It’s really not. He’s just one of those kids that will carry a bit extra, … “Puppy fat” (as I’ve always known it), for a touch longer than others, … but when it finally gets transformed into height, & muscle mass, … he’s going to be a beast… I mean like an old time 6’ 4" blacksmith type.
Just as a point of reference, … does anyone remember how Jobe Wan began his playing career??
He was a very similar character, physique wise. Carried that little extra for 2 to 3 years in the mid section, … thighs like lamp posts … . And the thing is, you don’t actually want to strip them of it too early, … it’s still there for a reason, it needs to be there for him for when the body calls on it, to put into that last late growing that occurs with their type.
The difference is, what Jobe could get away with in the game as it was back even then, … you simply can’t in today’s run run run & then just fkn run some more style of AFL.
I’ve seen many of his, & Jobes type over the years, both locally, & in the AFL.
Francis is also tall and the bigger guys usually take a bit longer. Not really relevant but I was not the slightest bit concerned waiting a bit longer for McCluggage either.
Not everyone is a star straight away. Have a look at Carlisle’s career.
The kid has done it pretty hard, the pressure of moving interstate away from his family as an 18 year old isn’t always easy. He takes me as a quieter type of lad too. We can’t know what toll loosing his brother in his draft year has had either.
From all reports he has put in really hard all pre-season, had a couple of injury setbacks, and then falls ill and misses his chance in JLT2.
Fitness can take longer for some,especially with his body type. It sounds like he has grown significantly since been drafted too. He is pretty much key position size now. I just hope the club is giving him all the support he needs.
There was no mass-lauding of McG because he was ready to go, nor was there any disparaging of McClug because he needed more time. That is revisionist, I reckon. Most people wanted McClug, because he was/is a great player, and a smaller group wanted McG because they preferred him as a player. And an even smaller group preferred players like Brodie, Taranto, Setterfield, etc. It had nothing to do with ‘being ready to go’, and nothing at all to do with Francis and what seems to be the adopted position of his situation here on Blitz.
Reading through this stuff makes it seems like all the kid needs is a few more ‘likes’, a few more positive Blitz comments, maybe a nice word in a training reposrt, and he’ll be done. Talk about self-aggrandisement…
Not to mention with any high pick you are looking for who you think will be the best player over the next decade, so if one of your criteria is they need to be ready for round one you are doing it wrong.
Not sure about that…I think McC was seen as a midfielder who can kick a goal and would probably rest forward. That saying though, he’d probably earn his stripes playing HFF as Zerrett did.
What about Powell Pepper, he was who i was hoping for with our second pick. Looks to be a gun already to me, quick powerful and hunts the contest and has only played a couple of JLT games.
