Nothing we did wrong. Gavin does some work at Port and identifies himself as more of a Port person these days
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Unit he get’s an Essendon gig and then he’s Essendon all the way.
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Heard about Hirdys boy (16) breaking his leg at a soccer match on his podcast.
probably old news to everyone here.
Also funny to hear Stephanie beat him at tennis for the first time when she was 12.
Yep, JHA member and he is eligible to be taken as a category B multicultural rookie (Lebanese) - Nephew of Mil Hanna.
TAC Cup: Essendon father-son prospect Mason Fletcher draws comparisons to famous father Dustin
Tim Michell, Moonee Valley Leader
April 5, 2018 1:00pm
MASON Fletcher understands the comparisons.
As the son of Essendon games record holder Dustin Fletcher, Bombers father-son prospect Mason has all the hallmarks of a long-term AFL defender.
He stands about 193cm, uses his long limbs to spoil effectively and has red and black running through his veins.
Sound familiar?
Those who saw Mason at Essendon training during pre-season could have been forgiven for thinking Dustin had made a comeback, such is the likeness between father and son. Dustin, a two-time premiership player, featured in his 400th and final match in 2015.
Such was his father’s longevity, Mason will likely land at Tullamarine as an AFL player only four years after his dad departed. 
Mason estimates he attended about 200 of his dad’s AFL matches and gained experience he hopes will help his transition to the top level.
“It was always good to watch him, especially at the home games,” Mason said.
“And then head along to milestone games. We always got to go to them.”
Fletcher had an ideal mentor during his training stint at Essendon, fellow Calder Cannons father-son Joe Daniher.
Now one of the most dynamic forwards in the game, Daniher was drafted by the Bombers, where his dad Anthony played 118 games, with pick no. 10 in the 2012 AFL national draft.
“It was a bit daunting at first,” Mason said.
“First day I think I had lunch with Zach Merrett and Joe Daniher.
“Guys that I watched all of last year. I guess it was pretty daunting but you get used to it.”
Mason will divide his time between school footy with Penleigh and Essendon Grammar, TAC Cup at Calder and Essendon’s James Hird Academy this year.
While Bombers fans are salivating at the prospect of another Fletcher donning the sash, Mason has been reluctant to consider what following in his father’s footsteps would be like.
The 17-year-old, from East Keilor, said his dad was “fairly laid-back” and had given him simple advice on how to tackle the biggest year of his young life.
“He has just told me to tackle it head on and keep playing good footy,” he said.
An Aberfeldie junior, Mason said his younger brother Max had been getting “better and better” and would likely grow to be a key-position prospect in coming years.
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What year is Max available to be drafted?
Imagine if they both turn out to be good!!!
Suprised hamilton’s son is even in the JHA tbh.
All sons and daughters are eligible for the Hird Academy - Why would Hamilton’s son be any different.
‘Cause he’s a dork?
(Mind you, so is little Misiti.)
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Been an up and down game for Fletch so far, wind is making it hard. His defensive running has been good and he has done a few nice spoils. His kicking has been hit and miss but I think the wind has played a part
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Not the best game from young fletch, needs to tidy up a few bad habits. Still a very long term prospect
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Cheers for the updates mate.
Resilience.
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I also ventured down to Sandringham for Mini Fletch watch and it’d be fair to say that in the likely scenario that we draft him, none of today’s game will feature in his highlight package.
I arrived roughly 15mins into the first term, so I can’t comment on most of his opening term.
First the good: I thought his defensive positioning was good and I don’t think he lost a 1 on 1 contest in the time he was there. He also seemed to be directing guys a fair bit (not Goddard style directing, more calm, casual this guy has 10cm on you and I might be the better match-up directing), I didn’t venture out to the huddles so I’m not sure whether he is also talkative there.
For the closing 5-10 minutes of the first term, Mason had one nice smother and a adeft tap to a teammate whilst on the ground. No possessions for the 1st term during the period I was there.
For the remainder of the game, I watched each quarter from Mason’s end to get a better idea of his game. Outside of the first term, I didn’t differentiate stats/incidents per quarter so this’ll just be an overall view of his game.
Mason took most of the kick-outs for Calder in the 2nd term, after the break Cavallaro (mainly) and Moussa handled those duties. Of his 6 kickouts, 5 hit targets, though there wasn’t any of his father’s long roosts, with Mason mainly preferring 20m chips, including the 2 occasions he played on from the square. The only time I saw him attempt something longer during a kickout it was a complete mongrel punt, however despite that it still found a team mate.
Mason had a variety of opponents playing mainly on the deepest forward with Will Kennedy (3 goals) being his most frequent match-up, of the 3 goals I believe only 1 occured whilst he was directly Mason’s opponent.
I had Mason down for 5 kicks (2 via playing on from KOs, 60% efficiency); 1 handball, 1 mark, 2 spoils, 3 frees against and 2 clangers (5 if you’re like Champion Data and count FAs as clangers). He also competed in the ruck for a ball-up but didn’t win the tap
Onto the stuff to work on: of the 3 FAs, one I thought he was unlucky (holding the ball, he made no effort to dispose of the ball once on the ground but I thought his opponent had landed squarely in his back in the tackle), the other 2 were stupid stuff: twice he pushed his opponent in the back as he was chasing the ball to the line with minimal chance of gaining possession before it went out of play.
Mason had one really poor kick that hit Kennedy 20m in the clear from any Calder player. Kennedy kicked the goal.
Mason dropped a chest mark in the goal square that resulted in a goal.
He was caught on his heels when a kick was directed to him, a Dragon attacked the ball harder from 5-10m away and caused a turnover.
Whilst his positioning on Kennedy was good during aerial contests, on a couple of occasions he got sucked into the contest leaving Kennedy free (though not goalside), one of which ended up with Kennedy snapping for a point.
Overall there is stuff to like, but he is pretty raw overall.
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Thanks Dunlop, appreciate the write up.
Exactly spot on, honestly I couldn’t be bothered to right that much detail so good on you there haha also Will Kennedy is a genuine draft prospect so I wouldn’t be ashamed to lose to him a few times if I was Mason.
Thanks for the great report, Dunlop.
@the_don1 it looks like we’re in the tank. Who’s your pick for a top 3 pick?
Tanking for rankine?
Attrocious for lukocious?
Sinking for king?