Player Watch #21: Matthew Jefferson

[TheBoss]

Huge test for him (and JVR) without Mihocek.

Wonder if they’ll bring in Kentfield, or just use Max forward a bit again?

Is Kentfield good enough to hack it as a full time forward at the AFL? I have not watched him play at Casey. But I think team balance will be off playing along side Fritsch/JVR/Jefferson if he can't perform.

I think the coaching group will persist with the Gawn/Heath combo in the short term. Some of the messaging from King in pressers has been about maintaining Gawn's longevity. The other consideration has to be Heath's form, he's been really promising and has shown enough to prove he belongs in the 23. He is not a Preuss type that is just lumbering around and being useless taking up a spot each week.

This week they should just promote the best player from Casey, regardless of position. It is a development year afterall. Rivers, Lindsay, Melksham and Salem should all be available within the next month which gives the match committee some more flexibility from round 10 onwards.

 

[TheBoss]

Love "Checkers" (did a nice podcast recently on BALLS MAGNET) but really excited to see Magician take over the forward line, I'm sensing a really big and fat bag of sausage- ie: six goals or more- against West Coast. Can't wait!

If he boots six I'll buy you the indigenious guernsey with the #21!

You may as well tell me what size you wear now!

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Break out game coming this week against the E-Girls.

Wonder if Jeffo will 'man-up' this week to take the 'E-Girls' down Headless

 

[melbun]

Is Kentfield good enough to hack it as a full time forward at the AFL?

Maybe. But not when he has so much strapping on his leg.

 

[Dancing Potato]

He has good hands but not much else going for him.

That said, I'm happy to hold fire on further judgement until the end of the year, after a full go of it with sKing-ball.

Very much a case of "let them play and see what they can do" scenario for Jeffo and plenty of other players this season.

 

[melbun]

He has good hands but not much else going for him.

That said, I'm happy to hold fire on further judgement until the end of the year, after a full go of it with sKing-ball.

Very much a case of "let them play and see what they can do" scenario for Jeffo and plenty of other players this season.

Kentfield is also rough. His opponents bruise easily.

 

[NorthcoteDee]

Sadly I don't think this young man will be a long term success as a footballer. Doesn't seem to have the demeanour to impose himself, nor do I think this will change.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[Crusty Demon]

Sadly I don't think this young man will be a long term success as a footballer. Doesn't seem to have the demeanour to impose himself, nor do I think this will change.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

Yeah agreed. But seeing we are playing a resting ruck, i don't think we will see a Kentfield/JVR combo. I like Heath, but I'd prefer a JVR/Kentfield forwardline with Gawn rucking solo. Gawny might be sore, so for now Jefferson fits in better with the F50 we got. If Melksham comes back i don't see Jeffo getting a game.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Thing about Jefferson is that he's still only played 10 games, in the second of which he had 22% game time and the third 44%. Effectively 9. 9 games is nothing. Buddy kicked 8 goals in his first 9 games, and he played them under Clarko rather than 6 under a fading Goody. I don't know if Jefferson will be good or not but he's had **** all opportunity to adjust to AFL football when you put it in perspective on account of being stuck in the VFL for his first two seasons, where I don't think he could have done much better than he did. But short of your Hogan types he still has had a pretty typical first 10 games for a KPF.

I think/hope sKing will give him an extended run for the rest of this year, there's just no other way for him to pick up the craft aside from playing and the longer it takes to give him that exposure the longer it takes for him to start performing. Sure he has to earn his spot but we're also meant to be in a quasi-rebuild, no matter how well we've done this year.

 

[Bluelegs]

Thing about Jefferson is that he's still only played 10 games, in the second of which he had 22% game time and the third 44%. Effectively 9. 9 games is nothing. Buddy kicked 8 goals in his first 9 games, and he played them under Clarko rather than 6 under a fading Goody. I don't know if Jefferson will be good or not but he's had **** all opportunity to adjust to AFL football when you put it in perspective on account of being stuck in the VFL for his first two seasons, where I don't think he could have done much better than he did. But short of your Hogan types he still has had a pretty typical first 10 games for a KPF.

I think/hope sKing will give him an extended run for the rest of this year, there's just no other way for him to pick up the craft aside from playing and the longer it takes to give him that exposure the longer it takes for him to start performing. Sure he has to earn his spot but we're also meant to be in a quasi-rebuild, no matter how well we've done this year.

I don’t buy this argument. Jefferson has played so few games because he hasn't earned his spot in the side.

Not sure what the point is in comparing his record to an 18 year old Franklin.

 

[Lord Nev]

I don’t buy this argument. Jefferson has played so few games because he hasn't earned his spot in the side.

Not sure what the point is in comparing his record to an 18 year old Franklin.

I think the Goodwin part is fair. A leading tall forward in a Goodwin team is not going to get much in the way of development. He's really only starting now IMO. Even our senior key forwards were a roundabout.

Think us as Demon fans sometimes get too impatient with young players, particularly key forwards given how long we've waited for a good one. Only the superstar ones do much before 22 years old, and I don't think anyone expected Jeffo to be a superstar at any point.

 

[Bluelegs]

I think the Goodwin part is fair. A leading tall forward in a Goodwin team is not going to get much in the way of development. He's really only starting now IMO. Even our senior key forwards were a roundabout.

Think us as Demon fans sometimes get too impatient with young players, particularly key forwards given how long we've waited for a good one. Only the superstar ones do much before 22 years old, and I don't think anyone expected Jeffo to be a superstar at any point.

I think a fair pass mark for him this year is to be firmly in our best 23.

 

[Lord Nev]

I think a fair pass mark for him this year is to be firmly in our best 23.

I think that's more a hope than a pass mark for this year tbh. I think it's more realistic for next year. By then, hopefully has close to 20 games under his belt, Melksham retires, whole team is more familiar with each other and the King game style.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

I don’t buy this argument. Jefferson has played so few games because he hasn't earned his spot in the side.

Not sure what the point is in comparing his record to an 18 year old Franklin.

That's part of the issue, Jefferson is being judged as a fourth year player but he hasn't actually had any exposure to senior footy, whether he's deserved it or not, and so he still looks completely out of place as most tall forwards do I meant to point out that it's a flawed comparison bc obvs Buddy was 18 and forgot to add t but Jefferson has just been left out entirely for his first two years because we were chasing a flag in 2023 and were right up there for the first half of 2024, even though he was doing pretty well in the VFL, and once he'd gotten his chance we were shit again. The Hawks were trash in Buddy's first two season so they could carry him without worrying about the consequences, and then he broke out in game 24 and his third year was elite once the Hawks turned it around.

Idk if Jefferson is good or not I'm just saying that it's pretty much impossible to get a read on any young KPF before they've played at least 25-30 games for them to learn what to do at AFL level. If Jefferson doesn't get that chance I won't lose any sleep over it, but it's the reality. Not Like JVR where he's played 65 games but still has been going goalless more often than not this year.

Anyway now I regret the Buddy thing that was more just a point about how KPFs usually go in their first few games. I think I'm just surprised that Jefferson still has only played 10 games in nearly 3.5 seasons even though we've only won 22 of our last 56 games. And he's still not going to get a chance in the short term unless they actively stick with him because now the coaches are thinking about finals, which is good, but it's going to slow his development.

 

[schmuttt]

I don’t buy this argument. Jefferson has played so few games because he hasn't earned his spot in the side.

Not sure what the point is in comparing his record to an 18 year old Franklin.

Agree. He is in his 4th year, I'm not interested in a guy who might not be a consistent AFL footballer until he's 25-26 years old.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Although now that you look at it JVR actually had a great first season playing in 2023 when we were going okay. What happened. Totally stagnated since our losing streak late 2024 and hasn't recovered.

 

[Bluelegs]

That's part of the issue, I meant to point out that it's a flawed comparison bc obvs Buddy was 18 and forgot to add t but Jefferson has just been left out entirely for his first two years because we were chasing a flag in 2023 and were right up there for the first half of 2024, even though he was doing pretty well in the VFL, and once he'd gotten his chance we were shit again. The Hawks were trash in Buddy's first two season so they could carry him without worrying about the consequences, and then he broke out in game 24 and his third year was elite once the Hawks turned it around.

Idk if Jefferson is good or not I'm just saying that it's pretty much impossible to get a read on any young KPF before they've played at least 25-30 games for them to learn what to do at AFL level. If Jefferson doesn't get that chance I won't lose any sleep over it, but it's the reality. Not Like JVR where he's played 65 games but still has been going goalless more often than not this year.

Anyway now I regret the Buddy thing I think I'm just surprised that Jefferson still has only played 10 games in nearly 3.5 seasons even though we've only won 22 of our last 56 games.

Players still develop in the VFL. They are in an AFL system doing preseasons. Its a cop out to say his career has been hampered because he wasn’t gifted games early in his career. Might as well say we've ruined Bailey Laurie's career too.

A better comparison would be Shannon Neale, who played 5 games in his first three years before cementing spot in the side in year 4.

 

[Lord Nev]

Agree. He is in his 4th year, I'm not interested in a guy who might not be a consistent AFL footballer until he's 25-26 years old.

You won't be interested in many key forwards then.

 

[Johnny Karate]

Players still develop in the VFL. They are in an AFL system doing preseasons. Its a cop out to say his career has been hampered because he wasn’t gifted games early in his career. Might as well say we've ruined Bailey Laurie's career too.

A better comparison would be Shannon Neale, who played 5 games in his first three years before cementing spot in the side in year 4.

Geelong also do it so much better because they always seem to have such a strong senior core that they draft someone like Neale and more or less make him develop in the VFL for 3 years.

 

[Bluelegs]

Geelong also do it so much better because they always seem to have such a strong senior core that they draft someone like Neale and more or less make him develop in the VFL for 3 years.

They are the best in the comp with their development, no doubt.

 

[PerfectFooty]

If hawkins had been younger and in his prime, Neale would still be sitting behind him and jezza tbf. Credit where it's due they did develop him very nicely, but fortunate timing for the spot to open up as well

 

[schmuttt]

You won't be interested in many key forwards then.

I'm not sure how many 'decent' KPFs haven't broken out by the end of their 4th year? Not even including superstar guys, but players like Darcy Fogarty, Peter Wright, Mitch Lewis, Joel Amartey all had at least one 20+ goal season at the end of their 4th year. I hope I'm proven wrong, but doubt Jeffo gets that.

 

[Bluelegs]

I'm not sure how many 'decent' KPFs haven't broken out by the end of their 4th year? Not even including superstar guys, but players like Darcy Fogarty, Peter Wright, Mitch Lewis, Joel Amartey all had at least one 20+ goal season at the end of their 4th year. I hope I'm proven wrong, but doubt Jeffo gets that.

My prediction is Langford will average more goals playing from the wing this year.

 

[schmuttt]

I'm totally for playing Jeffo all year FWIW, sKing needs to learn as much as he can about the list and we need to know if this guy (And JVR) are going to be long term players.

 

[Toump Ass]

Keep the faith boys and girls, big bag of sausage coming up for Jeffo soon.