Player Watch #17: James Stewart - Groin injury, not running yet. couple of weeks once he starts running - 23/4

citizen-erased

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I think Ambrose and Brown to a lesser degree are senior fixtures now.

Ambrose in particular has a place in the backline pretty much assured. He would only come through the VFL for fitness reasons not to earn a spot back.
Agree. Ambrose has been our best defender this year and really helped while Hurley was getting back to his best.

question for including Stewart is how we structure up:

McNiece Hooker Bags
Dea* Hurley Kelly
-----
Green Daniher Tippa
Fantasia Stewart Francis

or

McNiece Hartley Bags
Dea* Hurley Kelly
-----
Green Daniher Tippa
Fantasia Hooker Stewart

*Ambrose in the future.

Does he play FF or 3rd tall?

FF means we play Francis as 3rd tall and Hartley doesn't have a spot.
3rd tall means Francis probably doesn't have a spot yet.

Its a shame he isn't a touch taller as he'd be ideal as a ruck given his mobility.
 

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Killer_Mike

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Agree. Ambrose has been our best defender this year and really helped while Hurley was getting back to his best.

question for including Stewart is how we structure up:

McNiece Hooker Bags
Dea* Hurley Kelly
-----
Green Daniher Tippa
Fantasia Stewart Francis

or

McNiece Hartley Bags
Dea* Hurley Kelly
-----
Green Daniher Tippa
Fantasia Hooker Stewart

*Ambrose in the future.

Does he play FF or 3rd tall?

FF means we play Francis as 3rd tall and Hartley doesn't have a spot.
3rd tall means Francis probably doesn't have a spot yet.

Its a shame he isn't a touch taller as he'd be ideal as a ruck given his mobility.
Hooker has again confirmed today that he is a forward so I think we need to move on about him going back. He said he sleeps better at night being a forward because he doesn't have to worry about getting big bags kicked on him:)
 

citizen-erased

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Hooker has again confirmed today that he is a forward so I think we need to move on about him going back. He said he sleeps better at night being a forward because he doesn't have to worry about getting big bags kicked on him:)
its not really Hookers say.
If the team needs him to play back, he should be playing back.

But i don't mind the experiment. Its still early and I'm happy with Hurley, Hartley and Ambrose as our key backs, with Brown and Dea as depth.
So for mine, its Stewart v Francis/Langford.
i prefer Langford/Francis as they will eventually rotate through the middle as well as forward.
Happy to develop Stewart into Hooker's eventual successor.
 

Killer_Mike

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its not really Hookers say.
If the team needs him to play back, he should be playing back.

But i don't mind the experiment. Its still early and I'm happy with Hurley, Hartley and Ambrose as our key backs, with Brown and Dea as depth.
So for mine, its Stewart v Francis/Langford.
i prefer Langford/Francis as they will eventually rotate through the middle as well as forward.
Happy to develop Stewart into Hooker's eventual successor.
I agree its not Hookers say.

The club as a whole have been pretty clear though that Hooker is a forward so I guess discussion around him going back is a non-event.
 

BrunoV

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Hooker should be irrelevant to whether Stewart plays as they play almost completely different styles.

The need for the occasional run up the ground aside, Hooker is the rare breed of player who is genuinely at his best under a high ball. He's a good player to "sit in the goal square" (or whatever the modern version of that is) and target with long kicks. He's kicking the best part of two goals a game monstering a defender in the goal square, playing on and running into an open goal. With Joe being the best part of an 80m player it creates a dilemma for an opposition coach who needs to work out whether it's more important to cut off the source or to try to stop Hooker.

Stewart is a leading forward. It's another one of these stupid scenarios where the only reason we are even having the debate is because on paper he is 3 or 4 cm too tall.
 

TheFrenchCut

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After all this time, I'm hoping to finally get a chance to see "Mr Smith goes to W̶a̶s̶h̶i̶n̶g̶t̶o̶n̶ Western Australia". I've heard good things.
 

yaco55

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its not really Hookers say.
If the team needs him to play back, he should be playing back.

But i don't mind the experiment. Its still early and I'm happy with Hurley, Hartley and Ambrose as our key backs, with Brown and Dea as depth.
So for mine, its Stewart v Francis/Langford.
i prefer Langford/Francis as they will eventually rotate through the middle as well as forward.
Happy to develop Stewart into Hooker's eventual successor.
Seriously - Hooker is playing forward under coaches instructions - There is also the case of the playing group wanting him forward - Stewart is a completely different player to Hooker - Stewart could play this week but it will be to complement Hooker.
 

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Play him ffs, how many times in a row is this poor kid gonna be named on the 'extended bench' and not get a gig!?
Yeah I agree.

Whats the point of getting him if we are just going to leave him in the VFL? Need to find out if he can string it together in the seniors he can obviously play.
 

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Surely he's earnt a chance though? He's worked a lot harder than Langford or Green who have been getting games ahead of him.
He's 196cm and seems to be a depth tall forward (cover for Daniher), whereas Langford is a 190cm medium forward/midfield prospect and Green is a 176cm small forward (card-carrying member of the mosquito fleet).

I'm not saying he hasn't worked hard, but if he's coming in for those guys then they'd have to change the structure and game plan to suit, which they don't seem to be likely to do. I don't think he's pushing either Daniher or Hooker out of their spots in the team (and he plays a different style to Hooker anyway so might not be suited to take his place as a stay home marking target).

The other thing is I think they're trying to get the forward line to gel by playing the same players together and backing them in, which so far seems to be working if you look at the conversion rate (inside 50s are a whole other issue, can't blame the guys inside the arc for that). Green, Colyer, Fantasia, Walla, Daniher and Hooker have all been selected whenever they've been available, which is every single game all year except for two games when Green had a hamstring strain. Langford and Francis have shared a spot between them, which is 7 spots total (I think there's a midfield rotation shared between all seven as well).
 

bombreys

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He's 196cm and seems to be a depth tall forward (cover for Daniher), whereas Langford is a 190cm medium forward/midfield prospect and Green is a 176cm small forward (card-carrying member of the mosquito fleet).

I'm not saying he hasn't worked hard, but if he's coming in for those guys then they'd have to change the structure and game plan to suit, which they don't seem to be likely to do. I don't think he's pushing either Daniher or Hooker out of their spots in the team (and he plays a different style to Hooker anyway so might not be suited to take his place as a stay home marking target).

The other thing is I think they're trying to get the forward line to gel by playing the same players together and backing them in, which so far seems to be working if you look at the conversion rate (inside 50s are a whole other issue, can't blame the guys inside the arc for that). Green, Colyer, Fantasia, Walla, Daniher and Hooker have all been selected whenever they've been available, which is every single game all year except for two games when Green had a hamstring strain. Langford and Francis have shared a spot between them, which is 7 spots total (I think there's a midfield rotation shared between all seven as well).
I get what you're saying and they're good points, I just don't think we've got anything to lose at this point.
 

Killer_Mike

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Hayden Skipworth mentioned in todays edition of Bomber Radio that he's very happy with the work that James has put in, and that it's on the agenda to try three talls sooner rather than later!

With Henderson a chance to miss it could be great opportunity to road test the three big man setup on the wider expanses of the "G"!

In front of a big crowd at the MCG could be a great time to unleash him!?
 
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