#23 Harrison Jones

Yes i am still skeptical on Wright myself. At training he simply struggled to take a contested mark. Ridley and Ambrose beat him comfortably in high marking contested situations. They are working hard on it and he was clearly frustrated and trying to
Improve that area though. His mindset on improving was fine but my expectations were more realistic after watching him. When he was on a lead or found space he looked great. His kicking for goal is really good. I think there is at least 30 goals in him

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I haven’t watched him play much, but based on solely on stats, he’s a step up from McKernan. He averages not far from half a goal a game more over his career than McKernan and that’s playing in a worse team. So unless he’s gone backwards there is every reason to suggest he could be capable of 30 to 35 goals over a full season.

I think it would be a concern if he’s meant to be our No.1 tall forward though. If he was playing on the second best defender and spending some time pinch hitting in the ruck, I would think that’s what suits him best.

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Also a little more consistent than Smack. Usually 1-2 goals a game instead of 0 for 3 weeks then 4 or 5 in one game.

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This is the Jones thread so I’m not going to labour the point. But Wright to me lacks the appetite to compete and win contests at AFL level. That’s a big hurdle to overcome and not something you could say about Smack.

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This seems consistent with other watchers and might well be the reason why he couldn’t get a game with the Suns.

Here’s hoping he can work on it over summer, but I honestly don’t think he should make the 22 if he can’t at least make a contest and bring the ball to ground. We can’t afford to have tall targets that we can’t kick to - it completely upends our ball movement.

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Is that you, DJR??? :joy:

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We gave up a 4th round pick for a contracted key forward. I think that sums up how highly rated he is by his old and new clubs.

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you started off lid jammed on, to him kicking at least 30 goals next year. that’s impressive :sweat_smile:

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and personally, I’d be blown away if he went from not getting a game with GC for a couple of years to a 30+ goal forward, its pretty unrealistic. the trade makes complete sense and he probably has upside (we hope) but there’s also a reason he didn’t get a gig at GC for quite a while

I think peoples expectations should be tempered. he’ll no doubt get a go early but as soon as Harry Jones is showing form, I’d be playing him

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30 goals out of Wright would be a massive win.

It’s possible, but it’s best case scenario territory.

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He’s kicked 30goals in a season already twice hasn’t he?

It’s hardly a stretch

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I dunno, but how many blokes go from the neafl reserves for a couple of years to a 30+ goal key forward in the AFL?

Crameri in the VFL?

Stewart went from NEAFL to a 20-odd goal forward in one year.

I’m very curious about how much improvement Wright manages over the preseason. If it’s his focus, getting tailored coaching and drills at every opportunity, then he will be better by round 1. The question is how much better will he get his contested marking.

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good examples, but obviously they are the exceptions, not the rule. I hope Wright becomes that solid dependable tall we need but I’ve got my reservations due to his last few years

Worst thing we can do is plonk Wright in the goal square, kick it high and long, and then wonder why he isn’t marking anything.

His contested marking is unlikely to ever get too much better, but he moves alright and has a decent tank.

I’d play him at half forward.

As for Jones… Surely anything more than 7-8 games this year would be an outstanding result.

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Mitch Brown over 2018 and 2019 averaged 1.3 goals per game for us, which would have put him at 29 goals for the year if he played all 22 games.

Over his career, Wright has averaged also 1.3 goals per game. So i’d say 30 goals in a season is around the mark as a reasonable target for Wright to target this year.

If we can get Stewart, Wright and Tippa getting close to 30 goals each next season to support Stringer (who say gets 45), that’s a good result for us

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I’ve said it before, but I see his situation very similar to Stewart, except Wright has more runs on the board than Stewart did when we got him. (Possibly still does.)

Stewart has been a handy pickup, and still may prove to be more than that. That’s about the level I’d expect from Wright. He’ll never carry the forward line, but he might be handy for some goals. And we need goals.

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Jones has an incredible tank apparently. He wouldn’t need to play as a big forward straight away. He could play as a HFF who moves up the ground, and tires out his opponent.

I think he will play more than 7-8 games personally.

He didn’t really have a season last year, so he’s essentially coming in as a brand new recruit.

Seems a real stretch to me to expect much more than a handful of ā€˜learning the ropes’ type games out of him this year.

They certainly may take the ā€˜pump games into him’ option, but I wouldn’t be expecting much in terms of output.

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