Brad Hill: Overweight, slow and a tad soft

[Freomaniac]

His best year was 2017, when he was at Freo

But...not the same player. Sure mate.

He played a role on the hawks 2012-16 period when they made those grand finals. But that was then other mids on that hawks side such as Hodge and Mitchell were the ones you needed to contain.

Brad Hill deserved to win our 2017 Freo best and fairest.

He thrived despite not getting as much help from the Freo mids compared to the hawks.

So that means some of his better games at Freo stood out.

 

[lordo2000]

I can see why dodo is held in such high regard at Essendon look at the powerhouse midfield he has built did you see them in action tonight!

"that midfield" produced more inside 50's and clearances. Not their fault the forward line is hopeless

 

[Tasmanian saint]

"that midfield" produced more inside 50's and clearances. Not their fault the forward line is hopeless

If you count grabbing the ball and bombing it straight in to the opposing teams key defender or resting ruckman yes there great at that ! Even a prime Lloyd and Lucas would struggle with this terrible midfield!

 

[mightymouse75]

Very strange post hills definitely has his weaknesses but skills isn’t one of them has some of the best foot skills in the competitive for hitting targets especially on the run

Yeah but they are not worth a million. How did chops go this weekend.?

 

[DarkSaint]

Yeah but they are not worth a million. How did chops go this weekend.?

Went pretty well actually.

17 touches, 4 score involvements and set up the saints nicely for a win.

Takes the pressure off other players and runs all game. Part of the reason we will be playing finals in 8 years.

 

[schmuttt]

Will be interesting to see how he closes the season out, wasn't bad against the Bombers after a rubbish game against Geelong.

Pretty happy with Langdon considering I wanted Hill a lot more last trade period until we got priced out.

 

[Mesc]

I would love to see Hill back at Freo..or Langdon if he could sort his kicking out.

 

[fnerd]

11 possies and only200 m game , no tackles .
The bloke couldn’t care less for the saints.

Considering we got serong out of it it’s looking like an absolute balls up of a trade from st Kilda again.
Bookmark it will be back at freo in 2 years for pick 80

 

[Ducky Tie]

11 possies and only200 m game , no tackles .
The bloke couldn’t care less for the saints.

Considering we got serong out of it it’s looking like an absolute balls up of a trade from st Kilda again.
Bookmark it will be back at freo in 2 years for pick 80

Poor year from Hill. Needs to do better. Came 6th despite getting little from Hill. If we get some improvement from him next year, plus another pre season into King, Clark and Coffield, we’ll be going alright. Cheers for your concern.

 

[Scotland]

Stats don't tell the full story for anyone because they are down across the board but Hill didn't look damaging most of the time I saw him play this year. When he was at the Dockers (and Hawthorn even though he was younger and not a key player) you didn't want him getting a lot of the ball because of his pace and good kicking skills.

Last year he was #2 for disposals, #1 for uncontested possessions, #1 for kicks, #1 for inside 50s, #1 for bounces at Freo.
This year he was #5 for disposals, #1 for uncontested possessions, #2 for kicks, #5 for inside 50s, #1 for bounces at St Kilda.

Not really worlds apart except you'd like to see him as first or second for inside 50s.

In terms of metres gained he dropped from to #9 to #92. I don't buy the 'new club adapting to game plan' type stuff. He's an outside player. Just put him on the wing and give him the ball.

 

[Extramile]

11 possies and only200 m game , no tackles .
The bloke couldn’t care less for the saints.

Considering we got serong out of it it’s looking like an absolute balls up of a trade from st Kilda again.
Bookmark it will be back at freo in 2 years for pick 80

Big game against GWS and was massive in the final v WB.

 

[projectv]

11 possies and only200 m game , no tackles .
The bloke couldn’t care less for the saints.

Considering we got serong out of it it’s looking like an absolute balls up of a trade from st Kilda again.
Bookmark it will be back at freo in 2 years for pick 80

You're probably right. Although I reckon in 2 years we'll pay him out and he'll retire. Already has his yacht fund sorted.

As bad as the Hill trade looks, every other trade we did last year turned up spades for us.

It's a shame the 1 out of 5 that went against us was so expensive though. He'd better have a good 2021 or I reckon we'll ship him off.

 

[StillAtLarge]

Had a poor year but will benefit from the longer quarters next season. History says Hill does his best work when everyone around him is flagging.

 

[Toump Ass]

If I'm Brett Ratten, I'm taking Bradley aside over the off-season, well, right now actually, and I'm telling him straight up, no bullshit: "Bradley, you're ******* fat mate. Get to the ******* gym".

It's the right thing to do. It doesn't matter if he does the sprinting, it's just not a good look, especially for a young "up and coming" team, when the highest paid player you have is stopping over at KFC after training every day. No more "cheat days" Bradley. Get fit and stop being a soft bastard.

 

[Righteo]

If I'm Brett Ratten, I'm taking Bradley aside over the off-season, well, right now actually, and I'm telling him straight up, no bullshit: "Bradley, you're ******* fat mate. Get to the ******* gym".

It's the right thing to do. It doesn't matter if he does the sprinting, it's just not a good look, especially for a young "up and coming" team, when the highest paid player you have is stopping over at KFC after training every day. No more "cheat days" Bradley. Get fit and stop being a soft bastard.

He's the fittest player in the league, Saints guernsey is just visually fattening imo

 

[Toump Ass]

just visually fattening imo

Gonna use that line next time someone calls me chubby on Tinder.

 

[Scotland]

He's the fittest player in the league, Saints guernsey is just visually fattening imo

He's ****ed if he ever goes to Geelong. Horizontal stripes.

 

[MightySaint]

"Tad" soft. Disgracefully soft is the correct title.

 

[juss]

There was a particular moment yesterday where the Saints season was on the line trailing in a final and he just didn't go when it was his turn. Not an effort he would want shown again in the review to his teammates if he's on 900k for the season.

 

[Freomaniac]

You're probably right. Although I reckon in 2 years we'll pay him out and he'll retire. Already has his yacht fund sorted.

As bad as the Hill trade looks, every other trade we did last year turned up spades for us.

It's a shame the 1 out of 5 that went against us was so expensive though. He'd better have a good 2021 or I reckon we'll ship him off.

don't blame Freo for giving you Brad Hill. Saint Kilda were crazy enough to give him so much cash to the point it was the equivalent of ripping up a lottery ticket.

$900,000 a year for 5-6 years is a lot.

You also have Freos 3rd rounder this year so it's not all that bad.

Gutted for Brad Hill to leave the Dockers last season. Happy what Freo got in return.

Saying that, it would be stupid to pay out his contract with 3-4 seasons to go.

Thats the equivalent of sacking Ross Lyon at the end of the 2017 season with 3 seasons to go. And yes.... I am glad Ross Lyon made it to the end of the 2019 season.

I just hope for your team's sake, Brad Hill plays 100 games and you can recruit his kids 20-25 years down the track.

 

[JuniorWatch]

I did a comparison (now lost and can't be bothered doing it again) of Hill's stats at home (Optus/MCG) which playing for Freo and the Hawks respectively vs away. The key thing to note here is that Optus and the MCG are the 2 biggest home grounds in the league which give Hill space to use his run and collect more of the ball and gain meterage. Hill's numbers are considerably better at these 2 grounds than anywhere else.

For this reason i found it a confusing move from the saints considering Hill's best athletic talents wouldn't be best utilised at Docklands.
More specifically this year, Hill has been playing on smaller boutique grounds more often in sometimes low possession dewy games.
Also as observed above, his game style has been hurt by the shorter quarters.

He will improve next year but not to the level he has at Freo and the Hawks imo.

PS. He's always been as outside as it gets and i don't think he's got any 'softer', just looks useless when he's not getting the ball.

 

[aussierulesrules]

The good thing for us is that we finished 5th and he was very bloody disappointing this year and probably won't finish top 10 in the B&F (despite I think playing every game), so it augurs well for us if he gets his s**t together in the future. Especially back to longer quarters and with a stronger inside group to feed him.

 

[eastfreo75]

Saints fans eat their own.

 

[GeelongFTW]

The good thing for us is that we finished 5th and he was very bloody disappointing this year and probably won't finish top 10 in the B&F (despite I think playing every game), so it augurs well for us if he gets his sh*t together in the future. Especially back to longer quarters and with a stronger inside group to feed him.

6th-WCE 5th

 

[Hot Diggity]

900,000 big ones happened and now he's enjoying his early retirement.

Correct. Three flags, played with his brother - he's achieved probably most of his career goals, so just there now to enhance the super fund.