Jacob Hopper is well and truly living up to the pre-season hopes of Richmond’s new High Performance Manager Ben Serpell.
In an interview with the Club’s Talking Tigers podcast in early February, Serpell revealed Hopper had caught his eye throughout the pre-season period.
Hopper had endured a frustrating injury run in his first two seasons with the Tigers after being traded from Greater Western Sydney, missing 18 of a possible 46 games during that time.
Serpell, however, told Talking Tigers that Hopper seemed set for a big 2025 season.
“’Hopps’ has been really good. He even said to me he’s done more this pre-season than the past couple of years,” Serpell said.
“He’s running fast lots. He’s a regular person out at training. I don’t want to put the ‘mozz’ on myself, but he’s doing well.
“He’s bought in, and he excites me.”
A quarter of the way through the home-and-away rounds, a fit Hopper is playing his best football since 2021, when he polled 15 Brownlow Medal votes in his second last season with the Giants.
The 28-year-old, talented midfielder is averaging 27.2 disposals (17.5 handballs and 9.7 kicks), 11.5 contested possessions, 3.3 marks, 5.5 clearances, 4.5 score involvements, 3.3 tackles and 258.8 metres gained per game.
His lowest disposal tally so far this season was 22 in Richmond’s Round 1 victory over Carlton.
Hopper played a significant role in the Tigers’ second win for the season, against Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium last Saturday night.
He racked up 27 disposals, with 12 contested possessions, took four marks, had a team-high eight clearances, three rebound-50s, six score involvements and 274 metres gained.
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