Toast Thanks for everything, Paul Puopolo - will retire at season's end

Puopolo was my favourite player for a long long time, great servant to the club and provided us some electrifying moments. Such a crafty player with an incredible work ethic and a pressure machine. Thank you for always making me smile watching you play growing up as well as three flags, wish him the best of luck in retirement!
 
He's a great story and a very astute mature age pick up

At his peak he was part of the most feared forward line in the league and could do a little bit of everything.

His ability to compete with players much taller than him for the high ball and his relentless chasing at ground level are what he is best known for but he was also great at the little taps and knock ons that were such a big part of our game back then
 

Billyc

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 17, 2009
8,351
24,534
AFL Club
Hawthorn
An extremely valuable part of one of the best forward lines in the games history. He's a guy who changed the game a bit I reckon. He was a big part of the blueprint that led to our success and has since been adopted by Richmond: you don't need to be a superstar or good at everything, you just need to be bloody good at your role and be competitive to the very end. Puopolo was a bloody good defensive small forward who could kick important goals. A ripping career.
 
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4THAWN

Club Legend
Mar 25, 2019
2,548
2,833
AFL Club
Hawthorn
It is amazing to see how quickly the AFL landscape changed between 2015ish and now. Back then poppy was almost the only player in the league capable of applying such intense forward pressure. Move forward 5 years and this role is absolutely critical to each and every AFL team's forward line.

Could really do it all at his best. Amazing he was able to have such a strong influence as a player given he was picked up late as a mature ager.

Onya Poppy, thank you for so many highlights throughout your time with us.
 
I hope there’s another Puopolo somewhere out there, as his role as a small pressure forward is irreplaceable. He played an instrumental part during the three-peat era. Thanks for everything you’ve given the Hawks.
 

oneredfrog

Team Captain
Oct 7, 2009
340
95
East, far east..
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Absolutely love Poppy. His endeavour and energy was amazing. A tackling an marking beast that has a highlight reel that any player would be proud of. Good luck for the future Poppy. Thank you for your amazing service and the great memories.
 

hardway

Club Legend
Oct 15, 2003
2,701
5,017
Northern suburb
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Bravo Poppy, congratulations on a career where you got absolutely everything out of your abilities. There was one occasion that i thought WTF were you doing when you kicked the ball out of mid air and Geelong ended up winning due to that error, But you more than made up for it. Good luck with what your future has in store and once again grazie.
 
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Similar to Stratton went on a little to long, but a valuable member of 3 premierships, thanks for 10 years great service Poppy. Would have been nice if we could have nudged him to 200 games like we did Stratts.

why couldn't you have just started your post from Valuable....?
it changes the whole context of your post.
 
Not many players can leave the game being regarded as absolutely elite as a footballer.
For the role he played, he was the best of the best.
Him and Cyril working the forward arc together was a real strength of our club and was a key ingredient in the b2b2b.
Great player.
 
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