Oops, sorry, my mistake i meant to refer to the 2014 GF loss when the Hawks went the knuckle early leaving some players such as Hanners and Jetts bruised and battered.
Oops, sorry, my mistake i meant to refer to the 2014 GF loss when the Hawks went the knuckle early leaving some players such as Hanners and Jetts bruised and battered.
Yes a little bit of mongrel probably got us over the line in 2012, so having a go at him now is hypocritical. Unfortunately we don't have any mongrel in our current team and without that we will never win a flag. Even look at last year with the Bulldogs and their sliding tackles, Its got to hurt your legs to have someone take your legs out whilst running for the ball. Of course if we do it in a match it will be a free kick plus a 50 mtr penalty against us, but that's the AFL policy rulings.
Our players aim to be 'hard' and disciplined rather than to have 'mongrel'. And I think they succeed in that. Hard, to me, seems pretty much mongrel with added discipline and less spite and in-your-face attitude. Players like Heeney, Parker, Hanners, Mills, Joey and others are all hard even if you wouldn't say they have 'mongrel'.
I agree Jones probably has the most mongrel out of senior players but he's a relative lightweight so probably not qualified to be an 'enforcer' like Mummy. Nank had mongrel but he's gone now and deploying it for Wretchmond. Titch may not have had 'mongrel' exactly but we lost some hardness when he walked out too. Sinclair might have some mongrel in him but if we're lucky we won't see it because he won't be playing in the senior side. Buddy has a brilliant balance. I wouldn't call him an enforcer or even a mongrel but he does throw his weight around at opportune times and I really like that about him. It is a form or leadership and he has stood up in that way at times when the team has really needed it. I would say that possibly Papley has a bit of mongrel about him with his rabid attack on the ball and the man. Unfortunately he is a bit of a lightweight too - and nor is he playing for the time being. Ditto Leonardis.
I think Buddy would love to be more of an enforcer - to throw his considerable weight around a bit more. But I reckon he's also under instruction from the coaches to keep it under control. His height and weight make it difficult for him to not to make high and fierce contact with an opponent if he chooses to bump (or even just shepherd). Combined with his high profile and the media obsession with him transgressing, that's a recipe for weeks on the sideline if not carefully controlled. Longmire doesn't want his best asset sitting out, watching games.
liz, there's just about nothing I can say that you don't say better.
I especially liked your last post on the Round 1 thread too about having players out and watching the fringe players get their chance. Totally agree with you as I almost always do.
I know it may not have been possible to work things this way but I seriously think that we would have been better off keeping Nanka and trading Callum off somewhere, like maybe back home.
Having said that, he would still have been third string and it looks like he is number 2 at least at the Tigers so he may well have left anyway. I am more than happy with Tippo and Naismith as our two best rucks. And I really like the look of young Darcy Cameron, think with a couple of seasons under the Ruck Whisperer he could well become a very good ruckman once Tippett leaves at the end of 2018. Just love the pipeline we have now re our list, rucks are just not an issue now, nor is the defence (AJ Melican Newman and young Jack all potentially pushing). We have young Nick Blakey in 2018 as a KPF so as far I can tell we just start banking midfielders for at least two drafts
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