Delisted #46: Mitchell Hibberd - Not offered a contract for 2021

[Vander18]

Why. Is. He. On. A. WING?

Assume they like a tall winger to be an outlet for defence. It’s why they like Cutler as well.

Hibberd just doesn’t seem suited to it - tall enough but has no presence in the air.

 

[JayJ20]

Peak Essington.

Bloke gets delisted at HB. Plays in the VFL. Dominates as an inside mid. We select him. Heppell goes down and Shiel is suspended. We play one of the best contested teams in the league. We play him on a wing, in defence, up forward and everywhere but the midfield. Our midfield gets slaughtered because of the huge discrepancy in size. Alright, let's play Smith in the middle. Still not working? Well I wonder why? Let's run Walla through the midfield.

He'll be dropped without playing in the guts.

 

[BrunoV]

Peak Essington.

Bloke gets delisted at HB. Plays in the VFL. Dominates as an inside mid. We select him. Heppell goes down and Shiel is suspended. We play one of the best contested teams in the league. We play him on a wing, in defence, up forward and everywhere but the midfield. Our midfield gets slaughtered because of the huge discrepancy in size. Alright, let's play Smith in the middle. Still not working? Well I wonder why? Let's run Walla through the midfield.

He'll be dropped without playing in the guts.

Don't forget big Neddy Cahill. He got a gig inside at the end.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Not sure he's any better than Clarke.

His hands aren't clean enough to make up for his lack of pace and mobility.

 

[eDPS]

Peak Essington.

Bloke gets delisted at HB. Plays in the VFL. Dominates as an inside mid. We select him. Heppell goes down and Shiel is suspended. We play one of the best contested teams in the league. We play him on a wing, in defence, up forward and everywhere but the midfield. Our midfield gets slaughtered because of the huge discrepancy in size. Alright, let's play Smith in the middle. Still not working? Well I wonder why? Let's run Walla through the midfield.

He'll be dropped without playing in the guts.

Players should cop flack for bad performances but more often than not the coaching decisions get us off to a bad start before we even play.

Everyone but the Essendon coaches can see we lack big inside midfielders, Dodoro drafted him to play that role and now we finally have a 190cm big inside mid yet want to play him on a wing. It’s just so bizarre.

 

[JayJ20]

Don't forget big Neddy Cahill. He got a gig inside at the end.

Yeah I cannot understand our obsession with playing players out of position. How can we seriously go undersized with Bailey Smith, Bont, Macrae and Liberatore?

It doesn't take a lot to figure that out. Not only should Hibberd be playing as an inside mid, but D Clarke should also be in there. Sure we're giving up some speed, but that's better than conceding first use over and over again.

I just knew we were going to be having this discussion when he was initially selected. Here's evidence:

Bringing him in is one step. Let's see if we actually play him in his position.

Players should cop flack for bad performances but more often than not the coaching decisions get us off to a bad start before we even play.

Everyone but the Essendon coaches can see we lack big inside midfielders, Dodoro drafted him to play that role and now we finally have a 190cm big inside mid yet want to play him on a wing. It’s just so bizarre.

Exactly. At this stage, we just need to feed the ball to our outside mids. Who cares about a dual position ultra inside mid. We have Hibberd and Clarke, but elect to go with Smith. It's so bizarre.

 

[andleanback]

Players should cop flack for bad performances but more often than not the coaching decisions get us off to a bad start before we even play.

Everyone but the Essendon coaches can see we lack big inside midfielders, Dodoro drafted him to play that role and now we finally have a 190cm big inside mid yet want to play him on a wing. It’s just so bizarre.

We want our flankers to be midfielders and our midfielders to be flankers, it’s the essendon way.

 

[eth-dog]

We want our flankers to be midfielders and our midfielders to be flankers, it’s the essendon way.

You mean the Essington way, right?

 

[katana]

We want our flankers to be midfielders and our midfielders to be flankers, it’s the essendon way.

i don't even think this is true. when was the last flanker who became a midfielder? we want our flankers to be flankers and our midfielders to also be flankers and no one to play actual midfield.

 

[andleanback]

i don't even think this is true. when was the last flanker who became a midfielder? we want our flankers to be flankers and our midfielders to also be flankers and no one to play actual midfield.

Um Kyle langford
devon smith to a lesser extent, he’s a much better half forward. We drafted begley who was half forward to turn into a inside mid.

 

[yaco55]

Posted before he debuted that his success depends on him having an outside game - With our current team he will never be a full time inside mid.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Posted before he debuted that his success depends on him having an outside game - With our current team he will never be a full time inside mid.

you’d think he would’ve been given an oppurtunity there tonight considering Heppell and Shiel are missing.

we destroyed his progression trying to play him as a half back. I hope you guys give him some time in the guys so he can get his hands dirty and do his best work.

 

[srobbo]

Why is he in the side? Was redundant tonight. Play him in the middle or not at all.

 

[ghostdog]

Peak Essington.

Bloke gets delisted at HB. Plays in the VFL. Dominates as an inside mid. We select him. Heppell goes down and Shiel is suspended. We play one of the best contested teams in the league. We play him on a wing, in defence, up forward and everywhere but the midfield. Our midfield gets slaughtered because of the huge discrepancy in size. Alright, let's play Smith in the middle. Still not working? Well I wonder why? Let's run Walla through the midfield.

He'll be dropped without playing in the guts.

...and Cahill

 

[CBombers17]

It could make some sense if he was at least the best available option as a flanker or winger when he does play there.
Time to go rogue and just get to the contest - centre bounces the lot. Don't come off for a rotation even. Just worry the about the coaches later.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

Obviously played out of position but always looked a step behind the play. Also for a big body, he at times looks afraid to use it.

 

[ant555]

Did we lose the center clearances ? No. So him being at the center bounce would have made zero difference. We lost the stoppages around the ground. He was at a lot of the stoppages and around the ground play. He had a chance to use his size but it did not happen. Part of what made him good in the middle with Willy was his spread. He was not simply a bull dozer winning clearance after clearance. He also played under a ruck who despite being short dominated ruck contests weeks in and week out.
I would liked to have seen him in the middle rather than Walla in the second half but him not playing genuine midfield was not the problem. He had his chance to use his spread as a winger and get to stoppages as well. He did not have a good night.

 

[BrunoV]

Did we lose the center clearances ? No. So him being at the center bounce would have made zero difference. We lost the stoppages around the ground. He was at a lot of the stoppages and around the ground play. He had a chance to use his size but it did not happen. Part of what made him good in the middle with Willy was his spread. He was not simply a bull dozer winning clearance after clearance. He also played under a ruck who despite being short dominated ruck contests weeks in and week out.
I would liked to have seen him in the middle rather than Walla in the second half but him not playing genuine midfield was not the problem. He had his chance to use his spread as a winger and get to stoppages as well. He did not have a good night.

If he's playing wing he has a position at stoppages which is not inside.

Did he swap with Merrett or McGrath at stoppages? I'm going to say no, I certainly don't recall seeing anything.

As a winger he has other responsibilities to defend which mean he holds position and it's that in between that is killing his attack. It's also why the idea we can get the presence of big bodies at stoppages from the wings is a fallacy.

I would go as far as saying he was tackling to hurt in the first half. He goes when he can.

Play him as a old fashioned centre, give him the recognition of number 1 at stoppages and let him play the ball.

 

[ant555]

If he's playing wing he has a position at stoppages which is not inside.

Did he swap with Merrett or McGrath at stoppages? I'm going to say no, I certainly don't recall seeing anything.

As a winger he has other responsibilities to defend which mean he holds position and it's that in between that is killing his attack. It's also why the idea we can get the presence of big bodies at stoppages from the wings is a fallacy.

I would go as far as saying he was tackling to hurt in the first half. He going when he can.

Play him as a old fashioned centre, give him the recognition of number 1 at stoppages and let him play the ball.

It would not hurt. Maybe push Merritt to a wing.

 

[Duckworth]

When the game was already lost they still wouldn't put him in the middle.

 

[Ambrosia]

Makes no sense that he wasn’t at least tried in the midfield but tbh from what I’ve seen he isn’t the answer.

He has the same issue as Myers as he takes ages to dispose of the ball and isn’t overly effective when he finally does.

 

[Beerfish]

he takes ages to dispose of the ball and isn’t overly effective when he finally does.

Shut up and take my money

 

[BrunoV]

First time we've seen him inside against the Crows.

I thought his presence was significant. His hands were generally clean (except for one incident in the last quarter) and he was very aggressive both tackling with the ball and looking to wear contact while distributing.

He's a beast of a man and it seems he has the physical strength (and inside craft) to convert his VFL inside game to the big leagues. I have no idea why we then reduced his minutes inside in the second half when, funnily enough, Adelaide started to even out the inside battle a bit.

The quality of the opposition has to be taken in to account but I think he showed enough to at least be given a go in the first midfield rotation and given something close to full game time on-ball. It's almost like we're afraid that there is a player we rate who he will render completely redundant...

 

[Tazdog]

First time we've seen him inside against the Crows.

I thought his presence was significant. His hands were generally clean (except for one incident in the last quarter) and he was very aggressive both tackling with the ball and looking to wear contact while distributing.

He's a beast of a man and it seems he has the physical strength (and inside craft) to convert his VFL inside game to the big leagues. I have no idea why we then reduced his minutes inside in the second half when, funnily enough, Adelaide started to even out the inside battle a bit.

The quality of the opposition has to be taken in to account but I think he showed enough to at least be given a go in the first midfield rotation and given something close to full game time on-ball. It's almost like we're afraid that there is a player we rate who he will render completely redundant...

Yeah, wont be a good look when parish or merrett can’t get midfield minutes because some bloke from the vfl can win his own ball better.

 

[eth-dog]

Is wholly unsuited to a wing. He only had the 2 clearances but his blocking put Merrett and McGrath into space on a few occassions