Official Thomas Hazelton

[bort]

Thanks mate, appreciate the reply. Can you give examples at all of what the coach might see about Kaufusi that we as fans don't?

here’s an example

If Hunt keeps playing like last night he can't be dropped. Should be keeping both him and the Nut on the bench.

Two weeks ago people had written Hunt off never to be in 17 again, shouldn’t have re-signed him, try get him released
but coach kept playing him and just had two great games

We definitely get guilty of being caught up with the hot young thing and I think Kaufusi gets added scrutiny by being an import.
People forget how young he is too - our second youngest prop we’ve used (JC younger). If this was Kaufusis first season I think there’d be a lot more interest.

Personally I’ve hoped for a bit from him too though, and from my perspective he’s outside best 17

 

[Sparkles]

Yeah - sorry - edited it after to include some. Winning the ruck is the number one (ptb speed and ability to slow opposition ptb speed).

An 8m run and quick ptb is better than an 11m run and a slow one.


He was great. That doesn't necessarily mean he has played his way in front of anyone else though.

We have been having this conversation all year (the forum, not specifically you and I). Some people were saying Hunt is ahead of Williams. That might have bene the case from their point of view, but it obviously wasn't from FItz's.

The best indicator of future behaviour is past behaviour. Here is Fitz's order - which hasn't changed. The only difference in the last couple of games game is that two of the top 6 were missing.

1. Finucane and McInnes
2. Rudolf and Hamlin-Uele
3. Williams and Kaufusi
4. Hunt and Hazelton
5. Colquhoun
6. Anyone else

Fitz is going to pick at least 6 middles every week, and sometimes 7. Based on what he has done in the past it will be Hunt or Hazelton who miss out if he goes with 6.

Fitz also said in the presser that this is pretty much our squad now.

 

[bort]

To add onto my post and what Burgo said

Communication would be a big one - Kaufusi is a decent defender but does he use his voice to make those around him better defenders? Hard for fans to tell

Wrestle and ruck another big one that can be hard to judge. He has amongst our lowest error and penalty rates but coach could watch a video of just all the times there is a penalty/error/6 again in ruck in our favour and see Kaufusi is above averagely involved (not to say that is true, just something coaches have access to reviewing).

By breaking down video to just specific actions you can get some really good info that’s basically impossible to pick up watching. For example also may show a ‘good defender’ makes 100% of their tackles on one side where they make most of their tackles and only 70% on the other side, so you plan for some of your runners to put themselves on the weak side

Fitz also said in the presser that this is pretty much our squad now.

You interpret as he thinks this is best 17? I thought that was more in reference to not expecting anyone back necessarily (except Kaufusi)

 

[Deleted member 2543]

here’s an example

Two weeks ago people had written Hunt off never to be in 17 again, shouldn’t have re-signed him, try get him released
but coach kept playing him and just had two great games

We definitely get guilty of being caught up with the hot young thing and I think Kaufusi gets added scrutiny by being an import.
People forget how young he is too - our second youngest prop we’ve used (JC younger). If this was Kaufusis first season I think there’d be a lot more interest.

Personally I’ve hoped for a bit from him to though, and from my perspective he’s outside best 17

I think we all hoped for more - but nobody was complaining about him when he was playing 35 minutes off the bench. He's just been forced to do too much because of injuries to other guys. Put him back in the right role and he will be great imho.

Fitz also said in the presser that this is pretty much our squad now.

He literally said "we might get Oregon back, but other than that, that's probably our squad for the most part there".

 

[Sevshark]

I think we all hoped for more - but nobody was complaining about him when he was playing 35 minutes off the bench. He's just been forced to do too much because of injuries to other guys. Put him back in the right role and he will be great imho.


He literally said "we might get Oregon back, but other than that, that's probably our squad for the most part there".

Making a GF and world cup final probably didn't help our expectations of him

 

[bort]

I think we all hoped for more - but nobody was complaining about him when he was playing 35 minutes off the bench. He's just been forced to do too much because of injuries to other guys. Put him back in the right role and he will be great imho.


He literally said "we might get Oregon back, but other than that, that's probably our squad for the most part there".

He didn’t have enough highlights for some but yeah, he and Hunt both got forced to play as starters which they ideally wouldn’t have been, especially not so much. Both handled it okay… especially since you’ve just called Hunt our 7th ‘best’ middle

 

[Sparkles]

You interpret as he thinks this is best 17? I thought that was more in reference to not expecting anyone back necessarily (except Kaufusi)

Do way better than guys who won't play, definitely

 

[CHOGM]

Tom’s scramble defense is a winner for me. He came charging across to the left edge at one point and got an arm on their winger when they looked certain to score. I said it after the Penrith game too that he twice tackled Cleary on his way to breaking the line. The guys like a spider.

 

[The Punisher]

I think we all hoped for more - but nobody was complaining about him when he was playing 35 minutes off the bench. He's just been forced to do too much because of injuries to other guys. Put him back in the right role and he will be great imho.


He literally said "we might get Oregon back, but other than that, that's probably our squad for the most part there".

Im hoping, that of Kaufusi is named, its at the expense of Moylan - since Williams, Hunt Hazelton are undroppable at the moment

 

[Gumby]

There is no way in hell this guy gets dropped surely.

 

[MMsharks]

always. contributes
love his work in defence, especially in group tackles. really tries to reduct the ball carriers gain

not bad with any pie too!

 

[Gumby]

Tom’s scramble defense is a winner for me. He came charging across to the left edge at one point and got an arm on their winger when they looked certain to score. I said it after the Penrith game too that he twice tackled Cleary on his way to breaking the line. The guys like a spider.

Those two tackles he made were all effort. You could see his teammates absolutely applauding him up too once we got the ball back. Unreal effort

 

[Deleted member 2543]

Im hoping, that of Kaufusi is named, its at the expense of Moylan - since Williams, Hunt Hazelton are undroppable at the moment

I'd expect that's what most of us fans would want.

 

[TrindallGoat]

Hazelnut has shown so much promise in both attack and defence it's hard to believe he was meant to be our 2nd string backup forward at the beginning of the year. Big fella has the body of an impact forward with the motor/mindset of a workhorse he's been such a boon for us this season.

A really underrated part of his attack is his ability to isolate smaller guys especially on the oppositions goal line. A perfect example of this was his try against Bulldogs.


As Hazelton is running onto the ball he identifies that Mahoney and Okunbor are both turning inwards expecting to make initial contact with Waddell (on Mahoney's left) looking to wrap Hazelton's legs after initial contact is made


Hazelton runs into the defensive line but much to the Bulldogs surprise he actually throws a left foot step, isolating Mahoney in a 1 on 1 situation. Due to him bracing for first contact, Okunbor is now in a position where he can't immediately rush over to aid Mahoney make the tackle


Due to the massive size difference Hazelton comfortably muscles through the contact with Mahoney. Waddell now realises his job is no longer to wrap the legs but to make the initial tackle which he wasn't prepared for.


Since there's no longer anyone directly in front of him and no one could wrap his legs, he uses the fact he's built like a gazelle and carries both Mahoney and Waddell over the line with him.

This wasn't a one off thing either. In the very next game against the Dragons he put a step on and got Sloan in a 1 on 1 situation for another try. Even on Thursday against Cows he got his try due to some Brailey excellence which got Hazelton in another 1 on 1 situation with Dearden. His ability to identify the little guy in the defensive line and use footwork a big fella like him simply shouldn't have is surprisingly consistent. He has 5 line breaks this season (to put it into perspective AFB has the most line breaks of any prop at 8) and all of them have come off isolating guys significantly smaller than him and just putting the foot on the gas or throwing a step.

As for his defence can't really say anything that hasn't been said. He does all the little things perfectly and for a guy averaging only 23 minutes he has a lot of try savers/forced errors. I wish he was more willing to make the initial tackle and use his size cause he's a lot stronger than he seems to think. Pretty sure he also makes the most tackles of any player in the comp per minute as well (0.777 per minute was the exact number from memory) so at the very least statistically, he is the most involved defender in the entire comp in comparison to the minutes he plays.

His game isn't perfect and there's a lot of room for improvement but for a guy who spent the preseason training to play at the intensity of NSW Cup he's smashed everyones expectations. He's only gonna get better and hopefully he'll be a big part of this Sharkies outfit for years to come.

 

[bort]

I hope he wasn’t training to play at NSW Cup intensity - neither he nor Fitz should be happy with themselves if that was the case
Debuted the year before and Fifita (22 games) and Tolman (21 games) had just retired - plenty of games in the season to be fighting for

 

[Tiger Shark]

I hope he wasn’t training to play at NSW Cup intensity - neither he nor Fitz should be happy with themselves if that was the case
Debuted the year before and Fifita (22 games) and Tolman (21 games) had just retired - plenty of games in the season to be fighting for

Not sure why he would have been if he was training with the first grade squad, which he was

 

[Sparkles]

Hazelnut has shown so much promise in both attack and defence it's hard to believe he was meant to be our 2nd string backup forward at the beginning of the year. Big fella has the body of an impact forward with the motor/mindset of a workhorse he's been such a boon for us this season.

A really underrated part of his attack is his ability to isolate smaller guys especially on the oppositions goal line. A perfect example of this was his try against Bulldogs.

View attachment 29288
As Hazelton is running onto the ball he identifies that Mahoney and Okunbor are both turning inwards expecting to make initial contact with Waddell (on Mahoney's left) looking to wrap Hazelton's legs after initial contact is made

View attachment 29289
Hazelton runs into the defensive line but much to the Bulldogs surprise he actually throws a left foot step, isolating Mahoney in a 1 on 1 situation. Due to him bracing for first contact, Okunbor is now in a position where he can't immediately rush over to aid Mahoney make the tackle

View attachment 29290
Due to the massive size difference Hazelton comfortably muscles through the contact with Mahoney. Waddell now realises his job is no longer to wrap the legs but to make the initial tackle which he wasn't prepared for.

View attachment 29291
Since there's no longer anyone directly in front of him and no one could wrap his legs, he uses the fact he's built like a gazelle and carries both Mahoney and Waddell over the line with him.

This wasn't a one off thing either. In the very next game against the Dragons he put a step on and got Sloan in a 1 on 1 situation for another try. Even on Thursday against Cows he got his try due to some Brailey excellence which got Hazelton in another 1 on 1 situation with Dearden. His ability to identify the little guy in the defensive line and use footwork a big fella like him simply shouldn't have is surprisingly consistent. He has 5 line breaks this season (to put it into perspective AFB has the most line breaks of any prop at 8) and all of them have come off isolating guys significantly smaller than him and just putting the foot on the gas or throwing a step.

As for his defence can't really say anything that hasn't been said. He does all the little things perfectly and for a guy averaging only 23 minutes he has a lot of try savers/forced errors. I wish he was more willing to make the initial tackle and use his size cause he's a lot stronger than he seems to think. Pretty sure he also makes the most tackles of any player in the comp per minute as well (0.777 per minute was the exact number from memory) so at the very least statistically, he is the most involved defender in the entire comp in comparison to the minutes he plays.

His game isn't perfect and there's a lot of room for improvement but for a guy who spent the preseason training to play at the intensity of NSW Cup he's smashed everyones expectations. He's only gonna get better and hopefully he'll be a big part of this Sharkies outfit for years to come.

Very good mate. That all your work?

 

[TrindallGoat]

Very good mate. That all your work?

Cheers lad yeah most of it is from me, though the tackles per minute is from a mate of mine who’s putting together a spreadsheet where he ranks every player in the comp based on tackle efficiency and tackles per minute. Been a huge fan of Hazelnut since his cup days so I like to overanalyse everything he does

 

[Sevshark]

Cheers lad yeah most of it is from me, though the tackles per minute is from a mate of mine who’s putting together a spreadsheet where he ranks every player in the comp based on tackle efficiency and tackles per minute. Been a huge fan of Hazelnut since his cup days so I like to overanalyse everything he does

First day on the forum and he's going for the Super Moderator's throat

 

[Sparkles]

First day on the forum and he's going for the Super Moderator's throat

If this stills become gifs all hell will break loose