Small crumbing forward type

[aneale]

With the talk of maybe chasing down a Stokes or 'are we interested?' in Leon Davis questions, I note that in the great Brisbane purge of 2009 that Rhan Hooper was delisted today.

Upside - quick, skilled, only 21, won't cost us much.

Downside - possible discipline issues with getting himself to training.

Thoughts? Worth a look as a PSD pick if he nominates or a late pick if he goes ND?

I still feel we need a genuine crumber type to complete the puzzle.

 

[Huntercrow]

Would think not as we delisted 2 (I think) for similar reason.

 

[Vantz]

It's an interesting one. Rhan Hooper shows glimpses of being a fantastic player. The biggest suprise is Joel Macdonald begin delisted. He is a quality player and will certainly get picked up in the PSD.

 

[aneale]

yeah, I sometimes wonder if sometimes all these guys need is a bit of a wake up call that they are not as special as they like to think they are and that in turn will make them buckle down and not take things for granted.

Hooper isn't a middle aged (by AFL standards) hack that has been traded out, he clearly has talent and only turned 21 last month. It's almost worth the risk in backing in the Club's culture and discipline to get the best out of him, and get a handy pick up.

I don't see any of his type of opportunistic player in this draft. Given that Brisbane seemed to have all and sundry up during trade week I guess his name came up as on offer, I just wonder if we enquired but got spooked by his reputation (which isnt that bad) or price tag or just not rating him.

 

[Ratto]

Get Rendell on his case

Where is he originally from before he was drafted?

 

[aneale]

QLD, he was a local draftee for them. Went #41 in 2005.

 

[Macjoe]

...Hooper ... I ... wonder if we enquired but got spooked by his reputation (which isnt that bad)

Didn't he basically walk out on the Lions a couple of times? What could be worse than giving up the effort? That seems to be why Kite and Lee went from AFC.

That said, having seen the fantastic up-side in terms of crumbed goals in a forward line with talls, really hope the AFC have/do study whether he could be turned around.

 

[aneale]

I cant remember the full story but it was about not showing up to pre-season training at least on a couple of occassions. I don't know if that means he just didn't go or if he was AWOL a la Rioli at Essendon.

If it was a focus issue for whatever reason maybe getting him out of QLD (where he can pop home quite easily) would be a good thing.

 

[BACCS]

It's an interesting one. Rhan Hooper shows glimpses of being a fantastic player. The biggest suprise is Joel Macdonald begin delisted. He is a quality player and will certainly get picked up in the PSD.

I reckon Macdonald has been told he has a contract at some Melbourne club, otherwise I couldnt have seen why the Lions would delist him, its not as if he was out of favours with selectors, he played 21 games! Plus isn't that old.

 

[Blue Red and Gold]

take a risk I say, at the very least rookie him, upgrade him for Martin if he shows he wants to be an AFL player.

This is the type of player that is missing in our premiership puzzle, that and a top knock ruckman.

 

[Drummond]

Hooper is a fine talent and certainly plays that small forward role we've lacked for a while now. However despite the fact he would address a glaring need it's a big risk and I'd lean towards staying away. The guy is a loose cannon. Has gone walkabouts for two pre-seasons in a row and clearly has major disciplinary issues. Both the leadership group and coach (x2) couldn’t turn it around. Ashley Sampi anyone?

 

[Blue Red and Gold]

is it really that bigger risk if we happen to snag him with a late pick or in the PSD?

 

[aneale]

Hooper is a fine talent and certainly plays that small forward role we've lacked for a while now. However despite the fact he would address a glaring need it's a big risk and I'd lean towards staying away. The guy is a loose cannon. Has gone walkabouts for two pre-seasons in a row and clearly has major disciplinary issues. Both the leadership group and coach (x2) couldn’t turn it around. Ashley Sampi anyone?

The AWOL stuff is certainly a concern, I guess the issue is would he be more focussed on his footy if he was away from home or more likely to go AWOL again. Sampi was a WA'ian playing for the Eagles, Hooper a QLD'er playing for the Lions, the ease of escape may have been a factor.

I suspect you are right tho' and would explain why the Club may have been spooked off. A 21yo old kid with his head on straight would be good, certainly better than a washed up Ronnie Burns we once had. i just see him as the player we all hope Jacky would/will be.

 

[Alex99]

Rhan Hooper.

I’m gonna sit on the fence for this one and say, if we do, great but if we don’t, no great loss as the negatives attributes that surround this kid far out weight any of his positive attributes.

However If the AFC see something g in him and decide to take a risk on him we have one enormous benefit in our favour, Andrew McLeod. He is looked at by young indigenous kids as a god and if anyone can turn this kid’s attitude around, it would be Andrew.

Rhan Hooper is a young, indigenous lad who more than likely doesn’t take his football serious or understands how much talent he has. I don’t know how much indigenous leadership he got at Brisbane or if they call upon Darrel White to mentor him but he has wasted it. He sounds a lot like Andrew McLeod did when he first came down to Port Adelaide and even his first year at the crows. Shy, lazy, homesick who just wanted to play football?

I don’t know if we will recruit him, but if we did, I would be having Andrew mentor him so (A) we don’t waste our time and allow him to perpetuate the same negative behaviour he has and we get good value for his services and (B) he can fulfil his football talent. Looking form a distance, it appears as if he has a very poor attitude towards training but if some club took a risk on him and finds a way of nurturing it they will hit the jackpot. That kid has football talent and has it in spades; yeah he is a bit of a wild child who has discipline issues but he has serious football talent.

At the start of this post, I was 50/50 about taking him as it didn’t bother me one way or the other but just thinking about it, with a late pick in this draft, on a 12 month contract, we should definitely do it. The kid is worth the risk.

 

[WALL-e]

Hooper is a headcase, but fits the bill well.

Though not evern $50 odd thousand didnn't stop him from stuffing up.

 

[betterthanu]

He fits our need so perfectly that he could be worth a punt despite being a crazy person. Maybe give him a heavily conditioned contract? IF he actually wants to be an AFL footballer then we might be able to straighen him out a little bit.

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

Hooper is a fine talent and certainly plays that small forward role we've lacked for a while now. However despite the fact he would address a glaring need it's a big risk and I'd lean towards staying away. The guy is a loose cannon. Has gone walkabouts for two pre-seasons in a row and clearly has major disciplinary issues. Both the leadership group and coach (x2) couldn’t turn it around. Ashley Sampi anyone?

On Hooper, I agree

I cant see him handling Craigy's training regime and the professional standards of the AFC

Such a waste of talent

 

[cocka]

With Bunj and Stiff as mentor's, to me it's a no brainer, get Hooper.
Stiff is living proof you can get back on the straight and narrow.
We need speed and a small forward, in a supposedly weak draft (I am personally not sold on this), he's a monty.
Brisbane perplex me ... delist a 21 y.o. talent cause he's "out of control", but recruit the biggest basket case in the AFL at 29 y.o. (at a very high cost) who is beyond redemption.

 

[macca23]

Without knowing Hooper, it's hard to make a sensible comment as to whether he could toe the line at the AFC or not.

Brisbane are ditching him, so their opinion is that he won't change his ways, which up until now haven't been very impressive off-field at all.

But what is impressive is that he he would fit the bill perfectly as that speedy little goal kicking crumber that we've always wanted and never had.

He's got tons of ability.

The head says "leave him be" while the heart says 'let's get him.

I don't think we will pursue him, but wouldn't be averse to giving it a crack with our last pick.

 

[NTRabbit]

If I express fully just how much of a pass this should be, I'd break the tables on this website.

 

[Stiffy_18]

No thanks!

2 coaches at Brisbane couldn't turn him around, I very much doubt that Craig can. We have made a calculated effort in recruting players with certain character traits to build the culture that expects high standards. Hooper just goes against everything we are trying to establish.

Great talent but talent alone doesn't get you there these days.

 

[Drummond]

No thanks!

2 coaches at Brisbane couldn't turn him around, I very much doubt that Craig can. We have made a calculated effort in recruting players with certain character traits to build the culture that expects high standards. Hooper just goes against everything we are trying to establish.

Great talent but talent alone doesn't get you there these days.

Not saying you’re wrong but are you suggesting that we can only handle players who are saints and we don't trust the culture of our club to curtail the ways of slightly mischievous youngsters? Sad if true.

 

[tinman]

Where's Damien Cupido playing now?

 

[cmndstab]

I hope the Crows are talking very closely to him and seeing if he is showing signs of wanting to actually make something of himself.

If he wants to turn the corner (and I like crows98's argument of him looking up to McLeod...), we could get him way under his talent's value. A change of scenery, less glitzy town with less distractions from footy, and a really regimented environment might be just the tonic he needs to make a real fist of his career, and lord knows we could use a player like Hooper.


If we talk to him and he just doesn't seem interested then absolute pass. No point booting out club men like Shirley only to bring in players that don't want to be there, it'd send the wrong message to the other players.

 

[cmndstab]

Not saying you’re wrong but are you suggesting that we can only handle players who are saints and we don't trust the culture of our club to curtail the ways of slightly mischievous youngsters? Sad if true.

I can never quite figure out where I sit on this argument. On one hand, it's true that if our culture isn't good enough to turn around/deal with one misbehaving player, we really haven't done anything other than totally restrict ourselves from selecting anyone but clean-cut players.

On the other hand, why would you reward someone with an attitude problem with a spot on the list? Particularly one who has demonstrated serious issues in the past. Better to recruit a new kid and if he turns out to have attitude problems, then rely on the culture of the club to fix him up.

But then once again, why lose the oppurtunity to pick up a player under value if we could turn him around? It some sense, it seems little different to us picking up an injured Petrenko under his true value because he's got to recover from an injury.

Can't quite figure out which side of the fence I'm standing on here