Cheers mate. Reading the article where his re-signing was announced, it doesn’t seem legit to me. I hope it is complete BS, he can seriously play and we badly need him to break out and make an impact at senior level. Today he was OK, dropped a few marks he was in good position to take, got caught a few times, but at least they were positive mistakes trying to make the play.
He might not want to go back to SA but he doesn’t seem entirely interested in getting into the AFL.
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If he knows he doesn’t get a look in until he has a tank, perhaps he knows he won’t be playing AFL no matter how well he plays.
Perhaps we’ll persist with him for a few more years, waiting for him to get a move on, and THEN he’ll move to south Australia
Perhaps some unnamed idiot in the outer at the VFL is not actually the oracle of all knowledge?
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Moving states is hardly going to increase his aerobic capacity. Hard work is all that is going to do it.
Plenty of other kpp from his draft year still just developing in 2’s. Weideman. McKay’s. etc
Surely rubbish from muppet in outer.
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i’d take port or adelaides first round pick for him and move on. A very lazy footballer, he’s a red headed cupido
Port don’t have a first and even if they did I wouldn’t take it. He will come through
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He will be a gun. Fark the doubters. My boy.
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Just watched the first 3 quarters. Was ok in the first half, got his hands to a lot of marks, but couldn’t get them to stick. First 18 minutes of 3 rd he was really good, then went to the bench for 10 minutes. Had just come back on when he got caught in the pocket. Then finished off the quarter with a big tackle. His intent has been good, has attacked every contest. Body language looked fine. Nothing you could see on the tv would indicate he played lazy today.
Also doesn’t his family live a long way from Adelaide so going to an Adelaide club hardly means going back home.
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I’d play ahead of Gleeson as a 3rd tall in a heart beat.
No chance he’d get rag dolled by Rohan.
I thought was really good in the first half, less the second half.
You have to be kidding.
I’m not sure what’s more ridiculous, the Blitz Gleeson bashing or the Francis love.
I’m guessing the Francis faith either stems from the fact he was picked at 6 or because most were interested in him pre draft.
I know that KPP’s take longer to come on, but he’s hardly a KPP - he’s an inch shorter than Patrick Cripps. Besides, the reason that most take longer is because they need to fill out, not because they can’t run out a quarter after two years in the AFL.
At best I see him as a good third tall. I can’t ever see him being a ‘gun’, and those thinking he’ll ever run though the midfield are dreaming.
His talents are obvious, but so are his failings.
At pick 6 he’s looking like a bust for me - hope I’m wrong.
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Heh.
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imma gotta get me some francis panic dollars!
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Plenty of KP’s need to lose weight early days. Didn’t Pav nearly die of coronary failure on his first 400m run at Freo? Albeit probably coming out of a less serious/well set up juniors system.
My only concern is with kids like him who have been talked up their whole lives, top of their class their whole careers so to speak, can think they’re the real deal and the whole thing will be an easy ride/they’re more deserving than they are early doors and can get impatient with where they’re at. I think Aaron is being well handled by the club (obviously) but I’d just hope that he’s not getting too frustrated and appreciate what needs to be done.
By the sounds of it he’s got a good head on his shoulders. He’s only half way through his second season FFS and he’s played games in both seasons. But who knows…
I’m not worried yet, he came back early to help his fitness last year. He appears to have the desire. It’s just a time thing.
If he does a major injury or puts on a bit over the next preseason I would be trading him the following year.
Utterly incredible yet somehow predictable that some are actually writing Francis off as a ‘bust’…after 18 months at the club. Is it simply the internet-propelled generation of ’ I want it now’? or just hyper-anxiousness at the idea of burning an early draft selection? I have NFI because to me he looks like a young colt nowhere near a finished product, so why on Earth are we so quick to have a ‘finished product’ opinion on the kid?
He is a legitimate tall by the way -only just finished growing at about 194cm - so let’s not let this ‘Big-bodied Cripps-like midfielder’ fantasy run away with itself - my view is that is not the style of player he will ever be. He has all the hallmarks of a genuine key position player and he gets to develop and he gets time to do so.
I might be able to understand the pessimism a fraction more if he was somehow producing anonymous Michael Still like performances at VFL level -but that ain’t the case folks. Francis has legitimately produced some very classy and promising football at VFL level (and hell, looked pretty good for patches in his senior appearances too).
I concur that he is clearly vastly less prepared for AFL level fitness than most (including myself) expected from a high draft pick - he has plenty to work on and I’m sure the coaches and Aaron are well aware of those aspects. Right now, he’s playing games of footy, building fitness and…he’s 19 years of age! I reckon supporters have every right to feel pretty damn optimistic about his future.
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See…I started writing stuff like that, and then remembered where I was, and boiled it down to a simple…‘heh’.
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Maybe I am being impatient - he has me worried is all. As I said I hope I’m wrong.
I guess we’ll know in a couple of years.
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