#10 St Francis de Agressi - up to 2021 round 2

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
9996

Lav is 100x better than Francis 1v1, and will be able to play as the third-tall defender, which will allow Ridley to play his best role.

Francis will get a few more games because there is currently nobody else, but once Stewart or Ambrose are fit he will be gone for the year.

4 Likes
9997

Francis is undersized for a KPD.
He is a great third tall who can float across as the spare. If we have Stewart back and play Hooker back he be a lot better.

Stewart 1.97
Hooker 1.96
Francis 1.93

9998

Everyone keeps saying this but if you have Hooker back and Stewart back to use your own example, Ridley is the third tall. Having Francis in that setup as well is surplus to requirements. Especially if Heppell is playing in defence already.

1 Like
9999

Francis has copped a lot of flak this week but watching the replay their intercept marks killed us, forwards not competing and the delivery inside 50 is why we lost.

4 Likes
10000

Incorrect. It was all Francis. Midfielders not getting their hands on it and forwards being uncompetitive had nothing to do with the turnaround.

1 Like
10001

Why would this be discussed in the Francis thread?

You can go to any of the Match review threads to see that discussed.

10002

At the game live Francis seemed totally cooked by the 4th. Our defensive setup went to total ā– ā– ā– ā– . Looking at whose ā€˜manā€™ kicked goals is not reflective of how modern defensive set-ups work - especially what we are gunning for.

So is he worth persisting with? Probably yes - especially considering Reid is a mile off it and we have few other options. Are there any reasons to think heā€™ll make it as a quality full back? A few for mine:

  • He is a very good kick which is the quality that Rutten appears to be valuing above everything else down back right now.
  • He is a quality intercept mark (though I feel this is a little overstated at times due to a few speccies taken in 2018). He had 8 Intercept on Saturday night, which was behind only Hind.
  • His closing speed is surprisingly good.
  • He has some genuine presence/mongrel about him.

The drawbacks:

  • There has to be serious questions about whether he has the tank for AFL footy. Heā€™s had six preseasons. There just canā€™t be anymore excuses here.
  • He has brain fades. Not what you generally want in a defender.
  • Undersized for the role he needs to be playing. I donā€™t think this is as big an issue as some - his leap and speed mean he can play above his weight but there are some very tall KPFs these days that he just wonā€™t be able to line up on.
  • Doesnā€™t find enough ā€˜easy ballā€™ to really make use of his kicking.

A lot of the above can be fixed, but now really is the time.

5 Likes
10003

I think keep backing him in for this year.

Give him 20 games in a row and then make an informed decision on whether heā€™s gonna cut it at the level.

I think he will make it so long as he gets the continuity.

2 Likes
10004

Put him forward and get Hooker back. I think Francis would be a better shot for goal too. Heā€™s got the aggression and strut of a forward.
I know they havenā€™t been training that way all preseason but we have nothing to lose. If he kicks two goals in the next five rounds then we havenā€™t really lost anything.

1 Like
10005

Good job cutting out the Francis reference in my post to question its relevance. Anyone who wants to ignore our failings further afield because itā€™s more simple to blame a singular backman has their head in the clouds. We have lots of things to fix from that second half.

1 Like
10006

You said ā€˜It was all Francisā€™ in a condescending way.

It will all be about Francis in this thread. Itā€™s his thread.

3 Likes
10007

Yep, exactly why Iā€™m here defending him and exactly why others are here to ā– ā– ā– ā–  all over him.

10008

What would you rate Francis game out of 10?

10009

Probably a 2/10ā€¦similar to Cahill, Hooker, and Redman. In the 3rd quarter, Iā€™d give our midfield a 1/10 and our forward pressure the same.

1 Like
10010

its always everyone elseā€™s fault. not just with Aaron, but its a theme at essendon

1 Like
10011

No, itā€™s only one playerā€™s fault when the opposition piles on 8 goals in a quarter. Wouldnā€™t want the entire group to take ownership of it. Way better to find a scapegoat.

10012

no ones saying that, at all

1 Like
10013

No, not at all.

2 Likes
10014

I havenā€™t felt so low after a loss as I did on Sunday in a loooooong time. I hate Hawthorn.

Francis played ok apart from the 4 mistakes which were all at moments in the match which gifted joy and momentum to the opposition.

  1. Falling over and gifting them the first goal of the match without a yelp. Didnā€™t even make a contest of it. I sat there thinking well thatā€™s a great start, thatā€™ll get the Hawks a bit pumped.

  2. Then Iā€™m thinking at half time. Maybe something has changed under Rutten, maybe we are going to be ruthless like we were in that 2nd quarter and weā€™ll continue the blue collar, tough, work hard for each other ethos of the 2nd quarter.

So what happens. He falls over and gifts them the first of the third.

  1. Then as they start to get their tails up a bit, instead of tackling at the hip, he launched recklessly at chest height on a Hawks player, who sees it coming from a mile off and drops the legs to draw the obvious high tackle and certain goal.

Thanks Aaron. Great feel for the game.

  1. Then of course, the final launch into the forward line. I feel for him on the last goal and no defender wants to be sitting under that ball but for a bloke 6 years in, one would hope that he might be somewhere close to at least putting a fist on the ball or at least putting some kind of body contact on his opponent.

But nah. Of course the opponent takes an uncontested mark for the sealer.

Remember Fletch and in those moments when you were ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  yourself and how heā€™d somehow nullify the contest? Ah the memories.

6 Likes
10015

whats that got to do with the 8 goal 3rd quarter that you seem to think people are blaming francis for?