Certified Legendary Thread Welcome Tim Taranto & Jacob Hopper

[beema limapep]

If that's his standard game over the next 6 remaining years as a fit player, will surely go down as one of the all time worst trades.

Pick 6 and 31, and 7 years at mental money.

Massive alarm bells.

 

[TigerImposter]

Hopper is a spud just own it that it was a pathetic trade.

 

[DustinsGuns]

Hopefully we get hyper inflation so we his contract doesn't look so
bad.

In NBA terms, he's a negative asset

The Ben Simmons of the AFL

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Hopefully we get hyper inflation so we his contract doesn't look so
bad.

In NBA terms, he's a negative asset

The Ben Simmons of the AFL

Nice guy...big smile...cos of his 7 year contract!

 

[59Stanley]

He is a meh / nothing player and wasn’t that good at GWS.

 

[beema limapep]

If we got hopper for just a second rounder and a 4 year contract on 500k per year, nobody would feel the need to defend his terrible output to date.

Instead, we are gunna have 6 years of people defending him purely because of the insane cost we chose to and continue to pay to get for him.

 

[TigerImposter]

I told people last year he would end up in the VFL in his last 5 seasons and would be gifted two seasons bc of the price we paid for him. Terrible player , but not as bad as the terrible trade that we made. I hope i'm wrong, but he has concrete boots and poor disposal. meh meh and as my lady would say hu hu hu

 

[Tiger_4_Life]

If that's his standard game over the next 6 remaining years as a fit player, will surely go down as one of the all time worst trades.

Pick 6 and 31, and 7 years at mental money.

Massive alarm bells.

Who went 6 and 31?

 

[TigerImposter]

Who went 6 and 31?

6. Ryley Sanders, Western Bulldogs​

31. Logan Morris, Brisbane Lions​

Every pick from the 2023 AFL’s national, pre-season and rookie drafts

All the picks from the first round of the 2023 AFL national draft, updated as each pick is named across Monday and Tuesday nights. Plus, check out who your club picked up in the pre-season and rookie drafts.

www.theage.com.au

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

Will take the title off McMahon by the time he’s delisted .
We went from to a chance of making finals whilst he was out last year back to being

 

[Meteoric Rise]

6. Ryley Sanders, Western Bulldogs​

31. Logan Morris, Brisbane Lions​

Every pick from the 2023 AFL’s national, pre-season and rookie drafts

All the picks from the first round of the 2023 AFL national draft, updated as each pick is named across Monday and Tuesday nights. Plus, check out who your club picked up in the pre-season and rookie drafts.

www.theage.com.au

The picks ended up at 8 and 34.

Hopper didn't look great last night but we need to see how he goes over the early part of the season proper before rushing to judgement. He has definitely been a good player at GWS so if he ever gets to anywhere near his best GWS form he would be worth every bit of what we paid for him in salary and draft picks.

 

[tiger_tough]

I told people last year he would end up in the VFL in his last 5 seasons and would be gifted two seasons bc of the price we paid for him. Terrible player , but not as bad as the terrible trade that we made. I hope i'm wrong, but he has concrete boots and poor disposal. meh meh and as my lady would say hu hu hu

* you carry on. He had calf, toe and ankle issues all last year. Let's wait and see how he goes during home and away before you start patting yourself on the back hey?

 

[tropicaltiger]

if jacob keeps building his fitness and stays injury free some people are going to have egg on their faces when he finishes in the top half dozen in our b & f

 

[TigerImposter]

* you carry on. He had calf, toe and ankle issues all last year. Let's wait and see how he goes during home and away before you start patting yourself on the back hey?

he will always have these injuries bc of his physique being top heavy and slow. To keep up with the fast pace of the game his body style isn't designed for the strain and pace of AFL footy. Who said i was patting myself on the back?

 

[TigerImposter]

The picks ended up at 8 and 34.

Hopper didn't look great last night but we need to see how he goes over the early part of the season proper before rushing to judgement. He has definitely been a good player at GWS so if he ever gets to anywhere near his best GWS form he would be worth every bit of what we paid for him in salary and draft picks.

i was answering the poster's question in regards to draft picks. lol
He was better as a young player when he was lighter and has gone off the boil since. He's going to struggle unless he sheds a few kilos. Dow has leapfrogged him bc he has better and faster reflexes which makes his disposal efficiency higher. For Hopper to have a good AFL career he needs to be cleaner with his hands, but the game is so fast now his reflexes are poor and he's constantly under pressure which leads then to poor DE.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

i was answering the poster's question in regards to draft picks. lol
He was better as a young player when he was lighter and has gone off the boil since. He's going to struggle unless he sheds a few kilos

Come on TI, how on earth would you know that? Like, are you just totally guessing or is it based on some actual evidence that players above a certain weight never get to be uninjured in the second half of their careers? Or something else that is solid? Or you just made it up?

 

[TigerImposter]

Come on TI, how on earth would you know that? Like, are you just totally guessing or is it based on some actual evidence that players above a certain weight never get to be uninjured in the second half of their careers? Or something else that is solid? Or you just made it up?

READ EDITED POST.

JGTISn't is suffering the same issues as Hopper. injured again last night.

 

[Morro]

I told people last year he would end up in the VFL in his last 5 seasons and would be gifted two seasons bc of the price we paid for him. Terrible player , but not as bad as the terrible trade that we made. I hope i'm wrong, but he has concrete boots and poor disposal. meh meh and as my lady would say hu hu hu

LOL, of all your s**t posts, this one deserves highlighting

 

[Meteoric Rise]

READ EDITED POST.

JGTISn't is suffering the same issues as Hopper. injured again last night.

Is Hopper's disposal efficiency poor? He ranked around 84th of 159 mids in 2023. 70.5% is well above the least efficient guys like Dangerfield, Taranto, Viney, all around 60% or just above. The highest efficiency rates amongst inside mids were in the high 70%'s Hewett, Uniacke, Newcombe, so Hopper sits closer to them than he does to the lower end players. His kick efficiency is lower end, but he is surrounded by players like Petracca, so a lot of that can come down to the types of situations they are kicking in. But the bit that might surprise you is Hopper ranked 42nd of 159 mids for handball efficiency in 2023. Definitely not indicative of not being up to it reaction wise.

I think you need to cool your jets, let's see how he gets on. He is not a high end mid, but his contract reflects his standing. See if he builds his confidence and form. Players get injured, sometimes randomly. From personal experience, more injuries seem to start occurring from mid 20's which is the age we are talking about with Graham and Hopper. But plenty of solidly built guys play effectively without being crippled with injuries or slowness past the age of 25. Dusty, Zorko, Rich, Croches, Parker etc etc.

 

[TigerImposter]

Is Hopper's disposal efficiency poor? He ranked around 84th of 159 mids in 2023. 70.5% is well above the least efficient guys like Dangerfield, Taranto, Viney, all around 60% or just above. The highest efficiency rates amongst inside mids were in the high 70%'s Hewett, Uniacke, Newcombe, so Hopper sits closer to them than he does to the lower end players. His kick efficiency is lower end, but he is surrounded by players like Petracca, so a lot of that can come down to the types of situations they are kicking in. But the bit that might surprise you is Hopper ranked 42nd of 159 mids for handball efficiency in 2023. Definitely not indicative of not being up to it reaction wise.

I think you need to cool your jets, let's see how he gets on. He is not a high end mid, but his contract reflects his standing. See if he builds his confidence and form. Players get injured, sometimes randomly. From personal experience, more injuries seem to start occurring from mid 20's which is the age we are talking about with Graham and Hopper. But plenty of solidly built guys play effectively without being crippled with injuries or slowness past the age of 25. Dusty, Zorko, Rich, Croches, Parker etc etc.

wow 84th on what we paid and gave up for him , i'm so excited. lol
Another dumb stat as there are a lot of midfielders younger than him.
You need to get stats on his wages with mids on similar and higher as well and you would find him at the tail somewhere.

 

[Philth]

Hang on a minute.
Didn’t Hopper play several good, solid games last year?
And wasn’t he was amongst our best players in a few games?
But now after one poor practice match he’s VFL fodder.
Sheesh.

 

[Hank Heavenly]

Hang on a minute.
Didn’t Hopper play several good, solid games last year?
And wasn’t he was amongst our best players in a few games?
But now after one poor practice match he’s VFL fodder.
Sheesh.

we would only play with about 10 players each week the way some overreact after one game, or even one contest!

 

[beema limapep]

Hang on a minute.
Didn’t Hopper play several good, solid games last year?
And wasn’t he was amongst our best players in a few games?
But now after one poor practice match he’s VFL fodder.
Sheesh.

Polled 1 brownlow vote in 16 games.

Assuming the person was correct who said he is on a mill per year, that's 62k a game or 31k an hour.

Good work if you can get it I suppose.

 

[TheOptimum18]

At the end of the day, I just think our midfield mix at selection table has been horrible for a couple seasons now.

Hopper at GWS when given consistent game time was a top 10 stoppage/clearance midfielder in the league (seasons 18, 19 and 21). At his best, he was averaging 80% game time, so able to work through games. Last season, he was at 70% game time for us.

A fundamental mistake (in my opinion) of the last couple seasons has been trying to be "clever" with match selection, and something we've all complained about at various times. Players like Cotch and Dion have never been forwards, but we would rotate these kind of players through different positions just to fit square pegs in round holes.

We 'lost' a centre bounce midfielder last season in Dusty (due to various reasons), but tried to fit 2 inside mids to fill that 1 hole. Understandable why, considering situations around Cotch and the importance of Dion in past seasons, but at the end of the day, you carry too many of the same type of midfielders in what has started to become a limited position in the AFL.

You look at the game yesterday, and focusing on the first 3 quarters which seems to be the current favoured best 22, it seems we're running most of TT, Hopper, Dow, Prestia and Graham through stoppages, alongside Bolton, Baker and Martin. To me, that's too many of the same "type" of midfielders, so players like Dion and Hopper have to share limited roles, making both seem non-existent in the game at times.

In contrast, you look at the midfield mix of Collingwood with De Goey, Daicos, Crisp and Mitchell, and the only player you would classify as the inside midfielder is Mitchell. Fin Macrae, by all accounts, has been hyped all preseason by various people, yet only played the last quarter. Another inside midfielder.

In my opinion, the only way we see the best of Hopper is if we cut back the inside midfielders we play each week. TT clearly our number 1 inside mid at the moment, while players like Dow and Ross have shown to show different skills that other midfielders haven't shown (Dow's sidestep and speed, while the last quarter cameo seems to have shown that Ross has been able to pickup clean ball use, I assume from his development as a wingman). Graham obviously injured, but looks a lot fitter than previous seasons, while I think it's a toss up between Hopper and Dion.

With a mix of TT, Dow, Ross and Dion/Hopper, you limit the amount of square pegs in round holes, whilst also having midfielders that can genuinely be rotated through different positions (Ross on the wing, TT at HF) to manage players during games. It also means you don't overly congest contests when you want to have Baker, Bolton and/or Martin running through either.

 

[Vassp]

* you carry on. He had calf, toe and ankle issues all last year. Let's wait and see how he goes during home and away before you start patting yourself on the back hey?

Even with an injury, Players who can play show they can play, you can tell if you're a keen observer, he hasn't shown much at all to be fair.
Prestia has been battling injury most of his career yet he has shown he can play.

These two players are really grating on me ---considering the price we paid. But the defenders are going to defend.