Delisted #36: Michael Hartley - Joins Hawthorne via the preseason draft - 29/11

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BrunoV

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I won't be happy if this guy isn't named for round 1. Clearly our second best key defender (presuming Hooker plays forward). Love the big fist coming in and spoiling opposition marks. The only player we have down back with the size to play on those ruck sized opponents.

Plus I still maintain his kicking is a fairly untapped resource. He's a bloody good kick both long and penetrating - just doesn't yet find a way to get it often enough. Will be easier this year for him though with Hurley back there attracting attention.


Don't forget his kicking. Hate to use the word but that combination of trajectory, length and accuracy makes it "elite".
 

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Sep 12, 2006
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Well he's clearly not a certainty.

It just goes to show that coaches see what they want to see and that their opinions are far from unimpeachable.
Agree with this. From outside the inner sanctum he'd be the 2nd key defender picked for me but given he didn't play in JLT3, that seems to be different to the way the club is planning. I'd be very interested to know the club's reasoning behind it, he's bigger than Ambrose & Brown, better defensively in the air and a better kick. There must be something I'm not seeing or something he's not doing. I'd say he's a perfect matchup for Tyrone in round 1 so I'm really at a loss on this.
 

eDPS

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Agree with this. From outside the inner sanctum he'd be the 2nd key defender picked for me but given he didn't play in JLT3, that seems to be different to the way the club is planning. I'd be very interested to know the club's reasoning behind it, he's bigger than Ambrose & Brown, better defensively in the air and a better kick. There must be something I'm not seeing or something he's not doing. I'd say he's a perfect matchup for Tyrone in round 1 so I'm really at a loss on this.
I'm not sure what the hell they are doing back there, last week they played Ambrose on Cockatoo and Baguley on Menzel, logic would say you play Ambrose on the 3rd tall forward and not the quick forward and vice versa for Baguley
 
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I'm not sure what the hell they are doing back there, last week they played Ambrose on Cockatoo and Baguley on Menzel, logic would say you play Ambrose on the 3rd tall forward and not the quick forward and vice versa for Baguley
I'm just hoping it's preseason experimentation to understand backup plans in game although maybe it's a comment on Baguley's limitations. I reckon I could outrun him right now and while I'm relatively in shape, that shape is a sphere
 

eDPS

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I'm just hoping it's preseason experimentation to understand backup plans in game although maybe it's a comment on Baguley's limitations. I reckon I could outrun him right now and while I'm relatively in shape, that shape is a sphere
Baguley's injury could be what's showing him down and he is not getting any younger, we also might be developing Ambrose in the Dale Morris role, Morris has been able to play on talls and smalls for most of his career and it's perhaps why Hartley won't be playing because they don't believe he can play on smalls
 

BrunoV

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Cannot even begin to understand how Hartley was not a certainty for round 1 to the point that he was left out of the JLT 3 dress-rehearsal.

He hardly makes a mistake and beats almost everyone he is asked to play on. Reckon that he had two bad moments last night. Some of his kicking back towards the corridor under pressure was excellent.

Accept that he needs to anticipate the play a bit more to put himself into position to take more marks but he's 20 games into a career which to this point has required him to stand the opposition's best forwards almost each week.
 
Sep 2, 2008
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Cannot even begin to understand how Hartley was not a certainty for round 1 to the point that he was left out of the JLT 3 dress-rehearsal.

He hardly makes a mistake and beats almost everyone he is asked to play on. Reckon that he had two bad moments last night. Some of his kicking back towards the corridor under pressure was excellent.

Accept that he needs to anticipate the play a bit more to put himself into position to take more marks but he's 20 games into a career which to this point has required him to stand the opposition's best forwards almost each week.

He's a lock in the 22.
 

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Interesting that he didn't take a single kick in Saturday after taking the vast bulk last year.
He didn't? I could have sworn I saw him take a couple.
 
He didn't? I could have sworn I saw him take a couple.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he took one or two.

I think it was a case that Hurley was going to be our kick in guy and Harts or BJ took them while he was off the ground.
 

Bombers1992

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Love that he takes the small forwards out of the equation by getting the ball out of the vicinity. Had an impact on the poor games of Cyril, Breust and Puopolo while the small defenders were great on them as well.
 

Autobahn

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EMERGING Essendon defender Michael Hartley admits he threw away his first AFL opportunity.

Having grown up outside the AFL bubble in Penrith in Western Sydney, he came to Melbourne as an 18-year-old thinking a decorated career at the elite level would “just happen”.

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Given his big frame and even bigger potential, one good game in defence during the AFL Under-18 National Championships in 2011 was all Collingwood had to see.

Playing in defence, Hartley held the eventual No. 1 draft pick that year — Jonathon Patton — to one goal, enough to get him a rookie list spot.


Natural sporting talent was what got him to the Magpies, but the move south soon brought a rude shock.

“I was just a kid but I thought, ‘I’m going to be the next big thing’, like everyone would think I reckon,” Hartley said.

“But it hit me pretty early on that it was pretty tough and I was probably a little bit out of my depth to be honest.”

After two injury-riddled seasons and only five VFL games, the 198cm, 102kg defender was delisted.

A booming right-footer, Hartley spent the days that followed toying with the idea of an NFL punting career in America.

“My shoulders were horrible and I just didn’t think footy was going to work out for me,” he said.

“I can kick pretty far so I thought I might give it (NFL) a shot.”

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Michael Hartley: “I’d sort of just strolled through life pretty easily”. Picture: George Salpigtidis
Father Colin and mother Bonny changed Hartley’s mind.

Colin was convinced his son — who admits to only taking up football at school so he could get days off classes — had more to give in Australia’s own game.

Within a week of his delisting, Hartley met with three VFL clubs as he searched for a new home before settling on struggling stand-alone club Coburg where he was promised a game on the best opposition forward every week.

Out of the professional system, he also had to search for a job and was soon unpacking shipping containers before later working night shifts at a cheese factory.

The labouring work only made him more determined to earn another shot at the elite level.

“I have so much respect for the VFL guys because they’ve got to work all day and they’ve got to train at night,” Hartley said.

“I don’t know how guys do it. I just thought I had to try my best to get back into the AFL so I don’t have to work.”

Hartley credits Coburg and its coach, former North Melbourne midfielder Peter German, for pushing him back to where he wanted to be.


“Germo was very tough, very hard on me because he thought I could be pretty good,” Hartley said.

“I needed that really because I’d sort of just strolled through life pretty easily. But he taught me a few things down at Coburg and told me to work a bit harder, so I did.”

Hartley’s first year at the VFL outfit was solid but not spectacular and draft night brought no good news.

However, Hartley underwent an intensive physio program to get his shoulders right over the proceeding summer and did not miss a game in his second year at Coburg, developing into the competiton’s best key defender to earn VFL Team of the Year honours and tie for the club’s best-and-fairest.

The Bombers — who had Hartley on their radar 12 months earlier — took notice and selected him at Pick 68 in the 2015 National Draft — the third-last selection used by any club.

“I knew it was 100 per cent what I wanted to do, I was ready for it and I was going to give it my all,” Hartley said.

“So getting the second opportunity was awesome.”

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Hartley has worked hard to work his way into the Bombers’ back half. Picture: George Salpigtidis
With Essendon having 10 senior players including experienced key defender Michael Hurley serving doping bans last year, Hartley was thrown in the deep end but quickly learnt to swim.

He was given jobs on the best forwards in the game week-in, week-out — Sydney superstar Lance Franklin, Geelong’s Tom Hawkins and West Coast’s Josh Kennedy among them.

“Because of circumstances in many ways, players got opportunities last year,” Essendon performance coach Mark Harvey said.

“Mick was one of those. He went down and played in defence and based on what happened last year we were under a fair bit of pressure in defence but I thought he grew enormously in those circumstances. I think from that he has improved significantly and we’ve been able to fast-track him in the defensive area.

“He’s still got a way to go but now he’s playing in a better team and I think it will help him through.”

Hartley played 19 games last season and signed a contract extension in September, tying him to the club until at least the end of 2018.

Footy now means more to the 23-year-old than ever and he is determined to make the most of his second chance.

“The boys have been really welcoming, the club’s been awesome, the supporters are outstanding,” Hartley said.

“It’s a dream come true and hopefully I can hold onto it for a little bit longer than last time.”
 

Killer_Mike

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Clear to see we have beauty on our hands here.

Still has some areas to improve on but clearly has some great qualities.

Looks like a great guy to have around the club too!
 
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