Toast Hutchings

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ndot said:
this season is first time our club's history that we don't even have one A grade midfielder. this is a dark era we're in the midst of right now.
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To be honest we haven't really had once since Cousins and Judd left. Kerr was in spurts, but not on a week to week basis due to injury and also copping some very hard tags. Still played some blinders. Selwood had a blinding six weeks to start 2012 but it didn't last at all.

If I wasn't a fan I'd be majorly interested in West Coast as a bit of a case study. On one hand I feel we're one of the furthest teams from a flag due to the horrible state of our midfield which is by far the most important area on the ground. On the other hand I also think we're the team that could show the most improvement in the cmopetition which the addition of just one player (A gun midfielder). Unfortunately that player we desire doesn't just grow on trees or get let go of easily by the other teams in the competition.
 
Its an absolute shame that we don't have even just one Elite midfielder, let alone group of gun midfielders to take advantage of the best collection of talls we've had in our club's history.

Naitanui Darling Emac Kennedy Brown McGovern Lycett are the talls that Judd Cousins Kerr would have died for.

Brings a tear to my eye.

Midfields win Premierships. We're a long long way off.
 
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ChampRevesby said:
He has been playing his role. While not a superstar he is performing.
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I agree. Been impressed with his work-rate and spread at stoppages. I think there's a real place for him to fill that "Braun-type, run-all-day, link-up" role in the midfield since he is capable of providing a flexible inside/outside combination. Finds enough ball, just needs to tidy up his foot skills, especially when kicking into the 50. He also needs to have the confidence to take a shot, seems at times within 50 this year he's tried too hard to do the unselfish thing and turned it over.
 

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I don't think it's selflessness, it's a lack of confidence.

Ditto Selwood and Gaff. None of them like kicking for goal, even within 35-40m
 
Hutchings is doing fine. He's still only barely played 20 games and so is naturally lacking a bit of confidence. He's made a few mistakes as you'd expect but he's also shown shown he can hit targets around the ground and in the forward 50, take a great grab, add plenty of defensive pressure and he wins the hardball. He's also one of the only guys in our side that will work hard defensively on the turnover as he's often seen getting the ball in the defensive 50 and then running it forward through a chain of possessions to the forward 50. It's great to look fancy but if you don't get the ball you're no good to anyone.
 
Eaglemaniac said:
Hutchings is doing fine. He's still only barely played 20 games and so is naturally lacking a bit of confidence. He's made a few mistakes as you'd expect but he's also shown shown he can hit targets around the ground and in the forward 50, take a great grab, add plenty of defensive pressure and he wins the hardball. He's also one of the only guys in our side that will work hard defensively on the turnover as he's often seen getting the ball in the defensive 50 and then running it forward through a chain of possessions to the forward 50. It's great to look fancy but if you don't get the ball you're no good to anyone.
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Pretty well said. He’s been copping heat because of some skills errors and the fact that it is clear that he won’t be the goal kicking gun mid that is our priority but there is definitely a long term place in the 22 for him. He runs hard and is linking up better and better as the weeks go on, provides the work ethic that any coach would love too and that's why he will keep getting games.
 

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flamingEMBERS said:
cue the 'how long can we keep playing hutchings thread if he lasts another 2 years'.
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And rightly so.:(

If he is still in our midfield in two years time we are either still going to be crap OR he has transformed his skill level dramatically. The sceptic in me cant subscribe to the latter notion.

He is doing what I call a "baby sitter role" ie: - just doing the job asked of him ( all be it badly )however holding a spot until we get a significant upgrade much the same as Kasey Green and Brad Dalziell were before him.

Once we upgrade our midfield he will quickly become a list clogger. If he isn't already one now.
It beggers belief that that useless prick O'Brien wasted a main draft pick on a player that would have still been available in the rookie draft.

I like Hutchings effort and application ( credit where credit is due) ....unfortunately his skill set is substandard. Sad but true.
 
Monocle said:
And rightly so.:(

If he is still in our midfield in two years time we are either still going to be crap OR he has transformed his skill level dramatically. The sceptic in me cant subscribe to the latter notion.

He is doing what I call a "baby sitter role" ie: - just doing the job asked of him ( all be it badly )however holding a spot until we get a significant upgrade much the same as Kasey Green and Brad Dalziell were before him.

Once we upgrade our midfield he will quickly become a list clogger. If he isn't already one now.
It beggers belief that that useless prick O'Brien wasted a main draft pick on a player that would have still been available in the rookie draft.

I like Hutchings effort and application ( credit where credit is due) ....unfortunately his skill set is substandard. Sad but true.
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Sorry mate, but that's just not true. He hits targets, has taken some great marks and uses the ball well a fair amount of the time in tight situations, be it by hand or by foot. He's not the best player in the league, but his mistakes (which are usually small compared to some of our other players who kick it directly to the opposition) get blown way out of proportion IMO. The fact that he's not stylish in the way he goes about it just seems to rub certain people up the wrong way because they're looking for the next Cuz, Judd or Kerr to instantly appear and save our midfield. That means whatever new kid comes along and pulls on the boots, everyone's expecting him to be an instant champion. Meanwhile people talk about how great Shuey, Masten and Scooter are when really they havent delivered much after so many years on the list. It seems as long as you have tatts and a cool haircut you can show up every week and deliver the odd good game and then not make much of an effort the next week and still be talked about like you're about to be elite, but when a young kid comes along who's not super stylish but gets the job done each week, he gets lambasted. It's pretty ridiculous really. He's an upgrade on Priddis, and if the rest of our stylish mids pulled their weight, and Hutch continued to play his role as he is, we'd be comfortably in the top 4.
 
Monocle said:
And rightly so.:(

If he is still in our midfield in two years time we are either still going to be crap OR he has transformed his skill level dramatically. The sceptic in me cant subscribe to the latter notion.

He is doing what I call a "baby sitter role" ie: - just doing the job asked of him ( all be it badly )however holding a spot until we get a significant upgrade much the same as Kasey Green and Brad Dalziell were before him.

Once we upgrade our midfield he will quickly become a list clogger. If he isn't already one now.
It beggers belief that that useless prick O'Brien wasted a main draft pick on a player that would have still been available in the rookie draft.

I like Hutchings effort and application ( credit where credit is due) ....unfortunately his skill set is substandard. Sad but true.
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couldn't agree more.
 
Monocle said:
And rightly so.:(

If he is still in our midfield in two years time we are either still going to be crap OR he has transformed his skill level dramatically. The sceptic in me cant subscribe to the latter notion.

He is doing what I call a "baby sitter role" ie: - just doing the job asked of him ( all be it badly )however holding a spot until we get a significant upgrade much the same as Kasey Green and Brad Dalziell were before him.

Once we upgrade our midfield he will quickly become a list clogger. If he isn't already one now.
It beggers belief that that useless prick O'Brien wasted a main draft pick on a player that would have still been available in the rookie draft.

I like Hutchings effort and application ( credit where credit is due) ....unfortunately his skill set is substandard. Sad but true.
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Calling him a list clogger at present is farcical. He is outperforming several other mids who have considerably more games under their belts.

He's not the best kick but his skills aren't nearly as bad as some people make them out to be.

And regardless, he seems to be one of a very few who aren't afraid to lay a tackle.
 
With Rosa now added to the increasing injury list, we'll have a few weeks to measure Hutchings' importance to our team. Can he step up given more freedom in an attacking role?
 
Adam Simpson a month ago said Hutchings is one midfielder we want to put more games into ..... I think he will be playing the rest of the season . Hutchings isn't a star midfielder but he gets the hard ball ( that others shy from ) and his skills aren't that bad plus he can go forward and kick goals .
 
It's so frustrating that most of our mids have regressed so badly. You can basically look at most of them and think of a time when they showed some decent promise of being good players. Shuey in 2011 looked the goods, and I had high hopes for him, but he has really stagnated and doesn't look anything like the player i thought he'd become. Gaffy hasn't progressed much either since 2012, scooter had a very good 2012 as well but we haven't seen that kind of form from either of them again. I thought Masten had a great 2013 but he has regressed, and I'm sure we all remember how damaging wellingham looked at collingwood (granted he was in a better midfield, but he always seemed to play well against us).
 
Eaglemaniac said:
Sorry mate, but that's just not true. He hits targets, has taken some great marks and uses the ball well a fair amount of the time in tight situations, be it by hand or by foot. He's not the best player in the league, but his mistakes (which are usually small compared to some of our other players who kick it directly to the opposition) get blown way out of proportion IMO. The fact that he's not stylish in the way he goes about it just seems to rub certain people up the wrong way because they're looking for the next Cuz, Judd or Kerr to instantly appear and save our midfield. That means whatever new kid comes along and pulls on the boots, everyone's expecting him to be an instant champion. Meanwhile people talk about how great Shuey, Masten and Scooter are when really they havent delivered much after so many years on the list. It seems as long as you have tatts and a cool haircut you can show up every week and deliver the odd good game and then not make much of an effort the next week and still be talked about like you're about to be elite, but when a young kid comes along who's not super stylish but gets the job done each week, he gets lambasted. It's pretty ridiculous really. He's an upgrade on Priddis, and if the rest of our stylish mids pulled their weight, and Hutch continued to play his role as he is, we'd be comfortably in the top 4.
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People don't talk about how great Scooter and Masten are... Shuey has been talked up since his very good 2011 which warranted the hype. It's not stylishness that people froth over, it's upside and talent.

People don't talk up players who just work hard because hard work alone won't make us a premiership side.

It's also not clear that he's an upgrade on Priddis. Their strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out if anything.

I don't mind Hutch but there's only room in a side for one of him and unfortunately we have too many
 
SpaceClef said:
People don't talk about how great Scooter and Masten are... Shuey has been talked up since his very good 2011 which warranted the hype. It's not stylishness that people froth over, it's upside and talent.

People don't talk up players who just work hard because hard work alone won't make us a premiership side.

It's also not clear that he's an upgrade on Priddis. Their strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out if anything.

I don't mind Hutch but there's only room in a side for one of him and unfortunately we have too many
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So move Masten and Selwood on who have had 100 plus games of some better than Hutchings but the vast majority the same or worse. Surely 100 plau games is enough???
I am happy to give Hutchy at least 50 games to find out what he has, based on what we have afforded these others then surely that is warranted?

Selwood and Masten be the first guys I would put up for trade whether they want to or not. They had had a great go at it and are not up to being AFL midfielders. Cut our losses and move on.
 
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