Player Watch Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

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He will be alright. Servicable I guess. List is better with him on it, probably even with the loss of Duursma. We needed defenders badly.

Having said that...we also have bong cones and mcentee as forwards so thats a garbage line too.
 

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Phar Ted said:
Does every thread on here have to be schulzenfested, lets hope BZT exceeds expectations and had a wonderful career with us.
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Very sorry my posting isn't living up to your lofty standard Mr Phar Ted. Really funny username by the way, well done.
 
JimmyBC said:
It's pretty apt his posting stinks.
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backing up homer simpson GIF
 
Phar Ted said:
Does every thread on here have to be schulzenfested, lets hope BZT exceeds expectations and had a wonderful career with us.
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What gets my goat a bit with the negativity is that when a player exceeds expectations or becomes AA, there is a post saying I was wrong really quickly and then post after post of unadulterated praise like they have been on board since the player was knee high to a grasshopper.
 

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Schulzenfest said:
These two are one month apart in age. You could fit BZT's entire arm inside Esava's arm with room to spare. Did Essendon have the same lock on the weights room that we do?

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This is exactly my issue with BZT. Doesn't have the strength to play as a key defender, while also not having the kicking ability to play as a rebounder.

When you look at our year just gone and the aggressive passes that were made into the middle, it was only possible because we had so many accurate kicks coming out of defence. Williams, Houston, Farrell, Burton even McKenzie are excellent kicks of the footy and all can roost it a bloody mile too. Swapping in Ratugolea (necessary for full back) and BZT leaves us with 2 defenders who can't take those aggressive kicks and will slow us down substantially.

Hopefully we use BZT as depth for injuries and our defence stays as Esava, Aliir, with Williams, Farrell, Houston, Burton and Jones supporting that rebound / run and carry.
 
FOR BRANDON Zerk-Thatcher, it was the pull of family that brought him to Port Adelaide.
The former Essendon defender had entered 2023 knowing it was a significant season in the shape of his career. He had been at the Bombers for five years after being drafted late in the 2017 intake and managed a career total 29 games.

He had played 12 games in 2022 but it had been enough to pique Port's interest, with the club meeting Zerk-Thatcher in the last off-season before he returned to the Bombers to play 22 out of 23 games in 2023 with a big decision gnawing at his mind.
"I met with Port the year before at the end of 2022 when I started to play a couple of good games and I suppose the seed was there. But it was nothing concrete, I still had to perform and play well and prove that I could be a good AFL footballer," he told AFL.com.au. "Coming out of contract you always want to put your best foot forward and for me personally I hadn't played a full season of AFL up until that point and that was really my main focus. "(Essendon coach) Brad Scott was really good in giving me that.
But as the year unfolded and Zerk-Thatcher remained set on making his contract call at the end of Essendon's season, Port's interest grew as it looked to add more key pieces to its premiership hopes. The Bombers weren't pushing him out the door and had tabled a contract offer, but the Sturt product had settled on returning to Adelaide.

"I spent six years over in Melbourne. I was fortunate enough to develop some really good friends over at Essendon, the coaches, staff, are all amazing people," he said. "But deep down I've been missing my family over that six years and ultimately I wanted to get back and reconnect with my little brother, and my mum was missing me and I was missing her, so when the opportunity came about I really had to think about it. "What I really wanted was to go back home and make sure I could dive deep into the relationships with my family." He had seen new backline partner Esava Ratugolea put in his trade request to get to the Power – "I noticed that and was like 'Oh, I think I want to put mine in as well'," he said – and had been buoyed by Aliir Aliir's growth since joining the club from Sydney at the end of 2020.

www.afl.com.au

'It wasn't an easy thing': Why BZT chose Power switch

As 2023 wore on and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher played his best footy to date, he knew he had a big call to make
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au
 
Hope the Zerk goes well with you guys.

I think he can be a bloody good second defender, problem for us was he had to man the big boys. After we got McKay I really wanted him to stay as I think he would have been a good foil to McKay.

If he can play on a second tall you guys will be pleasantly surprised with him.
 
Vindicater said:
Hope the Zerk goes well with you guys.

I think he can be a bloody good second defender, problem for us was he had to man the big boys. After we got McKay I really wanted him to stay as I think he would have been a good foil to McKay.

If he can play on a second tall you guys will be pleasantly surprised with him.
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I hope he can add maybe 3 or 4 more kilos on his frame
 

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Player Watch Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

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