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WELCOME TO THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - CHRISTIAN SALEM

Freddy Fuschia

By Freddy Fuschia
in Melbourne Demons

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Deestroy All
Deestroy All

Take all 3 and hope nobody notices.

Slartibartfast
Slartibartfast

I spoke to someone who was involved with the Oakleigh Chargers coaching group and he also is well connected around junior TAC footy. He said the blokes at Oakleigh rated Salem ahead of Billings and e

stevethemanjordan
stevethemanjordan

I'm of the view, (and some may say this is obvious) that it's much easier to develop a player's inside game than to develop skills such as kicking, marking and decision making. Salem has elite kickin

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BAMF Redleg

BAMF   4,169

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Phantom Drafts

Knightmare

#9 Melbourne (Via GWS Activated Compensation) - Christian Salem (VIC – Mid/Fwd)
Height: 183cm, Weight: 82kg, DOB: 15/07/1995
Recruited from: Sandringham Dragons
Style: Luke Hodge
Player comparison: Taylor Hunt (with better footskills)
Range: 6-12
Profile: Midfielder with a real physical presence and physical style of playing. I also really enjoy Salem’s tackling game, he just hunts the man and you can see he really enjoys it, and he does big damage every time he lays a tackle and it’s a real feature of his game. When it’s his turn to go he goes, whether it be a marking contest where he knows he will get crushed or going for the hard ball he will put his head over it and just go for it. He also does some really impressive work at times with some good blocking or bumps on or off the footy where required and just has that hard edge you love to see. He plays a good two way game running both ways and also stopping his direct opponent or playing a shutdown role as required. His footskills are above average and he hits his targets and can at times do damage, particularly when within range from goal. He’s also effective when he pushes forward and is a goalkicking midfielder. Also has above average pace, but regardless of this will run and carry the footy and cover ground with ball in hand when the opportunity is there showing relatively good pace also. He’s more outside than inside at this stage and the next step will be to develop that inside game. I’d class Salem as a guy who screams “component of a winning team” without projecting as a particularly elite individual talent. I also have some questions about how much development is left with Salem an early bloomer having been roughly the same height and size for a few years now.

Emma Quayle

10 COLLINGWOOD: CHRISTIAN SALEM

(Sandringham Dragons, 185cm, 78kg)
A smart, well-balanced and competitive midfielder.
THE RATIONALE: He's a smart-thinking, creative and diligent onballer who would add some speed and skilful delivery to the Collingwood midfield.
THE COMPLICATION: Collingwood may have taken Salem at No.6 pick, which means Aish or Freeman would get through. If the Demons opt for Salem over Freeman at No.9, the Pies could go for Freeman.

SnoopDog

# 12 Richmond

Christian Salem – Sandy Dragons / 183cm / 82kg / ‘95
Very classy type this kid and think someone is going to take him pretty early on. Very efficient footballer who reads the play well and gets himself into great positions. Quicker than you think and his running pattern’s are very good. Has that sense of where the play is going and making sure he is a part of it. Once he gets it his ball use is sublime and arguably one of the best kicks in this draft. Has a lot of positional flexibility and whoever takes him has a lot to work with. I see him more as an outside type because you want him carrying the pill but that is not to say he can’t win his own ball. In fact, he doesn’t mind the physical side of it and works hard on the defensive aspects and his 2 way running as well. Think Dan Hanneberry as he has that wonderful blend of being in and out and hurting you offensively. This kid has a lot of class and in many ways has as much upside to his game of anyone in this draft.

Why and who else: I think Tigers will really just mop up whoever is left from the above but I can see Lennon, Salem or Freeman landing here and the Tigers would be happy with that. I really cant split the 3 of them anyway but Salem is the one I rate the highest and he could have gone from #6.

Quigley

Christian Salem

DOB 15/7/95 Ht 185 Wt 78

I actually like Salem quite a lot and certainly more than the likes of Taylor and Hartung who are similar players, it just seems that I do not like him as much as most people. Salem I see as being someone who sits comfortably in the bottom half of the 22 for a very good side but I do not see him having as high ceiling of the guys I have ahead of him and there is a decent chance of him busting. If he succeeds he is likely to be a good complementary player rather than an out and out star.

Salem averaged only 15.5 disposals and less than a tackle per game at the Champs overall and less than that against the Div 1 teams. The number of useful things he did with the ball against those better team would be a fair bit lower again. Questions have to be asked about whether he will similarly struggle in the AFL where he will be up against guys who are consistently stronger, quicker and have more footy smarts than the vast majority of players he has faced to date. He has been able to do very well against guys over whom he enjoyed a significant physical advantage but he is not going to have those advantages at AFL level and he might not be able to play the same game as he has to date and still be effective.

I see Salem starting his career as an outside mid/HFFer. The difference between Salem and most other outside prospects is the he does not mind mixing it up and he has a definite physical element to his game. He played predominantly on the outside at the Champs but in the TAC he spent quite a bit of time on ball and didn't do too badly. He averaged in the mid 20s in the TAC and finished the year strongly which has pushed him up in many people's eyes. His finals game against Eastern Ranges where he dominated playing on ball would be fresh in a lot of recruiters’ minds and this might see him go higher than I think he probably should go. Teams do love those guys who pull out big TAC games at the end of the year and are often willing to disregard poorer performances at the Champs.

Salem is a smooth mover on the park and tends to be quite busy even when the ball is not coming to him. He works hard to influence the play both offensively and defensively and this work rate does catch the eye. I have seen a few comments suggesting that he was not particularly quick but I never really noticed that. I thought he had good functional game speed which was demonstrated by a nice run down of Aish in the SA game. At Combine he went under 3.00 seconds in the 20m and was in the top 25% of the 30m repeat sprint. So enough pace there especially when combined with good endurance. I was expecting him to go over 15 in the beep and be right up there at Combine and whilst his results were reasonably (e.g. over 14 in the beep) I thought they were a bit disappointing for a guy who makes a name for himself with his ability to get around the park. His agility score was also very poor for a guy who is known for being evasive and will live and die on that at the next level.

Salem's skills are another thing which get talked up a lot and whilst they are pretty stylistically I am not sure they are as effective as they are commonly assumed to be. He will fairly regularly deliver nice low passes but those passes will also regularly fall short and put their target under pressure. He also kicks into the man on the mark as much as anyone in this draft. If I had more time and resources I would investigate whether his current issues are just a function of him working to flatten out his kicking (as it commonly is) or if there is a problem with his feel. When he goes long it is most often to contests. There were few kicks in the last two games at the Champs where he actually hit his player in a good position where they could take off and go without holding up. If you ignore the results of his kicks as I mentioned he looks very good. He is far from a bad kick but as someone described Travis Johnstone a few years ago Salem is probably the worst "elite kick" in this group.

So all of that sounds pretty bad and it sounds like I am being very harsh in my assessments and there may be something in that given that a lot of people are so positive in their assessments of him. All my negative comments also do not mean that I do not see the positive things as well. He does a lot of things which influence the play. He will block for his own players, pressure and tackle ball carriers, smother and generally do the little things which help teams win. He is a good judge of the ball in the air for a midfielder and he takes quite a lot of intercept marks. In traffic he dances around and is pretty hard to tackle showing good strength and balance. When he gets out in the open he is a smooth mover and good things will often happen when he is involved in the play. He works hard to link up and moves the ball on quickly. In short I see him being a very good cog that gets teams wins and will cover and facilitate others.

As mentioned above he averaged less than a tackle per game at the Champs this year but it is worth noting that he averaged 5 tackles per game in the TAC. I think the TAC form is a better indication of his tackling ability and what you should expect at AFL level. He seems to be someone who enjoys getting in and tackling players with the ball. He is a capable forward and it would not surprise me if he started his career as a defensive forward much like Collingwood has done with Fasolo and others. Another option which I would not rule out is that he becomes a tagger. He played a loose-ish run with role on Aish in the SA game and he did a pretty good job with Aish struggling to have much impact on the game.

Another thing which is often overlooked by us amateurs is the player's make up and attitude. From the outside Salem looks like someone who just loves the game and works really hard to get the best out of himself. He goes about his job without fuss and does not seem like a prima donna as many do at this level. At his absolute best he could be a Sidebottom type but more likely he ends up a player very like Jake Melksham.

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CBDees Redleg

CBDees   3,165

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Congratulations Salem, joining your fellow Brighton Grammar alumni (Dawes and Watts) at the Dees!

Congratulations Salem and Hunt joining your fellow Brighton Grammar alumni (Dawes and Watts) at the Dees!

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