JON

[TigerTimeII]

he will make it
will be happier there than at rfc
we are the worst at developing players
lets hope that chANGES AS OF NOW

[Tigermonk]

Did you want him to stay at the club Infamy and if so based on what, btw, isn't he the one that said he never did the best he could at the RFC but now he is back with his family it will change. Gee did he give us a good go then??

No, it was the right decision to let him go, should never have been picked in the first place to be honest.
However given the way some of our supporters have acted towards him, I'd be more than happy for him to become successful and stick it up them.
Doing so would clearly highlight the failure of our club to develop him as a player, but we knew we were crap at that anyway
[/quote]

Some players just dont fit into certain teams & l reckon JON was one of them
He could be a superstar at another club & good luck to him if he does.
However l think with his under development over several years & his lack of games at Richmond at senior AFL level
l feel it would have damaged his chances of becoming a consistant player at league level.

[Smokey]

Interesting post on tiger-talk from a mate of mine who lives in WA:

What a crock of poo. The son of one of my colleagues at work went to
school with JON from year 5 to year 11 and he said that JON had no
difficulty reading writing or understanding his work. May have not been
the brightest bulb in the Xmas tree but he could still manage his work.
He managed to get through every grade without having to repeat at a
reputable school. More journalistic crap to make the FWCE (premiers
2010, 2011, 2012,2013 and provide the triple brownlow medalist) look
good.

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/tiger-talk/message/92848

[Penelope]

I know a bloke who ran his own courier business for a few years that was illiterate. Sometimes people with such problems find ways to mask and work around their problems.

I wouldnt take much credence from a teenager's observations about another student with something like this.

[tigersalive]

A mate who watches both Freo and West Coast train , says that he is flying .
I said turn it up, he cant play.
He begs to differ, we will see.

We also heard he was flying at training more than once.

Then he gets on the paddock and is a spud.

[Smokey]

I know a bloke who ran his own courier business for a few years that was illiterate. Sometimes people with such problems find ways to mask and work around their problems.

I wouldnt take much credence from a teenager's observations about another student with something like this.

That's very true Al but by the same token you wouldn't think an adult who has been able to cope/mask their way successfully through Year 11 would then have "profound learning difficulties" that prevented him from playing football to any significant degree.  It didn't prevent him from performing well at VFL level on many occasions.

[bushranger]

We are a lot better off without him.
I don't think I have one memory of him as a player.
I have got some of him trying to be a player. 

[TigerLand]

From memory JON had a stellar pre season last year or the year before.

Never brought it on match day.

Lovely guy but just gets match jitters. Only experience can cure this.

[Infamy]

From memory JON had a stellar pre season last year or the year before.

Never brought it on match day.

Lovely guy but just gets match jitters. Only experience can cure this.

I don't remember him having an amazing full preseason, I think he only had one where he was actually fit for the whole time.
I do remember one intra-club match at Yarra Park where he actually showed some amazing agility weaving in and out of traffic, thought maybe it had finally clicked, however I don't think he ever showed that again.

He definitely did show some good courage and defensive skills at Coburg, he just couldn't step up to AFL level.

I do remember one beautiful piece of vision against Melbourne where he spotted Riewoldt on the opposite side of the forward 50 and kicked an absolute bullet pass from the left wing on to Riewoldt's chest 45m out in the right forward flank. If only we saw more of that.

[Mr Magic]

A mate who watches both Freo and West Coast train , says that he is flying .
I said turn it up, he cant play.
He begs to differ, we will see.

I only saw the one NAB cup game where JoN played and whilst a few times he was sold into trouble I was surprised with a few of the things he did that I didn't think he was capable of.
Like I said whilst he is right up against it, if he makes it Wallace & co. will have more to answer for..

[jackstar is back again]

From memory JON had a stellar pre season last year or the year before.

Never brought it on match day.

Lovely guy but just gets match jitters. Only experience can cure this.

I don't remember him having an amazing full preseason, I think he only had one where he was actually fit for the whole time.
I do remember one intra-club match at Yarra Park where he actually showed some amazing agility weaving in and out of traffic, thought maybe it had finally clicked, however I don't think he ever showed that again.

He definitely did show some good courage and defensive skills at Coburg, he just couldn't step up to AFL level.

I do remember one beautiful piece of vision against Melbourne where he spotted Riewoldt on the opposite side of the forward 50 and kicked an absolute bullet pass from the left wing on to Riewoldt's chest 45m out in the right forward flank. If only we saw more of that.

David King actually stated to the media 2 years ago that JON was to be the surprise packet after the pre season that he had completed.
This was also said by David at a Coterie Function before Round 1

[Infamy]

From memory JON had a stellar pre season last year or the year before.

Never brought it on match day.

Lovely guy but just gets match jitters. Only experience can cure this.

I don't remember him having an amazing full preseason, I think he only had one where he was actually fit for the whole time.
I do remember one intra-club match at Yarra Park where he actually showed some amazing agility weaving in and out of traffic, thought maybe it had finally clicked, however I don't think he ever showed that again.

He definitely did show some good courage and defensive skills at Coburg, he just couldn't step up to AFL level.

I do remember one beautiful piece of vision against Melbourne where he spotted Riewoldt on the opposite side of the forward 50 and kicked an absolute bullet pass from the left wing on to Riewoldt's chest 45m out in the right forward flank. If only we saw more of that.

David King actually stated to the media 2 years ago that JON was to be the surprise packet after the pre season that he had completed.
This was also said by David at a Coterie Function before Round 1

Well we all know how that turned out. I was there the day JON looked really good during the intra-club, didn't have anything close to that for the rest of the pre-season. I'd suggest Mr King's prediction was more one of hope than based on fact.

[mightytiges]

For JON's life and post-footy career in general it's good if any literacy deficiencies have been picked up. However to use that as an excuse for failing at Richmond is perplexing. Literacy doesn't make up for a poor kicking technique which falls apart even more under any game pressure. If JON "was flying" as the Herald-Sun claimed then the Eagles would've promoted him off the rookie list. I'm glad for JON that this was picked up but it seems the article was written mainly as a cheap dig at Richmond on a slow news day.

[Con65]

David King actually stated to the media 2 years ago that JON was to be the surprise packet after the pre season that he had completed.
This was also said by David at a Coterie Function before Round 1

Correct weight jack...I was at the Club 80 function that night held at Birdie Num Nums in Carlton...said JON was flying...

As for people not remembering anything special of JON....correct me if i am wrong buy ddint he kick the winning point against the bombers at a Dreamtime game (possibly his first year/first game).

Lovely kid, with a great attitude.  I wish him all the best at WCE. I hope they can develop him, in ways that we never seemed to be able.

Lets hope we dont repeat this mistake with the current crop.

[WA Tiger]

For JON's life and post-footy career in general it's good if any literacy deficiencies have been picked up. However to use that as an excuse for failing at Richmond is perplexing. Literacy doesn't make up for a poor kicking technique which falls apart even more under any game pressure. If JON "was flying" as the Herald-Sun claimed then the Eagles would've promoted him off the rookie list. I'm glad for JON that this was picked up but it seems the article was written mainly as a cheap dig at Richmond on a slow news day.

Yes yes and yes, thats what I have been trying to say.

BTW a lot of posters keep going on about how we are so bad at developing young players, really are we that bad?? What about Foley, Thursfield and so far Nason, Martin, Roberts?? I dont think we are that bad, well not as bad as many are making out. Also, what about other clubs, do you think the Hawks were bad at developing players when they let one G Ablett go?? C'mon people we are no worse than the rest of the clubs that let young players go and the end up doing well at other clubs.

Lets wait and see how JON goes in the season proper eh.