McKernan article

[kosifantutti]

. New Saint fell out of love with game in last year at Bombers

Shaun McKernan says he had fallen out of love with the game in his final year at Essendon and hadn’t wanted to continue his AFL career by season’s end.

Less than six months later, McKernan, 30, is in the box seat to play in round one for St Kilda after impressing in the pre-season game against Carlton, filling in for the injured Rowan Marshall......

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/new ... 578a5.html

[st sandy]

From what i saw i thought he marked well on Thursday night

I can recall a few times at Essendon he took strong contested marks but is kicking at goal let him down.
Unlike the saints who used the hub as a positive from reading the article life at the hub for the bombers was not great. (who said footy is played significantly above the shoulders - the saints for a change are playing this space better than others)
Time will tell however he has a strong body & appears he may be a solid backup for forwards/rucks especially if he is able to rectify his goal kicking

[Joffa Burns]

Came across as a bit of a sook in the article for mine.

Hope he goes ok, I reckon he plays round 1.

[SaintPav]

Came across as a bit of a sook in the article for mine.

Hope he goes ok, I reckon he plays round 1.

It's the demographic.

[Scollop]

Came across as a bit of a sook in the article for mine.

Hope he goes ok, I reckon he plays round 1.

We all know that certain players were unhappy at Essendon (Daniher/Fantasia/Saad et el) and wanted out and there was tension within the leadership group in the last 2 years.

https://www.northernstar.com.au/news/bi ... e/4103584/

It’s well documented as per above article that there was unrest at Bomberland in 2019 and 2020. Worsfold had a year to go on his contract so they tried some form of dual coaching last year with Rutten controlling the footballing side and match day duties and Worsfold being the mouthpiece for the media duties. It was a horrendous failure and I hope that they have another mediocre year

I remember a few years back we had a thread on the forum as to whether our recruiters should be looking for kids from the bush rather than draftees from the city. Those private school city slickers were mostly soft pampered youth according to Con Gorozidis. Apparently the youngsters from the country had a tougher life ( getting up at 5am milking cows and shovelling shitt in the stables) and were more resilient.

Anyhow... Calling Shaun a sook is wrong and a bit harsh. In this day and age of mental health awareness, I wouldn’t be too quick to label someone without seeing things from their perspective.

[skeptic]

Gotta say... having finally got round to watching the match, he did better than I thought he would have against Carlton. His marking was a feature but the guy has a bit mongrel about him that I like too. Strikes me as a player that’s willing to try and make it happen as opposed to waiting for opportunity to pop up.

Is def in rd1 for me for now at least

[SaintPav]

Gotta say... having finally got round to watching the match, he did better than I thought he would have against Carlton. His marking was a feature but the guy has a bit mongrel about him that I like too. Strikes me as a player that’s willing to try and make it happen as opposed to waiting for opportunity to pop up.

Is def in rd1 for me for now at least

Agree.

Not a bad back up for Marshall. Hopefully, we don't lose too much.

[saintbob]

Hopefully he is back up only, for a bloke who’s played a fair bit of footy he still does some incredibly dumb s***.

I’d happily play Hunter in front of McKernan

[WellardSaint]

Hopefully he is back up only, for a bloke who’s played a fair bit of footy he still does some incredibly dumb s***.

I’d happily play Hunter in front of McKernan

He's 30 yet only had 53 games.
Did he get injured a lot or was he just not quite best 22 at Drugsville?

[shanegrambeau]

Hopefully he is back up only, for a bloke who’s played a fair bit of footy he still does some incredibly dumb s***.

I’d happily play Hunter in front of McKernan

He's 30 yet only had 53 games.
Did he get injured a lot or was he just not quite best 22 at Drugsville?

I love a story about a person on the fringes who goes through the arc of ‘promising junior’ to ‘stalled’ to ‘also ran’ to ‘keeps on presenting’ to ‘?????’. It’s a romantic story, for sure, but to keep on punching is awesome. 53 games at 30 years old. It’s good enough for me.

[CQ SAINT]

He has 87 games, 3 clubs, drafted twice, FA in the end. Living the f****** dream, hope he ends it in a Grand Final winning squad.