The crucial steps for JJ

[AshMac]

That’s a really good point. I’d never thought much about when his form began to slide. How strange to think it started with the taunts from Tomas Bugg and Jack Watts, two guys who aren’t even afl standard any more, and certainly don’t have premiership medals to their name.

Really it started w George Hewett, a young player against a senior player. Horse clearly put a target on JJ’s back and set Hewett the job of really getting stuck into him. He went from norm smith form to form worthy of being dropped inside those four quarters and never got back.

Didn’t help every team we played for the next 4-6 weeks did the same thing and he got zero protection from his teammates.

[azabob]

Wasn’t Dale training as a HB a few years ago? So maybe not such a surprise

[jeemak]

Really it started w George Hewett, a young player against a senior player. Horse clearly put a target on JJ’s back and set Hewett the job of really getting stuck into him. He went from norm smith form to form worthy of being dropped inside those four quarters and never got back.

Didn’t help every team we played for the next 4-6 weeks did the same thing and he got zero protection from his teammates.

Yeah he just started the year so well in 2017 after the Norm Smith, and by the end of that year after he the club got around the attention he still managed second in the best and fairest. He also came seventh and fourth the subsequent two years, so he had been up until last year consistently playing really good football for us (nobody can win a Norm Smith every week).

You make a good point about his team mates not doing enough to help, and I hope we never ever see a player of ours bullied without reprisal like that again. We should be mature enough to stop it (and here's a thought, as soon as it ever starts happening to one of our guns again give a warning that if it continues the youngest and greenest player for the opposition will get physically and mentally mauled until it stops. Nobody wants to be the cause of their youngest and most inexperienced team mate being put in the hospital).

As for JJ himself, as long as he gets as fit as he possibly can be he'll be fine.