Rhino

[mocaholic]

I have vaccilated all year about our most important player, from Mummy, to Jetta, to Reid, to Goodes, to Superted, to J-Mac, to Kizza, to JPK. And yes, they've all been very very good.

But I reckon it's now ROK. Have a look at the stats in his two finals, plus his last month of the H&A. I reckon he's in career best form, and with all the hype going to JPK, Jack, Hanners, B1 and J-Mac, he slips under the guards of opposition and consistently does his thing. He gets to consecutive contests, he's a huge unit with a huge tank, he's been so much cleaner with his disposal and is also doubling as a tagger of the important opposition midfielder.

I reckon if he has a blinder we'll win - this will mean he'll a) take out a hawthorn mid (lewis, sewell, mitchell), b) kick one or two as he has been all year and c) create space for the better disposers of the pill such as JMac and Jetts.

And for those who know me (ahem Scotty "we're f-----" post the Luke Ablett kick to Cousins) I'm an extremely pessimistic punter. He'll go close to B&F I reckon - does those things coaches love.

Anyway, there's my 2c.

Cheers all,
moc

[Triple B]

Damn, I thought this was going to be a RWO Friday night meetup suggestion thread....

[Nico]

I think ROK is our litmus test. When he plays well, we do. The games when we have lost by bigger margins he has had an average game. I would say he will go to Mitchell to quell his effectiveness. Also Mitchell doesn't seem to be a defensive player so ROK will be able to work off him. Both players go where the ball is at so ROk's job will be to get there first and starve him of the footy. No doubt Mitchell is their key player, particulalrly at centre bounces. They got over Adelaide with Mitchell and Burgoyne very clean centre clearances late.

[mcs]

I think ROK is our litmus test. When he plays well, we do. The games when we have lost by bigger margins he has had an average game. I would say he will go to Mitchell to quell his effectiveness. Also Mitchell doesn't seem to be a defensive player so ROK will be able to work off him. Both players go where the ball is at so ROk's job will be to get there first and starve him of the footy. No doubt Mitchell is their key player, particulalrly at centre bounces. They got over Adelaide with Mitchell and Burgoyne very clean centre clearances late.

Yep I tend to agree with that. We must not let Hawthorn at any stage get clean ball out of the middle as they did late against Adelaide, and indeed as they did late against us at the SCG. If we force them to clear quickly and not have time to setup out of the middle, we can play the game on our terms. And if we do that, we can win.

[Plugger1300]

Damn, I thought this was going to be a RWO Friday night meetup suggestion thread....

[ScottH]

What do they say "Fools never Differ"??

I was thinking this last night too.
He's probably had his best few months, if not his best year.
Works his butt off.
Let's hope the Hawks target JPK and leave Rhino and Hanners to fill his shoes!!

[Nico]

251/1 the place in the Brownlow.

[Panttz]

The only thing I didn't like about his disposal last year was when he would sit off the back of the pack and just bomb it 35 metres forward straight to the oppositions +1

He doesn't do that anywhere near as often lately

[DamY]

The good thing about our mids is that if someone is being targeted, someone else stands up. There's JPK, KJack, Hannebery, ROK, Bolton, Goodes so I guess it'd be pretty hard for most teams to match up on that. And also Bird is pretty good as well.

[bandwagon]

Sewell is a pretty good negator, but then we have too many options in the midfield now. If he starts to stifle ROK, he could always revert to HFF as Sewell isn't great overhead.

Works his butt off.

Bloody hell! ROK has been working hard.

[Mr Magoo]

Sewell is a pretty good negator, but then we have too many options in the midfield now. If he starts to stifle ROK, he could always revert to HFF as Sewell isn't great overhead.


Bloody hell! ROK has been working hard.

I gotta say I completely underestimated ROKs ability to maintain a place in the midfield. Early on this year and with age against him, i believed that his better position was as a high leading half forward but he has really taken his midfield game to another level this year and good on him for that.

His ability to stand up and get high and effective possessions and to put pressure on the opposition has really stood out this year.

[Go Swannies]

Duck butt rules!

Too excited to be more articulate.