Come back to Earth please. I made this thread before the game, remember.
This time last year I was happy for him to play for years, but this year has been depressing for a Hodges fan. There have been many games over the years where he's tried too hard and it's cost us. But there was always more upside, mostly because we kind of sucked everywhere and he was our only real weapon.
That's no longer the case. Hunt & Copley are genuine weapons. Barba's improved. With field position and pressure, we have points in us. Playing as a team. Hodges just seems to disrupt that now. Low-percentage plays that look brilliant when they come off but give the opposition great field position when they don't. There's a difference between spotting an opportunity and going for it, and trying to make something out of nothing out of frustration, and Hodges has been going for the latter too often.
Even if he were an asset more often than not, he doesn't have long left. His game doesn't suit genuine teamwork, yet when he retires it's teamwork that is going to be our means to improve. So why waste a year dragging the team in a direction that is the opposite of our long term plan? Add that to the fact that he's missing for many games and it's just chaos. One week we're seeing combinations improve, cohesion paying dividends, and a glimpse at how it helps consistency. The next week Hodgo comes in and tries to do it all on his own and his team-mates are made to feel like sub-par hindrances to his one-man army.
Reed is no where near the player Hodges is, but he's at least got 20 games a year in him and can follow orders.
Griffin has been criticised for picking favourites. Because he can't see the big picture and move forward. How many are guilty of the same thing here?
