Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[hawk_88]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ben-stratton-to-undergo-knee-surgery/story-e6frf9jf-1226037404820

He is out for the year..... such a shame!!

[MTK]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ben-stratton-to-undergo-knee-surgery/story-e6frf9jf-1226037404820

He is out for the year..... such a shame!!

Don't take this the wrong way, but was he really as good as some people are saying? A mate of mine reckons the Hawks can't win the flag without him! Any truth to that?

[hawk_88]

Touch over the top.

In truth he would best be described at the moment as a very good player. He has played very little footy, but it is the way he goes about his footy that makes those that watch him every week not only rate him so highly, but see what he could become as well.

He has poise, makes smart decisions and when he does something, he does it hard and properly. He tackles hard, he spoils hard, he crashes packs hard, he runs hard. You are always left with little doubt he could have done any more.

Can the Hawks cover him, probably. However it will mean Tom Murphy, who appears to be at the front of the line to replace him, has to step up again to another level to does so fully. In terms of key defenders the Hawks are fragile. Luckily we play a game style, as we did in 2008, that doesn't rely on your six defenders to win one on one footy. I think it is more likely our game style will cover the loss greater than an individual. Given the pressure for selection though, I would like it to be both :)

[Barney]

He's important to the Hawks in the long run for sure but I think they can cover him this year. He's a good player. I love the way he goes about it.

[Hellopplz]

Can the Hawks cover him, probably. However it will mean Tom Murphy, who appears to be at the front of the line to replace him, has to step up again to another level to does so fully. In terms of key defenders the Hawks are fragile. Luckily we play a game style, as we did in 2008, that doesn't rely on your six defenders to win one on one footy. I think it is more likely our game style will cover the loss greater than an individual. Given the pressure for selection though, I would like it to be both :)

If Murphy is coming in, hopefully he doesn't fumble as much as last year! Remember one match where I saw him fumble when the ball came to him 5-6 times within a half of footy.

Stratton is a Key to the Future and Hawks have had to deal with injuries for a few seasons now. They have Gibson now who is quite a long way to helping their struggle for strong backman to hold their opponents. But I believe Stratton is still one of their top backman so will be hard to replace with his attitude on the field.