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Hard Nuts

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cosbar

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Watching the GF over the weekend, I think its time we start recruiting more Hard Nut Footballers such as a Campbell Brown type or Luke Hodge type. Players that are not afraid to go in for the kill. Compared to Jericho that we have who is afraid of the ball or even afraid of his own shadow.

What do others think. Who would we have that are hard nut footballers.
 
cosbar said:
Watching the GF over the weekend, I think its time we start recruiting more Hard Nut Footballers such as a Campbell Brown type or Luke Hodge type. Players that are not afraid to go in for the kill. Compared to Jericho that we have who is afraid of the ball or even afraid of his own shadow.

What do others think. Who would we have that are hard nut footballers.
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I agree, Van Berlo is tough but alas doesnt have the frame to cause any concern to the opposition. Roo was the last.
 
Jericho is not really a valid comparison as he is going to be delisted for that very reason. We do have a lot of tough players, but no-one who is really intimidating like Hodge or Campbell Brown. Some of the young players such as vB and Knights are hard, but don't quite have the frame yet. That comes with time, these guys are still 21ish and don't yet have the mature bodies of someone like Hodge (who was equally skinny at the same age).

Did anyone see the photo of the Hawks and Cats' young players from a few years ago, in the Sunday Mail the other day? Everyone who complains that we don't have strong enough bodies should see those photos - you don't simply draft strong players. Most young players are skinny and build muscle with multiple pre seasons in the gym.
 

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The irony is that for the period of West Coast/Port/Geelong dominance of 2006-2008 people have been whining for more pace to follow their model of how to win a flag/compete in September as we didn't have enough pace/x-factor to win a flag.

For the years preceeding that of the Brisbane/Port/Sydney dominance where we followed the relatively hard nut footballer people did nothing but whine over lack of pace and exuberance.

To summarize too many people are compulsive whiners.
 
agree...hard nuts win flags, was thinking just that watching our 97 flag on fox friday night...bickley, koster, b james, johnson etc.
realise the game has changed but we just don't seem to have similar hard nut types anymore
 
Teams with all positions covered well will always win flags, not any one type of player.
 
Roo, Bickley comes to mind straight away. I think maybe Shane Tongerie was a hard nut come to mind or even Romano Negri
 
We've got Maric, that helps I guess.


I'd love to see some of our current youngsters develop this way. Dangerfield has a strong body, not to mention a swagger, he could be a hard nut but it remains to be seen. I'd love to see Bock use his "controlled aggression" more often too, and then we just need an angry forward to give us presence all over the ground.
 
Maric is probably our flag bearer as far as tough players go. VB is a tough SOB as well. Edwards loves the don't argue as well as sticking up for team mates but we lack toughness apart from that. Thompson, Johncock and Rutten are the 3 who are built like a brick dunny but don't use it enough. Rutten in particular needs to make his presence felt to make up for his lack of pace.
 
In 2 or 3 year time i can see Dangerfield and Walker developing into hard nuts and then other will walk taller and the perception of us being soft will disappear.
 
But seriously, Porplyzia, NVB, Maric, Bock, Robert "You have to be a tough bastard to play footy with a name like" Shirley...

We are a tough team. Bullshit like this is brought out of thin air.
 

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Fuddnuddler said:
agree...hard nuts win flags, was thinking just that watching our 97 flag on fox friday night...bickley, koster, b james, johnson etc.
realise the game has changed but we just don't seem to have similar hard nut types anymore
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Are those guys really any "tougher" than Doughty, VB, Porplyzia, Shirley or Reilly?

I am not saying those 5 are necessarially as tough as Hodge or Brown. But surely they are as "tough" as Koster, James or Johnson :eek:. Bickley was a tough player but did he really intimidate anybody?

Call the 97-98 teams as many positive names as you want, but I have never looked back on them as especially tough. They were very skilled, very fit and very committed to winning on the day. Macca won the 2 North Smith medals remember ..

The thing that Hodge and Brown have is lots of skill to go with the physical presence. Find an enforcer type with no skills in today's game and he will hardly even see the ball. All the players are about the same weight for their ages, so while some will always be "receivers", anyone playing in the mid-field can choose to be as tough as they want.
 
I know I have said this before but if we want a hard nut so badly then why the hell is there so much talk of delisting Bryce Campbell as this is what he does best.
 
crows dude said:
I know I have said this before but if we want a hard nut so badly then why the hell is there so much talk of delisting Bryce Campbell as this is what he does best.
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Because we want a south australian, bottom aged, hard nut KPP who can take a contested mark, run like Hussein Bolt, plays with flair (to bring in the crowd), has leadership abilities, shows a huge amount of mongrel, was a crows fan from pre-birth, and has 15 12 year old male children.
 
Yeah I agree, we have to play more harder next season. Scott Thompson even though he's such a brillaint player and had a great season can certianly do a better job in finals. Also if one bad umpiring descision goes against this team they at times seem to get so easily rattled and panic. We were playing superb footy against Collingwood but paniced after Thompson gave away a holding the ball and they took full advantage. The players have to be fully switched on in future finals and forget about the past results. If they think about past results, they'll continue to lose finals because in finals the other team wants it as bad. Finals is about desperation and risk taking. You've gotta go out there and keep on trying if you're in front or behind. Thats why the Hawks won the flag because they were desperate, they were switched on and boy weren't they awesome to watch.
 
Coopers said:
Because we want a south australian, bottom aged, hard nut KPP who can take a contested mark, run like Hussein Bolt, plays with flair (to bring in the crowd), has leadership abilities, shows a huge amount of mongrel, was a crows fan from pre-birth, and has 15 12 year old male children.
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It's spelt Usain. Otherwise I think you have pretty much summarised what I want from our 5th round draft pick this year. Don't think it's too much to ask... come on Rendell and co, work your magic.
 

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a1118868 said:
It's spelt Usain. Otherwise I think you have pretty much summarised what I want from our 5th round draft pick this year. Don't think it's too much to ask... come on Rendell and co, work your magic.
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I figured I should look it up before posting, and then I figured.... meh, that's like 3 clicks.

Really, I am what is wrong with the world today.
 
crows98 said:
In 2 or 3 year time i can see Dangerfield and Walker developing into hard nuts and then other will walk taller and the perception of us being soft will disappear.
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Dangerfield and Walker will hopefully play with some arrogance, in a good way.

Kinda like Roo or McLeod used to be; arrogant in the fact that they'd back themselves in, knowing they were better than almost anyone on the field. Roo especially (Hodge reminds me of him a bit), it's part arrogance, part toughness, but he'd go into every contest at full pace, knowing that due to his refusal to waver, the opposition would generally crap their pants.

Hodge does it, Franklin does it, even little Ablett does. I'm all for humility and the 'team,' ethos - but I also love watching players with under-stated arrogance; who don't rub how good they are in everyone's faces, but they know it.
 
King Elvis said:
Dangerfield and Walker will hopefully play with some arrogance, in a good way.

Kinda like Roo or McLeod used to be; arrogant in the fact that they'd back themselves in, knowing they were better than almost anyone on the field. Roo especially (Hodge reminds me of him a bit), it's part arrogance, part toughness, but he'd go into every contest at full pace, knowing that due to his refusal to waver, the opposition would generally crap their pants.

Hodge does it, Franklin does it, even little Ablett does. I'm all for humility and the 'team,' ethos - but I also love watching players with under-stated arrogance; who don't rub how good they are in everyone's faces, but they know it.
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Yep, i would love it if both players developed that Wayne Carey/Dermott Brereton swagger.
 
RoosterLad said:
Well said King.

I love arrogant players. Players like Franklin and Fevola are extremely arrogant yet they are fantastic players and fire up the crowd. We need more of that.
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The reason Franklin went later in the draft than a lot of people thought was that most Clubs felt he was too self-confident.

Crazy.
 

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