News Farewell, and thank you for your service thread

[Big Cyrille]

Is the right decision but will always have fondness for Ned. Just not an AFL player, despite working his a$$ off to get there. Sure will be missed around club. On field will remember his glee booting the ball high into the crowd at the end of the win against Geelong Round 1 a few years ago when Huddo was calling 'Ring the Bells'. If he doesn't get chance elsewhere has set himself up well with a media career in Adelaide.

 

[jo172]

What makes the McHenry pick probably the worst pick ever is that at the time of his drafting he didn't have any elite qualities

It's not like he was (even) Fischer McAsey who was touted to be an elite interceptor, MVP, etc. Or Gallucci with his athleticism.

He had zero top level qualities you look for in a first round pick. He was short, average pace, not especially athletic, average accumulator, disposal was fine, not a goal kicker really. Most of his best work was in the midfield which he was unlikely to play at AFL level due to his size. Just a bog average player. (Rookie Me listed him as having good decision making which didn't pan out but even that is just the bare minimum of a draftee in the first few rounds)

The big thing he was drafted for was his endurance and "team-first" stuff. Which is not something that makes a player a first round pick.

I get that sometimes you take a highly touted player and it's a big flop, like McAsey. But McHenry shouldn't have ever been in first round consideration even at the time. We got spooked by the Richmond gamestyle and wanted to copy their small forwards (all of which they got late in the draft)

I'm convinced that we overcorrected after 2017 and tried to draft the kind of mosquito fleet who beat us that day.

 

[Scorpus]

I think this is the narrative which has come in the years since, rather than at the time. At the time McHenry was seen as very much a late first round/early second round pick who brought fitness, pace, intensity and toughness. Was seen as a fan favourite who did most things right and was a natural footballer, but just lacked in size. The feeling was he would start as a small forward who would then transition into the midfield as his body matured.

Unfortunately, time showed us that McHenry couldn't cope with the pace and physicality of AFL football, and just ended up rushing, panicking, or making mistakes when the heat was on. That never seemed to improve, and he didn't have enough else going for him to make up for that deficiency.

At the time people were trying to pump him up by promoting qualities which - if we didn't have rose tinted glasses on - actually didn't describe someone that should have been picked in the first round

Remember the whole "I did a 40km jog on the weekend" thing? Like yeah awesome, that sounds cool... except if we look back on that it would have been nice to hear more about his elite AFL abilities

 

[Interloperer]

Murphy and Jones are pretty much on the same level as Ned, dunno how they still get games in the main side

The gap between McHenry and Murphy is about the same as the gap between Murphy and the Brownlow Medal.

 

[Betts are off]

Thanks for the memories all 5 who left the club today.

 

[SugarShane]

Was it McHenry earlier this year who got the ball in our forward line and had something like ten options available to him, but hesitated about six times and ended up making the worst possible choice?

Ned in a Nutshell



Some would say the missed set shot from 15m out is quintessential Ned, however this play to me sums up his career in about 8 seconds (clip is in half speed, playback speed at 2x for real time).

• Starts off with a trademark fumble, but let's absolve blame on this thanks to Woz's tumbler kick. But then, it's McHenrying time:
• Takes possession, looks up, sees a defender ahead of him
• Knows Hinge is behind him in the pocket, ignores him
• Sees Curtin completely free in the pocket, could draw the defender then pass, ignores him
• Has Crouch boundary side with Jones in effectively a 2 on 1 further afield for a hand ball, ignores them
• Has Soligo with lots of space in front of him inboard, fakes a handball to him
• Pulls the switch kick, which was a chance of being smothered to be fair

All while deciding instead to turn inboard, instead of towards the boundary, and retreat by handballing to the most dangerous spot instead of the aforementioned Curtin and Hinge who are both in a mountain of space with arms outstretched.

 

[cmndstab]

Ah yes, that's right, it was actually in defence instead where the potential for damage was greater

 

[Geoffa32]

So Hardwick wants Himmelberg, but pushed Luko out.....

 

[Geoffa32]

Seems like being great around the club is all he ever brought to the table. At least Jones has speed and can kick. One of the most baffling picks in a long while. McHenry offered nothing except “good kid” vibes.

Jones needs to be delisted once his contract is up as well...

 

[thebirdman 24]

Hooray, Ned is gone!

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Good delistings. Feels like a slightly harder edge to our list management this year in terms of decisions made and players targeted.

Smith the exception but we'll wait and see there I guess

 

[crow2crow]

You may be right - but at least give him more opportunity especially when the player ahead of him was so poor


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i would have preferred ned before murphy too but we all know of nix love of murphy

 

[crow2crow]

Jones needs to be delisted once his contract is up as well...

he will be traded to the tassie team or a compo of some kind. could be a useful asset

 

[craig crowing]

Regarding delistings firstly I would like to apologise to Ned for all those opinions I expressed when you were drafted and every game you played as mate it wasn't your fault Hamish selected a slow midget size footballer with no AFL skills whatsoever.
Also not your fault Nicks kept picking you week after week to embarrass yourself trying to be a AFL player.
Now a question not totally up with numbers currently, but we lose 6 players including Sloane and having 3 new players plus T Murray that we only have pick 4 plus Welsh unless we delist a contracted player.

 

[SugarShane]

Apparently Neddy will be most missed according to facebook:



Ned McHenry. On his day was fantastic. Just didnt get enough games into him

he has to be, they never gave him any games. When he played he was great

Gollant is a good decision but I don’t think they gave Ned enough of a chance.

Ned??? You are joking right?

Ned Mchenry ???? You are kidding me.

So sorry Ned always thought you played well and gave it your all

Loved watching Ned play, he will be a loss.

Know there has to be changes, but sorry to see Ned go... always gave 110 % All the best to all of them..

Ned was great

I’m not happy about McHenry but again Reid seems to screw our list!!

Ned deserves his spot! Unbelievable

I just loved Ned. He always threw himself at the ball and gave top effort. Will be sad to see him go.

Sorry to see McHenry go, love his fierce attack on the ball

Parnell and McHenry is a big no no

They did not just delist Ned!!!

Not Ned really ? Don’t let Ned go

No more Ned Time

Wow!! NED, going that’s a shock.

Ned McHenry? he’s a gun

That's pathetic getting rid of mchenry would a preferred Schoenberg to go

this is horrible news NED

No more Neddy

Sad to see Ned go

yeh was so gutsy but just didn’t get a chance

No not Ned!

Noooooo…..Not Neddy!

Was a great tactical sub, but thinking his fishing and TV career are taking up a lot of his time!

No not Ned!!!

Loved Ned.... Ugh

Not Ned

Not Ned

No not Ned

Poor Ned

Noooo not Ned.

ned hurts

Thought Ned had a role to play great pressure around the footy. Hope he gets picked up. Needs to keep the boots on to fund that boat of his

Saw a lot of these too. Actually insane how loved he was. Do these fans actually watch the games? Do they like losing? It sucks because by all accounts it seems like Ned is well loved inside the club and seems to be a great guy, but he'd easily be in the conversation for worst Crows players in the past 10 years. And he just got given chance, after chance, after chance, and statistically never improved and as a matter of fact, objectively went backwards in most stats as his career went on.

I say this as someone who genuinely tries to find good in most Crows players, but seeing him named in the site made me physically angry.

 

[FR0GGY]

he will be traded to the tassie team or a compo of some kind. could be a useful asset

No value

 

[arsene wenger1]

youre right but ned still would be gone. he had plenty of opportunities with 70 games.

murphy is the anomaly and should be gone too

Honestly can’t believe ned made it to 70 games.

Also can’t believe Jones has nearly made it to 100 games. Legit still plays like a first year player

 

[George Kramer]

No hate from all the Ned lovers now...
Jones will be next.

He’s in real trouble with our additions, going to struggle to get a game. He will need to blitz this preseason.

 

[George Kramer]

Apparently Neddy will be most missed according to facebook:



Ned McHenry. On his day was fantastic. Just didnt get enough games into him

he has to be, they never gave him any games. When he played he was great

Gollant is a good decision but I don’t think they gave Ned enough of a chance.

Ned??? You are joking right?

Ned Mchenry ???? You are kidding me.

So sorry Ned always thought you played well and gave it your all

Loved watching Ned play, he will be a loss.

Know there has to be changes, but sorry to see Ned go... always gave 110 % All the best to all of them..

Ned was great

I’m not happy about McHenry but again Reid seems to screw our list!!

Ned deserves his spot! Unbelievable

I just loved Ned. He always threw himself at the ball and gave top effort. Will be sad to see him go.

Sorry to see McHenry go, love his fierce attack on the ball

Parnell and McHenry is a big no no

They did not just delist Ned!!!

Not Ned really ? Don’t let Ned go

No more Ned Time

Wow!! NED, going that’s a shock.

Ned McHenry? he’s a gun

That's pathetic getting rid of mchenry would a preferred Schoenberg to go

this is horrible news NED

No more Neddy

Sad to see Ned go

yeh was so gutsy but just didn’t get a chance

No not Ned!

Noooooo…..Not Neddy!

Was a great tactical sub, but thinking his fishing and TV career are taking up a lot of his time!

No not Ned!!!

Loved Ned.... Ugh

Not Ned

Not Ned

No not Ned

Poor Ned

Noooo not Ned.

ned hurts

Thought Ned had a role to play great pressure around the footy. Hope he gets picked up. Needs to keep the boots on to fund that boat of his

Is that all from the same person?

 

[1970crow]

Will unlucky I reckon. I thought he did enough to get another crack.

Lachlan and Patty just haven't ever really looked up to it.

Ned has never looked anywhere near up to it. I can barely think of a game of his I'd consider passable let alone good yet somehow he became the fallback player when Nicksy needed to fill a spot. This feels like list management saying "No Nicksy. Enough. That toy is dangerous. I'm taking it away because I know if I leave it out you will play with it and you will hurt yourself or others."

Will looked like he was, at worst, viable depth this year. We’re not capable of making decisions that don’t favour senior player entitlement. Smith should be paid out and if no better option, Hamill retained.

 

[1970crow]

All correct decisions. Hamill might consider himself unlucky, and I certainly feel for him, but a club simply cannot assume the risk of keeping a player who is one benign head knock away from a medically-enforced retirement.

Why can’t clubs assume that risk?

 

[1970crow]

No issue with any of those delistings. For those saying that it's harsh on Hamill, we can always re-draft him if we don't think there are any better players available at our final pick. But I think it's time to move on from him. He'll always be injury-prone, and will always lack awareness. May as well roll the dice on somebody new.

I don’t understand how you can post that knowing we’re retaining Smith instead of forcing his retirement.

 

[1970crow]

I was for keeping hamill til the GF sprint when I realised that his speed is really only worth 30-40m in a straight line then he was cooked and fell off the pace quite badly. With the concussions too much risk correct decision to delist.

Burgess must go. Will be really pissed if he is kept as he's not even depth. Strachan and Smith to be delisted and re-rookied surely.

When was the last time you saw a player run more than 40m at full pace? Would be lucky to be a few times per game, you just don’t need speed over any more distance.

 

[1970crow]

The gap between McHenry and Murphy is about the same as the gap between Murphy and the Brownlow Medal.

The 2 are all but identical in terms of contributing to game day outcome.

 

[StonesThrow]

At the time people were trying to pump him up by promoting qualities which - if we didn't have rose tinted glasses on - actually didn't describe someone that should have been picked in the first round

Remember the whole "I did a 40km jog on the weekend" thing? Like yeah awesome, that sounds cool... except if we look back on that it would have been nice to hear more about his elite AFL abilities

Was thinking this about Reid's description of Cumming. 'we love his versatility... good runner... brings leadership and experience'.

We love these words even when we pick someone with skill and footy IQ (just as important as running even in the modern game).