Player Watch Trent McKenzie

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afl2004 said:
Played crap low confidence and lack of doing kick outs
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Probably his worst game for a long time. To be honest, the entire defence looked lost. The match ups just didn't work, and there was lots of chopping and changing.

I feel like Jonas has lost that burst acceleration he used to have, which has seen him caught out on the lead on numerous occasions recently - and the other defenders are covering that. He can no longer play on those medium sized forwards like Mihochek - and it left us exposed. We couldn't put Jonas on Elliot as he is too fast and nimble, can't put him on Cox due to height etc.
 
PORT Adelaide's Trent McKenzie is not only an unlikely full-back, but an accidental one.

McKenzie, who burst onto the AFL scene a decade ago as a skinny wingman with a booming left boot, says his switch to the key defensive post isn't some sort of master plan.

It just sort of happened.

"To be honest, I am not too sure how it came about," McKenzie told AAP of the positional move which revived his AFL career.

"It was definitely in the SANFL, I was playing as a mid-defender and all of a sudden I have started to play the deepest.

"Obviously there were some big full-forwards I was coming up against and it just evolved from there.

"I ended up playing on the biggest boys."

www.afl.com.au

The accidental position switch that saved Power Cannon's career

From two games in two seasons to crucial cog in Power's premiership tilt
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au
 
A consequence of having an undermanned reserves side is you'll throw the chess pieces around a bit out of absolute necessity. That might hamper the development of young players sometimes. But in this case it's delivered us a high quality full back out of nowhere.
 
Holden Hillbilly said:
PORT Adelaide's Trent McKenzie is not only an unlikely full-back, but an accidental one.

McKenzie, who burst onto the AFL scene a decade ago as a skinny wingman with a booming left boot, says his switch to the key defensive post isn't some sort of master plan.

It just sort of happened.

"To be honest, I am not too sure how it came about," McKenzie told AAP of the positional move which revived his AFL career.

"It was definitely in the SANFL, I was playing as a mid-defender and all of a sudden I have started to play the deepest.

"Obviously there were some big full-forwards I was coming up against and it just evolved from there.

"I ended up playing on the biggest boys."

www.afl.com.au

The accidental position switch that saved Power Cannon's career

From two games in two seasons to crucial cog in Power's premiership tilt
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au
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Because we didn't draft many people with much height a few years ago.

I remember Ladhams and Frampton changing at FB in a couple of games in 2018 because we were so short down back and couple of teams had 2 tall KPF's and 200cm ruck types changing deep in our defence.
 

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RussellEbertHandball said:
Because we didn't draft many people with much height a few years ago.

I remember Ladhams and Frampton changing at FB in a couple of games in 2018 because we were so short down back and couple of teams had 2 tall KPF's and 200cm ruck types changing deep in our defence.
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Crazy how it has worked out though. He reads the play so bloody well and his 1 on 1 work for someone his size is exemplary. The only player who has consistently been able to give him a bath is Hawkins.
 
Chewy316 said:
Crazy how it has worked out though. He reads the play so bloody well and his 1 on 1 work for someone his size is exemplary. The only player who has consistently been able to give him a bath is Hawkins.
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Yep sometimes serendipity happens.
 
Chewy316 said:
Crazy how it has worked out though. He reads the play so bloody well and his 1 on 1 work for someone his size is exemplary. The only player who has consistently been able to give him a bath is Hawkins.
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Hawkins giving him a bath is a bit of an overstatement too. They probably fought a draw in last year's QF, Hawkins beat him mid this year and he beat Hawkins in this year's QF.

The way he was able to comprehensively destroy both King brothers despite the huge height and reach disadvantage shows that positioning and bodywork can make up for height in a defender.
 
I thought he’d always played deep in defence to be honest, im glad it was identified even if a little late though. He is an extremely solid defender both with and without the ball, and one of the best one on one players in our side.
 
TeeKray said:
Hawkins giving him a bath is a bit of an overstatement too. They probably fought a draw in last year's QF, Hawkins beat him mid this year and he beat Hawkins in this year's QF.

The way he was able to comprehensively destroy both King brothers despite the huge height and reach disadvantage shows that positioning and bodywork can make up for height in a defender.
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He got smashed in the quali last year - only thing that saved us was Hawkins couldn't kick straight to save himself. Should have had at least 3 or 4 that night. Definitely beat him this past go round.

We have seen in the NFL and NBA over the last decade that teams are modelling their archetype of defensive personnel to be less Incredible Hulk in size but quicker than their counterparts. When you can get multiple players to a contest defensively, the attacker cannot use brute strength to their advantage.

He's just such an underrated cog of our defence. He epitomises the term "be a star in your role." Getting a bit older (30 next April) but no reason given his role that he can't play for another few seasons at a high level.
 
Chewy316 said:
He got smashed in the quali last year - only thing that saved us was Hawkins couldn't kick straight to save himself. Should have had at least 3 or 4 that night. Definitely beat him this past go round.

We have seen in the NFL and NBA over the last decade that teams are modelling their archetype of defensive personnel to be less Incredible Hulk in size but quicker than their counterparts. When you can get multiple players to a contest defensively, the attacker cannot use brute strength to their advantage.

He's just such an underrated cog of our defence. He epitomises the term "be a star in your role." Getting a bit older (30 next April) but no reason given his role that he can't play for another few seasons at a high level.
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"Smashed?" That is just such a huge exaggeration. He actually played quite well that night, beating Hawkins around the goal square all match. It was when Hawkins went out on the lead, that he got the better of McKenzie. But, in so doing, he had to lead away from the square into the pockets, increasing the degree of difficulty.

Hawkins also did some ripper things when rucking up forward, which was not McKenzie's fault. Overall, Hawkins won on points, but a 'smashing?' Nah.
 
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Chewy316 said:
Crazy how it has worked out though. He reads the play so bloody well and his 1 on 1 work for someone his size is exemplary. The only player who has consistently been able to give him a bath is Hawkins.
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Yup, there's only so much you can do with body positioning and reading the ball. When you come up against a brute like Hawkins, who is equally as adept at body positioning - then you're in trouble.

McKenzie beat King out this year with body work. As King gets stronger, either next season or the one after, that won't work anymore.

It is why I think our biggest list need is a 195+ cm backman.

An outside the box option would be to look at Lienert and see if we could bulk him up a bit.
 
The Hobo said:
Yup, there's only so much you can do with body positioning and reading the ball. When you come up against a brute like Hawkins, who is equally as adept at body positioning - then you're in trouble.

McKenzie beat King out this year with body work. As King gets stronger, either next season or the one after, that won't work anymore.

It is why I think our biggest list need is a 195+ cm backman.

An outside the box option would be to look at Lienert and see if we could bulk him up a bit.
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He is already 93 kg at 27yo and is way down on contested possessions. He plays very little contested ball at all, and doesn't take a lot of contested marks. I'd love to think we could find a way to keep him at the club but I am not sure it would be trying to turn him into KPD. I won't say never because McKenzie was able to do it, but I do think it would take the better part of a season and a concerted effort by Lienert with direction from the coaching staff if it were to happen at all.

I'm not sure it is in his makeup. His strengths are his mobility for his size, his reading of the play and his disposal. I haven't seen a lot in him that says future KPD.

I do believe a genuine KPD and KPF are our biggest priorities by some way.
 
TeeKray said:
Hawkins giving him a bath is a bit of an overstatement too. They probably fought a draw in last year's QF, Hawkins beat him mid this year and he beat Hawkins in this year's QF.

The way he was able to comprehensively destroy both King brothers despite the huge height and reach disadvantage shows that positioning and bodywork can make up for height in a defender.
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Defenders are almost always undersized. There is a clearly a bias towards sending the most physically gifted players forward. The fantasy/obsession of measurables on this board completely neglects the reality and intangibles of what makes for a quality defender.
 
Seriously though, is there a good argument for giving Cameron O'Shea another crack? At 197cm he could answer our needs for a genuine tall key defender.
 
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