Its not a straight longer v hampson
It must be taken into account what each cost
- longer may be better than hampson. But is he significantly superior to justify missing out on Lennon? geez you have high hopes for an outside half forward type.
the answer is in the eye of the beholder and what the overall deal is.
personally id have taken longer, dumont, and hewitt over hampson and lennon. one thing for sure we werent going to lose.
As for hamoson v orren, orren is not of the age where he can be relied on long term. Hence a ruck of about hampson age (or there about) was required for list balance
geez you have high hopes for what is atm an outside half forward type who has good skills. there is no guarantee with this kid either. the answer is we have differing opinions on worth and cost.
for me longer dumont and hewitt instead of hampson and lennon is a win.
hampson isjust two yrs younger than ivan and is yet to establish his bonafides. when hawthorn took 24 yo mcevoy at least mcevoy had showed he can play the position consistently.
hawthorn at least took a proven player who is still improving and we took a player who should be at or near his best and has struggled to get a game.
this love for a player like hampson is unbelievable. very few if any one is questioning what hampson has bought to the table so far in his career. im certain if he was still at carlton and his name came up every man and his dog would be ripping into him for the underperformer he has been.
its no given that this bloke will be any better for us than he was for carlton. its almost like, well they got the maric trade right so they will get the hampson trade right lets not question what they have done. there are many different circumstances between the two.
anyway
31yo stephenson. imo a better ruckman than hampson to date.
28yo maric ivan has 3 or 4 yrs in him
26yo hampson. i agree we could do with a proven ruckman at around 24yrs of age. hampson is neither proven imo and he is no upgrade on stephenson to date. this is where the 24 yo vickery should be coming into his own but that hasnt worked out.
20yo longer. we also need a junior ruckman. the bonus here is hes had two yrs of development is ready to play and in just 9games has shown hes a better ruck prospect than hampson.imo he could adequately play second ruck for us this yr while developing. also i firmly believe while we havent taken longer we should have rookied a junior ruckman here.
why well if hampson fails and theres a chance he will. with orren 32 yrs old and ivan almost a veteran we need a proper succession plan in place.
some will say mcbean the club reckon they took him to be a ruckman they said the same about vickery as well. but even at this stage you can see mcbean going down the vickery path where he looks more like a kpp and if he is to play ruck it will be as a forward who pinch hits.
in 3 or 4 yrs time when/if hampson fails maric is shot and stephenson is long gone longer would just be entering his prime with his best footy in front of him. isnt that how it should work seamless succession with your needs always covered.
