Bombertalk

22 possessions, 91% efficiency, 5 clearances, 8 marks.

Can everyone please respond to this thread with either "I wanted to keep him because he was a 21 year old KPP" or "I thought he was rubbish".

For mine:

"I wanted to keep him because he was a 21 year old KPP"

Stats can be over-rated Andrewb - I thought whenever he got the ball he slowed down the play and allowed Port to get numbers back. Only watched the last half of the third quarter and last quarter. Mind you, I honestly admit I was never a big fan of Keplers.

Bomber_Fan wrote:Stats can be over-rated Andrewb - I thought whenever he got the ball he slowed down the play and allowed Port to get numbers back. Only watched the last half of the third quarter and last quarter. Mind you, I honestly admit I was never a big fan of Keplers.

Seriously man... he's been in the best 2 games out of 3 and was pretty serviceable last week as well. 20 effective possessions + 2 clangers would suggest that you had shit coloured glasses on. We made a massive mistake not hanging on to him. He's playing as a second ruckman... we could use one of them right now.

He's f***'n rubbish.

andrewb wrote:

Bomber_Fan wrote:Stats can be over-rated Andrewb - I thought whenever he got the ball he slowed down the play and allowed Port to get numbers back. Only watched the last half of the third quarter and last quarter. Mind you, I honestly admit I was never a big fan of Keplers.

Seriously man... he's been in the best 2 games out of 3 and was pretty serviceable last week as well. 20 effective possessions + 2 clangers would suggest that you had shit coloured glasses on. We made a massive mistake not hanging on to him. He's playing as a second ruckman... we could use one of them right now.

Hehe - not shit coloured glassses m8 - like I told you Andrew I was never a big fan of Kepler. Just calling how I see it. He drove me nuts when he played for us because it seemed that any forward that played against him would absolutely dominate. And THAT kick against Collingwood was the straw that broke the camel's back. And it was heart in the mouth stuff too tonight whenever he went to kick the ball and he no longer even plays for Essendon. And I've never felt so strongly about an Essendon player except for perhaps Mark Bolton. Still I would like him to prove me wrong at Dockers.

robbie67 wrote:He's f***'n rubbish.

Ever the diplomat, Robbie67. But I guess I tried to say the same thing but in more words

Everyone can agree that he was no good as a backman. The only real position for him is a forward and that is not an area of weakness for us. Neagle and Gumby are the future of Essendon as forward targets, why keep him? You cant afford to carry players like him anymore and his spot can be better filled with a midfielder. Johns is in the same bucket and he wont be there at the end of the year.

Well why beat around the ******* bush? What's the point of getting a hard on for a guy who as soon as the going gets tough will shake like a girl. Getting 20 for Freo at the moment the way they play is nothing. Granted he has improved his disposal some from preious years, but he couldnt get any worse. 2 weeks ago with the game in the balance he coughed it up like he always does under any kind of pressure, and the resultant goal cost Freo the game.

Not a footballers a/hole, never was, never will be.

I used to hope and hope that Kepler would become a player. He never displayed any competence other than the first 6 odd games in 2005. Played a relatively good game in 2006 v Brisbane, but the rest was forgettable. His kicking deficiencies were well documented and well presented. Good pair of hands, yes. Good football brain, no. He's no great loss. He will never become a match winning KPP.

His career stats read like this;

52 AFL games - played in only 12 wins, 39 losses and 1 draw.

BenDoolan wrote:I used to hope and hope that Kepler would become a player. He never displayed any competence other than the first 6 odd games in 2005. Played a relatively good game in 2006 v Brisbane, but the rest was forgettable. His kicking deficiencies were well documented and well presented. Good pair of hands, yes. Good football brain, no. He's no great loss. He will never become a match winning KPP.

His career stats read like this;

52 AFL games - played in only 12 wins, 39 losses and 1 draw.

Hmmm... I wonder how that compares to other 2003 Essendon draftees? Useless stat Doolan and 100% indicative of the pressure that everyone put on him for being an early pick. Sheedy would have been better off shelving him until he was 23. Neagle and Gumby are going to play some rubbish games between now and when they get mature enough to work out what the f*** their bodies are doing, too. Keep on digging though... I want every ****** who rubbished him on this board to record their opinions as great judges of talent.

andrewb wrote:

BenDoolan wrote:I used to hope and hope that Kepler would become a player. He never displayed any competence other than the first 6 odd games in 2005. Played a relatively good game in 2006 v Brisbane, but the rest was forgettable. His kicking deficiencies were well documented and well presented. Good pair of hands, yes. Good football brain, no. He's no great loss. He will never become a match winning KPP.

His career stats read like this;

52 AFL games - played in only 12 wins, 39 losses and 1 draw.

100% indicative of the pressure that everyone put on him for being an early pick

I grant you this one Andrewb. I'm curious though Andrewb - did you see him as a second string ruckman here at Essendon when he was playing?

andrewb wrote:

BenDoolan wrote:I used to hope and hope that Kepler would become a player. He never displayed any competence other than the first 6 odd games in 2005. Played a relatively good game in 2006 v Brisbane, but the rest was forgettable. His kicking deficiencies were well documented and well presented. Good pair of hands, yes. Good football brain, no. He's no great loss. He will never become a match winning KPP.

His career stats read like this;

52 AFL games - played in only 12 wins, 39 losses and 1 draw.

Hmmm... I wonder how that compares to other 2003 Essendon draftees? Useless stat Doolan and 100% indicative of the pressure that everyone put on him for being an early pick. Sheedy would have been better off shelving him until he was 23. Neagle and Gumby are going to play some rubbish games between now and when they get mature enough to work out what the f*** their bodies are doing, too. Keep on digging though... I want every ****** who rubbished him on this board to record their opinions as great judges of talent.

Well your piss ant stats show nothing. All you are doing is talking shit about how Kepler should have been kept and how Lloyd should have been traded. F****** hell!

Bomber_Fan wrote:

andrewb wrote:

BenDoolan wrote:I used to hope and hope that Kepler would become a player. He never displayed any competence other than the first 6 odd games in 2005. Played a relatively good game in 2006 v Brisbane, but the rest was forgettable. His kicking deficiencies were well documented and well presented. Good pair of hands, yes. Good football brain, no. He's no great loss. He will never become a match winning KPP.

His career stats read like this;

52 AFL games - played in only 12 wins, 39 losses and 1 draw.

100% indicative of the pressure that everyone put on him for being an early pick

I grant you this one Andrewb. I'm curious though Andrewb - did you see him as a second string ruckman here at Essendon when he was playing?

Nah... lead up forward. I didn't really know where he would have fit - just thought that he warranted more patience than some of the other blokes on the list. It was abundantly clear to me that his problem was confidence, not ability.

BenDoolan wrote: Well your piss ant stats show nothing. All you are doing is talking shit about how Kepler should have been kept and how Lloyd should have been traded. F****** hell!

Well I'll tell you what BD, Lloyd is definitely starting to annoy me with his trademark fall to the ground just as Bradley did with his trademark "Anthony Rocca" pose - hands on knees taking deep breaths after 2 seconds of running. Used to drive me nuts! Just another reason, I hate him with a passion. As for trading Lloyd - don't know who in their right mind would give us anything for him - that's the only reason it's not worth it.

andrewb wrote:
Nah... lead up forward. I didn't really know where he would have fit - just thought that he warranted more patience than some of the other blokes on the list. It was abundantly clear to me that his problem was confidence, not ability.

Fair enough - who would you have taken off the list instead of Bradley then? I think the sad thing is that there are a lot players who have survived the cut only because we have had so much other deadwood to cut and not purely on ability. This has been a major problem.

Bomber_Fan wrote:

andrewb wrote:
Nah... lead up forward. I didn't really know where he would have fit - just thought that he warranted more patience than some of the other blokes on the list. It was abundantly clear to me that his problem was confidence, not ability.

Fair enough - who would you have taken off the list instead of Bradley then? I think the sad thing is that there are a lot players who have survived the cut only because we have had so much other deadwood to cut and not purely on ability. This has been a major problem.

Andrew Lee (unfortunately still under contract last year but I would have paid him out and cut him regardless)
Ricky Dyson (who has showed a bit at times this year but is from the same draft as Bradley and is about 6 inches shorter)

If neither of those were possible (highly doubt it) then we still had two picks in the pre-season draft which were used on John Williams and Tom Bellchambers. I'm not quite sure of the logic of this but I assume it is because you only have to give them one year contracts instead of the two that you have to give normal draftees. We could have easily picked up Bellchambers (rated as the best tap ruckman) in the national draft and we could have rookied Williams if we liked him that much.

I'll happily record it. He is ******* rubbish. The same way I happily recorded that Corey McGrath, Shane Harvey, and Damien Cupido were all ******* rubbish when someone was haughtilly trying to tell everyone in here that each of those decisions were going to cost us big time.

I liked Kepler Bradley, however him and Essendon didn't work out.

I'm pleased he's found his feet at Freo, playing well and good on him.

All the best Kep, we tried but I think where it is now is best for EFC and Kepler Bradley.

I know he is rubbish!!

Just like some of the shit that is being bandied around on this thread... Played a couple of servicable games has he?? So did Bolton, Cupido, Symons (Just joking BD ), Laycock amongst others and they were/are allllll trash rubbish shit call it what you like.

Even if he does turn out to be a good pick up for Freo and their forward line it makes no difference to us as he would have been the 6th best big forward on our list... We wouldnt have needed him either way

Bombercol took the words right out of my keyboard.

Some players just don't work at some clubs. Good on him if he fits in at Freo.