AFL Player #25: Jake Stringer - Dead-eye

[Lore]

Contract Status: Out of contract 2024
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 19, Harlequin

 

[Seb78]

Needs to drop 4-5 kegs in the off season and get back in prime shape for 2021. Not in good nick at all.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

Forgot he was out there tbh.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Doesn’t look that different in shape to when he dominated against the Pies. Being off the leg for few weeks didn’t help fitness wise...still offers more than Townsend

 

[Zach Package]

First time post syndesmosis that he’s shown some semblance of power through the legs, and shock horror, he ran through about 10 blokes and no one even looked like tackling him.

He’s clearly not completely fit and was brought back way too early but he can physically impose himself on contests like few can.

A very important player for us.

 

[andleanback]

First time post syndesmosis that he’s shown some semblance of power through the legs, and shock horror, he ran through about 10 blokes and no one even looked like tackling him.

He’s clearly not completely fit and was brought back way too early but he can physically impose himself on contests like few can.

A very important player for us.

I’d put him in cotton wool for the rest of the season, clearly not fit, not much to gain by playing him. It’s a contract year for him next year, so i imagine he’ll want to get himself into top Nick in the preseason.

 

[yodellinhank]

First time post syndesmosis that he’s shown some semblance of power through the legs, and shock horror, he ran through about 10 blokes and no one even looked like tackling him.

He’s clearly not completely fit and was brought back way too early but he can physically impose himself on contests like few can.

A very important player for us.

Nah. He's a relic. Forwards these days need to impose themselves aerially and/or through work rate. He can't do either. Days of muscling a guy out in the square are long gone.

We can pretend the forwardline ceased to function when Jake arrived purely by coinkydink or we can get serious.

 

[Zach Package]

Nah. He's a relic. Forwards these days need to impose themselves aerially and/or through work rate. He can't do either. Days of muscling a guy out in the square are long gone.

We can pretend the forwardline ceased to function when Jake arrived purely by coinkydink or we can get serious.

You can pretend whatever the hell you want, I daresay the forward line ceased to function when Jake arrived because the group of blokes that had it humming have literally never played together ever again. It blew up.

He was going to comfortably finish top 10 in the Coleman if he didn’t do his ankle this year but I guess that’s too many goals for us.

 

[citizen-erased]

Nah. He's a relic. Forwards these days need to impose themselves aerially and/or through work rate. He can't do either. Days of muscling a guy out in the square are long gone.

We can pretend the forwardline ceased to function when Jake arrived purely by coinkydink or we can get serious.

With a tank, he's playing that Danger/Dusty role for us. It's a shame he doesn't have it, cos he and Draper would give us some presence at the centre bounces.

 

[yodellinhank]

You can pretend whatever the hell you want, I daresay the forward line ceased to function when Jake arrived because the group of blokes that had it humming have literally never played together ever again. It blew up.

He was going to comfortably finish top 10 in the Coleman if he didn’t do his ankle this year but I guess that’s too many goals for us.

There isn't a premiership team that has ever taken the field together again. The game isn't about individuals, its about system. Jake threw out the system. He's what blew it up. He's a dinosaur.

With a tank, he's playing that Danger/Dusty role for us. It's a shame he doesn't have it, cos he and Draper would give us some presence at the centre bounces.

No secret we thought he could be a mid. We mucked around the first few weeks he arrived trying to get it to work. People thought we were mad. He's never had the tank they said. They were right, we were mad. He doesn't have the skill set.

We can keep trying to sort this peg into a hole, the problem is the hole he fits was left back in the early 2000s.

 

[blitzer]

Honestly he isn't the most dedicated trainer so I doubt he's going to be as good as others when coming back from a long lay-off. That said he was immensely valuable early in the season when he was fit.

I think he's worth putting the work in. He's a bloke that can kick goals out of nothing and can really disrupt the flow of games. Those kind of attributes are rare.

At least even when he's not playing well he still finds a way to jag a goal or two.

 

[Zach Package]

There isn't a premiership team that has ever taken the field together again. The game isn't about individuals, its about system. Jake threw out the system. He's what blew it up. He's a dinosaur.

Complete bullshit. You can’t disrupt something that hasn’t existed for 15 years.

If this so called system existed then scoring wouldn’t have completely cliffed when that neucleus of Fantasia, Daniher, Hooker, AMT and Stewart fell a part. It somehow worked despite it being all slapstick, mostly off the back of genuine individual brilliance from Daniher, Fantasia and Walla with Hooker and Stewart straightening us up.

Then 140 goals fell out of it just as Stringer arrived at the club and the structural component became Shaun McKernan.

You can’t bemoan a bloke who is as good as creating for himself as anyone in the competition but at the same time long for the good old days where literally all we did was fly by the seat of our pants.

 

[fairbump_playon]

The 4th quarter moment where his jersey was pulled up... rough viewing

I had thought it might have been 3-5kgs he was over. Looks more like 8.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Crucial player going forward. Watch the Pies game for what he can do. He seems like a guy who just needs more time to recover/regain fitness from foot/leg injuries where there’s a period of no running

 

[Schnitzengruben]

The 4th quarter moment where his jersey was pulled up... rough viewing

I had thought it might have been 3-5kgs he was over. Looks more like 8.

You notice how when some blokes get their jumper ripped, they like to walk around with it like that for a bit of fan service? Contrast that with how quickly Jake pulled his down....

 

[fairbump_playon]

You notice how when some blokes get their jumper ripped, they like to walk around with it like that for a bit of fan service? Contrast that with how quickly Jake pulled his down....

It was like we had busted in on him in the shower

 

[Mercurial89]

Nothing better than crippled ex players and people on the internet judging a footballer who no matter how he looks is one of the most explosive players on an AFL field.

 

[Lore]

Nothing better than crippled ex players and people on the internet judging a footballer who no matter how he looks is one of the most explosive players on an AFL field.

Got his rig on the front page of the AFL website tonight:



The issue appears to be overstated.

 

[fairbump_playon]

Nothing better than crippled ex players and people on the internet judging a footballer who no matter how he looks is one of the most explosive players on an AFL field.

Woo up. Noone’s saying he’s not explosive. Capable of elite footy and had a great start to the year both in performance and attitude. Injury obviously didn’t help but it’s clear he needs to be a lot fitter to be explosive for more than 4 or 5 disposals a game, and I don’t think you would have to be a non crippled current player to make that call.

Jake gets a free pass for this block of games. I have no doubt he will be in good nick come round one next year. Fitness just doesn’t come as easily for him as it does for some
others.

 

[Lore]

Bit over the fat shaming stuff to be honest and it’s not just in this thread but also in sections of the media. It’s so overly simplistic it isn’t funny.

I don’t remember Stringer ever being ripped, but I’m pretty sure his best performances were not simply because he was a little leaner.

I wish there was something like this clip about male athletes and footy in particular. It makes me wonder what sort of support there really is in AFL clubs and with men’s health being what it is (particularly mental health, which is so stigmatised it’s not funny). https://www.instagram.com/tv/CFMUUMcg2ur/

Closest thing I can find seems to be this old article from the AFLPA. Seems no one wants to talk about it: http://www.aflplayers.com.au/article/becoming-lance/

 

[fairbump_playon]

Bit over the fat shaming stuff to be honest and it’s not just in this thread but also in sections of the media. It’s so overly simplistic it isn’t funny.

I don’t remember Stringer ever being ripped, but I’m pretty sure his best performances were not simply because he was a little leaner.

I wish there was something like this clip about male athletes and footy in particular. It makes me wonder what sort of support there really is in AFL clubs and with men’s health being what it is (particularly mental health, which is so stigmatised it’s not funny). https://www.instagram.com/tv/CFMUUMcg2ur/

Closest thing I can find seems to be this old article from the AFLPA. Seems no one wants to talk about it: http://www.aflplayers.com.au/article/becoming-lance/

Fair call Lore. I have reflected on my post above about his weight and wouldn't write that again.

I sincerely hope that no Essendon players read this forum and I generally post with that assumption. Maybe that's foolish. I probably need to think more about whether I'm happy to stand by what I post before I post it.

AFL is a mental health minefield for players even without any direct, personal criticism. Professional sport is a perfect combo of challenges. The results are very high stakes, all your errors are very public, you are paid well and have a lot to lose - along with massive career uncertainty. You deal with pain constantly and are expected to keep going. And you never get to explain or defend yourself.

Separate to all that - it's well documented that Stringer struggles for "tank". I love his team commitment, power and skill.. but I do believe that his performances can only improve as he gets fitter. While others may disagree, I believe that's still a valid thing to express here... but will aim to do that in a more generous and even way.

 

[Lore]

Fair call Lore. I have reflected on my post above about his weight and wouldn't write that again.

I sincerely hope that no Essendon players read this forum and I generally post with that assumption. Maybe that's foolish. I probably need to think more about whether I'm happy to stand by what I post before I post it.

AFL is a mental health minefield for players even without any direct, personal criticism. Professional sport is a perfect combo of challenges. The results are very high stakes, all your errors are very public, you are paid well and have a lot to lose - along with massive career uncertainty. You deal with pain constantly and are expected to keep going. And you never get to explain or defend yourself.

Wasn't just directed at you, in fact I didn't remember who said it, only that it's been said a couple of times. Bruce McAvaney is the one that sticks in my head the most, but it's not even just him either.

We know for a fact that players do read the forum. They shouldn't, because it's severely unhealthy and doesn't help them at all, if anything it's detrimental to their performance and getting themselves in the right headspace to perform at their peak (as with any social media, or reading news about themselves), but some players from other clubs have mentioned BigFooty publicly and attending the player sponsor night you can talk to them and according to our own players lots of them do read it.

Separate to all that - it's well documented that Stringer struggles for "tank". I love his team commitment, power and skill.. but I do believe that his performances can only improve as he gets fitter. While others may disagree, I believe that's still a valid thing to express here... but will aim to do that in a more generous and even way.

Tank isn't equivalent to skin folds, there are plenty of people in the world with low body fat % that also have low endurance.

 

[fairbump_playon]

Wasn't just directed at you, in fact I didn't remember who said it, only that it's been said a couple of times. Bruce McAvaney is the one that sticks in my head the most, but it's not even just him either.

We know for a fact that players do read the forum. They shouldn't, because it's severely unhealthy and doesn't help them at all, if anything it's detrimental to their performance and getting themselves in the right headspace to perform at their peak (as with any social media, or reading news about themselves), but some players from other clubs have mentioned BigFooty publicly and attending the player sponsor night you can talk to them and according to our own players lots of them do read it.

Tank isn't equivalent to skin folds, there are plenty of people in the world with low body fat % that also have low endurance.

Re players reading the forum - urrgh. That will really change things for me in terms of how I express myself.

Re tank - I agree that you can't look at two separate players and know who has more running power simply by comparing their skin folds.

However, when you are talking about one specific player and their changing fitness over time, I think it's pretty safe to say that changes (for better or worse) in skin folds would correlate pretty neatly with changes in their running endurance.

 

[Mr Bultitude]

I personally enjoy seeing a player out there with a bit of, for lack of a better term, an "average" rig. Makes the sport a bit more human and less of a fashioned spectacle.

 

[Lore]

Re tank - I agree that you can't look at two separate players and know who has more running power simply by comparing their skin folds.

However, when you are talking about one specific player and their changing fitness over time, I think it's pretty safe to say that changes (for better or worse) in skin folds would correlate pretty neatly with changes in their running endurance.

As far as I know, the strategy for reducing skinfolds is to do with restricting diet, and the strategy for increasing endurance is lots of cardio, which requires increased fuelling. There's also a bunch of stuff about fast twitch fibres and that sort of thing but I'm not qualified in health sciences so I'd probably rather leave that sort of commentary to those who are. Suffice to say I don't think the correlation is indicative of causation.

 

[yodellinhank]

I don't think its that unusual for people to be questioning a player's body shape though is it? A big part of their job is to be really physically fit. It's a criticism of whether he's doing his job as well as he can. Nobody's immune from that, even Franklin copped it when he was probably the best going around.

To bring the mental health aspect into it seems a long bow. Do we have to stop criticising players who are struggling in front of goal etc?