The move to Brisbane after 16 successful seasons at Hawthorn went largely to plan for Luke Hodge, including an inevitable but pleasingly gradual drop in his personal statistical output. The shortfall came mostly due to him attending less stoppages, spending the vast majority of time behind the play barking out instructions. Opposition analysts didn't bother isolating Hodge with a younger opponent a la Patrick Dangerfield in 2017, as the Lions weren't much chop in defence in any event. They may be better organised under the old general, but they just don't have the cattle. Hodge will trudge towards 350 games at a slower clip, and his variability will scare off most draft league coaches.
Use the Morse, Luke
The move to Brisbane after 16 successful seasons at Hawthorn went largely to plan for Luke Hodge, including an inevitable but pleasingly gradual drop in his personal statistical output. The shortfall came mostly due to him attending less stoppages, spending the vast majority of time behind the play barking out instructions. Opposition analysts didn't bother isolating Hodge with a younger opponent a la Patrick Dangerfield in 2017, as the Lions weren't much chop in defence in any event. They may be better organised under the old general, but they just don't have the cattle. Hodge will trudge towards 350 games at a slower clip, and his variability will scare off most draft league coaches.
Luke Hodge is a Mister Dependable type for fantasy coaches... when he manages to stay on the park. His durability has always been his major concern, as he is the sort of player who won't attract tags because he's too good for them, but his body keeps breaking down at inopportune times. This makes him more of an AFL Fantasy play with its unlimited trades, though he makes for an interesting POD option in Supercoach and AFL Dream Team if you want to take that risk.
Luke Hodge was not a popular pick in preseason for fantasy coaches, very much the wrong side of 30 and looking to have lost a yard of pace last year. With other options falling by the way side, however, he looms as an interesting point of distinction option in salary cap competitions going into the second half of 2018, with scores that rarely reach the stratosphere but none of the forward tags that used to really cruel his output.
Graceful cliff dive for Hodge
After what looked like a precipitous drop off the cliff in 2016 on the way to retirement, Luke Hodge landed on a ledge to deliver 19 games of serviceable back line production last season, before the move to Brisbane. In between yapping at teammates like a chihuahua he played the seventh defender role with typical poise, albeit he lowered his colours when Geelong moved Patrick Dangerfield onto him one-out in round 17. If you are looking for a template for what Hodge is likely to produce in 2018, perhaps the year that Sam Mitchell had for West Coast in 2017 is most relevant. Despite his age, Mitchell was not rested for away trips and put in some solid numbers that were ten fantasy points off his previous benchmark. If Hodge repeats that he will still be worth a middle to late pick, though you might want to look elsewhere if you make fantasy finals.
Hodge racks up accolades
Already the favourite of many to take home the Brownlow, Luke Hodge has set his 2010 season alight in fantasy terms, dipping under 100 three times in Dream Team and only once in Supercoach.
Free from a nagging groin injury which hampered his efforts in 2009, and saw his SC price start at a tasty $485,600 in 2010, Hodgey has nailed coin after coin in the slot with his silky left bootlace. It is not surprising that nearly two thirds of the SC population have him locked in their starting 22, with only Gary Ablett jnr higher than him in the popularity stakes.
A dominant midfielder, sometimes third man up backman, and effective forward, Hodge is usually somewhere near the ball and his averages of 112.5 and 129.5 in DT and SC respectively attest to that.
