Thanks for the info Aussie! Hope to see him at his best this week.I'm obviously not Joop, but after a really impressive start to his first year (including a 29 possie (15 contested), 2 goal, 7 clearance, 2 Brownlow vote game, against West Coast in Perth, in just his 3rd game) he injured his shoulder pretty badly about 10 or so games into that season and it required a reconstruction, but he toughed it out for several more weeks, before they finally pulled the pin on his year and gave him the reco, ending his season early.
It was reported recently that he then had a lot of ongoing issues with his reconstructed shoulder throughout last season and it seemed to clearly affect his form and then his confidence and he really only played to what I consider his best for about half of one game for the whole year. We also obviously tried to protect the shoulder, as he didn't spend anywhere near as much time in the guts (by far his best position) as he otherwise would have been expected to- especially after Lenny's retirement opened up a spot.
So now it's probably just a matter of him getting his confidence and form back, with his shoulder supposedly now OK again. Had 6 clearances and 9 tackles on the weekend, but just 10 possessions, so he's clearly still got a ways to go and only time will tell if he gets back to his best, pre-shoulder form and then surpasses it.
He's now almost certainly been passed by Seb Ross in the pecking order in the guts though and Sam Gilbert is another who is playing consistently good footy in there, and looks very likely to benefit from having done a preseason for the first time in about 3 years. There looks to be a lot more competition for spots in there than there was last year, when Armo and Steven in particular carried a huge load, so Luke will have to fight for a spot. Blake Acres would be breathing down his neck as well and was super-stiff to be dropped this week.
All the best on the weekend. Hope it's a cracker of a game in front of a packed house, with no injuries. The atmosphere at Etihad when it's chockers and the roof is on can be amazing!
Also, can't remember the last time I went to a doggies game chockers at Etihad! Can't wait for it !