Toast Taylor Hunt

[Jhye Clark 13]

As good as he has been, he's wasted in the tagging role given our lack of leg speed at the moment. We may need to rob Peter to pay Paul.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Dont mistake it for criticism of Hunt. It's not.

Go back and find my comments about him last year.
I said something like. "he doesn't just try and play a role, he tries to make a difference".


I just think that he is not doing a good enough job, at the minute.
Sure he is a kid. But if he is in the middle chasing Dangerfield we are effectively down to 3 midfielders. Yes he did a fair job on Danger. But Thompson and Van Berlo went nuts.

As much as a tagger is important in todays footy I think the fact that we just can't win enough of the ball suggests that we need an additional player at the contest who's sole purpose is to win the ball and clear it.

I add in players like Smedts and Guthrie (you could probably add duncan and stringer) because we have far too many players who just aren't getting enough of it.

What can we do about it? Stuff all with regards to personnel. It's who we are for the time being.
Lets remember Ling was a ball winner before he became a tagger AND ball winner.

Maybe it's time to put on some soft tags. i.e. not a specific player. Just a group tag.
Let's work on getting 4 ball winners at the centre bounce.

Not 1 ruckman, 1 tagger, 2 clearing players.
In fact I'd stack the wings with ball winners too and play a 5 man forward line.


And Bobby, it has nothing to do with you making the thread. Relax.

And I think that's a perfectly valid debate Vinum and you may well be right, but it doesn't take away from the fact that Poodle is doing a good job at the moment in the role he is being asked to do.

Why don't you start a thread on that issue so we can discuss it there? I think it's a conversation well worth having, and that way the toast thread can be kept for the toasting of Poodle's efforts.

 

[Banj]

VC - if you had started the thread around this time last year I may have agreed.

T.Hunt has only 26 games under his belt and at 21 years of age is beginning to 'shut down' some of the cream in the competition as a result becoming one of our BIG improvers this year.

Sorry mate but this thread doesn't have a leg to stand on right now.

 

[Boxhead_31]

My take on it is this year and maybe next are developing years for the squad that is going to be challenging for the flag in 2014 - 2015and Taylor is going to be a big part of that side.

Remember Linga didn't become a lock down suffocate the life out of them tagger until 2004/2005 before that he was a lot like Poodle is now a player that can influence how much his opponent gets the ball without completely blanketing them out of the game.

 

[Beanstalk]

Poodle dropped a hole in one in front of the coach today...

 

[Catatonic Shock]

Hole in 1 on the course.
Miles away with the outfit.

 

[BlitzenTrapper]

Hole in 1 on the course.
Miles away with the outfit.

Haha. Loving the hat

 

[darren forssman]

denim shorts....faux pas central.

 

[vinum coupe]

Oh I thread where I ended up being correct. Yay.





Well, as per usual actually.

 

[Jon Douglas]

I am putting the tagging issue aside for the time being - I just want THunt to come back and play as well as he did before he got injured earlier in the season. Looked really good to me but his form after his injury was poor. He had more than enough time in the seniors to get over his issues (and being selected means you are over the physical injury generally).

So maybe psychological scars has created issues with his form ? Don't know. But he and Varcoe were gifted games in the seniors on form.

Would be a great asset if he could regain his form - had plenty of pre-seasons and his body is AFL ready, has had 50 odd senior games so has the experience - and has shown how is good enough at AFL level. Also adds some pace to the team. All good things.

I just hope not all good things come to an end - this quickly. Really somewhat of a make or break year like it is for Varcoe. Both given their experience should be best 22 players but neither looked like that at the end of this season.

For me they would be like 2 new recruits as currently I have my doubts on whether they will be best 22 next season. I really hope they are as that will make our team that much stronger and consistent and could help us nail another top 4 position at year's end. But for me the jury is out.

Happy to have them best 22 if they perform next season if not happy to trade them at season's end. Right now we have quite a few young players that will need senior experience to see if they are up to it and I do not want players who have been given a real go and failed too often to hold them out if they are not performing.

 

[MotleyLemon]

Consistently one of the worst dressed blokes at the club, and appears to absolutely revel in it.

I hope he's around for a long while yet.

 

[Jon Douglas]

I really hope so Bobby.

But I have lingering doubts because the year before he was playing well and got injured and could not recapture his form. So that is twice he got injured and could not get over it. And it was not like it was a really serious injury and was given little time to get over them.

Once is fine but twice starts looking a bit like a pattern.

I wish him well but reckon if he does not show some good form others will get ahead of him - like Murdoch, GHS, Thurlow, Kersten, etc. Sure these guys do not play the same role necessarily but you can only fit so many young players in one side. If these 4 were to get a senior role - where would THunt fit in ? We still have a core of really good footballers and players like Vardy and Simpson fit roles that we just simply must use them as we have no real choice (maybe Hmac and Walker - but no THunt will fill these roles).

Rivers and Brown may fight out the third tall position down back but that is again no role that THunt can play.

Like any member of the team there are only so many roles they can fill in a team of 22.

I was on the band wagon early this season so I know he has the goods but he needs to bring to the table consistently and not let injuries rob him of his form so easily. We are building for 2015 Premiership tilt IMO and if he does not show the goods by the end of next season he may well be passed by a few from this group - Smedts, Murdoch, Cowan, Lang, GHS, Bews, Thurlow, Menzel, Schroder and Jansen.

Now clearly not all these guys will make it for various reasons but I think quite a few will - and that means very tough competition for spots. If THunt does not perform next season I really can see him playing VFL as a depth player or being traded.

Of course we would all like him to show the form he had earlier in the season as a preference but time stands still for no man.

 

[vinum coupe]

No way will they trade Hunt.
He would have to lose the plot for that to happen.

He definitely showed plenty early. Probably not doing the job as well as we need it to be done right now.
But if Ling was still playing we'd all probably cut hunt more slack.

 

[Partridge]

No way will they trade Hunt.
He would have to lose the plot for that to happen.

He definitely showed plenty early. Probably not doing the job as well as we need it to be done right now.
But if Ling was still playing we'd all probably cut hunt more slack.

If he was one of half a dozen others he would be cut more slack. Didn't recapture his form after the injury but still a pretty young player.

 

[El Dubya]

Where does he fit in the side though? Who makes space from the Prelim 22 for him?

 

[Jon Douglas]

Where does he fit in the side though? Who makes space from the Prelim 22 for him?

My point exactly.

If he plays as well as he did early this season he could force his way back into the team but he would need play well and consistently so to get back to best 22 IMO.

In the meantime their are quite a few young players doing all they can to leap frog him. No easy task for THunt to become best 22 again IMO.

I reckon by season's end we will have 2 new best 22 players from all those youngsters we have coming thru. That makes it extra hard for THunt who was not in the best 22 against the Hawks in the Prelim final that had Enright and Chappy out. Surely those outs made it easier to get in the team if you were good enough.

 

[vinum coupe]

Where does he fit in the side though? Who makes space from the Prelim 22 for him?

The critical thing is, he needs to create the space.

We wont improve unless the kids do that.

 

[Lana]

The thing is that he doesn't need to be best 22 to get some significant game time at AFL. There are always some players are always injured both short and long term, while other players get rested. He's got versatility on his side, being that he can play as a rebounding defenders as well as his tagging role.
I'd be surprised if he played less than 12 games next year, but for him to play more than that he would have to have a breakout season.

 

[Partridge]

Where does he fit in the side though? Who makes space from the Prelim 22 for him?

For Taylor Hunt? How about Varcoe or Josh Hunt?

 

[Jon Douglas]

For Taylor Hunt? How about Varcoe or Josh Hunt?

Write up your best 22 and see where THunt fits in. There are quite a few best 22 selections on another thread and most have not picked THunt - even with Josh Hunt out. Though many picked Varcoe on the belief he will come back this season and make a better contribution than he did last year.

He could replace Varcoe but both on their form late last year were both ordinary. Neither deserved a senior spot IMO.

Maybe both will come back better next season but they surely have to prove that in the pre-season or play VFL to establish some good form before their senior selection. No good can come from picking players who have poor form.

 

[Partridge]

Write up your best 22 and see where THunt fits in. There are quite a few best 22 selections on another thread and most have not picked THunt - even with Josh Hunt out. Though many picked Varcoe on the belief he will come back this season and make a better contribution than he did last year.

He could replace Varcoe but both on their form late last year were both ordinary. Neither deserved a senior spot IMO.

Maybe both will come back better next season but they surely have to prove that in the pre-season or play VFL to establish some good form before their senior selection. No good can come from picking players who have poor form.

But we know that doesn't equate to what occurs in reality. It happens every year and will occur again in 2014.

As requested, here's a best 22, and Hunt fits in pretty easily:

B: Enright - Lonergan - Brown
HB: Guthrie - Taylor - Mackie
C: Duncan - Horlin-Smith - Hunt
HF: Motlop - Vardy - Caddy
F: Murdoch - Hawkins - Bartel
R: Simpson - Johnson - Selwood
I/C: Kelly - McIntosh - Stokes - Christensen

 

[The rabbi]

Where does he fit in the side though? Who makes space from the Prelim 22 for him?

I think that the Prelim 22 are irrelevant to the question. Where any player fits into the side, or not, will be dependent on their 2014 form and nothing else.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

He needs to step up in 2014. I like him and I think he has a lot to offer, but 56 games for two finals (one of which was clearly as an emergency) in the recent Geelong team is not enough for a player who is now 23 and has been available to play finals the past four years.

We need to find out if he's a genuine tagger (and not just a 'make them accountable going the other way' type, which clearly didn't work as well as we hoped last year) and if not, stop damaging him by making him play that role. He could be an excellent half back, or wingman.

Taylor Hunt is one of those players who could make or break Geelong's season. If he develops into one of the stingier taggers in the league, or is allowed to develop in a different role and locks himself in to the team, we'll be better for it, because he clearly has the tools to be a damaging player.

The health of players like Hawkins, McIntosh and Simpson will obviously be critical to Geelong in 2014, but perhaps just as important will be which five or six players step up and demand those last half dozen spots in our best 22. That includes players like Hunt, Smedts, Murdoch, Horlin-Smith, Brown, Kersten, Thurlow, Blicavs, Walker, Burbury, Stringer, Schroder, Sheringham, McCarthy, Bews and...yes...Varcoe (as well as the recent drat picks). If a few of those players can 'do a Guthrie' next year and simply force themselves into the best 22, regardless of who's healthy and who's injured, the team has the potential to be extremely strong.

To me, players like Hunt, Varcoe, Smedts, Murdoch, Thurlow and Horlin-Smith will be the difference between the club being a genuine contender, or an also-ran.

 

[vinum coupe]

But we know that doesn't equate to what occurs in reality. It happens every year and will occur again in 2014.

As requested, here's a best 22, and Hunt fits in pretty easily:

B: Enright - Lonergan - Brown
HB: Guthrie - Taylor - Mackie
C: Duncan - Horlin-Smith - Hunt
HF: Motlop - Vardy - Caddy
F: Murdoch - Hawkins - Bartel
R: Simpson - Johnson - Selwood
I/C: Kelly - McIntosh - Stokes - Christensen

Gee that team looks weird.

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

As good as he has been, he's wasted in the tagging role given our lack of leg speed at the moment. We may need to rob Peter to pay Paul.

Just reading this. We don't have a Paul no more (gone to the Bummers) and we aint had a Peter since Peter Street (as far as I know).