Ben Hart

[BPBRB]

Newsflash - Ben Hart is the clear gold medal favourite now for the new Olympic Sport the "back flip". But only if his hammies hold up!

Seriously if people think there was nothing in this then they should..........

[am Bays]

Newsflash - Ben Hart is the clear gold medal favourite now for the new Olympic Sport the "back flip". But only if his hammies hold up!

Seriously if people think there was nothing in this then they should..........

Are you saying he wanted to but was talked out of it so North have cover if anymore defensive players get injured? Particularly with Ben's ability to play "tall".

Was he reminded that he is getting paid to coach and play not just coach so if you want all your money you need to be "playing" - well at least training to play??

With his heart (pardon the pun again) not 100% in it can we safely assume he won't be playing finals this year as players less than 100% committed aren't the type that do well in finals. Not saying ben hasn't got the ability as he clearly has but with his mind and head starting to "check out" of footy mode is he in Northe best 21 come finals time.

This is not a criticism against Ben or North but with you " " there appears to have been some erstwhile discussions yesterday afternoon behind closed doors at Menzies Cres.

I can see both sides of the argument here, Ben after 18 years of footy, his body is saying enough and his mind is sick of doing rehab for hammies after the past three years. Where as North have signed him to do a job(s) and don't want him to bail out after six weeks of the season.

[Dutchy]

not playing the "devils advocate" there Tassie?

[Ian]

From the official North site:

Poll
Who will play football first?

O Ben Hart
O Mark Ricciuto

[Jar Man Out]

Newsflash - Ben Hart is the clear gold medal favourite now for the new Olympic Sport the "back flip". But only if his hammies hold up!

Seriously if people think there was nothing in this then they should..........

Will he see out the season in your opinion drebin ????

[johntheclaret]

I havent heard hart is retiring 100% confirmed yet . But Didnt he sign a two year contract.

I would be seriously upset if i was a rooster supporter.

thanks for chewing up the salary cap ben. the roosters may have been able to afford livingstone or morgan for their backline instead.

He was brought in for two reasons. One of those is to coach the defence, and judging by results he is doing a pretty good job. Sure, to have him playing would be a definite plus, but I for one will be happy if his influence in the defence continues until the end of the season.

[Jimmy]

I havent heard hart is retiring 100% confirmed yet . But Didnt he sign a two year contract.

I would be seriously upset if i was a rooster supporter.

thanks for chewing up the salary cap ben. the roosters may have been able to afford livingstone or morgan for their backline instead.

He was brought in for two reasons. One of those is to coach the defence, and judging by results he is doing a pretty good job. Sure, to have him playing would be a definite plus, but I for one will be happy if his influence in the defence continues until the end of the season.

north signed him for 2 years, that pretty much tells me that wanted him playing. if they wanted him to coach full time, he would have been signed for 2 years as a coach.

i dont think there is much in this rumour but drebin is usually in the know so maybe he sees something on the horizon....

[johntheclaret]

I havent heard hart is retiring 100% confirmed yet . But Didnt he sign a two year contract.

I would be seriously upset if i was a rooster supporter.

thanks for chewing up the salary cap ben. the roosters may have been able to afford livingstone or morgan for their backline instead.

He was brought in for two reasons. One of those is to coach the defence, and judging by results he is doing a pretty good job. Sure, to have him playing would be a definite plus, but I for one will be happy if his influence in the defence continues until the end of the season.

north signed him for 2 years, that pretty much tells me that wanted him playing. if they wanted him to coach full time, he would have been signed for 2 years as a coach.

i dont think there is much in this rumour but drebin is usually in the know so maybe he sees something on the horizon....

Agree Jimmy. I think I was trying to say, that he appears to be doing such a good job coaching the defence, if results are anything to go by, I would not be unhappy if that's all he ended up diong for the rest of the season. Like I sais, would be great to have him playing as well. I suppose the question is, can he give both roles the time each one needs to produce the results.

[BPBRB]

Newsflash - Ben Hart is the clear gold medal favourite now for the new Olympic Sport the "back flip". But only if his hammies hold up!

Seriously if people think there was nothing in this then they should..........

Will he see out the season in your opinion drebin ????

To be honest - who would know and some people at North are playing "ducks and drakes" as well? If he continues his current games played ratio he might scrape together 3 games in total for the minor round given he has played 1 game in 7 weeks all be it including up to this week 2 byes as well but he wouldn't have been available in any case if we had games scheduled in Rd 3 and this weekend.

I think it has been a badly failed excercise up to now from the point of view of North targetting him to play a key position in defence, and as others have pointed out we probably missed some other younger fitter recruits to fill his playing role because of putting all the eggs in one basket so to speak.

He has done some good work as the defensive coach so that is the only plus I can see at this stage. Still, it is hard not to be cynical about this whole thing.

[Coorong]

Doesnt matter too much if he only plays another 3 or 4 h&away games. During the finals and for a critical game, give me a 75% fit Ben Hart over a 100% fit player with 20 games under his belt anytime

[BPBRB]

Doesnt matter too much if he only plays another 3 or 4 h&away games. During the finals and for a critical game, give me a 75% fit Ben Hart over a 100% fit player with 20 games under his belt anytime

That's all well and good to say that now but at the exclusion of a player who played all the game,, is 100 percent fit (or near enough but match hardened) and helped get the side to the finals???

Plus North got bitten on the ar*e big time in last year's finals for playing underdone injured players.

[rod_rooster]

Doesnt matter too much if he only plays another 3 or 4 h&away games. During the finals and for a critical game, give me a 75% fit Ben Hart over a 100% fit player with 20 games under his belt anytime

That's all well and good to say that now but at the exclusion of a player who played all the game,, is 100 percent fit (or near enough but match hardened) and helped get the side to the finals???

Plus North got bitten on the ar*e big time in last year's finals for playing underdone injured players.

and the year before and the year before that......

[Hondo]

I think it has been a badly failed excercise up to now from the point of view of North targetting him to play a key position in defence, and as others have pointed out we probably missed some other younger fitter recruits to fill his playing role because of putting all the eggs in one basket so to speak.

Is that fact or just speculation ....? Are there any names (of alternative recruits we missed) to slot in there? Do you think North are surprised he is having injury problems (and have no plan B) given that was the reason the Crows cut him?

You don't think Jars thought this might happen hence giving a 'player' unprecedented 'coaching' responsibility?

I think this may be a storm in a tea-cup

[Grahaml]

Are we going to name every player to have played SANFL after playing AFL? Could be a long list.

[doggies4eva]

Are we going to name every player to have played SANFL after playing AFL? Could be a long list.

And to put the original question posed by TRB: "I can't recall too many blokes that were of a fair service for their SANFL clubs after playing all but a year or two of their potential footy careers in the AFL"

A number of listed players could hardly have been described as playing most of their careers in the AFL!

[Hondo]

Are we going to name every player to have played SANFL after playing AFL? Could be a long list.

And to put the original question posed by TRB: "I can't recall too many blokes that were of a fair service for their SANFL clubs after playing all but a year or two of their potential footy careers in the AFL"

A number of listed players could hardly have been described as playing most of their careers in the AFL!

More than half of those listed played most of their careers in the AFL. Most guys who make the AFL understandably try to play as long as they can at the highest level which is fair enough.

[Grahaml]

Not sure what your point is there Hondo. Do you agree, disagree or are you just making an independant comment on players wanting to play as much AFL as they can?

[LBT]

Simon Cox thread maybe?

[Hondo]

Not sure what your point is there Hondo. Do you agree, disagree or are you just making an independant comment on players wanting to play as much AFL as they can?

The comment is that not many guys who have 'made it' at the next level come back to successfully play SANFL at the end of their careers. Which I agree with.

I am just offering an explanation that if you are playing well at AFL level, you would do it for as long as you can and then most likely retire from all levels of football once your AFL career finishes.

To be able to come back over the age of 30 and be successful at SANFL you would need to have been very lucky with injuries and be super-motivated to come back and play at the lower level.

So it would be hard to come up with a long list unless you include guys who had their AFL careers terminated before they wanted them to.

[therisingblues]

I think Theri was more referring to players who only had a year or two left in them ... Most of the blokes on that list were de-listed with 5+ years of senior footy left in them.

Thanks for that CP. Yeh, the point I was originally making was in realtion to Jimmy's post where he said he had wished that Scotty Russell and Sanderson would have come back and put the socks on after completing their AFL careers. However when those guys were in the twilight of their careers they were still playing AFL, IMO, and while a few may make a case of the SANFL not being as physically demanding as the AFL, too many players in their last days have tried to squeeze in a year or two, without putting in the effort, and been found out.
Any player that has played AFL and then played SANFL and made a fair contribution is an interesting topic, but it wasn't what I meant. Perhaps either one of these points could be put into seperate threads.