View Full Version : Hunt thrown a lifeline
scottydeewah
11 Nov 2005, 08:51
Lets not talk about his kicking in which is amazing, although not as high quality last year.
Because Sando has left i think he will definately get to play a while. However he did get beaten a few times last year very convincingly. I still rate him as a player but truth be told he needs to step up a little this year I think. He started last year amazingly, ON FIRE, but really tapered off and by three quarters of the way through looked out of place. Needs to beat his man more often and gets outclassed by players with pace. More a run straight player than anything fancy. What are people thoughts?
Bit harsh!
With Woj out with injury Hunt was having to play on the blokes that Woj would normally pick up.
I would put him in the team just for the kickouts.
G_Money
11 Nov 2005, 09:55
Lets not talk about his kicking in which is amazing, although not as high quality last year.
Because Sando has left i think he will definately get to play a while. However he did get beaten a few times last year very convincingly. I still rate him as a player but truth be told he needs to step up a little this year I think. He started last year amazingly, ON FIRE, but really tapered off and by three quarters of the way through looked out of place. Needs to beat his man more often and gets outclassed by players with pace. More a run straight player than anything fancy. What are people thoughts?
Bit of a bizarre post, in my opinion. As for the title, how does a bloke who has played almost every game over the last two years need a 'lifiline'?
Josh is not the best player defensively, and our achilles heel is that we lack a genuine lock down small defender (our achilles heel is also that Steven King's achilles is buggered). Dave Johnson seems to be the best prospect for the job, although I would like to see Tim Callan get an extended run in that position.
When you look through the 'Geelong's best 22' thread, or whatever it is called, you see two or three specialist defenders in the backline of most people's teams (Scarlett, Harley, Egan) then a handful of on ballers who are really just listed in the backline because they have to go somewhere. Guys like Corey, Milburn, Enright, Mooney, Wojcinski and Hunt are not great at locking guys down, but they provide great run out of defence. Jarrad Rooke too at the end of the season showed that he is a midfielder who has been asked to play a role in defence that dosesn't suit him.
That, in my opnion is why we have struggled to score on occasion; not because of our forward line, but because our midfielders have to work down into the backline to support those non-defencive backline players we have.
Back to Josh Hunt, I think he improved his defensive skills markedly this year, and that was a big part of the 'Most Improved' award he won. However he is not fast/disciplined enough to really put the clamps on guys like Nathan Brown,Aaron Davey, Stephen Milne etc. when those guys are playing well. As a backman, you only need to let your guard down for a few seconds each quarter to find that your man has bagged four or five goals, and Josh's opponents do sometimes give him the slip.
Regardless, I think Josh will be part of the team for years to come. I see him as a definite 150 game player, not a drowning man in need of a lifeline.
GM
Must disagree.
Had Nick Davis not fluked that last goal this post would not even exist.
Josh Hunt had a very good year and showed why we persisted with him on the list for a long time early on when he kept getting injured.
Add Wojcinski to the side and all of a sudden Davey, Milne (even though Hunt beat him) ect are held. Josh Hunt proved his worth with his marking ability & penetrating kicking and it was probably his confidence of backing himself in that caused a few goals to slip through rather than him getting beaten.
In the starting 18 week in week out.
Because Sando has left i think he will definately get to play a while.
I can't see how things would be any different if Sando stayed.Hunt would keep his spot
However he did get beaten a few times last year very convincingly.
So did players like Scarlett and Harley
scottydeewah
11 Nov 2005, 13:52
Fair enough...I did say i thought he was a good player. I just thought if Sando stayed and Woji coming back in and Eagan permenent defender now that Josh really isnt in our best defensive unit. I would like to see him in the team but there is no doubt he got beaten badly in the second half of the year and had no excuses like injuries. Harley was injured and Matty never got towled.
Maybe i should put my point better. I just think Hunt needs to improve his defensive skills or he risks being replaced. It is all good that he can kick out but he needs to keep his man under control.
And BTW he got 4 kicked on him in a quarter and two were BLATENTLY just poor defending and breaking a defenders golden rules of goal side at a ball up or throwin. And it happened in more than one game in the second half of the season.
But since people dont agree. CLOSE THE THREAD ;)
Must disagree.
Had Nick Davis not fluked that last goal this post would not even exist.
Josh Hunt had a very good year and showed why we persisted with him on the list for a long time early on when he kept getting injured.
Add Wojcinski to the side and all of a sudden Davey, Milne (even though Hunt beat him) ect are held. Josh Hunt proved his worth with his marking ability & penetrating kicking and it was probably his confidence of backing himself in that caused a few goals to slip through rather than him getting beaten.
In the starting 18 week in week out.
I dont agree with Hunt being thrown a lifeline - in fact he's a key player in our team and regardless of who comes/goes he'll be there every week next season when he's fit.
However Nick Davis didn't fluke anything, u refer to 'that goal' ... what about 'those goals' before 'that goal' that got Sydney back into the contest?
No doubt Hunt got flogged by Davis in the last Qtr - however there was no fluking going on - iv never played an AFL game in my life and i know that if ur a defender u should always be goalside of ur opponent around stoppages - Hunt wasn't goalside of Davis when the ball was bounced - game over!
Regardless of a few bad performances, he's never going to be dropped unless his form decreases by a further 50% - his kicking is to much of a valuable asset on the way out of defence.
Rather than thinking of him not playing well because he was beaten, think of this ...
everytime Gary Ablett plays well he beats his defender (2/3 weeks)
everytime Nathan Brown plays well he beats his defender (everyweek in '05)
everytime James Hird plays well he beats his defender (more often than not over his career)
see a trend? defenders always get beaten when a forward plays well - its not a rare thing, the point is we shouldnt take things abit too far when our 'offensive' defender has goals kicked on him...
But since people dont agree. CLOSE THE THREAD ;)
We all agree.It's just you that doesn't. :D
Tweak Talent
11 Nov 2005, 19:57
He wasn't thrown a lifeline, he'll play many more games for the gfc for many years to come!
LifeSpan-Void
11 Nov 2005, 23:27
Josh wasn't a well boy for the last few games of the season. I'd take an educated guess and say that he had mild complications from his appendix op. I feel better when he is in the side than out.
scottydeewah
12 Nov 2005, 00:02
We all agree.It's just you that doesn't.
LMFAO - haha true. I think he shoudl be in the team, but needs to improve.
scottydeewah
12 Nov 2005, 02:24
Okay let me sum up what i am trying to say.
Hunt should rightly be in our team and I do rate him as a player. BUT
If it were not for the fact that he was the best kick in in the league he would not get a game as his defence skills are not very strong. He lacks pace, isnt particulary strong over head and makes errors on where to place his body etc on many occasions. He needs to improve. I was not aware of him playing injured at the end of last year but aside from a blistering start he fell off sharply and was not too effective. His kicking out was definately not as good as 04 either.
Can he continue to live on as just a good kickout. Can we afford to have a player in the backline whose defensive skills may not be up to it just cause he can kick out? If another player surpases him in all skills aside kicking out, who should play?
I think he needs to improve his defencive skills to remain as an automatic inclusion in our team
Is that clearer?
Bad initial post by me, bad heading
Lick my nuts
Scotty ;)
scottydeewah
12 Nov 2005, 02:27
lol kickout...um kickin!!!
everyone's entitled to their opinion scotty, yours is just wrong :P
i think you're over emphasizing the games where he got beaten. believe it or not, people will get beaten by their opponent over the year. Josh has weaknesses, which i'm sure him & the staff will be aware of, and hopefully they'll work on that in future, but he's not as bad as you make him out to be.
scottydeewah
12 Nov 2005, 08:47
Fair enough, well i am back in my box.
I ADMIT TO MY WRONG DOINGS
*bows head in shame*
and i hope i am NEVER proven right - on this topic.
WestCat
12 Nov 2005, 13:44
I think everyong can see what you're saying Scotty, because despite his great start to the season, he did struggle a bit in the second half of the season and especially after his appendix problem. I thought he did improve a lot though this year, if you compare his defensive side of this year to last year you'll see a huge improvement, last year he was just in the side for his kickins, now he is not.
What you do have to remember is that although Josh is about 22 or 23, he missed a good year and a half through injuries when he was just getting into the swing of AFL footy and this really set him back in his development. If you look at his games just before he suffered these injuries he was a very promising youngster with a fantastic left hoof, a solid body and enough pace to survive, basically where he was at the end of last year. He's now at the next level of playing good footy but not consistently, given another year he'll gain that consistency and you'll see a very good player emerge.
He has the assets to make it, he just needs the consistency. The return of Woji and the potential emergence of Callan should also take some pressure off him as he will no longer be the man to take the quick smalls, he'll get the players who he can keep up with and outmuscle. In regards to his reading of the play, I thought that this was one area where he really improved and was the reason behind his strong start to the season. He was positioning his body well and outmarking his opponent rather than just spoiling, which seems to be a trademark of the Geelong defence.
Overall, I have no doubts he'll become a very good small defender and will be rated right up there as soon as next year.
Oh yeah, and on another note, Scarlett got towelled up by Neitz, Lloyd and a few others early in the season when they kicked bags of 5 on him. So everyone does play badly at some stage :D
carn_the_cattas
12 Nov 2005, 14:44
Oh yeah, and on another note, Scarlett got towelled up by Neitz, Lloyd and a few others early in the season when they kicked bags of 5 on him. So everyone does play badly at some stage :D
Lets hope Scarlo picks up from the end of last season and makes sure full fowards can't kick goals. :D
LifeSpan-Void
12 Nov 2005, 15:42
aslo keep in mind that Josh is his own harshest critic - they don't call him the Machine for nothing...
Can't see any sense in this thread. he will be a 150 game + guy and for a guy his weight he is quite fast. it isn't easy carrying that weight around. last year he was on the sheet at around 100kg. My favorite player in the team and probably the only guy i'd go gay for!
Leave (Mike) Hunt alone!!!
Partridge
16 Nov 2005, 11:38
However he is not fast/disciplined enough to really put the clamps on guys like Nathan Brown,Aaron Davey, Stephen Milne etc. when those guys are playing well.
I'm being selective as I agree with your post, but I have to chirp in about Nathan Brown, Stephen Milne and Aaron Davey. Hunt kept Brown to 3 goals in round 1 (1 from a diabolical freekick), killed Milne in round 7, and then in the final against Melbourne absolutely destroyed Davey.
He's getting better all the time. Haven't seen his best yet.
scottydeewah
8 May 2006, 15:38
bump....f*ck rip a mans head off when he says something but now the knives are out.
TheTimeCometh
8 May 2006, 16:34
half of this thread is about his kicking -m now that that has dipped where can the positives keep comin from?
watching, say, from the pockets against the dogs and dees, his opp-marking and spoiling appears to leave alot to be desired. mayb's a chance btwn HF and HB - y'know - free up the kickin', runnin thru lines (still has that ability).
Renegade
8 May 2006, 18:53
When Harley comes back i want to see Hunt push up and have the odd run through the wing and to half forward. He was ok last week when doing that. Only problem is that Bummer Thompson is a dimwit and will have him in a back pocket.