Player Watch #2 Jacob Hopper

[Lunchtime]

Have said it before, we ruined Hopper the second he walked in and they put him on Jenny Craig and tried to turn him into a generic mid instead of a contested beast. He was a monster at GWS, without his strength he's lost his point of difference.

I reckon you have 100% nailed it. RFC taken away (somewhat) his biggest strength. He isn't a runner. He is an in-an-under player....he's there to get the ball out.

 

[tropicaltiger]

Someone would take him as long as we pay a fair bit of his wage IMO.

why do that? he would know that he needs to lift and he aint an automatic selection anymore, looks pretty fit and the frenetic pace of the game has made his role almost obsolete. I'm hopeful he improves and finds some form and is valuable again, otherwise if he continues to be mediocre with his 22-28 touches he would be one of the best depth players around.

 

[tiger_tough]

why do that? he would know that he needs to lift and he aint an automatic selection anymore, looks pretty fit and the frenetic pace of the game has made his role almost obsolete. I'm hopeful he improves and finds some form and is valuable again, otherwise if he continues to be mediocre with his 22-28 touches he would be one of the best depth players around.

Cos we need to give games to youth and he deserves to be playing regular footy somewhere he will be valued.

 

[Grrr]

Cos we need to give games to youth and he deserves to be playing regular footy somewhere he will be valued.

And where would that be. He is our weakest link in the weakest midfield in the comp. Nobody will take a 30 year old players who is too slow for the game and getting slower.

We will pay out his contract because with the amount of youth coming through and the improvement from Ross and McAuliffe, he will be in the VFL next year otherwise. You would think they front loaded his contract in anticipation.

 

[tiger_tough]

And where would that be. He is our weakest link in the weakest midfield in the comp. Nobody will take a 30 year old players who is too slow for the game and getting slower.

We will pay out his contract because with the amount of youth coming through and the improvement from Ross and McAuliffe, he will be in the VFL next year otherwise. You would think they front loaded his contract in anticipation.

Have you forgotten about Matty Clarke?

 

[Danog]

I reckon you have 100% nailed it. RFC taken away (somewhat) his biggest strength. He isn't a runner. He is an in-an-under player....he's there to get the ball out.

And yet he still can't hit a 2 metre handball half the time

 

[tropicaltiger]

Cos we need to give games to youth and he deserves to be playing regular footy somewhere he will be valued.

just don't think it's a Richmond thing to do I cannot remember anytime in my following of the club we have offloaded someone and paid part of their salary
maybe daffy? would appreciate a memory refresh if anyone can supply

 

[prodigy]

Those saying no one wants him or will trade for him. Did you even watch the segment?
The wording was essentially "clubs are aware that Hopper is gettable".
If they don't want him, why would they even comment on it to journos... or care enough to be made aware of it.

There's going to be a couple clubs out there that have already flagged interest and this was the agent casting the net wider.

 

[Vassp]

And yet he still can't hit a 2 metre handball half the time

yep, the jenny craige line was a classic, he isnt good because he lost wieght, he isnt good because he isnt very good in traffic or under pressure, and can't be accountable to run both ways AT SPEED.

IN all fairness, maybe he just hasn't got it in him to play in a rebuilding side.

 

[Wooden Robot]

And where would that be. He is our weakest link in the weakest midfield in the comp. Nobody will take a 30 year old players who is too slow for the game and getting slower.

We will pay out his contract because with the amount of youth coming through and the improvement from Ross and McAuliffe, he will be in the VFL next year otherwise. You would think they front loaded his contract in anticipation.

Well .... yet to be seen.
Nothing says that the moment all are fit and available we won't go back to a midfield of Hopper, Taranto and Prestia.

 

[Resigned]

just don't think it's a Richmond thing to do I cannot remember anytime in my following of the club we have offloaded someone and paid part of their salary
maybe daffy? would appreciate a memory refresh if anyone can supply

Deledio definitely was per Konrad Marshalls book about the 2017 flag team might have been 150k out of 750k I'm not sure. I think its a rather common practice to pay a little bit of a contract as part of a trade deal, it's just that it's not often reported about unless a club is doing a salary dump.

 

[spky1234]

just don't think it's a Richmond thing to do I cannot remember anytime in my following of the club we have offloaded someone and paid part of their salary
maybe daffy? would appreciate a memory refresh if anyone can supply

A Richmond thing to do is whats best for Richmond and if thats offloading his contract or paying part of it we do it.

This is a fairly new practice.

You think paying him his full salary for his full contract is some pride thing and makes us special lol.

 

[THE_GUN]

Dis you?

View attachment 2603927

Yes we paid up big time for him in terms of picks and salary, but EVERYONE thought we were still in the window, and when you're in the window you have to have a crack and we went all in.

Even Corn thought he was a gun back then.....

Three star midfielders Port Adelaide should target

Will the Power strengthen their midfield in the trade period?

archive.sen.com.au

 

[THE_GUN]

Those saying no one wants him or will trade for him. Did you even watch the segment?
The wording was essentially "clubs are aware that Hopper is gettable".
If they don't want him, why would they even comment on it to journos... or care enough to be made aware of it.

There's going to be a couple clubs out there that have already flagged interest and this was the agent casting the net wider.

Some people only see what they want to see unfortunately



regarding paying part of his salary
What seems to get forgotten is that he came in on $750k x 7 years and this year is his 4th year and 3 remaining
now richmond would have struggled to meet the cap floor in 2025 & 2026 without front loading most contracts we have
balta , taranto , Hopper are really the only long term contracts we could do this with.
I would say we have already paid out at least half whats owed to him and he would be on $300k-$350k for the next 3 years

Not really an issue if we keep or off load

 

[Infamy]

I'm not sure what the fuss is about paying out some of his contract, given our current list profile and free salary cap, I'd be surprised if we haven't prepaid a bunch of it already.

 

[GhostofJimJess]

bummers

Nope. I know you only muck around on BigFooty and are never serious but there's way Essendon take him.

More likely to be GWS, Sydney, Adelaide etc., if they got a good deal.

 

[Groupie_]

Nope. I know you only muck around on BigFooty and are never serious but there's way Essendon take him.

More likely to be GWS, Sydney, Adelaide etc., if they got a good deal.

theyll take him , they have form . for years and years they take meh player after meh player

 

[Daka]

Those saying no one wants him or will trade for him. Did you even watch the segment?
The wording was essentially "clubs are aware that Hopper is gettable".
If they don't want him, why would they even comment on it to journos... or care enough to be made aware of it.

There's going to be a couple clubs out there that have already flagged interest and this was the agent casting the net wider.

Ppl are acting like Hopper is the worst player running around at AFL level, he hasn't had a good year. last year was a lot better.
but we don't really need him with Taranto and the other guys stepping up like Ross & McAuliffe.

There will be interest because their are clubs that need senior body's around a group, we don't need him and never really needed him it was very weird he chose us over Geelong.

 

[Michaels]

just don't think it's a Richmond thing to do I cannot remember anytime in my following of the club we have offloaded someone and paid part of their salary
maybe daffy? would appreciate a memory refresh if anyone can supply

Might be mistaken but I'm pretty sure we had Rioli and Bolton money on our books in some capacity after they got traded too. I feel this happens with most trades of players who still have years to run on the contract. It helps with leverage if you can absorb some of the wage to demand a higher pick from the club they are going to.

Us regaining that money back is part of what has helped form this war chest we now have.

 

[sanaya]

matty clarke if you can hear me please save me

 

[captain cotch 9]

Might be mistaken but I'm pretty sure we had Rioli and Bolton money on our books in some capacity after they got traded too. I feel this happens with most trades of players who still have years to run on the contract. It helps with leverage if you can absorb some of the wage to demand a higher pick from the club they are going to.

Us regaining that money back is part of what has helped form this war chest we now have.

Who'd want Hopper?
I think we'd need to pay a fair chunk to move him on.
Collingwood possibly, Hawks maybe....

 

[Yze does it]

Kidding ourselves if we think anyone is interested in taking a guy who goes at a speed of one-mile an hour and has barely a single defensive attribute to his name.
You'd have to pay half to three-quarters of his salary for someone to be remotely interested.
We're stuck with him.
Hopefully we learn from the experience.

Clayton Oliver got moved on. Dees pay his salary. Hopper's numbers close to Oliver's in 25. Oliver played well enough vs us. Oliver clanger kicked a lot in 25.

Hopper clanger kicks a lot in 26.

 

[Michaels]

Who'd want Hopper?
I think we'd need to pay a fair chunk to move him on.
Collingwood possibly, Hawks maybe....

Not sure which clubs specifically, seems to be multiple interested based on reports, but I believe his contract was front ended (as was Tarantos) so they money owed now wouldn't be very much at all and not really an issue for us to facilitate I wouldn't have thought.

 

[tropicaltiger]

Might be mistaken but I'm pretty sure we had Rioli and Bolton money on our books in some capacity after they got traded too. I feel this happens with most trades of players who still have years to run on the contract. It helps with leverage if you can absorb some of the wage to demand a higher pick from the club they are going to.

Us regaining that money back is part of what has helped form this war chest we now have.

Interesting that we done it discreetly and fairly not dirty washing in public like some clubs Grundy, Oliver etc

 

[Charlie Pannam]

Who'd want Hopper?
I think we'd need to pay a fair chunk to move him on.
Collingwood possibly, Hawks maybe....

Hawks might be a possibility. Newcombe is doing all their grunt work, with Day just about permanently on the sidelines.
They have plenty of outside speed and good ball users, so they could deal with his lack of leg speed and poor foot skills