VFL Past #65: Shaun McKernan 🐴 - Returns to the Dons

Sep 22, 2011
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Why did Essendon pick up Jacob Townsend? Why did Hawthorne give Kyle Hartigan a 3 year contract? Why does GWS redraft Sam Reid every other year? Because clubs make poor list management decisions all the time.

But sure, a 30 year old key forward who hasn't even cracked the 100 games mark in 12 years of being on a list and averages 0.8 goals/game is a good player. I get flak for it but at the end of the day, his record proves me right and you wrong.

Hardly a poor decision to have depth in your talls. Something we don’t have.

He’s clearly capable as a backup forward / ruck. Strange delisting for us.
 
Hardly a poor decision to have depth in your talls. Something we don’t have.

He’s clearly capable as a backup forward / ruck. Strange delisting for us.
No, he isn't. That's the point. His record has shown that repeatedly,
 
Sep 22, 2011
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No, he isn't. That's the point. His record has shown that repeatedly,

He obviously is. His numbers show it (13 disp, 4.5 marks and a goal a game for us over 50 games), and his immediate recruitment by another club show it. You just took a set against him at some point and are unable to reverse it. So pointless arguing it with you.
 
He obviously is. His numbers show it (13 disp, 4.5 marks and a goal a game for us over 50 games), and his immediate recruitment by another club show it. You just took a set against him at some point and are unable to reverse it. So pointless arguing it with you.
He really isn't. St. Kilda made a poor decision.

I took a set against him because he sucks dude. Also, FYI, 51 goals in 53 games is less than 1 goal a game. You overrate the s**t out of him, the guy has proven time and again that he isn't AFL standard.
 
Sep 22, 2011
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He really isn't. St. Kilda made a poor decision.

I took a set against him because he sucks dude. Also, FYI, 51 goals in 53 games is less than 1 goal a game. You overrate the sh*t out of him, the guy has proven time and again that he isn't AFL standard.

My apologies ethdog, he averages 0.96 goals per game for us, not 1.00.
 
McKernan has given Essendon a bit of a whack. Basically said he didn’t apply himself to training and rehab because he didn’t want to be there last year.


“I walked away from footy last year, I didn’t know if I still wanted to play. I wasn’t happy with how my time finished at Essendon, like a few people were in terms of the hub and how things were there. To be honest with you, when I finished the season, I thought I was done and I didn’t really want to go around again. I had a few weeks off, I was lucky enough to get a call from Gags [Saints list manager James Gallagher], had a pretty good chat with him,” McKernan said.

“I wasn’t really looking forward to training, probably wasn’t really looking forward to being diligent with recovery. I just wanted to get in and get out, wanted to go home. This is even before COVID hit, to be honest.

“I’m not going to sit there and say it’s completely all Essendon’s fault. Because I still had fun there, and I still made really good relationships, and I don’t just completely blame them. It was probably me as well. I probably felt a bit stale. I had obviously spent a fair bit of time there and been through some stuff there, I don’t blame it on Essendon.”

McKernan added that he was not interviewed as part of the Dons’ review of their football operations at the end of last season.

“I think, because they’d given me the boot, they didn’t [ask for] my opinion, which for them is probably a good thing because I would have been pretty honest,” he said.

I mean he was an older player who never really demonstrated a lot of consistency, didn't get selected for a while, then he had some pretty serious hamstring injuries and missed a bunch of football. We then got a new coach who decided the inconsistent 30 year old injury-prone role player wasn't what he needed moving forward. That's just what happens to a lot of role player types, and while it's frustrating for them, it's a competitive sport and that's just how it is. 🤷‍♀️

And yeah, the hub wasn't great, certainly not for Essendon, and apparently not for a bunch of other clubs either who at various times had players going home for different reasons or told the AFL they weren't staying any longer and they were going to head back home whether the AFL liked it or not.

But that line is surely getting a bit worn out..?
 
Jul 23, 2018
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He had plenty of oppurtunity with us. He went goalless in nearly half of his 50 odd games. Cant ruck. He won us probably 5ish games off his own boot. I think he directly cost us about the same with free kicks against. Injury prone. Complete non factor in the only final he ever played. 30 years old. Good luck at the Saints but if you couldn't find the drive to train and recover in a team crying out for a key forward, see ya later.
 
Tbh it's pretty easy to pile on Shaun but let's be honest something has stunk around Essendon for awhile, he's not the only one who has had issues. It's not like this is an isolated incident, maybe instead of looking at Shaun we should be looking at the club.

Also it's pretty remarkable we didn't include him in the post season review. We didn't want to hear the negatives? Even if the end result was that what he said was bullshit, we still should have sounded him out. Just confirms how far professional standards have dropped at the club really.
 

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Tbh it's pretty easy to pile on Shaun but let's be honest something has stunk around Essendon for awhile, he's not the only one who has had issues. It's not like this is an isolated incident, maybe instead of looking at Shaun we should be looking at the club.

Also it's pretty remarkable we didn't include him in the post season review. We didn't want to hear the negatives? Even if the end result was that what he said was bullshit, we still should have sounded him out. Just confirms how far professional standards have dropped at the club really.
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Also it's pretty remarkable we didn't include him in the post season review. We didn't want to hear the negatives? Even if the end result was that what he said was bullshit, we still should have sounded him out. Just confirms how far professional standards have dropped at the club really.
Poor to say the least. You’ll get a more honest response from an outgoing player than an incumbent even if there’s some mayo on it.
 
Also it's pretty remarkable we didn't include him in the post season review.
Totally agree. That's the biggest thing that stuck out to me from the grab Lore quoted. Maybe they thought they had a fair idea what he'd say? Maybe they weren't really interested in the opinion of someone who didn't seem really invested? Maybe it was an administrative oversight?
 
Totally agree. That's the biggest thing that stuck out to me from the grab Lore quoted. Maybe they thought they had a fair idea what he'd say? Maybe they weren't really interested in the opinion of someone who didn't seem really invested? Maybe it was an administrative oversight?
Or maybe they just didn't want to hear negatives?

🤷‍♂️ I don't know but it was the biggest takeaway for me too and no matter which one of the reasons listed it's not good enough.
 
They didn't interview everyone at the club in the first place – they interviewed a selection and then anyone else was allowed to have their say if they wanted to.

I'm sure there's more to it than the quotes in that article, but from what he did say it appears to mesh with the summary that the club published and that Brasher then talked about in one of those videos.

Of the guys that were delisted/retired/traded, the ones I would hope we sought comment from would be Saad in particular, and Fantasia and Daniher to some extent. McKernan, Crauford, Townsend, Hibberd aren't particularly high on the list of people whose opinions would be that pertinent.
 
They didn't interview everyone at the club in the first place – they interviewed a selection and then anyone else was allowed to have their say if they wanted to.

I'm sure there's more to it than the quotes in that article, but from what he did say it appears to mesh with the summary that the club published and that Brasher then talked about in one of those videos.

Of the guys that were delisted/retired/traded, the ones I would hope we sought comment from would be Saad in particular, and Fantasia and Daniher to some extent. McKernan, Crauford, Townsend, Hibberd aren't particularly high on the list of people whose opinions would be that pertinent.
Why?

And not interviewing everyone just underlines the common theme people are agreeing on. It's terribly unprofessional and poor.
 
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