With a lot of teams having Hopper in the mids (M5 or M6) how are coaches looking at him in the long term? I mean is he a keeper or purely a stepping stone.
My thought is that Richmond have been very successful in recent years with pressure around the stoppages and I assume they will continue with that style, only hoping to do it better in 2023. In that sense Hopper is a good fit as he was near the top at GWS for clearance stoppages. But that Richmond style while successful in the real world has been a fail in terms of SC scorers.
Since 2018 the Tigers have not had a mid eligible player ave higher than 104. Hopper himself has never average over 97 in a season so I do not think it is likely he is keeper material. So as a stepping stone (say upgrade at round 11?) previous stats indicate that by round 11 he will have probably produced 5 or 6 scores that are sub 97 and some possibly in the 60’s or 70’s. Don’t get me wrong, a guy priced in the mid 60’s who can ave the mid 90’s looks like a no brainer but the query is, just because he appears under priced does that alone make him a good structural pick.
Anyone start Matty Rowell last season? His start price was 342k (not far off Hopper). He ripped out a 157 in round 1. His peak price was $488k in round 14 after a 123. That was on top of other tons 103 (twice) and a 125 in round 12. Did that make him a successful stepping stone trade?
I am not a perma bear on Hopper but just tossing the question out there for discussion.
The reason Richmond recruited Taranto and Hopper was two pronged:
- Improve contested possessions - Richmond Ranked 11th
- Improve stoppages clearance - Richmond had 2 players in the top 50 ( Dion Prestia [31] and Toby Nankervis [50])
Hopper will take the reliance off Dion Prestia and improve Richmond clearances which inturn will reduce the opposition scoring from clearances.
Taranto will not be stationed in the forwards like he was at GWS, he will be played in the midfield to take advantage of his endurance capacity (he is leading the endurance training at Richmond).
The burning question is how will Hopper score, I expect an increase on the 97 average (2021), simply due to increased workload.
Richmond midfield players from 2022 and starting position in 2023
- Liam Baker - Mid/Fwd (replace Kane Lambert)
- Shai Bolton - Mid/Fwd
- Trent Cotchin - Mid (will be rested to reduce workload)
- Noah Cumberland - Mid/Fwd
- Dustin Martin - Mid/Fwd
- Kamdyn Mcintosh - Mid/Def
- Marlion Pickett - Mid (plays his best on the wing)
- Dion Prestia - Mid
- Jayden Short - Mid/Def (moved back to defence as there less need to play in the midfield)
Emergencies
- Jack Graham - Mid/Fwd (replace Kane Lambert)
- Jack Ross - Mid/Def (midfield is his spot but is training with the defence)
- Tyler Sonsie - Mid