Second highest contested possesion winner for us with 11 suggests he likes getting his hands dirty. Kept running to support all day when others had stopped which suggests that he is taking onboard the coaches instructions.
Clean up his decision making around contests which I believe you can only get at AFL level because the contest isn’t hot enough at VFL level and we have a very good player on our hands.
See I think the opposite.
I think he gets more leeway because he is different.
He needs to play VFL and learn the basics, his positioning is still very ordinary and he has no awareness whatsoever. It could be worth trailing him elsewhere on the field as he hasn’t got a defensive bone in his body
I was a big fan of connor and thought this year he would have a breakout, but i agree with others, you cannot afford to have that many stuff ups , when turnover account for 70% of goals a team kicks.
Funny thing is, he is quick, tough, has a sublime kick and even yesterday i was surprised how good his marking was. He does however lack that one thing at afl level because it’s quicker and that is game awareness. So yeh he has all the tools but i now wonder if he will ever get his game awareness to a point where the other assets even matter.
I’ve seen him live, afl and vfl, seen replays of vfl games, and every time he’s been on tv, to make a call that I don’t think he’s a good kick. Did you happen to see his kicking yesterday? That’s a good user of the footballer is it? He’s had more games of shocking disposal than he has had good ones
But il remember not to pass judgement on anyone’s skills from now on because I live in Western Australia, lol
The problem for Conor is that he is still quite inconsistent. He is quick, agile and is mostly a good kick, but Sunday, his kicking let him down at a number of critical times resulting in shocking turnovers. As an enthusiast for what Conor brings to the side, it was certainly disappointing. That said just about the whole team had a downer. Let the one without fault throw the first stone. It won’t happen.
My impression is that Conor improved as the game progressed. I could be wrong there, but he certainly didn’t stop trying right to the end. His effort in the goal square in the last was very good. I’d persist with him, but perhaps bring him up to the wing where he can stretch his legs and worry a little less about his direct opponent and use creativity without the fear of critical turnovers.
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There is a big difference in being an excellent kick, and an excellent kick under perceived pressure. Unfortunately when Conner perceives he’s under pressure, whether he is or not, his kicking is for the tip. I reckon this was his problem yesterday, he looked lost, rushed and generally panicky when he had the ball.
On the training track and in the 2’s he’s an elite kick. He’s shown that in the seniors at times too. It’s his footy awareness that’s the problem at the moment.
Reboot called me “sad miserable pr*ck” amongst other nice things for pointing out we’d won the last 3 of 11 (before Tuesday) Anzac Matches and wanting to bring Francis in. I think Essington is bringing out the worst in people.
I completely agree with your assessment, If McKenna is in our top 10 for kicking we have a long, long way to go as a club. I think he needs to either return to the VFL for a further stint to learn more about positioning or move to the wings where he has to worry less about costing us goals through clangers.
I generally agree with you on footy things. But I’ve thrown in the towel on finals for the next 2 years. I want players like McKenna getting a run at it. I think with a bit of experience he’d be a type of player we desperately need.
But if you’re gonna come out and said ■■■■ like not even in our top 10 fkg put some names up. Look @ you wob.
I thought he was poor yesterday (in fact he drove me mental) but he potentially has a skill set we need. I’d be giving him a month of football to see if he can adjust to the pace, we have seen glimpses, we should just back him in, the benefit of being an average side is we have nothing to lose.
Not sure about top 10 but I’d have
-BJ
-Zerrett
-Walla
-Fanta
-McNiece
all ahead of McKenna for starters.
Guys like Heppell, Jobe, Francis just to name a few that are around the same IMO