Put it this way I think he will dominate VFL, and by years end a very important player in the AFL.
Hopefully youāre right.
l was very interested in Burton, during that draft. l was hoping he would slide through to us.
Anthony Rocca played nearly 250 games and kicked over 400 goals, if Franga gets anywhere near that it will be surprising.
would do in a heartbeat
I would prefer not to trade him away but could he be used to help jag a good mid? In that case itās pretty farken tempting.
And letās be honest we may be well covered in the area and he may not be what we need but who wouldnāt want Lever
Weāre less covered in that area if Francis goes.
Anyway, heās contracted for 2 more years and he grew up an Essendon fan. Iād be surprised if heās going anywhere. Just hope he has an injury free offseason
if worsfold wasnt so stubborn about not gifting young players games, francis, mutch et al would have had 4-5 games this year and probably shown quite a lot (more than howlett, hocking, colyer, myers thatās for sure). as it is, francisā skills are decaying with each passing week on windy buttfuck suburban grounds.
as they sayā¦lel
Games for this great club should be earned never gifted.
Issue is strength and fitnessā¦can both be fixed with the right approach
To be honest, Iām concerned. To me, he looks a mile off what a bloke picked in the top 5 should look like. I raised my concerns about him mid season and now his season is done, heās really done nothing at all to ease them concerns and if you are being realistic, he has done nothing in 2 years at vfl level or senior. I canāt even remember people on here demanding his inclusion on the back of tearing the vfl apart. He does the odd flashy thing, mainly terrific marks, but his game as a whole needs major improvement.
I still hold hope for him and really really hope he carves out a fantastic career but yeah, Iām a bit worried. Next year is a big year for him
Iād say the club expected some difficulty with players like Langford, Redman, Laverde, Francis, Long ect this year.
These guys got senior experience last year that they wouldnāt have otherwise had, however with the team in finals contention itās been almost the complete opposite this year. I hope theyāve been talked through the situation as I get the sense looking at Langford and Francis that they arenāt particularly thrilled with their lack of opportunities this year, they should have a better attitude but as 19 year olds they should also have support.
Itās not like theyāve demanded selection, but to use the Francis v Curnow debate as an example, Carlton got Curnow in the team as soon as they could this year and left him in, he didnāt exactly bang the door down in the VFL. Some players develop better among better competition and for marking players, getting away from windy grounds like Port Melbourne can only help you prepare for ten games a year at Etihad.
I actually thought he looked ok. I think him getting injured went a long way to us losing.
He got injured and as a Kpf has not played much football in his first 2 years. Itās not a big deal and no reason for a fire sale.
Curnow is in the top few fittest players at club already in terms of running capacity.
Francis lags at the back of most of our list.
Got nothing to do with lack of senior opportunity.
Curnow is still impacting games at AFL level in last quarters. Francis is cooked by the 2nd quarter.
Mental strength and emotional maturity is something that needs boosting if he is to make it. I hope he has the support systems he needs around him.
I think some questions need to be asked of how we are developing him too. For two years, heās been back/forward a million times. Hard for a bloke to get some consistency when heās constantly changing roles.
Pick his position, and leave him there. Two years in none of us are any the wiser if heāll be a forward or back and thatās pretty average imo
Injury appeared to be a hamstring. They were strapping it at three quarter time.
Oh FFS! If Francis wasnāt completely rooted at qtr time he might have had 4 or 5 games. Thereās no other reason
Jeez some really harsh people on here. You persist with guys of his talent.
The fact is his value is down on the trade table, look at what GWS got for hoskin-elliot or oārouke or pickett as an example. I would much rather bank on the clubs ability to turn him around than throw in the towel for a 2nd round pick.
He has a skill set very few players possess, if he gets it together then he brings a huge upside to the team. Absolute garbage to say we are stacked with players in the backline that can do what he can.