Hawthorn has dumped Trav Tuck

[Roddy27]

Best of luck in the future Trav.

 

[cambosis]

Renouf, Hale, Johnson, Bailey, Grimley, Lowden=6 rucks which is very strange.

I dont think this is As strange as you think. Hale is really half a ruckman - will fill in to rest the other ruckman and enable more midfield rotations. Grimley wont end up being a ruckman IMO - he may be 199 cm but i see him more as a CHB, pinch hitting in the ruck when needed.


Two of this list are green - a third is potentially not an option because of dicey knees (fingers cross thats not the case).

So of the 6 we have 2 dodgy knees in one, 2 wet behind the ears, and a couple who will move in and out of the roll -

If we take our poor ruck record in the past few years - i dont think its strange that we have 6.

 

[Hungry Hawk]

Gotta agree with the selection of Johnson. Insurance and what I have seen of him is not a bad player. Cand kick and mark better than Tails, not as good at the tapwork though. But He would be an upgrade on Skipper.

Best of luck to Travis.

 

[Books]

Good luck to Travis, but the club has made the right call on Johnson, IMO.

Just think how bad last year could have been if we did not have Skipper.

 

[mo-star]

why didnt we just pick up Robbie instead of letting Melbourne pick him up...

 

[savagelunchbox]

Initially i was all for selecting NAW over Johnson and Tuck but now having played preseason games and seeing Bailey is 50-50, Johnson is the best choice purely for depth. NAW was the best option if Bailey wasn't experiencing any knee problems.

I do have one question though...

Though Tuck was keen to continue with Hawthorn's VFL affiliate club Box Hill, it's believed the club told him yesterday he should make a clean break and find another club.

Is "the club" Hawthorn or Box Hill? Will we see him playing for BH or another VFL side?

 

[markr]

Because his knees are stuffed.

 

[dermott]

why didnt we just pick up Robbie instead of letting Melbourne pick him up...

The Club has taken a chance with Bailey who is injury prone but is very tall and has potential if he can get on the park. Robbie retired with a degenerative knee condition that he and (presumably) the club felt would prevent him undertaking the training load required to play senior football. I wish him well in his comeback but It would have been irresponsible to have Robbie as backup to Max given their injury history.
I also understand that Robbie has been on the MFC injured list for a few weeks with achilles problems so the HFC decision not to rookie Robbie was probably wise.

 

[WWSD]

Good decision. Bailey is no certainty to play senior football. Grimley & Lowden are not yet ready. So it just leaves Hale & Renouf as the two available ruck men. Should one of them go down, Johnson will get elevated to the senior list & play.

Paul Johnson 199cm 105kg. Originally Drafted with Pick no.24 by West Coast Eagles 2003-2004. 1 Game.
Melbourne 2005-2010. 68 Games 21 Goals.

 

[onthemoney]

I'm sad to hear this for Tuck. I hope the report that he's been told not to play for BHH is incorrect, unless of course there's more going on behind the scenes that I'm not aware of.

A bit irrelevent, but as far as I can see with jumper numbers there are only 22 and 1 free.. With 1 being 'for the fans' and giving Tuck's number to the replacement rookie being a kick in the guts of the highest order... Does this mean Johnson might be running out in the big #50 if he gets a run? maybe he can be #00 instead?

 

[Hodgepodge]

Just needs to dominate the VFL this year, come back and get picked up again by us.

 

[Demon 86]

Can't help but feel really sorry for Wade Skipper. From what I saw he didn't put a foot wrong last year, and is a better player than Paul Johnson...

Hopefully Max Bailey plays a fair bit of football and you never need to see PJ on field for you

 

[ACTion Hawks]

Best of luck to Trav.

I hope it is the best decision for him and the club. He was always going to have issues with his suspension - so I hope this means that he can go back to VFL and get his life back in order without the pressure of being on a list.

Where is the reference to clean break and move away from the club? I can't find anything.

Cheers

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Good decision. Bailey is no certainty to play senior football. Grimley & Lowden are not yet ready. So it just leaves Hale & Renouf as the two available ruck men. Should one of them go down, Johnson will get elevated to the senior list & play.

Paul Johnson 199cm 105kg. Originally Drafted with Pick no.24 by West Coast Eagles 2003-2004. 1 Game.
Melbourne 2005-2010. 68 Games 21 Goals.

Add to that, johnson was the only one to give campbell a hard time in 2008!

He is virtually a ruckman who can tag!

 

[go hawks!!!]

All the bEst trav!

 

[Hungry Hawk]

Can't help but feel really sorry for Wade Skipper. From what I saw he didn't put a foot wrong last year, and is a better player than Paul Johnson...

Hopefully Max Bailey plays a fair bit of football and you never need to see PJ on field for you

Skipper definititly had a crack.

You should buy yourself a Hawks membership Demon86 as you will already be familiar with half the team.

 

[WWSD]

I'm sad to hear this for Tuck. I hope the report that he's been told not to play for BHH is incorrect, unless of course there's more going on behind the scenes that I'm not aware of.

A bit irrelevent, but as far as I can see with jumper numbers there are only 22 and 1 free.. With 1 being 'for the fans' and giving Tuck's number to the replacement rookie being a kick in the guts of the highest order... Does this mean Johnson might be running out in the big #50 if he gets a run? maybe he can be #00 instead?

Wikipedia has Paul Johnson #22 Guernsey. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorn_Football_Club#Current_squad

So most likely number 22 if not then 50.

 

[TheFourPillars]

Good Luck trav i am sure i will see u down at box hill this year

 

[Demon 86]

Skipper definititly had a crack.

You should buy yourself a Hawks membership Demon86 as you will already be familiar with half the team.

Haha yeah it'll be strange seeing Bruce, Cheney & maybe PJ in Hawks colours- definitely wish Cheney & PJ all the best though. Cheney in particular tried to make the most of his time with us- we just had too many similiarly sized players.

 

[Flukey!]

I am glad about Johnson winning his spot. I think we will need him this year.
Trav blew it.

 

[savagelunchbox]

I'm sad to hear this for Tuck. I hope the report that he's been told not to play for BHH is incorrect, unless of course there's more going on behind the scenes that I'm not aware of.

A bit irrelevent, but as far as I can see with jumper numbers there are only 22 and 1 free.. With 1 being 'for the fans' and giving Tuck's number to the replacement rookie being a kick in the guts of the highest order... Does this mean Johnson might be running out in the big #50 if he gets a run? maybe he can be #00 instead?

A-Watkins used the #50 in his games with Hawthorn. So unless the club recycles numbers within the same season, he might even get the 51 if the 22 remains untouched?

 

[Ordovician]

why didnt we just pick up Robbie instead of letting Melbourne pick him up...

I watched him very closely at his outings at Box Hill and I'd reckon that he barely got of the ground, about 12 inches, only a few times a game. So either he has lost what little leap he had or he was too scared of damaging the knee upon landing to make a serious attempt at a jump.

Either way that is definately not good enough at AFL level against tall and leaping ruckmen.

This is a pity because apart from that he actually played quite well, even though he had to play the ruck role by intitiating body contact early in the ruck duel without infringing his opponent to aviod a jump off. At VFL level that works fine for the throw ins and around the ground ball ups but it is a little dodgy for the centre square ball ups. Unfortunately at centre square ball ups in the AFL, all an opposition ruckman would have to do is to stand back than jump over him to win every hit out.

As for recruiting Johnson I am rapt.

We desperately need some ruck insurance as Bailey is so close to being gorn for all money that it is not funny. If he can't recover from a friggin' practice game in under a month then I have given up hope that he'll make any real contribution. I hope I'm wrong but the picture looks pretty bleak.

Obviously the Bunto's (from Bunto Grammar) don't think much of Johnson but in the Muston comeback game I thought he was prety good for the good old 'closely breds'. Sure it was only one game but I'm sure he had other outings against where he wasn't that bad so I'll have to pull out some old disks and have a look.

So who knows?

At his third club but entering into the peak rucking years (26-27) he might surprise. Also coming from Frangers (YCW no less! who produced such stars as G Thomas & M McCarthy) at least he is bio-ethnically a Hawk. As such he should fit in better culturally at the Hawks, rather than with the colonial ersatz Hooray Henrys, those pox ridden comparadorial scum who in reality are lumpen Melbourne establishmentariat wing the Liberal party at play, who masquerade as the so called "Melbourne" Football Club.

 

[Millsie69]

Anyone else a bit worried that the reason we picked Johnson was because we are a bit unsold on whether Bailey will play again?

 

[PeeRod]

Anyone else a bit worried that the reason we picked Johnson was because we are a bit unsold on whether Bailey will play again?

The reasons given to Tuck pretty much spelled this out. Personel reasons for the pick up of Johnson.

Its sad that it came to this but also a sign that Hawthorn is definitely 100% in premiership mode. They are willing to make hard decisions even if proven unpopular which this certainly had the ability to turn sour.

Good luck to Travis!

 

[Hawker_Ant]

Has Johnson actually been selected as the rookie? I haven't seen that confirmed anywhere.

I'm seriously disappointed that BHH might have suggested to Trav not to continue playing football. I can understand that thay might not want someone clogging their list for eight weeks, but surely Travis will need the stability in his life that comes with being around a professional club, as he has for much of his adult life. I'm wondering if the statements about supporting Tucky come what may are just so much hot air and spin-doctoring.

I suppose there's still the vague chance Richmond might grab him and he'll be with his brother.