Cale Hooker the answer for Essendon’s forward line if Joe Daniher departs
Essendon is determined to keep Joe Daniher but if he does eventually depart, the Bombers could still boast a lethal forward line on the back of one bold coaching move, writes Jon Ralph.
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When John Worsfold runs out of ideas late in a game that is slipping away, Cale Hooker is always the answer.
Why can’t a player who won games with last-minute goals when pushed forward against Gold Coast and GWS this season become the permanent solution in 2020?
List manager Adrian Dodoro’s conundrum was laid bare at a PWC breakfast this morning, when he was adamant even a couple of high draft picks wouldn’t help the club’s forward issues next year if Joe Daniher leaves.
Essendon is known to like WA 198cm ruck/forward Luke Jackson, who could firm as a top-10 pick but is years away from becoming a regular senior presence.
But this year’s draft doesn’t have the types that made immediate impacts last year, when Connor Rozee went at pick 5, Ben King at 6, Bailey Smith at pick 7, Tarryn Thomas at pick 8 and Nick Blakey a father-son at pick 10.
So if Dodoro doesn’t just baulk and refuse to trade Daniher, what are the Bombers’ options?
They don’t seem to be trying to drag Tom McCartin or Aliir Aliir out of Sydney like Port Adelaide did with Ryan Burton when it became apparent Chad Wingard was going to the Hawks.
They don’t seem to be trying to secure a Levi Casboult type, a young emerging forward like Gold Coast’s Peter Wright, or even another mid-sized forward like Josh Caddy, currently playing his trade on a wing.
The 2017 season might show the path forward.
In that year Richmond won the premiership with one elite key forward in Jack Riewoldt then an array of smaller players around him.
It was also the same year Hooker played permanently forward, and what a massive success it was.
He spent 97 per cent of game time forward in 2017, kicking 41.26 and finishing third in the competition for contested marks (behind only Charlie Dixon and Levi Casboult).
He kicked goals in 18 of 20 games — including five against the Roos and four against a Grand Final-bound Adelaide — before a broken leg saw him miss their finals loss.
In the same year Orazio Fantasia had his best season, kicking 39.22 before two injury-prone seasons.
Mitch Brown, Shaun McKernan and James Stewart will all fulfil roles as forwards at Essendon next year.
But they could have a trio of mid-sized forwards few in the competition could match.
They have never had a fit Fantasia, Jake Stringer and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti all in their best form strutting their stuff in the forward line.
Imagine Hooker as the big marking target, with that trio darting around inside 50 to create havoc.
Plus two top-10 draft selections to extend the premiership window at the same time.
Add a fit Devon Smith, and Worsfold and his apprentice Ben Rutten have something to work with.
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It takes Hooker out of the backline, but All-Australian defender Michael Hurley, Patrick Ambrose, Aaron Francis and Mason Redman have enough talent to hold up that end.
The clear preference at Essendon is to keep Daniher, but at some stage Sydney will surely stump up the picks to get a deal done.
It hurts the Dons’ chances of breaking that finals drought, yet there are few better swingmen in the game than Hooker, and no better Plan B for life after Daniher is yet to present itself.