Career High SuperCoach Score: 118 Vs St Kilda (2021)

Career High AFLFantasy Score: 98 Vs St Kilda (2021)

Career High SuperCoach Average: 80.8 (2018)

Career High AFLFantasy Average: 65 (2018)

Impact on new club

One of the great ‘feels good’ stories of the season was the resurgence of Paddy McCartin as an AFL footballer at Sydney. It’s not the first, nor will it likely be the last time the Swans reinvigorate a player’s football career. I’m sure it’s one of the reasons why Aaron Francis was keen to join the club.

Francis is not a ‘lock down’ key position defender. Rather at his peak, he’s allowed to be the third man up to either mark or spoil a contest. Currently, the Swans have Tom McCartin, Paddy McCCartin and Nick Blakey all over 190cm in the backline. Throw in versatile defender Dane Rampe, and there’s no room for him in the best 22.

It will take some injuries and potentially even some luck sliding his way for him to see some AFL games next year. But, hopefully, for his sake, he can get back to playing at the game’s elite level again. It’d make for another good footy story.

Impact on the old club

Sadly for Aaron Francis and the Bombers, the career path never worked the way they’d hoped. Injuries certainly played a part in capping his development, but there are other reasons the former early draft selection never fulfilled his potential.

In 2022, he managed just four AFL games, and in his seven seasons at the elite level only played over ten games in two of these seasons. As a result, the Bombers spent some draft and development capital on other tall defensive stocks. Players like Jordan Ridley, Brandon Zerk–Thatcher, Jayden Laverde and Jake Kelly have locked away the tall roles in the Essendon lineup. Zach Reid is another that the club are bullish on developing into a long-term dey position defensive prospect.

He was sometimes trialled as a key forward, but it only worked for him sometimes. So even though the Bombers are looking for some support for Peter Wright, the club have got others viewed ahead of him. With all this in mind, the Bombers won’t be impacted by his departure.

Fantasy Summary

Aaron Francis is purely an insurance policy for the Sydney Swans. It’ll take some injuries to their defensive stocks to make him get a chance at the AFL level. As a result, he’s not someone in any format you should be pursuing as an option.