lock down on francis, then conor and saad will kill you.
Some teams might go that way. I think a lot of teams will try and blow him up
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No doubt early they will but I see him being very high impact per possession and if we can develop a role where we can utilise his strengths then teams will be hesitant in running off him to much.
I don’t really associate Luke Hodge being a super athlete but he is very damaging.
He better be prepared. He may not be there yet, but he has come a long way.
I agree Hodge is’t a super athlete but he was fit enough to play midfield very well for large chunks of his career.
Francis is still miles off that
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Hodge was far from fit early in his career.
That may be so. I’m not sure Hodge is a great comparison though because Francis isn’t ever going to be a midfielder.
Hodge had the advantage of playing 15 games in each of his first 3 seasons so he probably found out earlier than Francis how fit he needed to be. In his 4th season he improved significantly so at a guess i’d say he made a big improvement in fitness at that point.
Francis is at the same point now, so I guess we’ll see how this year goes.
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Yeah, I think Francis has a great indication of how far off it he was in that Anzac Day game in his first season.
I don’t recall seeing someone blowup that much for a very long time.
I don’t think Francis will ever play as a permanent mid and I don’t think he needs to to dominate the game.
They just need to find a role for him where they play to his strengths as much as possible.
Yeah teams will try and blow him up but it’s up to iur coaches to use him in such a way that he is super damaging.
Plenty of good players have gone through their careers not being super fit and still been very good players.
I don’t expect Francis to ever be super fit by AFL standards.
I’d be happy if he was about middle of the road at some point
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Imagine if Joe, Stringer and Fanta are all up and going all year!
Yeah same.
I still think he will be a gun despite that.
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Nah. Eventually he has to play on that type so give him the chance now, before points are on the line.
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Yep. He’ll get to a level where he is fit enough for the position he plays, and he will dominate. The way he reads the play, and cuts the angles will help him cover to a certain degree. In my opinion he is probably close to the most talented player on our list.
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I think he’s the type of player that will look even better in a well drilled side.
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Did you miss my earlier jlt post? That had been building up for a while, very relieved to get that post out.
yeah pretty much
Hodge was horribly unfit when he started - and turned it around to become the ■■■■■■■ stinking ■■■■■■■■ he has.
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Francis will be a gun
The game against blues suggested Brown is currently in front as the 2nd tall forward and Ridley looks best 22. I think Ambrose is better than Francis defensively, but Francis’ kicking & marking are brilliant. Can we play Hooker, Hurley, Francis, Ambrose and Ridley in the same backline?
Also we were smashed around the ball and will need myers and langford as inside mids. Which leads to Rd 1 team of
Defenders
Hooker, Hurley, Ambrose, McKenna, Saad, Ridley
Forwards
Joe, Brown, Tippa, Fanta, Stringer, Langford
Belly
Hepp, Merrett, Shiel, Smith McGrath, Zaka, Parish, Myers, Francis
Maybe Ambrose misses and Laverde or Guelfi play?
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