I cant believe that it is that time of the year again when we need to start another Port Melbourne player movement thread - as Rocky said to Paulie - "time goes tooooo faaaaaaaaaaaaaast"..
Anyways to begin - a sad one and a player that will be hard to replace and will definetely be missed by the Borough. A player who through his Port Melbourne journey became more versatile the more he played. He had the ability to ruck, play forward and back. I'm of course talking of the retirement of Khan Heretuku who is retiring from VFL football. Had a great few seasons at Port being recruited by VFLFOOtys own Lauchie from Frankston in season 2015.
I feel like Port should look for another big man to replace Khan as it is often evident that the size difference against some of the AFL sides is a definite disadvantage.
Khan always showed signs of being a top class footballer, the problem he had at Frankston was his consistency. St Kilda rookie delisted when he arrived at Frankston, there was no doubt he was good enough to get another go at AFL if he could improve his consistency. He played full back on Max Gawn for a half at Casey one day - Gawn had run amok at full forward in the first half and Khan kept him to one goal after he went on him, and that was when Max pushed him in the back to out mark him. I think we alll woke up to how good Khan was that day.
Pretty sure he left Frankston because the Dolphins were struggling to pay their players at the time - I have no issue with anyone wanting out under those circumstances, especially a young married bloke with a family.
His consistancy was a problem at Port Melbourne for the first half of his time served at the club. He improved in that avenue as time went on. Some have put a theory forward saying that the injuries he had sustained in his final vfl years had him play more consistantly due to coming back more refreshed mentally when returning from injury.
Every sport has these types - perhaps he was the type that had the potential to be great but just couldn't get themselves mentally ready and fired up week in week out. In any case a very good footballing career that he should be proud of.
Not many noticed because the Dolphs only won two games that year, but Khan's 2012 season was outstanding and he was desperately unlucky not to get drafted that year. I have no doubt he could have been a contributor at AFL level had he been given a chance at that point.
In other news, both Gary Ayres and J Blair have both committed to 2020.
Blake Pearson leaving due to work commitments.
Mitch McCarthy from Frankston to Port according to Paul Amy.
That's a surprise !
No surprise there!! Wouldnt expect anything else....
Blair's brother Jack also an addition for 2020 after a strong season in the Northern Football League
In reply to No surprise there!! Wouldnt by Bearsman
The Vultures continue to rip the guts out of Frankston, Lets hope the competition can even itself out & repay a little Karma !
No wonder Frankston cant get a go on...nearly every good player they get finishes up drafted or stolen by another club. At least they didnt get the two best players from this year, who both have re-signed for 2020. Hopefully with the financial restrictions on Frankston to be lifted next year, they will be in a position to match or better the offers these guys get and perhaps even do some thieving of their own....
If McCarthys body holds up - which is a concern - I have no doubt in a few years he will be in the VFL silk department. Had a lot of injuries during his two years at Frankston. The story going round is that he's moved closer to town from the Peninsula, (maybe he moved to be closer to Port) but make no mistake he was headhunted by Port. A quote from the Port website...
"Football Manager Glenn Balmforth said “Mitch is a player that we identified earlier in the 2019 season that we wanted to target and bring in to our club,”