Kent Kingsley: Unlucky?

[Partridge]

While Cam Mooney wasn't a Rolls Royce, I always thought that moving him forward and moving Kent out all together was one of the keys to our transformation to a side with a harder edge. The old 'straightening up' of the team.

Not just Mooney. I can think of at least five big reasons why we improved so much from 2006 to 2007. One was Kingsley, Playfair and Gardiner out, and Mooney and Nathan Ablett in. As you say, it made a massive difference.

 

[Shell]

Great, a thread about Kent and a thread about horrible final's losses in the week leading up to a prelim final.
Just gold, keep up the good work guise.

Anybody who just thinks of Kent Kingsley out of the blue needs some serious help.

 

[cats2rise]

I also saw him dob one from the boundary at Etihad against the dogs once. It was magnificent. (2005?)

 

[Shell]

Does anyone remember the mark he took in the goal square, then the campaigner field umpire from down the ground ran all the way to overrule it cos the siren went.

Full on chucked a tantrum like a 2 yo. Not my finest moment,

 

[Scottland2007]

Kingsley could turn games around. I remember him kicking 4 in a quarter in the 2004 nab cup against the saints. Unfortunately, as was typical of him, he disappeared for the rest of the game. Might have been unlucky, but I think the honour of most unlucky goes to Brent Moloney. He was a good midfielder who went to Melbourne as part of the Ottens trade. (I believe Melb sent a player to Richmond to get Ottens to Geelong). Anyway, Brent had the honour of missing Geelong success of '07 to '11 while playing for Melbourne who finished 8th, 5th, 14th, 16th, 16th, 12th, 13th and 16th while he was there. Brent then went to Brisbane who finished 12th and 15th in the years he played for them!

 

[supahoops]

Google ' Hleb plaque arsenal '

Maybe we could do something similar for Kent. And Trav. And Shane, Josh..

 

[FredLeDeux]

Kingsley could turn games around. I remember him kicking 4 in a quarter in the 2004 nab cup against the saints. Unfortunately, as was typical of him, he disappeared for the rest of the game. Might have been unlucky, but I think the honour of most unlucky goes to Brent Moloney. He was a good midfielder who went to Melbourne as part of the Ottens trade. (I believe Melb sent a player to Richmond to get Ottens to Geelong). Anyway, Brent had the honour of missing Geelong success of '07 to '11 while playing for Melbourne who finished 8th, 5th, 14th, 16th, 16th, 12th, 13th and 16th while he was there. Brent then went to Brisbane who finished 12th and 15th in the years he played for them!

Very unlucky, Moloney.
Not very "fashionable", but from 2008-11 he was, overall, Melbourne's best and most effective player.

 

[Scottland2007]

Very unlucky, Moloney.
Not very "fashionable", but from 2008-11 he was, overall, Melbourne's best and most effective player.

Cheers Fred. I couldn't remember exactly how good he was, but knew he won a rising star nom with us and features a fair bit geelong 2004 season high lights dvd. He's actually on the cover next to Tom Harley and Josh Hunt. I guess we had to give up a decent player to help get Ottens (can't rember if draft picks where used too), unfortunately it was Moloney, who unfortunately went to two of the worst performing sides of the last 10 years.

 

[catempire]

Where's nananana catman ?

 

[Seeds]

Was like kersten but with electric pace, better hands and could read the play. Kicking was a bit of a let down though. Would of been a gun sitting in a forward pocket next to mooney

 

[Nickoo]

While Cam Mooney wasn't a Rolls Royce, I always thought that moving him forward and moving Kent out all together was one of the keys to our transformation to a side with a harder edge. The old 'straightening up' of the team.

Kent seemed to lack that ultra competitive spirit which can make such a difference (I thought the same of Ben Graham). So he'd kick his couple but I can't recall him seizing any big moments. My early suspicion was that Kersten might be in the same mould. Maybe it's a personal thing - there was something about the way Mooney would kick goals and send a spark through the team that I loved. Caddy does it now. It's like not all goals are created equal.

I felt same. Before this the Cats never had that feisty do or die attitude.


Andare gatti!!

 

[Seeds]

Cheers Fred. I couldn't remember exactly how good he was, but knew he won a rising star nom with us and features a fair bit geelong 2004 season high lights dvd. He's actually on the cover next to Tom Harley and Josh Hunt. I guess we had to give up a decent player to help get Ottens (can't rember if draft picks where used too), unfortunately it was Moloney, who unfortunately went to two of the worst performing sides of the last 10 years.

And moloney was the dees second choice too. Their first choice was Tenace. Moloney should of been a great geelong wingman.

 

[Seeds]

Yeah Kent probably did get more than his fair share of criticism, but unfortunately for him it was stil the era before the breakthrough premiership, and anxiety levels were high, and reason along with tolerance for failure was at a premium.

He wasn't known as Kant Kicksley for no reason at all though.

no one knew him as that.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

A strange phenomenon I've observed - and this applies across nearly all sports, not just AFL - is that players who are almost good enough to compete at the highest level, but have certain recurring limitations or flaws in their game that preclude them from ever really "making it", are generally more harshly maligned than players who never get anywhere near the required level and, as a result, fail immediately. Almost every supporter base has their own example of this. I remember Melbourne supporters circa the Mark Neeld era, even the highly-informed ones who saw VFL games and were familiar with their entire list, were far more disparaging towards Colin Sylvia than they were towards Lucas Cook, a high draft pick who failed to play a single game for their club and was so bad he got delisted almost immediately. I suppose on some level it has to do with how long fans are exposed to the deficiencies in each players game, but still, it does throw light upon the lack of perspective fans have when it comes to rating players.

I've noticed this in the EPL too: look at how Arsenal and Premier League fans rate Nicklas Bendtner, for instance. Bendtner is considered a laughing stock now, and while there are dozens of non-football reasons why that "comic figure" reputation is justified, he's also used in conversations between soccer fans as a shorthand for "failed" talent and considered one of the Arsenal Academy's biggest flops, which is ridiculous really, since in relative terms he is actually one of the biggest successes the Arsenal Academy has had over the last twenty years. There are literally hundreds of kids who have been through the Academy in that time, and only a handful ever even played for the Arsenal first team - most of the kids who come through football academies don't even come close to making it - so technically, playing 100+ games and scoring 40+ goals puts Bendtner well above his peers, and yet he's considered more synonymous with incompetence than the kids of came through the U18 team with him who are now playing non-league football.

Spot on. In Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby makes a similar point about another Arsenal player of the era that was widely considered to be a dud and just how good he would have had to have been to be in the position to be signed by Arsenal and get a game in the first place, compared to your average Joe that had a kick around as a junior and showed a bit of skill.

I'll bring up the example of a different sport - basketball. Playing in the NBA is a bit different to playing in the EPL or AFL, because players that make a roster are generally there for the season (they seldom play in the equivalent of the VFL). And it's fair to say that just making an NBA team puts you comfortably in the top 1000 basketball players in the world (probably more like the top 600).

So, imagine you've cracked an NBA roster, but you pretty much just sit on the bench every game and don't see a minute of court time, unless the game is a blow out. You're considered a waste of space, a joke. And yet, you're one of the top 1000 in the world in your chosen profession, a profession that would be the dream for tens of millions of kids when they are growing up. Compare that to being one of the best 1000 doctors, or lawyers, or accountants, or engineers in the world. It's a bit strange.

 

[cats2rise]

He kicked 195 goals in 85 games between 2002 and 2005, in a team that only won a smidge over 50% of those games (43w, 42l).
Fair effort even when you consider his limitations.

I don't know of a website where this can be crunched, but it would be interesting to see where he would fit on a table of goalkickers in that time frame.

 

[Scottland2007]

And moloney was the dees second choice too. Their first choice was Tenace. Moloney should of been a great geelong wingman.

Wow.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Wow.

And Moloney really, really, really didn't want to leave Geelong; and a lot of players didn't want him to go, either.

 

[Nickoo]

And moloney was the dees second choice too. Their first choice was Tenace. Moloney should of been a great geelong wingman.

Should have kept Moloney and given them Tenace.


Andare gatti!!

 

[Nickoo]

And Moloney really, really, really didn't want to leave Geelong; and a lot of players didn't want him to go, either.

I certainly didn't want him to go either; he was very noticeable. I loved his straight hard runs out of defence.


Andare gatti!!

 

[Scottland2007]

Should have kept Moloney and given them Tenace.


Andare gatti!!

sweet baby Jesus, they finished 14th, 16th and 16th 07 - 09 and you want to give them Tenace! What did the Melbourne football club do to you? (Did attach a wink face emoji, but doesn't show up!)

 

[Partridge]

He kicked 195 goals in 85 games between 2002 and 2005, in a team that only won a smidge over 50% of those games (43w, 42l).
Fair effort even when you consider his limitations.

I don't know of a website where this can be crunched, but it would be interesting to see where he would fit on a table of goalkickers in that time frame.

Kingsley could play. At times. And his best was pretty good. At times. But after the 8 goal haul against North in early 2006, his confidence just evaporated completely. Certainly wasn't terrible - you don't kick 57 goals in a season unless you can play - but it was the right decision to move him on.

 

[Partridge]

Spot on. In Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby makes a similar point about another Arsenal player of the era that was wisely considered to be a dud and just how good he would have had to have been to be in the position to be signed by Arsenal and get a game in the first place, compared to your average Joe that had a kick around as a junior and showed a bit of skill.

Gus Caesar is the name you're looking for. Ask any Arsenal supporter old enough and they'll still shudder.

 

[Lana]

He kicked 195 goals in 85 games between 2002 and 2005, in a team that only won a smidge over 50% of those games (43w, 42l).
Fair effort even when you consider his limitations.

I don't know of a website where this can be crunched, but it would be interesting to see where he would fit on a table of goalkickers in that time frame.

Kingsley was equal 12th for goals per game and 8th for total goals in that time period

 

[Pollywaffle]

Soft... Downhill skier..unreliable kick. One dimensional. Couldn't defend.
Other than that he was OK.
Didn't he win some award by voting for himself multiple times?

 

[Wojcinski]

I thought about Kent Kingsley the other day too, then I thought about Jason Mooney... and then I thought about Brett Spinks.

I'm glad we have Hawkins, I wouldn't mind another Ronnie Burns though!