Ex-#44 Shaun McKernan

History has shown that Smack will have a pretty average game this week. He will only possibly keep his spot if he has a blinder.

Not really. He was consistently good in 2015 and consistently bad in 2016. If anything history suggests we’ll have good smack in 2017.

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Gawn hardly destroyed Looney. He won the tap outs, but Looney has a fair knack for neutralising opposition hit outs. When Smack loses hit outs, he loses them emphatically.

I don’t reckon Looney has ever been totally destroyed in his career, and he has a fair record against the big guys. He’s more of a defensive / negating option than Mckernan. As in, he is far, far less likely to get totally pantsed in a ruck contest.

Who knows, maybe Mckernan has made some progress? I’d be happy for him to be given the chance to find out, but I’d be surprised if anything has really changed.

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I can definitely see why we wouldn’t send an underdone Belly up North, particularly if it is going to be wet.

But let’s not kid ourselves, Looney and Belly are our #1 and #2 ruckman (likely in that order) and one should come into the team as soon as ready. Smack is proving to be a solid back-up plan (which is what we need him to be), but if history has taught us anything it is that last week is likely to be the exception rather than the rule. An A-grade ruckman (think Gawn, Goldstein and worryingly, perhaps, Martin) will tear him to shreds.

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And I really noticed his leap at the centre bounces, which someone mentioned was second only to Natanui in the draft testing. Ryder went to a different level when he was called on to do the big jobs. First choice for mine except perhaps against the genuine giants.

Also came 6th in the agility (although Ayce Cordy came 5th lol)
http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results-2008.htm
Would be better if they had jump + reach than just vert jump

Would be even better if that wasn’t 8-9 years ago.

Except for one significant advantage McKernan has over both - he wins a significant number of clearances when he plays ruck and fight for the ball on the ground like a midfielder. Leuenberger & Bellchambers hardly win any.

For the first time that I can recall, they weren’t hack-the-kick forward type clearances either - thee were a couple of smart handballs to release his mids to deliver. He had 5 clearances - equal 2nd for us alongside Zach Merrett (goddard had 7 and was our best player I thought).

He now has to maintain that intensity and form and stop giving away 5+ free kicks per game. Normally they are all in the ruck but on Saturday night they were nearly all in general play. It’s why he was credit with 9 clangers which is easily the worst of any of our players - Parish was next worst with 6; with 3 shocking kicks into the F50 in Q4 that limited us scoring even more heavily (he really does need to work on his disposal).

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Gawn had 31 hitouts to Leuey’s 16

Goldstein 35 to Leuey’s 17
He didn’t have to play Mummie or Sandi, and Jacobs went off in the 1st quarter.

All in all I’m not sure if he really stacks up as this weapon against the gun rucks that he’s meant to be.

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As I said, it’s not about hit-out numbers, it’s about the quality of the hit-outs conceded.

Be honest, if we were playing Melbourne this week, and you had a fit Mckernan or a fit Looney to choose from, who are you picking?

Dont get me wrong, I’m a fan of Mckernan, and I hope like hell he can step it up on a regular basis, because he adds a lot of extra things the other guys don’t. The negatives are glaring though.

Hopefully he gets the chance to find out if he can do what he did last week consistently.

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I would genuinely take McKernan.

McKernan really gives us something at ground level and around the flanks. I don’t know what it is about his build, but he’s really got some agility, he’s not super quick but he does move side to side far better than most big blokes, which is a real asset around a clearance - and he’s getting pretty nifty at using that step and finding quality options by hand.

Leuey just doesn’t do that stuff. He either wins the ruck or he doesn’t, then he goes deep forward or deep back as the long target. He’s better in the ruck and he’s better in the air than McKernan, but that’s almost the sum total of what he does. And that’s fine to a point, but he’s not getting any of Gawn or Sandi et al worried just yet.
At least Smack can give them some real grief in one facet of the game.

Moot point anyway, odd-numbered year, Leuey’s broken.

Ha. I forgot about that.

One thing I would say is being exaggerated, and that is Mckernan around the ground. Outside the odd pot shot for goal (which is fun), Leuy is all over McKernan when it comes to link up play and getting in the right positions. Of course, when its in Leuy’s hands in that situation the heart can be in the mouth…

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LOL

Luey is a better tap ruckman but I’d suggest you don’t watch our games of you think he’s better around the ground. Tell me when you’ve ever seen luey nail a goal like smacks in the third against the hawks. Mckernans agility and scoreboard power are his two biggest assets

What? leuy stops forward momentum quite often by trying to do too much.

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Only time Leuey gets the ball in space is when the ball goes down one end, rebounds back and he hasn’t moved, so he’s the only guy in the centre square.

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McKernan is much better around clearances, and as I said dobbing the odd goal. But Aleut positions himself far better for general play through the middle. How many times have we screamed “don’t give it to him!”?

By “positions himself” you mean he’s almost always there as the long option because he basically doesn’t leave the central third of the ground.
Whereas SMack basically follows the ball like a midfielder.

It’s a good problem to have, anyway. I don’t reckon belly would be feeling that great, at the moment he’s the least likely of the 3 to get a game