That’s harsh. I’d give him another 4 years.
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Is Francis your Essendon version of EDDIE FORD Clone Hirdy? 
I like Francis and I really want to see him do well. I think the issue is that the mistakes he makes usually end up in the opposition scoring a goal, and that he seems to make several really bad ones every game…
Add in the mistakes where he doesn’t touch the ball and he costs us a goal… grim.
and then rookie list him for another 2 years before we delist
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Our fanbase reminds me of pre-success Richmond fans.
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There can be infinite back and forth as why francis has/hasn’t excelled but the fact of the matter is it has been 6 years of low output and inconsistency. Especially for pick 6.
So a serious list manager would discard of him and replace him with young talent thats more promising or at the very least trade him for whatever they can get and replace him with a player with higher output or some more consistency which really wouldn’t be that hard.
I’m not actually a big Francis supporter, in fact I often share the same frustration, but I think at times he is unfairly judged. His opponent kicked 2 goals, sure one was the match winner, but I don’t agree that he was to blame on this occasion.
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I don’t disagree with your point that his form has been lacklustre but you have to take pick 6 out of the equation i think most on here would agree that his best position is third tall but is having to play key position at the moment, which player who is not currently playing is able to take the role from him
Hurley is more than likely out for the year
Ambrose cannot stay on the park
BZT has probably been less impressive than Franga
Reid needs to put some weight on.
Personally i would love to see Hooker play back, Reid take the second tall and Francis be allowed to run and jump at the ball which he is really good at.
Not expecting to win many games this year lets try the kids and if he does nothing for the year trade him back to SA and see what we can get for him
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he got more than 2 goals kicked on him from memory. i reckon it was about 4 for the whole game. He switched opponents a few times
He had at least 3 goals kicked on him that I saw directly.
Probably around 3-5 goals against us. Including the match winner.
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Our player list reminds me of pre-success Richmond.
Who would have thought?
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Aaron Francis had what, 2-3 goals kicked on him?
Adam Saad, same.
Now I’m not a draft guru but it’s clear we need to be drafting our backline in reverse alphabetical order.
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Like many, I’m yet to be convinced with Francis. But, before we jump to the conclusion he’s no good let’s give him a decent run at it. Then we can decide. (I don’t think he’s KPD, though.)
who tf oven bakes nuggets?
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then just to be sure, 2 more years on our vfl list.
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If Franga is gonna make it, I don’t think it will be as a defender. At least not in the foreseeable future. I’d like to see what he can do as a forward. Here’s what needs to happen:
1 - Guarantee his place in the side as a mid sized forward for the next eight weeks. No backline ever again. He isn’t good enough and when he fails, his confidence plummets resulting in more failure. Negative cycle etc.
2 - Tell him to play his natural game, which involves backing himself to fly for marks, tackling like a madman and not holding back on his high risk/reward passes when he finds himself outside 50. Imposing less restrictions might instill a greater sense of self assurance.
3 - Must be benched after the 20 minute mark for the third and fourth quarters. He won’t ever be especially fit and we need to negate this weakness. This will see him get around 10-15 minutes to recover before the next quarter. If/when his fitness increases he can get more late quarter minutes.
Stringer and Stewart are injured and Hooker isn’t much chop as a forward. Further, we’re a bottom 6 side that’s rebuilding. And if Franga himself thinks it’s a good idea, why not?
You don’t lose talent. He still has it. He just doesn’t have fitness, confidence and a club that can bring out the best in him.
Those of us that want to be healthy!
It’s scientific proven that oven baking makes things healthy, hence why Arnotts shapes highlight that they are oven baked.
I often oven bake my KFC just to make it healthy and have been known to oven bake my beer also.
[quote=“barnz, post:9991, topic:2867, full:true”]
You always take things too far!
What we want is players who can adapt.
Whilst yes that 3rd tall position is his preferred, he should have had enough training now to be able to to adapt to playing a more accountable role on a kpf IF needed. This could occur in game with an injury.
The ultimate example of this is Dylan Grimes adapting to having to go from a 4th tall to 3rd to an actual undersized kpd at times when Rance went down. Obviously Francis is not Grimes nor does he get the upfield help pressure wise from rest of team.
But even so I think his positioning continually seems to be poor when he is having to properly defend an opponent. I’ve said it before but I just dont think he is switched on enough/has the football IQ to do it.
If he can ONLY play 3rd tall (and even in that role does it very inconsistently) it’s going to leave him exposed to losing his spot, especially if there are other who can play the role better ie. Ridley, and can also adapt better as required. And Laverde’s progression might be the thing that really costs him a spot in team once we get kpd’s back.
He’ll never make it as a forward IMO, does not have the work rate for repeat sprints that’s needed nor the mindset for being a fwd in that gets down on himself wayyy too much.
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