Lachie Hunter signs 5 year deal

[ScottyDogg]

I have watched Hunter develop into one of the Senior leaders at our club in the middle age bracket. And as much as I want to love him as a player, I can’t help but feel that he does very little damage out there and that his stats aren’t that valuable in terms of team success. Last year was his best season and our team’s worst in a while.

Meanwhile, many commentators and bulldogs supporters have frothed over Andrew Gaff as an elite talent. When you compare the two players stats they are nearly identical. Is it simply a matter of Gaff playing for a better team that can better take advantage of his hard running and accumulation or is he actually a much better player despite being so similar on paper?

 

[dogwatch]

I'm not a massive fan of Hunter - not sure anyone here is really - but I think he's a good player who has found his niche, so I'm happy he has signed up long term.

I agree the published stats are similar. Gaff has about 10% more kicks/disposals and Hunter has about 33% more tackles (but neither of them are tackling machines). Their disposal efficiency is similar but that stat can mask a lot ...

Does Gaff kick sideways as often as Hunter does? Or is he more direct and penetrating? It's easy to rack up effective possessions without actually inflicting any damage if you're mostly doing 20m lateral chip kicks to team mates.
Does Hunter have as many metres gained per game as Gaff?

In other words do we have a stat for "hurt factor" because the absence of that seems to be the most frequent criticism of Hunter.

 

[SayerTheCreator]

There was a passage in JLT2 where Hunter got into a prime spot front and centre from a contest about 40-45m out and snapping a goal almost as soon as he'd grabbed it, it was instantaneous.

He's capable of that damage but I feel like he's not really utilized in that role. He's used somewhat as a stop-gap, stem-the-bleeding type player and gets ridiculed for it.

 

[TiAn_]

Needs to spend more time forward like in 2017. He has some goal sense and it would minimize the damage from his sloppy kicks, e.g. the first goal the Suns scored the other week.

 

[ScragCity]

I'm not a massive fan of Hunter - not sure anyone here is really - but I think he's a good player who has found his niche, so I'm happy he has signed up long term.

I agree the published stats are similar. Gaff has about 10% more kicks/disposals and Hunter has about 33% more tackles (but neither of them are tackling machines). Their disposal efficiency is similar but that stat can mask a lot ...

Does Gaff kick sideways as often as Hunter does? Or is he more direct and penetrating? It's easy to rack up effective possessions without actually inflicting any damage if you're mostly doing 20m lateral chip kicks to team mates.
Does Hunter have as many metres gained per game as Gaff?

In other words do we have a stat for "hurt factor" because the absence of that seems to be the most frequent criticism of Hunter.

Their metres gained last season was virtually identical (388 vs 384). Hunters metres gained compares well to any other outside mid in the comp which is why CD rates him the number one wingman in the league. I honestly think I'm watching a different player to everyone on here. He never makes the flashy plays like the bullet pass into the corridoor etc. but just does an insane amount of solid work.

 

[Sharkey66]

What people seem to be missing here with Hunter is that he is one of the very few on our list that is prepared to gut run all day and give an option for his teammates. On minute he is in the backline giving it off and 30 seconds later he is forward of center in space to receive it. This is something he does all game.

 

[dogwatch]

What people seem to be missing here with Hunter is that he is one of the very few on our list that is prepared to gut run all day and give an option for his teammates. On minute he is in the backline giving it off and 30 seconds later he is forward of center in space to receive it. This is something he does all game.

Maybe some people have missed it but I think he actually gets a lot of credit here for that. Most of the quibbles seem to be with his disposal.

He tested right near the top in his draft year for VO2 (which is why he can run all day) and agility. He also finds the ball a lot (career average 23 disposals, 2018 close to 30/game).

So the question is really: with all those attributes can he learn to do more with the ball?

 

[Virgin Dog]

I'm not a massive fan of Hunter - not sure anyone here is really - but I think he's a good player who has found his niche, so I'm happy he has signed up long term.

I agree the published stats are similar. Gaff has about 10% more kicks/disposals and Hunter has about 33% more tackles (but neither of them are tackling machines). Their disposal efficiency is similar but that stat can mask a lot ...

Does Gaff kick sideways as often as Hunter does? Or is he more direct and penetrating? It's easy to rack up effective possessions without actually inflicting any damage if you're mostly doing 20m lateral chip kicks to team mates.
Does Hunter have as many metres gained per game as Gaff?

In other words do we have a stat for "hurt factor" because the absence of that seems to be the most frequent criticism of Hunter.

Gaff and Hunter were almost identical in metres gained average in 2018 (384.1 vs 388.5)

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy...2=19&type=A&pid1=3842&pid2=3450&fid1=S&fid2=S

 

[Yojimbo]

There are plenty of Wing or Outside Mid types who strip both Gaff and Hunter for metres gained:
Josh Kelly 494.88
Paul Seedsman 492.32
Jared Polec 490.55
Brad Hill 485.90
Mitch Duncan 439.57
Tom Phillips 434.92

Now Uncontested Possessions that is their wheelhouse:
Rank 1: Andrew Gaff 21.32
Rank 2: Rory Laird 21.20
Rank 3: Lachie Hunter 20.52

 

[ossie_21]

Id like to see him be a bit quicker & more direct with the ball, instead of holding the play up running sideways to then only have to kick it backwards/sideways or out to the flanks.

 

[Werewolf]

Contracts don't mean much these days, do they? Anything else going on with us trading Hunter? I saw some posts on Facebook implying he leaked text messages or something?!?

 

[Sentinel]

At the time of signing this Hunter was vice captain and reigning B&F winner.

Just shows how much risk a club takes on with these new age long term deals. I understand why it's done but it can come back to bite you - it doesn't hurt you until it does. Look at GWS with all of their long term deals and the impact it's caused, now Melbourne have taken on a a bunch themselves this year.