Free Agency Shaun McKernan [UFA to St Kilda]

[PMBangers]

 

[owen87]

Good on him, hope he does well for the Saints.

 

[Lore]

Yeah so I'm pretty sure this is being misreported.

He was already an Unrestricted Free Agent because he had already been delisted twice prior to 2020 (once by Adelaide years ago, and once by Essendon when they re-rookied him a couple of years ago).

Thanks to that, he qualified for lifetime free agency when that came in last year, and was an Unrestricted Free Agent the moment he came out of contract, whether Essendon chose to delist him or not.

So while he was not offered another contract, he is not a "Delisted Free Agent". Delisted players are still tied to their clubs until the end of the trade period, they don't qualify for free agency until after the next list lodgement date has passed.

The proof for this is that AFL House specifically said he is an Unrestricted Free Agent, and he has moved within the Unrestricted Free Agency period.

DFAs also don't qualify for any compensation at all, whereas this one did qualify to be assessed for compensation, but didn't get any because his contract offer is too low to qualify for Band 5 (which are the rules that apply to a UFA).

 

[HirdyLannister]

Going to miss him, has always been a favorite of mine. Anything outside 50 on a 45 degree he nails and 30 meters out dead in front he misses.

God bless him

 

[Great8]

Good luck to him at the Saints

 

[The 747]

38 contested marks from just 16 games last year is nothing to sneeze at. 6 in one game, 5 in another and 4 four times.

Also kicked 4 goals twice and had 120 contested possessions to 78 uncontested!

Ideal back-up for Ryder/Marshall.

His good games are fantastic, but his bad games are.....well.

 

[citizen-erased]

His good games are fantastic, but his bad games are.....well.

frequent?

His Free Kick differential is eye watering

 

[Ambrosia]

I love the big fella but he was very poor this year although there was reports of him both having family troubles and injury concerns. He was a very well liked member of the team.

 

[Falchoon]

His good games are fantastic, but his bad games are.....well.

The irony here is his game against us (Saints) in round 12 was as bad as you'll see from an AFL player.

1 mark, 4 touches, 2 clangers - he looked completely lost.

 

[Lore]

The irony here is his game against us (Saints) in round 12 was as bad as you'll see from an AFL player.

1 mark, 4 touches, 2 clangers - he looked completely lost.

Happens a lot. He's a confidence player, absolutely mercurial. Kicks 4 one week and nothing but points for the next 3.

 

[Dave]

Best of luck Smack!!

 

[projectv]

Makes sense that we looked into a backup ruckman given that we'd just delisted another backup ruckman in Ryan Abbott

27

Ryan Abbott

Age

32

Ht

200cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

5.0

4star

CL

2.0

4star

HO

22.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

10.8

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

5.8

4star

CL

2.4

5star

HO

26.4

5star

.

Interesting that Essendon brought him in originally as cover for losing Ryder. And now we have both of them.

Welcome aboard. Hopefully we can work with him on his kicking.

 

[HTPunter]

Makes sense that we looked into a backup ruckman given that we'd just delisted another backup ruckman in Ryan Abbott

27

Ryan Abbott

Age

32

Ht

200cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

5.0

4star

CL

2.0

4star

HO

22.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

10.8

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

5.8

4star

CL

2.4

5star

HO

26.4

5star

.

Interesting that Essendon brought him in originally as cover for losing Ryder. And now we have both of them.

Welcome aboard. Hopefully we can work with him on his kicking.

I'd say it's very optimistic to think any coach is going to improve a deeply ingrained flawed skill at 30 years old, something he's probably done for 25 years.

Much more likely Saints are just happy if he provides a forward contest and ruck relief in the event any of Marshall, Ryder or King miss extended periods of games. Bring the ball to ground within 20m of goal and let Butler go to work, more so than make an incredible improvement in kicking at his age and experience.

 

[projectv]

I'd say it's very optimistic to think any coach is going to improve a deeply ingrained flawed skill at 30 years old, something he's probably done for 25 years.

Much more likely Saints are just happy if he provides a forward contest and ruck relief in the event any of Marshall, Ryder or King miss extended periods of games. Bring the ball to ground within 20m of goal and let Butler go to work, more so than make an incredible improvement in kicking at his age and experience.

Yep pretty much this ^^

When we delisted Ryan Abbott

27

Ryan Abbott

Age

32

Ht

200cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

5.0

4star

CL

2.0

4star

HO

22.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

10.8

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

5.8

4star

CL

2.4

5star

HO

26.4

5star

I was a bit concerned as he was our third option in the ruck, our forth option being an American basketballer in Sam Alabakis who has never played a senior game. So getting McKernan is as cover is good and would have to be a slight upgrade on Abbott. Plus he wouldn't have cost us much so as a depth player that's also good for us.

 

[1970crow]

38 contested marks from just 16 games last year is nothing to sneeze at. 6 in one game, 5 in another and 4 four times.

Also kicked 4 goals twice and had 120 contested possessions to 78 uncontested!

Ideal back-up for Ryder/Marshall.

He's a bit inconsistent but that's why he's free. He's just the type to cover for an injury in a GF and kick 5. Pointless for a rebuilding side, but he'd be the type of depth I'd be happy to have if we were heading towards the top 4.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Saint fans are going to get very frustrated when he continually gives away ruck frees and most of the them are during crucial times.

 

[stfan]

Saint fans are going to get very frustrated when he continually gives away ruck frees and most of the them are during crucial times.

Not too frustrated as this will mainly be with Sandringham.

 

[blitzer]

Best of luck to McKernan. He had a poor 2020 (particularly later in the year) but on his day can still do some damage. Hopefully he gets a few senior games for the Saints.

 

[Damon_3388]

Thats coachable. I put him in the same category as Casboult, will always have limitations as a player but the right coach can get the best out of them.

Given that he's 30 years old, and a 12-year AFL veteran headed to his 3rd club, I'd expect that he kind of is what he is at this point.

You pick him up as depth or to plug a hole, rather than spend time hoping he'll develop more and tap into some long-gone potential.

 

[triggering bro]

Upgrade on Josh Bruce

17

Josh Bruce

Age

31

Ht

198cm

Wt

97kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.2

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

4.6

3star

M

4.5

4star

T

2.1

4star

MG

90.4

1star

D

8.9

2star

K

3.5

1star

HB

5.4

3star

M

2.5

3star

T

1.3

2star

MG

90.4

2star

D

11.2

3star

K

5.6

3star

HB

5.6

4star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.8

3star

.