Hunter Clark

[CURLY]

The fact that Hunter is hanging onto the ball longer is why he has stepped up the last few weeks. He is making considered decisions rather than just bombing away!

He has to find the balance now though.

[magnifisaint]

He will be an obsolute gun

[saynta]

He will be an obsolute gun

That's a new word.

[Sainter_Dad]

He will be an obsolute gun

That's a new word.

I hope it does not means that he will absolutely be a gun - but will be obsolete before he attains that status.

[barneyboyz]

The fact that Hunter is hanging onto the ball longer is why he has stepped up the last few weeks. He is making considered decisions rather than just bombing away!

Hunter has always seemed to have a bit more time, but we should also consider that apart from continually handing the ball over, Melbourne brought their pressure game and should have won. The fact they didn't is very pleasing also because our side was very much less experienced

[saynta]

The fact that Hunter is hanging onto the ball longer is why he has stepped up the last few weeks. He is making considered decisions rather than just bombing away!

Hunter has always seemed to have a bit more time, but we should also consider that apart from continually handing the ball over, Melbourne brought their pressure game and should have won. The fact they didn't is very pleasing also because our side was very much less experienced

Why should melbourne have won. We were clearly the better side. Apart from the silly Carlisle freekick and goal which kept the dees in the game, we hit the post three times.

[oldie60]

Opposition sides at Tac used to have to tag Clark when he was playing off a half back flank . Kid will only get better. Absolute gun!

[saintbob]

The fact that Hunter is hanging onto the ball longer is why he has stepped up the last few weeks. He is making considered decisions rather than just bombing away!

Hunter has always seemed to have a bit more time, but we should also consider that apart from continually handing the ball over, Melbourne brought their pressure game and should have won. The fact they didn't is very pleasing also because our side was very much less experienced

Why should melbourne have won. We were clearly the better side. Apart from the silly Carlisle freekick and goal which kept the dees in the game, we hit the post three times.

Yeah I’m confused as to why Melbourne should’ve won, I thought we’re were clearly on top after quarter time and we should’ve won by more

[To the top]

The early dominance of Gawn and a couple of free kicks including one out of the centre saw Melbourne kicking 3 in a hurry

From there the frustration was that apart from gifting 2 at the end of the first quarter then 2 without the ball going back to the centre, we basically controlled the contest but could not put it on the scoreboard - including because of 3 into the post

Melbourne looked very “pretty” when they hit outside ball with an overlap - and were dangerous on occasions

They also scrapped a couple of goals

But my overall view was that we were just too fierce for them and our tackling put them under pressure leading to their errors

This was particularly the case in the final quarter with our gang tackling which was pleasing

Melbourne’s turnovers were as a result of our pressure - including finding Jones out hence he found himself in the defensive 6

The overview was that we made the win harder than it should have been but we persisted and got the appropriate reward in the end

We still miss out when Bruce rucks and then requires time on the bench - I would much prefer Bruce as a fixture in our forward line

Which brings us back to support for Marshall

Imagine if Marshall had not been presented with the opportunity - or had not progressed as magnificently as he has (he was not in the Round 1 side) and we were reliant on Longer and Pierce absent Hickey traded to West Coast

Hmmm

[barneyboyz]

The fact that Hunter is hanging onto the ball longer is why he has stepped up the last few weeks. He is making considered decisions rather than just bombing away!

Hunter has always seemed to have a bit more time, but we should also consider that apart from continually handing the ball over, Melbourne brought their pressure game and should have won. The fact they didn't is very pleasing also because our side was very much less experienced

Why should melbourne have won. We were clearly the better side. Apart from the silly Carlisle freekick and goal which kept the dees in the game, we hit the post three times.

I only based that statement on the fact they had played the best game of football that I have watched both last year and this in the finals. A couple of times on Saturday they looked as though they might just explode, but didn't. Maybe I could have used 'could' have won? We had the better forward line and overall balance

[Ghost Like]

The fact that Hunter is hanging onto the ball longer is why he has stepped up the last few weeks. He is making considered decisions rather than just bombing away!

He has to find the balance now though.

He has balance in spades. That is what sets him apart.

I know that's not the balance you're speaking of. That balance will come with experience, strength and his team mates appreciating his abilities and running to the right spots.

[Scollop]

We still miss out when Bruce rucks and then requires time on the bench - I would much prefer Bruce as a fixture in our forward line

Which brings us back to support for Marshall

Agreed. We get found out when teams have 2 recognised rucks.

There was a moment when Josh rucked pretty well from a boundary throw in. Josh snatched the footy out of a ruck contest early in the game and kicked one of his best goals for this year. It was a critical time where we had to stay in touch

After the Dees shot out to a 3 goal lead we needed our senior players to stand up and Bruce has a way of imposing himself whether it's rucking or as a KPF

[Scollop]

The injury situation has a silver lining

Guys like Clark and Coff and Paton and Langlands are finally getting more opportunity

I posted early this year in a thread titled 'Clark facing the axe' that we were going about developing our kids and especially our most talented younger bloke very differently to other clubs.

Clark is fulfilling his potential because he has the talent, he's done the work (with a really strong preseason and a couple of good JLT games) and he's finally getting continuity by playing consecutive games

It's ridiculous to have a young player get 2 games and then be dropped to the seconds for 4 weeks and then expect them to come back and have an impact in 1 or 2 games. They need to play with the same bunch and get used to playing with the same players around them