6 hours ago, jnrmac said:

His barrel on the 3/4 time siren in Alice Springs was one of the best kicks for goal after the siren I have ever seen....

Pity I missed it, as was in Darwin not Alice

7 hours ago, jnrmac said:

His barrel on the 3/4 time siren in Alice Springs was one of the best kicks for goal after the siren I have ever seen....

Except no such thing ever happened.

3 hours ago, hemingway said:

And prior to that Alan Rowarth, Athol Webb and Norm Smith himself. Norm also used Big Bob Johnson as a tall decoy in the forward pocket. And regarding ruckman, Norm usually only used one key ruckman. Graham Wise, Terry Gleeson to name two. Wise would ruck all day. Despite hardly ever taking a mark or getting a kick, Wise was a great tap ruckman. In later years, he used Tassie Johnson as a ruckman at centre bounce despite his lack of height.

Like other great coaches and leaders,  Norm was ahead of his time and set new standards at the senior level. 

I assume Tassie was a bang crash ruckman.

 

1 hour ago, Skuit said:

Except no such thing ever happened.

Spot on. Thank god there are SOME sensible people on here.

The NT town "Alice Springs" does not exist. It is actually a secret Chinese base on the dark side of the moon, primarily used to insert arsenic into vaccines. It was rented out to the Saudis, who sublet it to the Iranians who then recruited Syrians to fly planes through the twin towers, which also did not actually exist except in doctored photos.

Meanwhile ... Hunt suffered from a textbook case of "second year blues" (maybe third year if you want to get technical), and if he's adjusted to his bulked up frame, may get back to his frantic dashing runs of 2017.

I think he and Tracc in '18 suffered primarily from being feared by oppo coaches and had extra work put into countering them. I trust our coaches are also up to the challenge.

1 hour ago, Skuit said:

Except no such thing ever happened.

OK smarty pants Darwin.

2 hours ago, DV8 said:

I assume Tassie was a bang crash ruckman.

 

No he was a very short ruckman. But he positioned his body very well just as he did at full back playing against some of the great full forwards. 

How do we think the set starting positions will affect Hunt's game? 

I feel like there is more likely to be space in front of him, which will help his natural game: he isn't great at choosing/hitting targets and will do better with one on ones ahead, rather than spare opposition players. I think his one on one defensive game is ok too, which is a good thing.

 

On 1/25/2019 at 10:27 AM, jnrmac said:

His barrel on the 3/4 time siren in Alice Springs was one of the best kicks for goal after the siren I have ever seen....

I reckon it was a more difficult and bigger kick than Blight's, after the siren all those years ago.

On 1/24/2019 at 3:54 PM, Salems Lot said:

Run! Jayden Run!

Could the now more open wing positions bring someone with his dash and acceleration into their own?

On 1/25/2019 at 2:40 PM, Vagg said:

Barry Bourke!  Another of my favourite players!  Played the role of decoy FF to perfection!

He also kicked a few, just to keep in practice. Great Melbourne player.

On 1/25/2019 at 10:09 PM, hemingway said:

No he was a very short ruckman. But he positioned his body very well just as he did at full back playing against some of the great full forwards. 

Kick outs from full back, drop kick specialist, the ball always went over the centre circle (no square, then) and into the forward line. Stunning.

17 hours ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Kick outs from full back, drop kick specialist, the ball always went over the centre circle (no square, then) and into the forward line. Stunning.

And Deemania you would remember that like many of his team mates from the great years, Tassie was as tough as nails.

Those great Demon teams were tough but fair and were led by the toughest of all, RD Barassi. 

No-one picked a fight with Tassie. He would stand toe to toe with his opponent never giving an inch, with his big fist knocking the ball out of the forwards grasping hands. It was said that he had the respect of one of the best and toughest full forwards in John Peck.

With his brushed back black brylcreemed hair and rugged looks, he looked like a film star in his sleeveless number 8 guernsey. 

17 hours ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Kick outs from full back, drop kick specialist, the ball always went over the centre circle (no square, then) and into the forward line. Stunning.

I remember in the early sixties when I was with my dad, in with the TPI ex-soldiers in the forward pocket watching Tassie drop kicking the ball almost out of sight from full back.

46 minutes ago, Damo said:

I remember in the early sixties when I was with my dad, in with the TPI ex-soldiers in the forward pocket watching Tassie drop kicking the ball almost out of sight from full back.

Bernie Massey wasn't bad either.

10 minutes ago, hemingway said:

Bernie Massey wasn't bad either.

would love to have seen darren bennet kicking out from full back. would have been a sight to behold....alas

10 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

would love to have seen darren bennet kicking out from full back. would have been a sight to behold....alas

 

10 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

would love to have seen darren bennet kicking out from full back. would have been a sight to behold....alas

Agreed, but his long shots at goal were a marvel ... accuracy was amazing post-high. 

1 hour ago, hemingway said:

And Deemania you would remember that like many of his team mates from the great years, Tassie was as tough as nails.

Those great Demon teams were tough but fair and were led by the toughest of all, RD Barassi. 

No-one picked a fight with Tassie. He would stand toe to toe with his opponent never giving an inch, with his big fist knocking the ball out of the forwards grasping hands. It was said that he had the respect of one of the best and toughest full forwards in John Peck.

With his brushed back black brylcreemed hair and rugged looks, he looked like a film star in his sleeveless number 8 guernsey. 

Yep, tough as nails. I can remember that although he was not a quick runner, most forwards just wasted the ball in attempting to get rid of it before he arrived. Preusse might be like that with defenders, if we get to play him forward as May will have taken care of the backline.

On 1/24/2019 at 4:22 PM, Biffen said:

Good luck Mike!!

As a bearer of the same surname, I’ve copped this one ad nauseam ?

Also ‘Phil’ as first name, ‘Mike’ second name. 

Lift, Biffen, I expect more originality from you next time! 

BTW my grandad’s nickname was ‘Pork’, rest his soul. ?

 

 

8 hours ago, hemingway said:

Bernie Massey wasn't bad either.

Bernie was good (our last premiership FB) though Peck seemed always to have the wood on him.  

 

3 minutes ago, monoccular said:

Bernie was good (our last premiership FB) though Peck seemed always to have the wood on him.  

 

True for Bernie but not Tassie.

Tassie was a natural footballer who had great ball sense, and knew where to position himself, usually side by side or at the back of his opponents neck. Bernie did not have that gift and could be found out of position against better opponents, but he was a beautiful kick. 

On 1/30/2019 at 4:55 PM, Deemania since 56 said:

He also kicked a few, just to keep in practice. Great Melbourne player.

If my memory is correct it was BB, then playing in back line who went across Hudson's leg at Glenferrie Oval after he had kicked about 10 by half time and ended Hudson's career for a year or two .

4 minutes ago, Docs Demons said:

If my memory is correct it was BB, then playing in back line who went across Hudson's leg at Glenferrie Oval after he had kicked about 10 by half time and ended Hudson's career for a year or two .

I was there. I thought he'd kicked about 15 by then. A great act of genius from BB, he must have felt for poor Ray Biff who copped a spray at half time you could hear from Glenferrie station.

7 hours ago, Docs Demons said:

If my memory is correct it was BB, then playing in back line who went across Hudson's leg at Glenferrie Oval after he had kicked about 10 by half time and ended Hudson's career for a year or two .

Memory is a constant worry, but I think you are correct. I remember, distinctly, that it was a Melbourne player but I remain at this point uncertain who it was - yet, I can still see (in the back of my mind) the old black and white footage of this occurring. What I do remember is that as soon as that action took place in a 'spoil', you just knew that Hudson's knee was going to be ... buggered ... before he even felt it occurring. That all sounds ominous, but it was purely accidental. There definitely was no malicious intent - other than to spoil the kick Hudson was attempting to clear. 

5 hours ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Memory is a constant worry, but I think you are correct. I remember, distinctly, that it was a Melbourne player but I remain at this point uncertain who it was - yet, I can still see (in the back of my mind) the old black and white footage of this occurring. What I do remember is that as soon as that action took place in a 'spoil', you just knew that Hudson's knee was going to be ... buggered ... before he even felt it occurring. That all sounds ominous, but it was purely accidental. There definitely was no malicious intent - other than to spoil the kick Hudson was attempting to clear. 

Happened just in front of me in the forward pocket in front of the old Dr Sandy Ferguson stand. 

It was early 1970s, around 1971 or 72. 

Hudson went out to meet the ball but Barry Bourke feel across his leg damaging his knee.

Hudson had kicked 8 goals up to half-time. 

There was a deathly hush across the ground as he was carried off on a stretcher. Hawks supporters were in a state of dismay and shock whereas Demon supporters (and players) were relieved that the pain Hudson was inflicting on Melbourne was over. 

This is against the backdrop of him kicking 16 goals against a hapless Melbourne in 1969. I was also there that day and it was probably the most sensational but nightmarish performance I have ever seen on a footy field   All from a player who couldn't run, take a mark above his head and apart from his deadly accuracy with his flat punts from 40 metres out, was not much of a kick.

It did not matter what opposition teams did to negate Hudson, he could outplay any number of opponents at the one time and find a way to kick a bag of goals. There were multiple occasions when he kicked more than 10 goals. This would probably not happen today with the way the game has fundamentally changed from positional football to a running rugby scrum.