Hodge, Judd or Bartel?

[LostDoggy]

Have Hodgey in my Supercoach, and love the way he goes about his footy. Would have put him in my top 10 if he had a better 2009. Has started 2010 well.

Judd in his prime was the best player of the three, but his prime was always going to be short and sweet; his explosiveness was never going to last forever, although he has been cruelled by injury somewhat.

The one I voted for, and who will age the best of the lot will be Bartel -- he has never relied on explosive speed anyway, so will hardly miss it when he is on the wrong side of 30. He's as tough as the other two any day of the week, and would easily be a no.1 midfielder in any team except one with Gablett in it. A much more complete player than Selwood too, who seems to get more kudos (probably for being younger and faster). I think he (and Ling) is actually what makes Geelong tick as he just goes about his job where it's needed and does everything brilliantly and without much fuss. Kicks crucial goals too, and goalkicking mids are worth their weight in gold in the modern game.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Hodge.

His leadership is amazing. One of the best I've honestly seen in this area. He's a very smart player and is one of the toughest going around too. Beautiful skills, can play on smalls/talls and dominates in both the midfield and half backline. He's an unbelievable player and stands up when it so often counts.

Judd's best was better than all three, but it was very brief. Still a very good player but he's confined to the midfield and isn't as explosive as he once was. Bartel would be on par with Judd but can rest forward. For mine, Hodge is clearly the most damaging player.

[GVGjr]

When I started the thread I though Hodge will get the most votes mainly because of our needs and Judd will be next followed a fair way back by Bartel.
I wonder why Judd has been overlooked so much though? He's still brilliant but I wouldn't have thought he's far behind Hodge at all.

[Go_Dogs]

I wonder why Judd has been overlooked so much though? He's still brilliant but I wouldn't have thought he's far behind Hodge at all.

Judd has probably suffered a bit due to his form over the past couple of seasons not being as outstanding as his form with West Coast earlier on. Although, he showed on the weekend just how damaging he can be.

At the end of the day, it's such a line ball call that after any given weekend, any of them could justifiably be selected as the better/more suitable player.

[mighty_west]

I voted Hodge for many of the reasons above.

But was tempted to take Judd, imo has struggled to find his best form at Carlton due to their midfield, and team in general, as they say, good teams get the best of out players, including the superstars, having Judd alongside Cooney & Griff, Higgins, Boyd etc etc would be VERY tempting.

[wimberga]

On the above note MW,

Does anyone remember if we made contact with judd when he was leaving WCE? Im fairly certain we wouldn't have been able to get him but if we had.....

[LostDoggy]

I voted Hodge for many of the reasons above.

But was tempted to take Judd, imo has struggled to find his best form at Carlton due to their midfield, and team in general, as they say, good teams get the best of out players, including the superstars, having Judd alongside Cooney & Griff, Higgins, Boyd etc etc would be VERY tempting.

Coons would play second fiddle to Juddy the way he plays, don't know how that would work.

Bartel makes everyone around him better (Gablett and Selwood wouldn't be half as effective without Jimmy), so Coons and Griff would both suddenly become top 10/all-Australian types. And he will be going strong at 33-35, long after Hodgey and Juddy slow down into pale imitations of thier former selves, so we would get a lot more value out of a trade if done at the end of this season.

[Doc26]

Well I'm after a premiership this year so it's Juddy for me, then Hodgey.

All 3 sublime players. Just love Juddy's leadership and workrate in the midfield. Is tagged hard every week yet can break them, racks up midfield clearances and inside 50s. Is no coincidence that the Eagles midfield especially Kerr have struggled since his departure.

A midfield in 2010 of Judd, Cooney, Boyd, Hudson would do just nicely not to mention freeing up Cooney from the number 1 tag every week. Now what to do with Griff ?

[Doc26]

On the above note MW,

Does anyone remember if we made contact with judd when he was leaving WCE? Im fairly certain we wouldn't have been able to get him but if we had.....

If we did try I'm sure his number was diverted through to Dick Pratt. We wouldn't have stood a chance with Visy's 3rd party arrangement tied into the deal. Nice to dream though.

[LostDoggy]

If we did try I'm sure his number was diverted through to Dick Pratt. We wouldn't have stood a chance with Visy's 3rd party arrangement tied into the deal. Nice to dream though.

Could have promised him a lifetime of free suits from Peter Jackson.

ps. While we're on the topic of Visy and Pratt and what has happened to the Storm, surely if the AFL are fair dinkum about their cap and investigating Waldron's time at the Saints, they would also have a second look at Carlton's third-party agreements: after all, Pratt and Visy actually ARE convicted white collar criminals, so if anyone knows how to cook the books...

[Sockeye Salmon]

Edit: Bugger. Wrong thread.

[mighty_west]

Coons would play second fiddle to Juddy the way he plays, don't know how that would work.

Rotations these days, we would always have that burst player in the middle, and whilst both starting in the middle, who does Ling/Jones pick up, Judd or Cooney?

Re: Bartel, Geelong have many great mids, Corey, Bartel, Ablett, Selwood etc, similar in many ways to Brissy in their hay day, and West Coast mid 00's, great midfields allow great players to play at their peak.

That said, my first choice was Hodge.

[LostDoggy]

Rotations these days, we would always have that burst player in the middle, and whilst both starting in the middle, who does Ling/Jones pick up, Judd or Cooney?

Re: Bartel, Geelong have many great mids, Corey, Bartel, Ablett, Selwood etc, similar in many ways to Brissy in their hay day, and West Coast mid 00's, great midfields allow great players to play at their peak.

That said, my first choice was Hodge.

I thought of this very retort when I wrote my point! Haha.. it wasn't a throroughly researched position, of course. But I think my point stands -- Geelong works because Bartel is Bartel, and MAKES others great (Corey is similar). I don't think Juddy and Selwood would work in the same midfield, for example (unless they grew up in the same team and learnt to work together). They play far too similarly. Juddy and Gablett is a different case, Gabs would be on the end of all Juddy's hard work.

Actually, I just realised that I made a case for Juddy in our midfield. He would be the ultimate inside/outside that would complement our ball-winners, and free up Coons and Griff to be explosive runners on the end of his handballs.

Any of the three would improve our team no end.

And get us thrown out of the comp for salary cap rorting.

[Sockeye Salmon]

We couldn't get any of them without hiring Brian Waldron to manage it.

[mighty_west]

I thought of this very retort when I wrote my point! Haha.. it wasn't a throroughly researched position, of course. But I think my point stands -- Geelong works because Bartel is Bartel, and MAKES others great (Corey is similar). I don't think Juddy and Selwood would work in the same midfield, for example (unless they grew up in the same team and learnt to work together). They play far too similarly. Juddy and Gablett is a different case, Gabs would be on the end of all Juddy's hard work.

Actually, I just realised that I made a case for Juddy in our midfield. He would be the ultimate inside/outside that would complement our ball-winners, and free up Coons and Griff to be explosive runners on the end of his handballs.

Any of the three would improve our team no end.

And get us thrown out of the comp for salary cap rorting.

I was going to say, can we have all 3?

I'm sure we could make it our MISSION to find room in the cap!