Traded #30: Brandon Zerk-Thatcher - 🚨 traded to the Pear, thanks for your service

[Lore]

Contract Status: Out of contract 2023
My Boy Draft 2023: Pick 8, 84859300

 

[IHurley]

He's probably just a placeholder given his speed and kicking prowess but more games like that will see him stay on the list as solid depth.

And I agree that his presence made a huge difference to the games of the other defensive talls.

 

[Megabattimus]

Simply must play every game until Stewart's fit and ready to go. The backline looks and plays way better with him back there.

 

[Ambrosia]

Played ok but looks a deer in the headlights when he has the pill and if anything seems to be moving worse. Not against giving him a few games to see if he can find his feet but if winning games is the goal I think Gleeson would perform better.

 

[Megabattimus]

Played ok but looks a deer in the headlights when he has the pill and if anything seems to be moving worse. Not against giving him a few games to see if he can find his feet but if winning games is the goal I think Gleeson would perform better.

Gleeson would be a billion times worse. He's not big enough to go with KPFs like BZT can.

On Pixel 3 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ambrosia]

Gleeson would be a billion times worse. He's not big enough to go with KPFs like BZT can.

On Pixel 3 using BigFooty.com mobile app

Did Zerk win any 1 on 1s against King? Port got by in 2020 playing Trent McKenzie at FB. Team defence is much more about getting numbers to the drop of the ball then having the size to win 1v1s.

As I said I’m happy to give Zerk development time but your overvaluing 4cm and 5kg if you think he’s currently better than Gleeson.

 

[Zach Package]

Did Zerk win any 1 on 1s against King? Port got by in 2020 playing Trent McKenzie at FB. Team defence is much more about getting numbers to the drop of the ball then having the size to win 1v1s.

As I said I’m happy to give Zerk development time but your overvaluing 4cm and 5kg if you think he’s currently better than Gleeson.

Terrible take, having Zerk in the side allowed Francis and Ridley to boss the game and be really proactive in their positioning.

 

[Megabattimus]

Did Zerk win any 1 on 1s against King? Port got by in 2020 playing Trent McKenzie at FB. Team defence is much more about getting numbers to the drop of the ball then having the size to win 1v1s.

As I said I’m happy to give Zerk development time but your overvaluing 4cm and 5kg if you think he’s currently better than Gleeson.

Did you miss us getting torn apart against Port two weeks ago 'cause we didn't have a big enough backman to compete with Dixon/Georgiades? Or how Freo and North got torn to shreds by key forwards? 1 on 1 defending is back, baby.

In that vein, Gleeson is useless to us except as injury cover because he's bad at defending man on man. He's famously the guy who had his soul ripped out of him by Gary Rohan four years ago.

 

[boncer34]

Played ok but looks a deer in the headlights when he has the pill and if anything seems to be moving worse. Not against giving him a few games to see if he can find his feet but if winning games is the goal I think Gleeson would perform better.

BZT is there so Francis and Ridley don't have to take the big guys.

Gleeson doesn't do that. Gleeson playing forces Francis to the big guys.

It's not BZT or Gleeson straight comparison it's BZT on bigs/Francis floating vs Francis on bigs/Gleeson floating.

I'd much rather use the BZT/Frang combination.

 

[boncer34]

Did you miss us getting torn apart against Port two weeks ago 'cause we didn't have a big enough backman to compete with Dixon/Georgiades? Or how Freo and North got torn to shreds by key forwards? 1 on 1 defending is back, baby.

In that vein, Gleeson is useless to us except as injury cover because he's bad at defending man on man. He's famously the guy who had his soul ripped out of him by Gary Rohan four years ago.

That was a free kick to Gleeson.

 

[Zach Package]

Gleeson is only useless to us because we have Ridley, who I am beginning to suspect is not entirely human, Francis, Redman and now Heppell roaming the flanks. Dude is AFL standard and I will die on that hill.

Everyone at the club loves him as well, might I add.

Back to Zerk though, I don’t anticipate him playing that much when Stewart and Hurley are available this year, but right now is a chance to make hay for him.

 

[GUMBLETRON]

That was a free kick to Gleeson.

Better to entirely avoid situations where you rely on the competence of umpires.

 

[boncer34]

Better to entirely avoid situations where you rely on the competence of umpires.

I'm not sure what more he could've done to be honest. From memory he had front position, Rohan wrapped 2 arms around him pinning his arms and threw him aside.

I say from memory coz it's not one I've watched repeatedly.

 

[GUMBLETRON]

I'm not sure what more he could've done to be honest. From memory he had front position, Rohan wrapped 2 arms around him pinning his arms and threw him aside.

I moreso mean be an extra goal in front of Sydney when it counts.

 

[boncer34]

I moreso mean be an extra goal in front of Sydney when it counts.

That too

 

[Ambrosia]

BZT is there so Francis and Ridley don't have to take the big guys.

Gleeson doesn't do that. Gleeson playing forces Francis to the big guys.

It's not BZT or Gleeson straight comparison it's BZT on bigs/Francis floating vs Francis on bigs/Gleeson floating.

I'd much rather use the BZT/Frang combination.

Against the Saints though Francis was on King most the game and Laverde was on Membrey.

 

[Ambrosia]

Terrible take, having Zerk in the side allowed Francis and Ridley to boss the game and be really proactive in their positioning.

Giving much too much credit to Zerk here. We were able to zone off because we dominated around the ball and StKilda rarely got the opportunity to kick to 6v6

 

[Zach Package]

Giving much too much credit to Zerk here. We were able to zone off because we dominated around the ball and StKilda rarely got the opportunity to kick to 6v6

I didn’t say anything about him playing well. He’s the only realistic option as a genuine key defender at the moment and we need him to set the backline up properly.

He was ok, given he’s played less than 15 games I’m happy with that.

 

[boncer34]

Against the Saints though Francis was on King most the game and Laverde was on Membrey.

Pretty sure Zerk played on King.

 

[Lore]

Drafted end of '17, re-signed in March 2019 before he'd even debuted for the club, glowing reviews, expected to be a long-term player at the club. Debuted in round 22 that year.

Played all of the pre-season games and R1 in 2020, then a self-reported COVID breach led to a one week AFL suspension in R2. Didn't play in the AFL again until round 9, then only missed one game for the rest of the season (probably rested). I'm curious if the club imposed a longer sanction than the official AFL suspension at the start of 2020 or what the story was there.

Started 2021 with an injury-interrupted pre-season, no pre-season games except as an emergency in the last one, then three VFL practice matches and he came in against St Kilda last week.

So he seems to be in the team whenever he's available, yet somehow we perceive him as being at a crossroads with his career, after rave reviews two years ago. What the hell happened?

 

[yodellinhank]

Drafted end of '17, re-signed in March 2019 before he'd even debuted for the club, glowing reviews, expected to be a long-term player at the club. Debuted in round 22 that year.

Played all of the pre-season games and R1 in 2020, then a self-reported COVID breach led to a one week AFL suspension in R2. Didn't play in the AFL again until round 9, then only missed one game for the rest of the season (probably rested). I'm curious if the club imposed a longer sanction than the official AFL suspension at the start of 2020 or what the story was there.

Started 2021 with an injury-interrupted pre-season, no pre-season games except as an emergency in the last one, then three VFL practice matches and he came in against St Kilda last week.

So he seems to be in the team whenever he's available, yet somehow we perceive him as being at a crossroads with his career, after rave reviews two years ago. What the hell happened?

Too slight

 

[Bunk Moreland]

That was a free kick to Gleeson.

Totally was. Yet still, he literally got picked up and moved by... Gary Rohan?? It’s basically when his career died, unfortunately.

 

[fairbump_playon]

That was a free kick to Gleeson.

Arms around!

Throw in the climb the post incident and the elimination final belting and I’m a bit scared of the SCG.

 

[Duckworth]

Pretty sure Zerk played on King.

BZT was only on King for the latter parts of the 2nd and 3rd quarter. Played on Battle in Q1.
He was mainly picking up McKernan when he pushed forward after the ruck.
There was a lot of zoning and swapping though.

 

[owen87]

So he seems to be in the team whenever he's available, yet somehow we perceive him as being at a crossroads with his career, after rave reviews two years ago. What the hell happened?

He played AFL games and didn't seem to be up to the standard?

Looks like he's a good VFL player that isn't quite able to translate to AFL level. He's still young for a KPP so there's time, but he's neither fast enough nor strong enough for the big boys at AFL level (yet).

He did ok against St Kilda, but he still looks like the slowest man in the world when he runs and I wouldn't want him left one out against most FF's in the league.

 

[boncer34]

Totally was. Yet still, he literally got picked up and moved by... Gary Rohan?? It’s basically when his career died, unfortunately.

Yeah but as I said his arms were pinned. What's he meant to have done?