Jacob Hopper | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Jacob Hopper

Tigerwa said:
People kidding themselves if they think three years.
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Why? because recent teams that have bottomed out in recent years have taken longer?

I’ve seen enough of our 2024 draft crop to know that most (it not all) will make it. I also think Lalor, Faull and Trainor are potentially A-Graders.

They just need another 2-3 pre-seasons into them, and 50-60 games.

8-10 wins in 2026. 12-14 wins in 2027. Finals in 2028 (if not 2027).

CarnTheTiges said:
At least 5 years, and that’s only if everything goes right.
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I don’t understand why people think this. Dimma got us to finals in year 4 and our list is in a much better shape now than what it was in 2010. We have multi-premiership players teaching our kids. That’s invaluable and something no other team has.

Plus, I have always had this rule that a new coach should be able to make finals in 4 years from the start of a rebuild.

If we count 2025 as year 1 of the rebuild (mainly because we made the fluid decision to bottom out during the 2024 season), then Yze should and must get us into finals by 2028 at the latest. And I am confident he will.
 
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Tigerwa said:
People kidding themselves if they think three years.
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Yep.

My outlook is finals start from 2029-2031 at best, and a realistic flag window opens 3-4 years after that first year of becoming a perennial finals team again.

The earlier date of 2029 requires more contributions from draftees before the 2024 draft, otherwise my expectation is 2031 finals and 2034/5+ for a realistic premiership window.

I don't plan for luck to bring anything forward, and if anything, I want to capitalise on other club's greediness while consciously safeguarding ourselves from our own.
 
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Ian4 said:
Why? because recent teams that have bottomed out in recent years have taken longer?

I’ve seen enough of our 2024 draft crop to know that most (it not all) will make it. I also think Lalor, Faull and Trainor are potentially A-Graders.

They just need another 2-3 pre-seasons into them, and 50-60 games.

8-10 wins in 2026. 12-14 wins in 2027. Finals in 2028 (if not 2027).



I don’t understand why people think this. Dimma got us to finals in year 4 and our list is in a much better shape now than what it was in 2010. We have multi-premiership players teaching our kids. That’s invaluable and something no other team has.

Plus, I have always had this rule that a new coach should be able to make finals in 4 years from the start of a rebuild.

If we count 2025 as year 1 of the rebuild (mainly because we made the fluid decision to bottom out during the 2024 season), then Yze should and must get us into finals by 2028 at the latest. And I am confident he will.
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Hardwick had players like Riewoldt, Edwards, Rance and Cotchin who had been in the system for a couple of years already. Edwards and Riewoldt first played in 2007. We made finals in 2013. Yze has picked up their equivalents last year. It’ll take about 5 years for them to gain the experience, and that’s if everything goes right. Smillie hasn’t yet played an AFL game. It’s not pessimism, it’s just how long things take.
 
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Tigers of Old said:
Would be pleased with his podium finish in the JDM after his body managed to get through 23 games for the year.
After so many interruptions, that's a credit to both Hops & Ben Sherpell. It has been his best season with us easily. He played a lot of good footy.

He's defenitely AFL level, I just think he's batting above his weight as a number 2 mid.
Hopefully Jacob becomes more of a role player next season as our talented youngsters emerge.
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What is a role player and how do you figure he becomes one? As I see it he can’t play anywhere else but mid and he is one of the slowest mids in the comp.
 
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CarnTheTiges said:
Hardwick had players like Riewoldt, Edwards, Rance and Cotchin who had been in the system for a couple of years already. Edwards and Riewoldt first played in 2007. We made finals in 2013. Yze has picked up their equivalents last year. It’ll take about 5 years for them to gain the experience, and that’s if everything goes right. Smillie hasn’t yet played an AFL game. It’s not pessimism, it’s just how long things take.
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Nah.
 
I think the Hawks have laid out a reasonable trajectory for RFC to follow, they really got stuck into the rebuild around 2019 from memory and only started making waves last year, and with a lot less top end talent brought in at the start as well.

Based on that I don’t think it’s unreasonable expect a spike in form and push for finals around 2028/2029
 
Stylo said:
I think the Hawks have laid out a reasonable trajectory for RFC to follow, they really got stuck into the rebuild around 2019 from memory and only started making waves last year, and with a lot less top end talent brought in at the start as well.

Based on that I don’t think it’s unreasonable expect a spike in form and push for finals around 2028/2029
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This is the reasonable assessment.

Hopefully we see a few games where the gun kids just dominate together (most likely 2027), but most likely we won't be able to maintain that rage week after week and we will probably fall off a little as the season progresses.

Lalor 19, Hotton 19, Faull 19, etc. etc. Even at 21 it's a lot to be asking them to dominate a season - not everyone is Daicos/Ashcrofts (who are surrounded by seasoned veterans)
 
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Stylo said:
I think the Hawks have laid out a reasonable trajectory for RFC to follow, they really got stuck into the rebuild around 2019 from memory and only started making waves last year, and with a lot less top end talent brought in at the start as well.

Based on that I don’t think it’s unreasonable expect a spike in form and push for finals around 2028/2029
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No Hawthorn made a prelim in 2018, Mitchell started in 2022 and that October they traded out Mitchell, O’meara. They played finals in 2024
 
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CarnTheTiges said:
Hardwick had players like Riewoldt, Edwards, Rance and Cotchin who had been in the system for a couple of years already. Edwards and Riewoldt first played in 2007. We made finals in 2013. Yze has picked up their equivalents last year. It’ll take about 5 years for them to gain the experience, and that’s if everything goes right. Smillie hasn’t yet played an AFL game. It’s not pessimism, it’s just how long things take.
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We don't have an AFL quality midfield group on our list ATM. Lalor, Hotton, KMAC2 ??? and Smillie?? is way off Brisbane's core group. We need to pick up two more guns in the draft and when we're ready to launch we need to trade in a Prestia type. I was optimistic we could make finals by 27-28, but our midfield is a real concern and will delay us playing finals earlier than expected. if we have 4-5 quality young mids then they'll need time to mature into footballers just like Sheds, Cotchin and co. Even with Dusty added a few years later it still took 8 seasons to win a flag and 4 seasons when we made it to the finals in 2013.
 
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momentai said:
What is a role player and how do you figure he becomes one? As I see it he can’t play anywhere else but mid and he is one of the slowest mids in the comp.
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Role player is a sensitive terminolgy used by Brightsiders to mask that a player is rubbish. Every player has a role to play based on their position and opponent on the day
 
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With us starting to build a faster and more dynamic midfield, we might find Jacob shines as the midfield bull we traded him for.
 
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If people cut Taranto and Hopper the same slack given Rioli, this conversation wouldn't be topical
 
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