WELCOME TO THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - CLAYTON OLIVER

[picket fence 17,172]

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

Was fantastic around the contest again. 

He needs to learn to stay down more as a forward and crumb, he won't be taking pack marks from out of position too often (he might from a nice sit!).

Plus cramping (and spewing up) after 71% TOG is a worry as well. 

His spot in round 1 will be determined mainly by whether the coaches think he has the fitness. Form wise he's done enough already

I was at Highgate arena today and I watched him very closely.

I will file a comprehensive player personel report later but I have to say.

This Bloke is the "Real Deal" 

On so many levels he is an inspired selection. I say inspired because the Toumpas fiasco of yesteryear, The pressure to pick Darcy Parish, and or one or two others.

So I'll give you my observations,

1 He set's himself in the right position for Offence or Defense 

2 He has uncanny spatial competency! I'll call it the Dr. Who factor! He creates time and appears that he has plenty of time and peripheral vision to assess the right option for disposal which he gives off effortlessly. I have previously called the is the "Greg Williams" effect. I reckon if Greg saw him he would agree coz he's just as tough and Quicker!!!!!!

3 I saw him dispose of by foot today and he is very precise and clinical.

4 He has serious "Grunt Factor" got crunched once or twice got up dusted himself of and stared again.

5 Went for a few "Species" again don't mind a Mid playing tall, infact he was in FF for a period of time

6 He is taller than I first imagined but with good Musculature in the Thighs which then prepare him for good "Core" strength.

I hope I'm not getting ahead of myself but Sheeit I reckon he is  Bloody GOLD nugget!

I'm putting a lazy $50 on him as the 2016 Rising star and I hope to Christmas he doesn't read Demomland and I've' put the mozz on him

Oh one other thing I agree with Dazzle Man, I don;t read anything into the Chuckin and 70% game time It was friggen Bloody hot out there today!!

Edited March 6, 2016 by picket fence

[What 18,810]

what a gun lol

Playing round 1 guaranteed

[KingDingAling 3,758]

1 hour ago, Cards13 said:

He will be a player Clarrie, personally I think he would be given more time in the magoos. We shouldn't need a newly drafted player in the first game of the season. Let him get the fitness up and keep assessing each week. 

It is pointless playing him in the two's when he is one of our better players in the one's (at least he was today). Pick players on form. He doesn't deserve to be dropped back to the reserves, that wouldn't be a good precedent to set, we should be rewarded our young players when they have good games - as we did with Brayshaw last year.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

Exciting debut with poise, nice finish, a little flair.  Solid overhead and also lays a nice tackle!  Would play him round one off the bench. Too good for anywhere else albeit he will need occasional breaks to recover from rigours of AFL.

If we can get Brayshaw back on the park and Petracca debuts cleanly (touch wood), this could finally be a reasonable year for this club. Not to mention the Hulksta

Edited March 6, 2016 by Rusty Nails

[RalphiusMaximus 6,054]

Interesting point from the game today.  When Pedersen was dumped over the boundary at HF, Oliver was a few feet away and turned to jog off and set up for the throw-in.  A teammate (I think vandenBerg) yelled at him something along the lines of "He's your teammate, give him a hand up!" by which time Pedersen had already picked himself up.  Still, it's another example of team-building and player-driven standards in action. 
 

[Gorgoroth 12,963]

Will play round one, was fantastic today.

[JimmyNP 174]

Has to and will play round one.

Is an inside mid like Wines. They don't need time. They can play a role straight away.

Better version of Wines once his body fills out. Has more strings to his bow. Will be a genuine inside mid gun.

Instinctive footballer.

Edited March 6, 2016 by JimmyNP

[monoccular 17,432]

6 hours ago, Wolfmother said:

Gees mfc 

who is responsible for issuing player numbers at the club??? 

 

Do do they understand the anxiety spike that occurs when I see a red head in number 13 grabbing the ball in the middle!!!

OMG this is getting bit tiresome.

 

 

[Still Waiting 94]

This is one of the best "left field" picks we have made in many years. Oliver is already an elite player and just needs to settle into the tempo of AFL to potentially become a top onball  player within 2 or 3 years. His size is an absolute bonus but it is his reading of the play that astounds me. There is not ever going to be a backwards step in his game. He will give you a fierce contest every time. He also has that fantastic ability to absorb hard knocks and bounce up looking for another contest. His game compliments our other onballer's skillsets beautifully. We all need to just accept that he will take a little while to settle in, but I think we have another elite young footballer at our club. A few bucks on him for 2016 Rising Star award status might be worth considering.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Still Waiting

[dee-luded 2,959]

3 hours ago, picket fence said:

I was at Highgate arena today and I watched him very closely.

I will file a comprehensive player personel report later but I have to say.

This Bloke is the "Real Deal" 

On so many levels he is an inspired selection. I say inspired because the Toumpas fiasco of yesteryear, The pressure to pick Darcy Parish, and or one or two others.

So I'll give you my observations,

1 He set's himself in the right position for Offence or Defense 

2 He has uncanny spatial competency! I'll call it the Dr. Who factor! He creates time and appears that he has plenty of time and peripheral vision to assess the right option for disposal which he gives off effortlessly. I have previously called the is the "Greg Williams" effect. I reckon if Greg saw him he would agree coz he's just as tough and Quicker!!!!!!

3 I saw him dispose of by foot today and he is very precise and clinical.

4 He has serious "Grunt Factor" got crunched once or twice got up dusted himself of and stared again.

5 Went for a few "Species" again don't mind a Mid playing tall, infact he was in FF for a period of time

6 He is taller than I first imagined but with good Musculature in the Thighs which then prepare him for good "Core" strength.

I hope I'm not getting ahead of myself but Sheeit I reckon he is  Bloody GOLD nugget!

I'm putting a lazy $50 on him as the 2016 Rising star and I hope to Christmas he doesn't read Demomland and I've' put the mozz on him

Oh one other thing I agree with Dazzle Man, I don;t read anything into the Chuckin and 70% game time It was friggen Bloody hot out there today!!

hi Pickets, what do ya reckon would we get $cully for him in a swap? 

[Yossarian 1,820]

1 hour ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

Interesting point from the game today.  When Pedersen was dumped over the boundary at HF, Oliver was a few feet away and turned to jog off and set up for the throw-in.  A teammate (I think vandenBerg) yelled at him something along the lines of "He's your teammate, give him a hand up!" by which time Pedersen had already picked himself up.  Still, it's another example of team-building and player-driven standards in action. 
 

That's a great pick-up, thanks for posting. And I agree, great precedent to set and solid leadership from Vanders. Love it.

[Ted Lasso 19,520]

He's going to have to work on his tackling to avoid the wrath of the MRP, but otherwise super impressed, i see him having a brayshaw like impact this year and playing a lot of games.

[What 18,810]

34 minutes ago, Peter Griffen said:

He's going to have to work on his tackling to avoid the wrath of the MRP, but otherwise super impressed, i see him having a brayshaw like impact this year and playing a lot of games.

Sorry just had to pinch myself that  we have both Oliver and Brayshaw on our list.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Petraccattack

[ILLDieADemon 804]

This first year player ran him self so hard he made him self vomit then went back out there and finished the game!! This guy is pushing him self to his limits which is great to see from a first year.

Most first year players of old would have called it quits at that stage let alone ranning them selves that hard in the first place. 

This guy has A grade written all over him, looking forward in watching him develop into one.

Edited March 6, 2016 by ILLDieADemon

[dazzledavey36 54,955]

7 minutes ago, ILLDieADemon said:

This first year player ran him self so hard he made him self vomit then went back out there and finished the game!! This guy is pushing him self to his limits which is great to see from a first year.

Most first year players of old would have called it quits at that stage let alone ranning them selves that hard in the first place. 

This guy has A grade written all over him, looking forward in watching him develop into one.

We even had one cry at training.. 

[btdemon 482]

In his TAC highlights package he most reminded of Michael Voss. Knew how to get the ball an then was able to stand up in the tackle and give it off to advantage. He seems to have quite a burst of initial speed away from the pack as well. Love the look of him. The midfield is getting some size and grunt about it now. Oliver, VB, Brayshaw, Tyson, Jones, Vince, Viney and if Trenners comes back it will be very solid. It still needs a bit of real pace. Petracca may provide this but I expect he will play as a high half-forward rather than a true mid. Kennedy is a handy quick and a have been pretty impressed so far but i'm not sure that he'll spend that much time in the middle. Stretch has impressed me so far. He is not blisteringly quick but he rarely seems to do anything wrong.

[What 18,810]

this kid is a classic

 

[ILLDieADemon 804]

44 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

We even had one cry at training.. 

Really? Who?

[Adam The God 30,271]

6 hours ago, SaberFang said:

Geez, in a few years time, these guys will be a headache for opposition. Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca, who to tag?

Add in Prestia at the end of this year.

Oliver is really, really impressive. What excites me is that someone like Thomas Bugg has stepped up and really shown his hand too. It just takes the pressure off a young bloke like Oliver, because there are more hands on deck and a sharing of the load across many.

We are now getting goals from midfield and look dominant at stoppages. When was the last time we could say that? Gawn certainly helps us give first use, but guys like Oliver will provide really stiff competition for Gus, Petracca, Bugg, Kennedy etc. 

Really like Oliver's decision making and game sense though. He knows where his team mates are and he knows which decision to take. Very excited about him.

[Adam The God 30,271]

1 hour ago, Petraccattack said:

Sorry just had to pinch myself that  we have both Oliver and Brayshaw on our list.

Even more exciting is that we haven't even seen Petracca or Weiderman yet either.

[Phadraig 760]

Reminds me of Sam Mitchell with his ability to get out of traffic so easily, has insane agility!

[Forest Demon 4,681]

7 hours ago, ILLDieADemon said:

Really? Who?

Training reports said Lucas Cook was crying at one of his first few training sessions IIRC. I wasn't there, but remember reading it.

[13thFlagIsComing 542]

Went to the game and then watched the game as soon as I went home* (*couldn't see a third of the ground as I was next to a tree trying to get shade)

Gees Oliver has some talent. After watching the replay yesterday and noticed a few things.

1) The pin point 50 metre switch pass to Pedersen deep in defence (which he dropped) then took a hanger from the very next kick coming back into defence.

2) In the 2nd half (pretty sure last quarter) he is tackled by 2 dogs players, he's lifted off the ground but somehow manages to fire off a handball twisting his body mid tackle and hitting a teammate 5 metres away over his shoulder.

3) Quick hands...gees there were some handballs that were like bullets.

4) Time and space...seems to find it.

5) Complaining after a tackle on the wing 3rd quarter, it was high but he hit the Doggies player with some force.

6) If you watch the game again you'll find him lurking around the packs most of the time like a shark ready to attack.

From the Demons fans around me, Jordie 2.0 is already a firm fan favourite!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2016 by 13thFlagIsComing

[Pates 9,660]

I said this at the start of the year last year with Brayshaw, we've got ourselves a gem here. Looking forward to seeing him out there round 1!

[monoccular 17,432]

12 hours ago, Peter Griffen said:

He's going to have to work on his tackling to avoid the wrath of the MRP, but otherwise super impressed, i see him having a brayshaw like impact this year and playing a lot of games.

According to training reports he did that much of last week   

I sure as hell wouldn't get in his way.  Imaging having him and Viney coming at you.    If you had a choice, whom would you try to avoid first? ?

11 hours ago, ILLDieADemon said:

Really? Who?

Maybe someone who $kulked off to GW$ seeking fortune and infamy. 

Actually don't know and don't care anymore.