Certified Legendary Thread Welcome Tim Taranto & Jacob Hopper

[THE_GUN]

I think it's a bit unfair to be judging the impact of Taranto (247 CBA) & Hopper(245 CBA) when their supporting midfielders are the likes of:

Dow 130 CBA (11 games)
McIntosh 110 CBA (11 games, first year ever playing centre square midfield)
Lalor 64 CBA (10 games)
Ross 58 CBA (11 games)
McAuliffe 42 CBA (3 games)

Alongside Nankervis (227 CBA) they're carrying the load when it comes to being the leaders of the midfield. Now they're starting to get some proper support with McAullife being introduced & Prestia to come back in, we'll no doubt start to see a bit of a change up in how the midfield structures up with less reliance on having both of them in the middle at the same time, to try and at least keep us somewhat competitive in the middle.

Unfortunately both Dow and Lalor are hurt and out of the line up while Smillie is yet to get his shot, but I'm quite bullish on how our midfield can function once we do get the mix the way we want when they are all fit and available.

McAuliffe 3 games 42 CBA (14 per game) is actually pretty good
just needs to win them abit more and that will come

 

[Baltastan]

Tell them to get stuffed , We need both these boys for another 3 years and have already paid their salaries for the remainder of their contracts this year so they are all paid for.

Yeah i'm only open to it if we could get overs for Hopper but if we're gonna be totally honest with ourselves any deal definitely would not be in our favour.

 

[THE_GUN]

Yeah i'm only open to it if we could get overs for Hopper but if we're gonna be totally honest with ourselves any deal definitely would not be in our favour.

They are both worth more to richmond than they are in what we could get back for them in a draft pick
We will front end their contracts this year as well as Balta and their contracts will be something like$300k a year for the next 4 years.
But if we look at West Coast and NorF's what they are missing is exactly what taranto and Hopper offer and their kids have no leadership and players like Reid & Wardlaw are suffering as they have no protection

 

[Vassp]

the problem is that they are not leadership players. Not for the modern game. probably last another 2 years max.

 

[Timothy Luncheon]

Interesting that Collingwood has asked the question of both according to tigs

If they're interested then it must mean they're pretty good, and there's some reason our midfield has been terrible for years. But Caracella is our midfield coach, and it surely can't be him? I just don't know why we are genuinely so deplorable in the centre

 

[TheDyerLegacy]

Not bad good size

 

[tiger_tough]

Both fantastic tonight

 

[voorhees]

big games by both men tonight.
kicked there goal opportunitys and racked up disposals.
both hit 30 possession and 5 goals between them.
Hopper again putting his hand up for the Jack Dyer medal award come end of year.

 

[tiger_tough]

Two wins in a row, Taranto and Hoper voted best and 2nd best on the ground by the coaches.

 

[sante]

Two wins in a row, Taranto and Hoper voted best and 2nd best on the ground by the coaches.

Not to downplay their games but Eagles midfield is a bunch of kids and Harley Reid was BOG until Ross went to him

 

[GhostofJimJess]

Not to downplay their games but Eagles midfield is a bunch of kids and Harley Reid was BOG until Ross went to him

I think you're downplaying their games

 

[Turka]

Not to downplay their games but Eagles midfield is a bunch of kids and Harley Reid was BOG until Ross went to him

They've both got it done all year, and against good oppo as well...

 

[Ashman OG]

Can we take a moment to respect what these two are doing for this club currently?

Hopper and Taranto came to RFC expecting success, unfortunately them it hasn't immediately panned out that way. They are however serving our club now in a different way, leading from the front setting the example for our list coming through.

If we never made this trade I believe the development of our kids is impacted and we would be treading water like Norf with a lot of youth but no real decent mature bodies.

Probably need to look at unloading the bag as few more older guys go in the coming years Broad, Prestia, Tigga etc

 

[GhostofJimJess]

Can we take a moment to respect what these two are doing for this club currently?

Hopper and Taranto came to RFC expecting success, unfortunately them it hasn't immediately panned out that way. They are however serving our club now in a different way, leading from the front setting the example for our list coming through.

If we never made this trade I believe the development of our kids is impacted and we would be treading water like Norf with a lot of youth but no real decent mature bodies.

Probably need to look at unloading the bag as few more older guys go in the coming years Broad, Prestia, Tigga etc

They've been magnificent this year. Nobody in their right mind thinks that they're perfect players, and they have a couple of glitches in their games.

But their commitment, application, durability, courage, selflessness and above all leadership this year has been unbelievable.

If somehow we make something out of this new dawn of youngsters in the next 10 years, we will have a great deal to be grateful to TT and Hops for their coming to Tigerland.

 

[tigs2010]

Should be back in finals while they've got years left.

 

[The_Kraken]

They've been magnificent this year. Nobody in their right mind thinks that they're perfect players, and they have a couple of glitches in their games.

But their commitment, application, durability, courage, selflessness and above all leadership this year has been unbelievable.

If somehow we make something out of this new dawn of youngsters in the next 10 years, we will have a great deal to be grateful to TT and Hops for their coming to Tigerland.

They're more than fulfilling their roles, and we're a better team when they're playing. But I bet they're happier playing in the centre for us than being depth players for the Giants.

 

[GhostofJimJess]

They're more than fulfilling their roles, and we're a better team when they're playing. But I bet they're happier playing in the centre for us than being depth players for the Giants.

On Sunday they'll be playing at the MCG in front of a 75k+ crowd, at least half of which will be wearing yellow and black and making more noise than a combined season of GWS crowds.

They were never going to win a flag at the Giants if they'd stuck around, so why not get to experience the footy dream for a massive traditional club in footy's true heartland.