Henry Playfair

[catempire]

Get a grip people who think Hawkins will walk straight into CHF next season!

 

[catempire]

Lovely mark and goal by big H. First of many for the year. Hope you liked that one Jack!

 

[carn_the_cattas]

He's huge.

 

[Turbocat]

Hello Jack , are you out there Jack. Case closed, hammer has come down, the flags has been waved and the siren has been blown. If you dont think he helped turn the game in the second Q then some of your previous good observations must have been ghost written or something.

 

[answerman]

Shhh - don't tell J-P that Henry made a real difference when he came on tonight

 

[ezbian]

Lovely mark and goal by big H. First of many for the year. Hope you liked that one Jack!

My thoughts exactly. And the use of his big body in the last quarter to not be outmarked by two defenders, ball spills Mooney goals. Cats win the game.

Also of note Cats started with Rooke and Milburn at the CHF post tonight. It sucked ! It wasn't until we got STRUCTURE and TARGETS with H and Mooney did we look at all dangerous. Big bodied players that don't get outmarked, go to ground, but make a contest gives the midfielders confidence in something to kick at.

Good return H. Bigger year ahead.

Great Game Moon's.

Here is to a proven formula, that has not only worked for the Kangaroo's, but most other side's for the past decade.

 

[JUBJUB]

Lovely mark and goal by big H. First of many for the year. Hope you liked that one Jack!

The game changed in our favour when H came on in the 2nd quarter.
Onya H

 

[catempire]

I haven't seen the stats but he probably only touched the ball half a dozen times but it's amazing how much difference it makes having a strong competitor (e.g. Playfair) instead of a weak one (e.g. Lonergan and Gardiner in particular).

Anyone who compares H to these two is looking at a different game.

 

[catswhiskers]

Yep just need a contest at the 50. When it happens consistently the small forwards will have a birthday.
Moons for the medal and an underdone H stood up.

Well done Cats - now for real footy.

 

[LongBomb]

H has really bulked up over summer as well.

Was impressed with what I saw tonight.

 

[Keldar]

He's certainly bulked up. And may have improved his kicking. A good first run.

Found this image of Henry on Getty (I think it's H - Getty claims it's Charlie but in another pic of Charlie they claim it's H).

http://geelong.keldar.net
The Cattery - Unofficial Geelong Cats Site

 

[Unwritten_Law]

As I said on Cats Claw, H was good.

I thought Mackie was decent, not many posseions, but had a crack.

 

[GeeCat]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but H's kicking (at least, his technique) looks to have improved over the break. Loosened up in his lead-in and guided the ball down just that bit more. The results look telling at this stage.

 

[della]

I was with Anthony Hudson when Walls said to him hows he kicking, Huddo goes "dodgy at best" but then he drills it from 50 easily, if he can add that kicking strength to his game he becomes more dangerous.

I also have been a big critic of "H" and i agree i liked what he did last night when he was on and i hope he continues to improve during the year.

I'm not jumping on his bandwagon or anything but as i said i liked what he offered us last night and i hope he holds down that cHF spot this year.

Still early days yet but all is good so far, it is a long long season remember.

 

[catempire]

I was with Anthony Hudson when Walls said to him hows he kicking, Huddo goes "dodgy at best" but then he drills it from 50 easily, if he can add that kicking strength to his game he becomes more dangerous.

I also have been a big critic of "H" and i agree i liked what he did last night when he was on and i hope he continues to improve during the year.

I'm not jumping on his bandwagon or anything but as i said i liked what he offered us last night and i hope he holds down that cHF spot this year.

Still early days yet but all is good so far, it is a long long season remember.

Glad to read that post della. I was fully expecting something else. Your mate Jack will be on here soon trying to deny that he did anything good at all.

 

[Jack-Packenham]

Believe me when I say I am as happy as any cats fan out there about Henry's performance on saturday night. I really enjoyed the mark and goal (even if it was only one of them), and it gives me more hope about him improving than I had before the game. I think a few of you guys are getting a little carried away, and don't worry I will be the first to admit when I am wrong, but it's a little early to be claiming victory on this subject Turbocat.

 

[The Hulkster]

I am as happy as any cats fan out there about Henry's performance on saturday night.

Well theres a first.

 

[catempire]

Believe me when I say I am as happy as any cats fan out there about Henry's performance on saturday night. I really enjoyed the mark and goal (even if it was only one of them), and it gives me more hope about him improving than I had before the game. I think a few of you guys are getting a little carried away, and don't worry I will be the first to admit when I am wrong, but it's a little early to be claiming victory on this subject Turbocat.

*applause*

That must have been hard.

I don't see anyone getting carried away, just pointing out that it seemed to make such a difference having a strong competitor in there.

If his kicking has improved so that he can slot them from 50m, I'm very confident he'll hold down CHF this season.

 

[Turbocat]

.. To me (and all my mates who stand and watch the games) Henry is no better than what Gardiner and co have dished up in the last couple of weeks. Lonergan takes a mark and kicks it on the full. Henry would do that every week. Gardiner drops a chest mark, Henry does that most weeks. Kingsley marks and kicks to the opposition, Henry does that at least twice a game...

The big difference is that Henry gets a dream run becuase he gets to use STRUCTURE as his reason for being in the team. As i Have said before, pick your best 22 players and then fill the positions. If that left us with Milburn, Mooney, S Johnson, Kingsley, G Ablett alternating through the CHF line than so be it. But don't just plonk some hack there and say he is the best we have so put up with it.

Jack can you inform me , how many times did H kick it out on the full? How chest marks did he drop? How many kicks to the opposition?

I know you hate the structure argument but the fact is you dont play Gary Ablett in the ruck because he is a better player tha Blake. To pick you best 22 you must take into account you want them to do for you. You have beating the Lonergan drum for a long time but in a GF when we were looking down the barrel it was H who came out, took a over head mark and kicked a long goal. At no time in the previous games can i remember TL doing this.
Structure is not fanciful, its as required as the foundations for a house. The lack of structure pressures our passing and eventually causes a break down. A rotating medium tall forwardline(no matter how talented) works only when the ball carrier can break away from the defender.Good as switch but not as your prefered setup because finals footy rarely allows that type of freedom

If Tom can actually start to mussle out defenders, take pack marks etc I'll start to reconsider untill then you should be glad we have H, I am

 

[lowbo]

Lonergan has a long long way to go to match up to the Hulk. Big Hulk is clearly the CHF for the year to come, with a few others to pinch hit. Speaking of pinch hitting, someone should hit henry a few times before the match to get him angry & turn green.

 

[scottydeewah]

Big Hulk is clearly the CHF for the year to come

I would say yearS to come. Who else? I mean we have Hawkins but he wont be ready for CHF for at LEAST 3-4 years. I know he is a big boy but he is still just a boy. CHF is the hardest position.

Even the kick H missed the other night was good. It was from distance, travelled far and looked strong. It did miss but he looked confident and gave it a real crack. I made the statement that i was going to put $20 on us for the flag if he kicked it (after the first miracle) and was halfway out of my seat to do it. If he kicks like that during the season, mate we are going to be VERY hard to stop up forward.

 

[Turbocat]

I would say yearS to come. Who else? I mean we have Hawkins but he wont be ready for CHF for at LEAST 3-4 years. I know he is a big boy but he is still just a boy. CHF is the hardest position.

Even the kick H missed the other night was good. It was from distance, travelled far and looked strong. It did miss but he looked confident and gave it a real crack. I made the statement that i was going to put $20 on us for the flag if he kicked it (after the first miracle) and was halfway out of my seat to do it. If he kicks like that during the season, mate we are going to be VERY hard to stop up forward.

You make a lot of sense Scotty.
H's contact was good.The thing I ask for the most out of set shot's is , not 100% accuracy, but at least know what the shape of your shot will be , miss but not by much. Thats the thing that bugs me so often with KK , when he is off its like he has no idea were its going.

The one thing I'll say in reguard to young Hawkins, I think 3-4 year for CHF might be right but he may well be in side a lot earlier. We as a club have been very have been good at grooming , shall we say, guys who are a tad off outstanding. H at 41, Egan at 62,Spencer at 42. I suppose we had to be because unlike Brisbane this year we have never had a player like Mitch Clarke fall to us when we had a pick inside 10.

This groming thing is an interesting debating point,probably for another thread, about how much is talent and how much is enviroment post drafting(some clubs never seem to maximize their early picks , bad pick or bad enviroment).

Back on track, with Tom H , if all the comments are accurate we may have a recognised , serious top ten tall, a player who has gone thru the system and stood out against his piers, which is something we havent ever had.Have a look at the kids who have come straight into AFL, they are the guns kids - Deludio, Cooney, Griffen,Riewoldt, Kosinski etc. The only players of this ilk we have had id say are Bartlel and Gary Ablett, Nathan doesnt count because he is outside the system.If TH is up to this standard, I wouldnt be supprised if he plays much earlier than most of our other talls have, probably not CHF but id say he will be in their somewhere.
Remember talent , like cream, rises to the top.

 

[scottydeewah]

Completely agree that he will come into the team earlier rather than later but it will still be H holding down CHF. He might play a sort of flanker/CHF type role TH but it wont be a straight up CHF.

I think aside from his kicking H has been servicable last season. He plays in more of the St Nick roll as the running CHF who takes a lot of uncontested marks. If he can get fitter and stronger and his kicking improves he can definately make the position his own. Hey this preseason he has kicked better than Riewoldt

 

[cats2rise]

Do they get a cup in the VFL ???

It's amazing nobody ever answers the question about the best and fairest votes. Get jubjub on the case, he thinks he knows everything.

Jack, i have asked you this atleast 10 times, and you have never answered me.. If you do not want Henry at CHF, who would you rather see play there/ Lonergon, McCarthey?? Cmon Jack, he's our best option at the moment.

CHF is one of the hardest positions to play, physically and mentally, and last year was Henrys first full season.. before then he had been swapped forward and back... Last year was also his first year playing at CHF for a long period of time. Last year should have been more of a learning experience for him, and it was and it showed. And i know this year is his make or break year for the GFC, and I think he could easily kick 20 goals, take half a dozen makrs per game this year, without injuries.