Go the Biff

I suspect some have lost sight of what we’ve got here in Hogan. Particularly those with goldfish memories. The kid is a gun, any way you look at it I hate using stats but some find them illuminating so I’ll run a few comparisons based on Hogan’s first two seasons. Including his crappy back third to 2016 Wayne Carey could play a bit. I’ll give him a bit of a leg up and ignore his first year & compare his second and third seasons to Hogan’s first 2. Carey played 35 games in that period. Hogan 41. On average Hogan matches him for kicks (9.4). Hogan leads in marks (6.9 – 5.2), handballs (4.6 – 4.3), goals (2.1 – 1.9) and tackles (1.3 – 0.8) Jono Brown went alright too. I’ll do him the same favour, giving him his first season as a warm-up and compare his second & third to Hogan’s career to date. Brown played 44 games in that period. Hogan has him covered in average kicks, marks, goals and tackles. In those 44 games JB took 64 contested marks to Hogan’s 90. It was mentioned that Hogan isn’t “feared” like Brown was. I don’t think Brown was especially feared when he was 20. Now some may argue that today’s game is a higher possession game than in Carey & Brown’s eras and they’d be right. I’d also argue that the explosion in possessions has come in the midfield and chipping across & backwards from half-back. Not the forward line TGR mentioned Jarryd Roughead, a more recent example. Again I’ll give a free pass to Roughead for his first season and compare his second and third where he played mainly forward. He played 42 games in this period On average, Hogan leads him in kicks (9.4 – 6.4), marks (6.9 – 4.4), goals (2.1 – 1.2). Their average handballs are equal and Roughy leads the tackle average by 0.1 per game. In that period Roughy took 33 contested marks to Hogan’s 90 I’ve used the second & third seasons for these blokes to counter the argument that Hogan had been in the system for 2 years before debut and was older. If you compare their first two seasons with Hogan, he streets them. Streets them. Gold Coast’s Tom Lynch is a gun. A future champion in my view. But it took him until his fourth season to match what Hogan did in his first. A season where GC won 10 games so they were hardly spudding it up. Hogan has flaws no doubt but they are fixable in my view. He gets belted for his goalkicking accuracy but no-one complained last year when he had a conversion rate a shade below 70%. Until Round 17 this year he was tracking at 63%. Not too shabby. The wheels fell off in his last six games where he kicked 3 goals 11, dragging his season conversion rate down to 55%. To my eye his field kicking fell away in his last six games as well which suggests to me that something was amiss. Whether it be physical, mental or confidence – who knows but there was a definite decline from the earlier part of the season. Body language – yeah, sometimes not great. But so what – the goal kicking record holder at the MCG had some of the worst body language of all time. Hogan has been described by coaches & team mates as “a competitive beast”. To me it’s obvious that he has high demands of himself and gets disappointed when he fails to deliver. And sometimes he shows it. He’s 20 years old. Stats can only tell you so much. If there are posters can’t see how much ground he can cover, how agile he is, how good his decision making is in general play then short of inundating the site with YouTube clips I’m not sure how to demonstrate it. And he has got a leap as evidenced by that (albeit unsuccessful) hanger he went for towards the end of the season. He flew. Why he doesn’t use it more often I don’t know The kid is 20 years old. He has lots to learn but is already good and could well be great. Great – capital G. And he plays for us. There are posters suggesting we should cut any potential losses and trade him now. The type that can’t see the forest for the draft picks. My view is that we should be moving heaven and earth to keep him. If that means making allowances for his current personal circumstances then so be it. But holding a gun to his head and demanding his signature is dumb. Some suggest we’ll be fine without him. I’m more of the opinion that if we lose him it will haunt us like no other loss since Barassi.

Thanks for the reply. For what it's worth I get how you see Hogan's been pigeon holed as a big forward but I reckon it's a combination of a sub-par forward structure & my view that he's largely been played out of position. I think with Hogan we have just seen the tip and the whole iceberg will look a lot like J. Brown. Which is why I want to keep him no matter what juicy draft picks are currently held by the WA clubs. There was a season where Brown played (and dominated) mainly on ball before the Bears thought they were better off with him returning to the forward line. I think Jesse has that capacity as well. Your Roughhead example is fair enough. He can play anywhere and has - sometimes through necessity, sometimes to reinvigorate his form and sometimes because they had an embarrassment of riches in their forward line. His less celebrated cousin who I think is an excellent KPD is currently doing a fantastic job in the ruck for the Doggies Just out of interest, because you've been on this theme for many a long year now, can you give us some examples of the premier MDT's you rate over the last 10 years or so ?

Rono, did you consider Jono Brown to be a multi-dimensional tall ?

What horse ? And where will it bolt to ?

In fairness to Dunn, the "bombing long out of the backline" was often a product of having no-one to kick to. If you use Sunday's game as an example you can see that with mids who are prepared to work hard and spread, Dunn's long kicking to a target can be a very effective counter-attacking weapon. No doubt he's behind the McDonalds on the pecking order but if one of them should go down, who do we have to bring in ? Dunn would be the first, if not only, cab off the rank. So at worst he's depth for a specific need. At best he could force his way back to being a first choice key defender. He has a year to go on his contract and in an interview on SEN a couple of months ago he declared his intention of seeing it out & hopefully playing senior footy again. However if another club was to present a three year deal, he may think it's in his best interests to take it & request a trade. Particularly if he wanted to ensure his career extended beyond 2017.

I see where you are coming from but despite the wishes of many, their coach didn't get murdered Adelaide FC have had a fair bit to deal with from players leaving to Bailey's illness & passing & the tragedy of last year. I believe Walker has played a huge role in keeping the group grounded & together through it all However, if it was a tragedy competition over the last 10 years, yes, we would still be ahead Massive effort from Gawn to run 4th in the MVP. Get on him to win it next year

I fail to see the point of having it at all

I think Dazzler, when you consider what that club has been through in recent times, the award is not without merit. More to captaincy than just on-field

How did he get injured ?

Arrogant sods thought all they had to do was "de-Melbourne" him Well now he has to be de-Ported. Back to Wells - I'd rather not go near him. At his best he's undeniably a jet, one of those rare players who can change the course of a game in a ten minute burst. However his age & injury record should have us steering clear.

Would have to be Nev wouldn't it ?

Fair call. Although if we're going to do it we've got plenty to work with around here

Do you remember Fevola being taken off when Carlton started getting too close ? We weren't that far in front of them in the clown shoes department, if at all

I'm wondering where our girls will play their home games. Given the season is Feb / March then a fair few grounds would be finishing off cricket obligations. Given Richmond have no women's team and their district cricket side buggered off years ago, should we have a crack at negotiating the use of Punt Road ?

Vickery rarely rucks and when he does he's no better at it than Colin Sylvia. If he had shown anything then I'd agree with you. Would prefer Daw but in the light of recent delistings it would appear North are persevering with him. For our current situation, Spencil is perfect. Perfect. He's no Max Gawn or Goldstein but he is good enough at AFL level to provide a genuine contest, ensuring we don't get smashed should Gawn get injured and need a week or two out. He seems to understand where he's at and while he won't stop trying to get into the ones, will continue to ply his trade at VFL level. He's not so good that other clubs will try to cherry pick him as was the case with previous #2 ruckmen Troy Simmonds or Darren Jolly. I reckon he's ours as long as we want him and he's bloody great insurance Reckon Spencil would be quietly chuffed if he'd read his name as a potential trade target !

Heard Hardwick interviewed a few weeks ago. On Lennon he said that he was a player that he'd like to have played more this year but a succession of injuries had stalled his year. He's a good size, a good mark & pretty good skills. I think he's well worth chucking our hat into the ring but as others have said, the Tigers are likely to want more than we currently have to deal

The general consensus on Adelaide boards is that Thommo is cooked. Most would prefer he retired gracefully. Strengths - still great under the ruckman getting clearances. Weaknesses - Legs are shot. Doesn't spread anymore & defensively can be a liability as he can't keep up with the opposition On that basis, as a player, a big no from me and I don't see how he fits. I'd rather Clarrie in the guts getting those clearances

Depends on the details. If Collingwood pick up a chunk of Cloke's salary then they get a ready made replacement for Redpath who is out for a year with an ACL.Takes a bit of the heat off Boyd as well. Jong is expendable at the Dogs. Their midfield stocks run deep. I expect they will be gearing up for a serious crack at the title next year while Murphy is still playing. So if you add Cloke, who would be structurally important, a returning Crameri and perhaps convince Boomer to have his last hurrah with them, that forward line looks a lot more potent. And Cloke was okay on Sunday. Interestingly he seemed to mark with more surety when he removed the glove (after quarter time I think). I'd do it if I were Footscray. Better Cloke for that role than Butcher or Vickery

1. Gawn 2. Tyson 3. Viney 4. T. Mac 5. Jetta

Haha - the evidence in this thread would suggest otherwise I thought The Weed would be eased back to the lower level but it seems Roos is coaching for the future right to the very last

So leadership only counts when you're losing ? It has nothing to do with you getting into a winning position ?

Let me guess. Cameron Schwab. Whiteboard Wednesdays. The Red & Blue Print.

Can we just give all of the votes to Nev ?

The kid still has over a year to go on his current contract. He doesn't have to do anything.

Our blokes have been sucked in. Too interested in throwing cheap elbows & grabbing jumpers. Clowns.