Player Watch #44: Cameron Zurhaar - has re-signed until the end of 2029

[koshari]

Was one of his more sensible games, made some good decisions such as the penetrating inboard handball to souva. Seemed to think out his options a bit more.

 

[justroyal]

Not tackling, or hitting hard anywhere near like he used to. Is he at all?

BUt delivering inside 50 is his jam at the minute.
In particular, with Larkey. HHF and maybe mid needs to be revisited?

 

[tazaa]

He’s kicking under the ball and has been for three weeks now.
Wonder if he’s injured.
Right foot has to be getting jabbed pre game.

 

[Devil Fish]

I rate Cam, but my question is, is he a better player now, than he was 2 years ago? I’d argue he’s regressed.
We need so much more from him.
Not sure why he isn’t thrown into the centre bounce occasionally ala Stringer.

 

[Zondor]

Would give us more than Powell in the middle. :stern look

 

[My Left Foote]

Needs to change his Insta page to: Bull's Not Cooking.

 

[Sphynx]

Not tackling, or hitting hard anywhere near like he used to. Is he at all?

BUt delivering inside 50 is his jam at the minute.
In particular, with Larkey. HHF and maybe mid needs to be revisited?

When did he used to?

I'm kind of sick of hearing it about him.

2 or 3 games in his career is the outlier, not the standard.

He had 10 pressure acts yesterday, which is the sort of defensive output that has seen Ford dropped or been the sub.

He's a downhill skier if we are being brutally honest and he's been a cheating style half forward for a number of years now. He tackles and pressures when he feels like it. He wants to kick goals and he wants to get his 15+ disposals. He's figured out to do that he needs to get out the back of the half back line most of the time.

He's absolutely miles off someone like a Dylan Moore from even just a pressure stand point.

A 5 year deal on $700k is having our pants down again for simply retaining a "senior player".

He's worth nothing near that.

 

[Sphynx]

I rate Cam, but my question is, is he a better player now, than he was 2 years ago? I’d argue he’s regressed.
We need so much more from him.
Not sure why he isn’t thrown into the centre bounce occasionally ala Stringer.

Is he a better player than he was 5 years ago?

4-5 of his best 7 or 8 career games came back in 2019.

They all correlated with tackle and pressure numbers double he's put out in the last 3 seasons.

He's been in the coaches votes twice in his last 50 games.

He was in the coaches votes 4 times in his first 25 games.

He's going to morph into the next McDonald, Atley etc in that as soon as you blink in the next couple of years, he will have clocked up his 200th game with nothing really to show for it.

 

[Roosurgence]

What’s the general consensus here?

Are we happy to keep him or let him go? Lots of division here.

Im in the “keep” camp but more from the point of view of trying to maintain the group. But I’m also not in the keep at all costs camp.

He very much is following a similar trajectory to Jake Stringer

25

Jake Stringer

Age

30

Ht

192cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.9

3star

K

8.5

3star

HB

4.4

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.5

4star

G

1.8

5star

D

8.5

2star

K

7.0

3star

HB

1.5

1star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.8

4star

G

2.5

5star

D

7.2

2star

K

4.8

2star

HB

2.4

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.4

4star

G

1.4

5star

. Absolute weapon when he is on, but we don’t see it enough.

I think it gets done and he stays. But it won’t be doom and gloom if that isn’t the case.

 

[Disco Dew]

What’s the general consensus here?

Are we happy to keep him or let him go? Lots of division here.

Im in the “keep” camp but more from the point of view of trying to maintain the group. But I’m also not in the keep at all costs camp.

He very much is following a similar trajectory to Jake Stringer. Absolute weapon when he is on, but we don’t see it enough.

I think it gets done and he stays. But it won’t be doom and gloom if that isn’t the case.

Keep. That’s all. Just keep.

 

[Sphynx]

What’s the general consensus here?

Are we happy to keep him or let him go? Lots of division here.

Im in the “keep” camp but more from the point of view of trying to maintain the group. But I’m also not in the keep at all costs camp.

He very much is following a similar trajectory to Jake Stringer. Absolute weapon when he is on, but we don’t see it enough.

I think it gets done and he stays. But it won’t be doom and gloom if that isn’t the case.

Stringer averaged almost 5 shots a game as a 21 year old at the Dogs. Cam will never reach that level imo.

Stringer himself has never reached it since.

Although he's had another 2+ goal a season year as well as multiple others around Zurhaars best year goal kicking wise.

Another damning stat, Stringer is perceived as a lazy half forward yet averages 20% more pressure acts across his career than CZ. He averages more tackles inside 50 also.

Another point, has Essendon been happy with Stringers output for his pay packet? I doubt anyone would say yes and he's likely to have been a lot better than Zurhaar will over the next 3-4 years imo.

 

[ferball]

What’s the general consensus here?

Are we happy to keep him or let him go? Lots of division here.

Im in the “keep” camp but more from the point of view of trying to maintain the group. But I’m also not in the keep at all costs camp.

He very much is following a similar trajectory to Jake Stringer. Absolute weapon when he is on, but we don’t see it enough.

I think it gets done and he stays. But it won’t be doom and gloom if that isn’t the case.

I tend to agree with this, was in the "keep" camp at the start of the year.

Watched him live for the first time and shifted to the "let go" camp during the game but had come back around by the time I watched him live the second time. He improved significantly over that month, just in terms of effort off the ball.

That whole cream vs cake thing ... he's cream on top. Capable of winning games on his day but not capable of putting the team on his back by himself imo.

 

[justroyal]

What’s the general consensus here?

Are we happy to keep him or let him go? Lots of division here.

Im in the “keep” camp but more from the point of view of trying to maintain the group. But I’m also not in the keep at all costs camp.

He very much is following a similar trajectory to Jake Stringer. Absolute weapon when he is on, but we don’t see it enough.

I think it gets done and he stays. But it won’t be doom and gloom if that isn’t the case.

I’m just not sold on a five year deal.
Like Jy and Luke, I feel like we might be getting played on this length

 

[King Corey]

Keep. That’s all. Just keep.

Approved.

 

[ferball]

I’m just not sold on a five year deal.
Like Jy and Luke, I feel like we might be getting played on this length

Jy was our captain and committed to seeing out his career with the club. Since then our best forward (one of the best in the comp,) our best young prospect and one of the best rucks in the comp have all committed to long term deals. And its gets cited by LDU as part of what motivates him to want to stay.

Who knows the effect Lmac's decision had on Jy during a tumultuous time in our history too.

For all the criticism, I think the length of Jy And Lmac's deals showed commitment and helped us create stability when we needed it.

If Zurhaar gets lucky because he's one of our few potential senior players to stay then it might be a small price to pay. He had a quiet year and was still on track to kick 30 goals if he didn't miss nearly a third of the season with injury. That would have been 30 goals a year for four seasons providing he kicks another four goals this year ... for all his flaws that's still a consistent output.

If we can rely on that and improve our forward line in other areas (more KPF and small forward output) then those 30+ goals will be handy every year.

 

[King Corey]

Does the player have elite AFL attributes?

Has the player demonstrated these attributes in the AFL?

Does the player bring some intangibles to the group - e.g. 1+ yes's from areas such as - leadership, humour, care, charisma, work ethic etc?

Is the player consistent?

Does the player fit at North Melbourne culturally?

Verdict: If Cam wants to stay I want to keep him. Inconsistent gamebreaker beats consistent Shitmen.

 

[My Left Foote]

Does the player have elite AFL attributes?

Has the player demonstrated these attributes in the AFL?

Does the player bring some intangibles to the group - e.g. 1+ yes's from areas such as - leadership, humour, care, charisma, work ethic etc?

Is the player consistent?

Does the player fit at North Melbourne culturally?

Verdict: If Cam wants to stay I want to keep him. Inconsistent gamebreaker beats consistent Shitmen.

I was leaning towards a Consistent Shitman racking up 200+ games for us but now that you put it this way you've convinced me otherwise.

 

[shinboner magic]

Sign him asap and let the good times start.
He doesn’t have to be the man every game - just needs to do him bit.
One week PC, ford , BGZ might go off - as long as he have multiple dangerous players

 

[Ashley B]

Players like Cam are good blokes to have at the club. Sometimes you need blokes with a bit of personality. Do I think we are overpaying, possibly. I didn’t have the same feeling about McKay. From outside looking in , he looked to have the personality likened to a door knob. And let me tell you, spoken to a few door knobs in my time,not that exciting.

 

[Samsquanch]

is he a better player now, than he was 2 years ago? I’d argue he’s regressed

I'm just thinking back over the last couple of years...

I don't think he's regressed in that timeframe. He's certainly not playing with anywhere near the intensity nor impact as he did in the couple of years prior though, so he has regressed from that period.

I can't see him being offered a contract at another club that pushes him to band one compo, but if * or some other club did make such an offer, then I reckon the North Melbourne football department would be stoked to the eyeballs. If the best he gets puts him into band two compo territory then North might consider matching however, they'd be wise to consider the sunk cost fallacy while coming to terms with the decision.

 

[LB2Snake]

What’s the general consensus here?

Are we happy to keep him or let him go? Lots of division here.

Im in the “keep” camp but more from the point of view of trying to maintain the group. But I’m also not in the keep at all costs camp.

He very much is following a similar trajectory to Jake Stringer. Absolute weapon when he is on, but we don’t see it enough.

I think it gets done and he stays. But it won’t be doom and gloom if that isn’t the case.

I like Cam but he’s not fit to carry Stringer’s bag. Needs to do a shitload more.

 

[CURVE]

I'm happy for him to leave if the compensation is good enough, but I'm happy for him to stay as well as long as we aren't overpaying him.

 

[ferball]

I'm just thinking back over the last couple of years...

I don't think he's regressed in that timeframe. He's certainly not playing with anywhere near the intensity nor impact as he did in the couple of years prior though, so he has regressed from that period.

I can't see him being offered a contract at another club that pushes him to band one compo, but if * or some other club did make such an offer, then I reckon the North Melbourne football department would be stoked to the eyeballs. If the best he gets puts him into band two compo territory then North might consider matching however, they'd be wise to consider the sunk cost fallacy while coming to terms with the decision.

Didn't kick a goal yesterday but had four goal assists and looks to be on his way to his best season.

 

[ChairmanZia]

I like Cam but he’s not fit to carry Stringer’s bag. Needs to do a shitload more.

No, he just need to be a medium sized forward who kicks 35 goals a year.

 

[ChairmanZia]

I'm happy for him to leave if the compensation is good enough, but I'm happy for him to stay as well as long as we aren't overpaying him.

Im not certain there is market for him out there as his manager has reported.