There’s a lot of things that drive me mad about football, and not in a good way.
The ‘insufficient intent’ and ‘third-man up’ rules for a start. Clash-guernseys, Dermott Brereton, the price of pies and phrases like “lowering the eyes” all cause me to toss and turn in bed … and not in a good way.
But a real killer is AFL coaches that try to be smarter than they are, choosing to play players out of their best position.
It must be hard to be a Melbourne supporter at the best of times, although the beach house, sports car and trophy partner must ease the pain somewhat, but watching Jesse Hogan run through the midfield, winning the hard ball and then banging it into a Jesse Hogan-less forward line has me pulling my last few hairs out – and I can’t stand the Demons!
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There’s no arguing Hogan is a good enough footballer to play anywhere on the ground, but his best work is done in front of goal.
Add to that the fact Melbourne doesn’t have any other decent tall forwards and it makes his presence down there even more essential.
Add to that the fact the Demons have got midfield quality coming out the wazoo and there’s even less reason to have Hogan in the guts.
You’ve got Petracca (a number two draft pick) and Oliver (four) and Salem (nine) and Jones (12) and Viney (gun father/son) and Tyson (three) and Brayshaw (three) in the middle – let them do the job.
In fact, MAKE them do the job!
Stop trying to make life easier for these overpaid, underachieving, self-entitled brats.
Put Hogan in front of goal so he can finish off the midfielders’ work.
Goodwin needs to stop wishing Sam Weideman would become the star key forward Melbourne needs, when the star key forward Melbourne needs is just 80 metres away.
If the coach can’t learn from what’s right in front of him then he needs to look elsewhere to learn his lesson.
John Worsfold took a couple of weeks before he realised Jake Stringer may have the ability to play on the ball but the team is better with him up forward.
Yes, Hogan’s a better and smarter footballer than Stringer, and yes he’s shown he can handle a midfield role with ease, but that’s not where he’s needed.
Jesse Hogan's field kicking is as good as it gets. Pity when he's that high up the ground the options in attack are limited #AFLDeesTigers
— Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) April 24, 2018
When I see Hogan on the ball it makes me think Simon Goodwin is suffering from the same problem as his players – lairising!
Pure and simple lairising. Doing the flash stuff when what’s required is the basics - in fact doing the flash stuff at the expense of the basics!
Watching Melbourne players run around celebrating their talent as they lose game after game is like watching that Bachelor in Paradise show, where everyone’s gorgeous but they can’t hold a relationship for longer than the time between ad breaks.
Jesse Hogan may be the most attractive of them all but he needs to stop playing the field and settle down to his first love – the goalsquare.
Maybe then Demons fans will finally be able to get some sleep.
