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VFL Past #65: Shaun McKernan šŸ“ - Returns to the Dons

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yaco55 said:
I'm surprised that McKernan wasn't offered two years.
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Likewise.

My guess would be a solid year in 2016 will see him offered two.
 

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Happy with 1 year, give him a chance to back up last seasons effort and if he is going ok sign him up again later in the year.
 
Great news. I feel he's going to be critical to our Forward line and even have a few minutes as a big bodied midfielder.

Hopefully keeps his body right and we'll see an even better version of SMACK next year,
 
Amazingly hasn't played 50 games yet. Due against Sydney.
 
I think 1 year deal is fine. Showed this year he can't be a number 1 ruck, so hopefully next year we can have a fit number 1 and he can show his worth as a ruck/forward then get a new deal.
 
I'm glad we only gave him one year. He seems like a great bloke and gives A+ for effort but he just isn't a number 1 ruck so I hope he finds a niche in our side somewhere else.
 

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Yoda_ said:
Not sure he is as sure fire as some are making out to be.

Tried out as a perma - fwd at Adelaide but struggled for an impact.

Second ruck/utility (defender perhaps?) could be his go.
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His form this year eclipsed anything he did at Adelaide. His record is not as bad as it looks. No there are no big bags of goals but there where a lot
of 14/15 disposal games where he took 5 or 6 marks and kicked a goal or two. All we need him to do is improve slightly, which he did this season and
match his VFL form when forward. If he does that he will kick 30 to 40 goals and take the pressure of Joe.
If he matches the VFL efforts and averages 1.4 goals a game over 20 games the tally will be 28 goals.
 
ant555 said:
His form this year eclipsed anything he did at Adelaide. His record is not as bad as it looks. No there are no big bags of goals but there where a lot
of 14/15 disposal games where he took 5 or 6 marks and kicked a goal or two. All we need him to do is improve slightly, which he did this season and
match his VFL form when forward. If he does that he will kick 30 to 40 goals and take the pressure of Joe.
If he matches the VFL efforts and averages 1.4 goals a game over 20 games the tally will be 28 goals.
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Just an FYI the only player to kick over 31 goals since Matthew Lloyd left in 2009 is.... Joe himself last year...
We should be cautious throwing around figures like 1.4 a game when we have the most dysfunctional forward line in the AFL and the worst shooting accuracy i've ever seen in footy..
 
Paul_Barnard said:
Just an FYI the only player to kick over 31 goals since Matthew Lloyd left in 2009 is.... Joe himself last year...
We should be cautious throwing around figures like 1.4 a game when we have the most dysfunctional forward line in the AFL and the worst shooting accuracy i've ever seen in footy..
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Our midfield was a big reason our forward line was crap. The delivery they got no wonder they lost the ability to play forward. Even lloyd woild have done sweet fa on that team
 
Paul_Barnard said:
Just an FYI the only player to kick over 31 goals since Matthew Lloyd left in 2009 is.... Joe himself last year...
We should be cautious throwing around figures like 1.4 a game when we have the most dysfunctional forward line in the AFL and the worst shooting accuracy i've ever seen in footy..
Click to expand...


That is why i said "improve slightly" and "match his VFL form".
If you can not say a guy needs to improve a bit to reach a certain target then what is the point ? He may kick 5 goals or 15 goals or 20 goals who knows ?
All i am saying is with him and Brown there is some chance the forward line may improve. At the very least Joe will not be playing against 3 blokes every week.
 
Mate of mine knows Shaun and apparently has a performance clause in his contract; if he continues to perform well then he will be offered an additional two years with a slight increase in salary.
 

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VelvetSledge said:
Mate of mine knows Shaun and apparently has a performance clause in his contract; if he continues to perform well then he will be offered an additional two years with a slight increase in salary.
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Makes sense.

He was in a weird position. Basically dominating at VFL and AFL level at every facet of the game except ruck work. He should make a seamless transition into a KPF/second ruck but we have not seen it at AFL level yet, so the difficulty was that we could get stuck with someone we can't use, and he could get locked into a contract that does not reflect his worth.

I expect that we'll be tabling the extra years by round 12.
 
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Smack lives.
 
He was one of the relatively few positives to come out of this year.
 
I reckon he'll thrive if given an opportunity to play the 2nd ruck/forward role. Only worry (for him) is that I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches go with the Leuy and Bellchambers combo first. I guess he could still play alongside them but I'd worry that we'd not be getting the most out of him if he was just played forward.

That said, with the injury history of the other two I'd be surprised if he found himself stuck in the VFL for too long even if he is 3rd choice.
 
Darealrath said:
I reckon he'll thrive if given an opportunity to play the 2nd ruck/forward role. Only worry (for him) is that I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches go with the Leuy and Bellchambers combo first. I guess he could still play alongside them but I'd worry that we'd not be getting the most out of him if he was just played forward.

That said, with the injury history of the other two I'd be surprised if he found himself stuck in the VFL for too long even if he is 3rd choice.
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Don't want to see TBell and Leuy in same team. It's one or the other. Smack brings much needed aggression at the ball and contest in our forward line and is way more useful on the ground than these two.
 
There's room for McKernan, Daniher and a resting ruck all in the same forward line. He's an average ruck but he's good with the ball and he can take a mark; exactly what we need forward to compliment Joey. He's quick, tall and going to be a difficult match up for the opposition. Adelaide were right when they wanted him to be a forward; we only played him as a ruck out of necessity.
 

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