Oliver was earlier this year recovering from OP and if you look at the early video footage he was playing well while still carrying a lot of extra weight. He has since the lost a lot of that weight which has improved his performance to the point he won the morrish medal. That is an exceptional effort of an emerging talent which our recruiting team recognised and took. While parish is good he has been a top players for a couple of years and has not had weight or injury problems, so has not had to overcome the adversity that oliver has to succeed. Parish will be a good player, Oliver looks to be an exceptional player.

Players tend not to lose their strength when they lose weight so I would still expect Oliver to be a total bull.

I like the look of Weideman also, but the type of player he is with a serious injury history, means that he'll physically take quite a while to develop into an AFL player.

The only way we would have missed out on Parish or Oliver was if GC took one of them at 3. Clearly they didn't see either as a "must have" and traded the pick.

I saw Brayshaw as the total package. The knock I have on Oliver is that his body of work at a high level is very brief. Taylor said that he didn't have him in the top 30 at the start of the year. He's been drafted at 4 due to his "upside", and I'm always cynical about those type of players. You have to question why he allowed himself to get into the physical shape he was, if being an AFL player was his goal.

Go back and look at Buddy's under 18 year and see his body of work (or lack of). I think you have to go a bit on instinct here. Look at Salem, and see if he was getting much of the ball in his first 10 games. he was getting low possessions, but they could see what he could become.

Based on the last 2 years, I trust Taylor to pick the right player.

I was more concerned if we picked up Parish whose body of work is unquestionably good. but how will that slight frame go against Watson, Pendlebury, Kennedy, Cripps etc? too often its proven the bigger bodied players gain confidence quicker for mine.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2015-11-27/rookie-draft-pick-no6-josh-wagner

Wow pretty impressive. Good big body, can take a mark,can lay a good tackle and every single kick on that video was to a target. Not one kick was a long bomb. Now its a highlights package but a pretty good one.

Has a side step and good vision as well.

Dont worry, well fix that....

Dont worry, well fix that....

Yep. Need the players downfield to start running and spreading...

Wagner Vandenberg weideman frost - wunderkind och wunderbar!

The boys from brazil

Wagner Vandenberg weideman frost - wunderkind och wunderbar!

The boys from brazil

or Stalag 13

If drafting training and recruiting fails we try a genetically engineered football master race

Do we have another vandenBerg rookie NEAFL smokey on our hands here?

Just what has been going through my mind since he was announced........here's hoping.

Yep. Need the players downfield to start running and spreading...

That will be a welcome change. From what I read the Weed does just that, for starters.

http://neafl.com.au/index.php?id=16&tx_ttnews%5Byear%5D=2015&tx_ttnews%5Bmonth%5D=12&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=5553&cHash=b1e8d75868d87b186cae6718bbf8c32c

 

Not sure if this link works

Thanks HB, works just fine and make for good reading

Good article on Josh..

 

this HTML class. Value is http://m.foxsports.c

 

Ok my link is somehow not working like it use to on here??

Edited December 13, 201510 yr by dazzledavey36

"Being in the real world kind of sucks sometimes, so as I’ve gotten older I knew I wanted to have a good crack at footy."

He's either pretty smart, or Col Mk II.

 

1 hour ago, Elusive Tunbridge said:

"Being in the real world kind of sucks sometimes, so as I’ve gotten older I knew I wanted to have a good crack at footy."

He's either pretty smart, or Col Mk II.

 

Big difference - Col would have liked to, Josh seems to really want to.

 

Still, time only will tell.  Could we be so very lucky with NEAFL rookies two years in a row?

A touch suprised this thread hasn't been reprised yet after watching the Port Dees game. His game really impressed me, not a heap of it but looks very comfortable at this level, makes good decisions and executes well

18 minutes ago, xiss said:

A touch suprised this thread hasn't been reprised yet after watching the Port Dees game. His game really impressed me, not a heap of it but looks very comfortable at this level, makes good decisions and executes well

I need to see more of him to form an opinion. 

11 minutes ago, Good Times Grimes said:

I need to see more of him to form an opinion. 

id agree with this.. some signs...hardly enough to get a handle on.....yet

36 minutes ago, xiss said:

A touch suprised this thread hasn't been reprised yet after watching the Port Dees game. His game really impressed me, not a heap of it but looks very comfortable at this level, makes good decisions and executes well

Agree. Didn't have much game time, but wasn't overawed. Looks like a good kick, which is something lacking in our back half.

He didn't get much game time but all of his touches were meaningful.

He has skill and is tough. Two attributes that will take you a long way at AFL level.

On 12/1/2015 at 0:51 PM, chook fowler said:

or Stalag 13

Not sure that the flying dutchman Vandenberg would like being lumped with the krauts Wiedemann and Wagner. And how did Jack Frost get to Stalag 13?

Himself and Hunt neither overly impressed or disappointed me. Both spent little time on the field, so would like to see them get more time in the next couple of weeks if they are a genuine chance of claiming the seemingly up for grabs spot on a half back flank.

Liked his composure off half-back, but needs to put on more size to compete consistently at AFL level.

Nice that we now give our newbies small steps where they need it. Something to do with that strange word previously foreign to Melbourne FC: development. 

3 hours ago, xiss said:

A touch suprised this thread hasn't been reprised yet after watching the Port Dees game. His game really impressed me, not a heap of it but looks very comfortable at this level, makes good decisions and executes well

Looked very uncomfortable and totally lost in his first stint then settled in subsequent run/runs.

We need to see a bit more to make a judgement call yet but all up he showed some good signs...

2 hours ago, rjay said:

Looked very uncomfortable and totally lost in his first stint then settled in subsequent run/runs.

We need to see a bit more to make a judgement call yet but all up he showed some good signs...

Do you think? 5 mins in his first game at this level isn't enough to write him off completely as a spud?

This is Demonland after all.......

Agree good start for Wagner. I still have Mitch White as the first backup for a half back spot behind Lamumba, Salem and Grimes