News Congratulations to Hawthorn's newest captain - Ben Stratton - may your reign be long and glorious

[TylerDurden]

Yer, nothing like a little humiliation to make you feel good about yourself

He may put his hand up himself mate.

 

[Off The Couch]

He may put his hand up himself mate.

Yes six months after putting his hand up to do the job, he’s going to put his hand up to relinquish it. Quitting will just earn him so much respect

 

[TylerDurden]

Yes six months after putting his hand up to do the job, he’s going to put his hand up to relinquish it. Quitting will just earn him so much respect

Faark respect. If he's not happy doing it and would rather hand it over, then who cares. Life's too short, and his career is closer to the end than the start.

 

[Brishawk]

Can seriously affect the form of certain types of players. Vanders, Rough and Stratts all suffered dips in form. Stratts is a shadow of the player he was last year.

I hope the club doesn't persist here. If other guys are putting their hands up, and better suited to the role, then the club should change it post season.

Vandenberg and roughy both had physical issues which probably had a lot more to do with their form than being captain.

 

[MrPremiership]

Stratts isn't an on field leader.

Club is rapt by his leadership skills off-field.

Stratts will be captain next year, then a handover to JOM, who is seen by the club as the next captain.

 

[TylerDurden]

Vandenberg and roughy both had physical issues which probably had a lot more to do with their form than being captain.

By default we compare them to all timers like Hodge and Mitchell. Which is probably an unfair comparison in the scheme of it.

Stratts doesn't have to dominate on field like the others mentioned. But he has to play his role. Which he is struggling to do at present, with any effectiveness.

 

[Off The Couch]

Faark respect. If he's not happy doing it and would rather hand it over, then who cares. Life's too short, and his career is closer to the end than the start.

There are somethings you have to live a long time with and respect is one of them but if genuinely wants to walk away then so be it. Realistically though he just needs to see the year out and as tough as that may be he’s already half way through and come years end he can hand it over.

Personally I’m not as fussed as others seem to be. It takes time to settle in and adjust to a new role and part of the problem on here at least is that everyone expects another Hodge - even poor old Mitch copped that.

Is the noise external and internal or is it just on social media that he is a shite captain

 

[cryptor]

His own playing form is a down on the consistent rock he's been for years but it's not necessarily due to the captaincy.

We only know a slice of what's going on in their personal lives. There are literally thousands of things that could be going on to affect his form.

If the captaincy was proving to be this big an issue for him then he or the club would deal with that in a suitable way. Until such time I'm going to continue to support him as the captain of our club and continue to hope he'll work back into form just like I would if he wasn't captain.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Stratts isn't an on field leader.

Club is rapt by his leadership skills off-field.

Stratts will be captain next year, then a handover to JOM, who is seen by the club as the next captain.

Based on his form this year I would have doubts about his position in the senior team next year. I would be surprised if the club gave the captaicy to a fringe 22 player regardless of how good his off field stuff is.

 

[Topiary]

Stratts isn't an on field leader.

Club is rapt by his leadership skills off-field.

Stratts will be captain next year, then a handover to JOM, who is seen by the club as the next captain.

Yep.
His physical capability has fallen off the cliff and everybody in the Conditioning team is scratching their head. He was much better today in his usual role. I understand he has been told to just concentrate on his role.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Yep.
His physical capability has fallen off the cliff and everybody in the Conditioning team is scratching their head. He was much better today in his usual role. I understand he has been told to just concentrate on his role.

Much better is overplaying it a tad. He was serviceable but still only had 8 possessions which is hardly stellar.

 

[Nick the Pig]

A big concern this whole session is the number of one on one contests he seems to be losing. And sometimes to bog average players. Players with pace are burning him.

It's really hard to get a read on him because two years ago he looked just about finished and yet last year was outstanding.

 

[bris tarangau]

Who was he tagging today?

 

[Hawk Hawkins]

Is he a better option than Mirra?

 

[Gralin]

Much better is overplaying it a tad. He was serviceable but still only had 8 possessions which is hardly stellar.

His job isn't to get it
His job is to stop his opponent getting it

 

[TylerDurden]

He's now going to ground and conceding contests early. Its a real concern.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

His job isn't to get it
His job is to stop his opponent getting it

Not many (any?) other sides play a purely negating backman these days. Even judging him on his negating abilities he is going to ground a lot and getting beaten in the one on ones.
Frawley in the other hand is doing an excellent job this year as a negating backman on the hulking power forwards whilst still racking up mid teen disposals.
If Hendo has been our best player so far by a big margain it is obvious that Stratts has been our worst player by about the same margain and if he wasn't t captain would have been dropped weeks ago.

 

[Gralin]

Not many (any?) other sides play a purely negating backman these days. Even judging him on his negating abilities he is going to ground a lot and getting beaten in the one on ones.
Frawley in the other hand is doing an excellent job this year as a negating backman on the hulking power forwards whilst still racking up mid teen disposals.
If Hendo has been our best player so far by a big margain it is obvious that Stratts has been our worst player by about the same margain and if he wasn't t captain would have been dropped weeks ago.

He's averaged 12 disposals a game over his whole career, he's never had a season where he averaged higher than 14

How many times he touched it isn't what you measure him on. I don't care what other teams are doing, that's got nothing to do with how we setup

 

[William Wonka]

His job isn't to get it
His job is to stop his opponent getting it

In seasons past his intercept marking has been fantastic.
Captain means little these days imo. Its wanky off field duties more than anything.
Happy for Stratts to keep it regardless of form but would love him back to his best.
Was potential form last year and until he was injured in 16.

 

[Gralin]

In seasons past his intercept marking has been fantastic.
Captain means little these days imo. Its wanky off field duties more than anything.
Happy for Stratts to keep it regardless of form but would love him back to his best.
Was potential form last year and until he was injured in 16.

He's still fifth on the team for intercepts this year.
I think his issues are being overblown by people expecting him to play better because he's the captain

 

[Topiary]

Is he a better option than Mirra?

Absolutely!!

 

[Topiary]

He's still fifth on the team for intercepts this year.
I think his issues are being overblown by people expecting him to play better because he's the captain

Yes, but we just want him to play like we know he can play. He has had ordinary patches in the past, and some think this is another patch. However his physical numbers have fallen off the cliff which makes his future a real concern.
Today though he was blue collar Stratts....more of that please. Don’t worry about the Captaincy. Just concentrate on his own game and his contribution for the team.

 

[Gralin]

Yes, but we just want him to play like we know he can play. He has had ordinary patches in the past, and some think this is another patch. However his physical numbers have fallen off the cliff which makes his future a real concern.
Today though he was blue collar Stratts....more of that please. Don’t worry about the Captaincy. Just concentrate on his own game and his contribution for the team.

Tops this isn't aimed at you.
We've got posters on here calling for his head, baying for his blood because he's not playing like he did during the threepeat.

Concerns about his fitness aside there is some flat out disrespectful crap being posted about this bloke. It ain't coming from a place of I want him to play better, it's coming from the he's my whipping boy and I'm going to sink the boot in good for my own gratification

 

[Topiary]

Just watch how many times he is going to ground. Today he held his feet better, he managed to square more contests. He is half a yard slower which has limited his ability against the small’s he has played on this year.
To my mind, the captaincy is a side issue. So often blokes at the end of their career drop off the cliff quickly, more often than not, as a consequence of Father time. No other reason.
No one will ever doubt his ferocious commitment, he has been stunning, but when the body, at the elite level stops you from performing to your previous standard, it is inevitable.
I hope it is not, but I reckon Napoleon and GW are looking for a “dirty” defender right now.
Stratts will not die wondering, he will always give it his all. It has nothing to do with becoming Captain. It is incredibly sad it has coincided with “not being able to do physically what you have done for 10 years”. It just happens.
I know that is a pessimistic view and I hope I and our Conditioning guys are wrong. Nothing would please me more.

 

[Cyzzametimbres]

Fans having a dig at the captain now??Shame on on you. The heart and soul of the club and he’s getting trash talked. If he was no good he wouldn’t have been captain to start with ffs. I’m done here with posting. Clearly anything less than a flag every year is unacceptable to the people who’ve never done anything with their lives. May we all cower in the shadows of these giants. Pathetic.