Kyle Cheney - Does he have a future?

[master bate]

The competition for spots looks close this year. Whilst I'm not sure on contracts (belief that Newton and Bell have one more year etc) some players might have one where I'm pretty sure Cheney doesn't.

Cheney had a shocker today, and defensively isn't great (certainly no Whelan), and offensively doesn't bring as much as others, his kicking is as bad as Bartram's. I believe that Bennell, McNamara, Bartram, Buckley, Strauss offer more than the red head. Maybe even Bell does. If the club is to re-sign Cheney I'd want it only on a one year deal.

This is a harsh call, and I don't expect a whole lot of support but I'm putting it out there.

 

[Crimson Azure]

This is a harsh call, and I don't expect a whole lot of support but I'm putting it out there.

Yep it is, he will be ther next year & should be. Give the kid a bit of time I say.

 

[Grandmaster_B]

LOL of course he has a future.

Whats the rush?

 

[cannons]

I was actually going to start a similar thread (perhaps not quite as strong), but my yellow card prevented me from doing so.

I don't see anything which really makes him stand out, and he doesn't always look like he's up to the pace of AFL football. In saying that, I love his work ethic, competitiveness and determination, so he is worth persisting with and hopefully he can make it.

I think it would be foolish to pass judgement on him totally at this point, but he will need to improve in the near future to justify a place on the list in the long-term.

 

[melbournedemons]

Don't think we have room for him, if Bennell and Strauss etc come into the best 22. Also Garland and Warnock are missing from backline at the moment.

Unfortunate for Kyle, but his skills and decision making are terrible. Don't think we should 'give him some time' if we have players that can deliver straight away

 

[Dez!]

Definitely needs to develop some sort of accountability and I'm in agreement with you at the moment but giving him some more time could see improvement.

 

[RandB]

He's had a couple of ordinary weeks but he's human. Whether or not he will be good enough to be a depth defender for us remains to be seen. We are in a position where we can give these kids some time to develop so we may as well give them every chance. The beauty of our defensive situation is that we are reasonably solid with what we have that spending time on other defenders can't hurt us. If Cheney was playing up forward and going nowhere then that would be worse because he would be taking the spot of another player we need to urgently develop as up forward we have holes whilst down back we have depth.

 

[KickLongTackleHard]

Assuming he doesn't make best 22 next year, any trade value or too raw? Or Depth player?

I think he needs more time.

 

[davidking_legend]

in my supercoach,hopefully for another week

 

[Goobernutty]

Cheney, McKenzie, McNamara & Valenti all had games today they'd like to forget, all kicked inaccurate which cost us a couple of goals throughout the afternoon. What do the four have in common is they're all young & have room for improvement, so don't judge them just yet, give them another year before we decide who's worth our time & who's not.

 

[Bartram_Class]

Newton and Bell may have a year left, but the likes of Buckley, Bartram and Miller don't.

I'd keep Cheney myself, tough, strong and importantly can take a contested mark. His kicking today wasn't great but he wasn't alone in that regard. I'd give him another year.

 

[melbournemartin]

Cheney wasn't great today but neither was half our team. We still got thumped by a pretty ordinary Carlton side.

I've always quite liked Cheney. I don't see too many other young stopping defenders coming through. Bennell, Grimes and Strauss are looking more like rebounding defenders. The latter 2 are likely even to push into the midfield.

We'd be crazy not to keep him. These kids don't have to kick freakish goals or take massive pack marks to show potential. Give him time and he should turn into the good, non-flashy small defender that every team needs.

 

[richskee]

I said the same thing about James Frawely last year, now look at the corner he has turned. He was way worse than Cheney last year.

 

[Flyswatter]

Would definitely keep him at least another season. He's got some proper raw grunt, if he does end up being more of a depth player then I'd rather we bring someone tough in when required.

 

[master bate]

I said the same thing about James Frawely last year, now look at the corner he has turned. He was way worse than Cheney last year.

No he wasn't. Plus he was a tall who was always going to become capable of playing on big and mid sized.

Cheney can't seem to keep up with the talls, and I fancy the mid-sized forward to be too smart for him.

On the comment that we don't have many stopping defenders coming through I don't see that as a problem. I'd fancy the coaching staff to improve the defensive side of McNamara, Bennell and co than get Cheney into a more skillful attacking player.

 

[w00dy]

On the comment that we don't have many stopping defenders coming through I don't see that as a problem. I'd fancy the coaching staff to improve the defensive side of McNamara, Bennell and co than get Cheney into a more skillful attacking player.

The thing is Cheney lacks a defensive side to his game more than Bennell or T Mac (from what little I've seen of him). He knocks up getting the footy at half back, but his accountability lacks, and his skills aren't anything special...

I agree with the OP and think he's in trouble... I remember after the 2000 grand final the likes of Matty Collins and Ben Beams got delisted, both played a lot of games that season, and Collins did a great job playing as an undersized key defender, and was one of our better players in the Grand Final... Yet they were let go, because the club didn't see them as a part of the future...

I think I could see Cheney and Bartram both being the surprise packets being let go. Cheney maybe picked back up on the rookie list. With J Mac staying on, and us having to look at promoting Valenti and Spencer, I think Cheney could make way...

Everyone says Bell has another year, but I'm yet to see that confirmed anywhere, and as long as he wasn't given a 3 year contract at some stage, and only given 2 years, I think he'll be gone too...