need (and can't have) any more midfielders in the side than listed above and still have forwards, backs and rucks.
My hypothesis is that Hopper is battling out with Ross and Graham for a Guernsey this year.
I don't know if anyone would argue he dislodges anyone else. Except the Sonsie non believers, who are obviously wrong.
To me, that puts him fringe in 2024.
The reason we all know that Hopper is a downgrade on any of Dusty Prestia Martin or Taranto, is because we all actually know he isn't that good.
He's probably elite at in an under work. Though the last time he did anything of note there was 2021. The game's changed a lot in the meantime. You need more strings to your bow.
He doesn't spread, two way run, or hurt on the burst. He's not a goal kicking mid, so can't spend time forward. He's not a defensive player, nor does he run contest to contest to link up. He doesn't take mark or move well enough to play wing.
He's a nice kick of the footy, but not enough to have any hurt factor.
Attributes with limitations.
Good depth player.
He's probably elite at in an under work. Though the last time he did anything of note there was 2021. The game's changed a lot in the meantime. You need more strings to your bow.
He doesn't spread, two way run, or hurt on the burst. He's not a goal kicking mid, so can't spend time forward. He's not a defensive player, nor does he run contest to contest to link up. He doesn't take mark or move well enough to play wing.
He's a nice kick of the footy, but not enough to have any hurt factor.
Attributes with limitations.
Good depth player.
Some serious underrating of Hopper as a player.
I only have one concern about him and that is whether he can stay fit for long enough to show us how good a player he is.
Players who do lots of things really well but aren’t flashy always get underrated. That’s Hopper, just a very good all round footballer. Gets the ball, uses it well and makes good decisions.
I only have one concern about him and that is whether he can stay fit for long enough to show us how good a player he is.
Players who do lots of things really well but aren’t flashy always get underrated. That’s Hopper, just a very good all round footballer. Gets the ball, uses it well and makes good decisions.
There might be a bit to this. The Giant$ list manager knew his game better than we do. They didn't do all they could to keep him.
His 2021 stats are pretty similar, not quite as good, as Tarantos 2023 stats.
For a guy who doesnt run contest to contest he gets a lot of the ball. For a guy with no hurt he gets decent score involvement numbers. For a guy with no burst he gets good metres gained.
He hasnt been fit the last 2 years, and it is his fitness, not his ability, which will dictate whether there is any chance he doesnt play every week.
