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Shaun McKernan

Elwood 3184
Elwood 3184
in Melbourne Demons

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Given that we’re courting 200cm Ben Brown, I would have though that our focus was already on height.

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    I think this makes sense. The idea is this role is unlikely to play, but is there as a back up in case of injury. Therefore the role needs to be cheap from both a dollar and trade sense. Not many players around that fit this criteria I feel...

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    i'd rather josh jenkins didnt get a single look in at the cats or darcy fort same deal there and he has the potential to be shifted on in 2/3 years time too due to his age

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    54 minutes ago, Smokey said:

    Not sure why people see Weideman as a utility. He is clearly a forward and needs to be left to do that 

    So is Tom Lynch but he ends up in the ruck at times too.

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    1 hour ago, Moonshadow said:

    Mitch Brown and McKernan same age (recently turned 30), same height (196cm)

    One has 790 more hitouts than the other, I see both as being pure break glass in case of emergency players only, so maybe it's McKernan's ability to ruck that they are looking at, but realistically they would both be in the bottom 5 players on our list, so it might be the one with that ruck flexibility? Ideally we'd have neither on the list going into next year IMO.

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    Bringing in McKernan as a break-in-case-of-emergency when we have Gawn, Jackson, Bradtke (admittedly raw) plus Tomlinson and Weideman who can both provide a chop-put if needs be - how much glass are we expecting to break?

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    McKernan not so long ago was getting BOG's for twsnbn so i think his form is more to do with a new home rather than anything..

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    I guess with Oscar moving on, there needs to be another whipping boy besides Spargo and Joel Smith.  Mckernan is a plan C pickup which is a stretch. I thought we wanted extra run and pace in the Midfield ranks. 

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    1 hour ago, TRIGON said:

    Bringing in McKernan as a break-in-case-of-emergency when we have Gawn, Jackson, Bradtke (admittedly raw) plus Tomlinson and Weideman who can both provide a chop-put if needs be - how much glass are we expecting to break?

    Gawn and Jackson were both injured at the same time for much of this year. Using the guys you mentioned means we would be short in those areas. It's really not the worst idea to have this type of backup

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    1 hour ago, TRIGON said:

    Bringing in McKernan as a break-in-case-of-emergency when we have Gawn, Jackson, Bradtke (admittedly raw) plus Tomlinson and Weideman who can both provide a chop-put if needs be - how much glass are we expecting to break?

    Some years we do break a lot of glass.

    2020 was great year injury wise but other years have been terrible for the MFC.

    No issue with McKernan being a direct replacement for Preuss, and McKernan actually knows what he's doing up forward. 

    For those that want a perfect example of a ruck playing forward, do not re-watch the late season Freo game as our ruck-forward that day had about 1 possession. 

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    Everyones forgotten about Austin Bradke as 3rd ruck/back up option. Max Gawn had big wraps on him earlier this year. Another preseason, Add some size to the shoulders and hips and he's good to go

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    9 minutes ago, DurriePirate said:

    Everyones forgotten about Austin Bradke as 3rd ruck/back up option. Max Gawn had big wraps on him earlier this year. Another preseason, Add some size to the shoulders and hips and he's good to go

    in fairness, max also extolled the virtues of lachie filipovic back in the day...

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    • Haha 1
    2 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

    Mitch Brown and McKernan same age (recently turned 30), same height (196cm)

    Brown is 196/95 while McKernan is 198/100 - it's not the size - it's how they use it in the ruck.

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    Day 1 of Trade week and Shaun McKernan's thread is at the top.  oh dear

    a nothing trade really, if he comes, would likely/hopefully not get a game. will mean the end for M Brown though?

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    With Ben Brown coming in I'd take McKernan over M. Brown for his ability to back-up ruck. Both are depth but McKernan's versatility makes him more valuable in my view. But I wouldn't expect either to be getting much game time. They'd each be 4th/5th in line for a tall forward spot and McKernan would be 3rd in line for ruck duties.

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    24 minutes ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

    in fairness, max also extolled the virtues of lachie filipovic back in the day...

    And it cost us drafting Rowan Marshall and Ladhams, so hopefully we won’t make that mistake again 

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    Neither Jackson or Weideman is a genuine ruckman, and both should be allowed to develop elsewhere. Bradtke has done nothing. Gawn will be 29 shortly and suffers a serious injury every three years or so.

    We desperately need a genuine backup at low cost and McKernan would have fit the bill nicely.

    As an aside, what is it in for us to be trading Preuss? A third round pick has little value. I'd rather hold him to his contract.

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    weird move by us if I'm honest 

    I get it's all contingency if Gawn goes down but I don't think he should be a focus right now 

    I hope he goes elsewhere and our attention does too 
     

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    52 minutes ago, DurriePirate said:

    Everyones forgotten about Austin Bradke as 3rd ruck/back up option. Max Gawn had big wraps on him earlier this year. Another preseason, Add some size to the shoulders and hips and he's good to go

    People who watch VFL / training will be better placed to comment, but I thought Bradtke was actually showing a bit natural instincts as a forward that in the ruck?

    I'm not against us going after a ruck as insurance - yes we could play tomlinson / weid / jacko in the ruck, but we don't want to be forced to do that if they're all playing well in other positions.

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    31 minutes ago, Radar Detector said:

    With Ben Brown coming in I'd take McKernan over M. Brown for his ability to back-up ruck. Both are depth but McKernan's versatility makes him more valuable in my view. But I wouldn't expect either to be getting much game time. They'd each be 4th/5th in line for a tall forward spot and McKernan would be 3rd in line for ruck duties.

    I think we could keep both as Mckernan has versatility to play ruck/forward and Mitch brown has versatility to play forward/back, gives us some decent back up coverage across our spine.

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    With Ben Brown, Weid and Mitch Brown, we have the key forward post covered. And that’s before Jacko. 
     

    With Gawn, we have only Jacko as backup now. Agree we need a cheap mature backup ruck.  I’d prefer a Lewis Pierce type as a ruck-forward before a Mckernan as a forward-ruck. 

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    Do we really need another backup ruckman, Gawn, Jackson, Bradke, Brown, Weiderman if desperate 

    Lets continue with our original plan & get another wingman Phillips for Tmac if that doesn’t work Tmac can be another backup ruckman, he did it to great effect when Max went down a couple of years ago 

    Edited by Billy

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    Bradtke seems to have been described as 'raw' for years.

    Will he ever shake that moniker?

     

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    3 hours ago, AaronDaveyChipsAndGravey said:

    So is Tom Lynch but he ends up in the ruck at times too.

    This is exactly my point, just because a player is tall and occasionally contests a ruck doesn't mean they are a "utility" player. Tom Lynch is a genuine KPF. 

    Edited by Smokey

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