For me one of the most fascinating things for 2016 is to see if our recruiters got it right in selecting Clayton Oliver, especially after the stuff up with Jimmy T.   There is clearly no perfect formula for selecting young players but I think the current recruiters have done very well except for the Toump stuff up.

My concern this year is that if you read all the draft comments Parish seemed to be the better player ie - a natural footballer - whereas Oliver filled the criteria of the big bodied mid fielders which are all the rage at the moment.

I will be really peed off if Essendon come out of this in front of us.  Time will tell but its going to be an interesting year.  

Get back to me in 2021. 

Really....

It was pretty obvious i was a Parish fan on here. I obviously hope Clayton makes it and i think he was the safer option due to his size and footy style. Yet Parish has the skills which could make him a star or on the other hand, not make it at all.

We shall see. 

Were the current recruiters involved with the Toumpas pick? I thought Taylor came in after that?

A midfield of Gawn-Brayshaw-Petracca-Oliver will give opponents nightmares in a few years. I'm happy with our decision.

 

37 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

For me one of the most fascinating things for 2016 is to see if our recruiters got it right in selecting Clayton Oliver, especially after the stuff up with Jimmy T.   There is clearly no perfect formula for selecting young players but I think the current recruiters have done very well except for the Toump stuff up.

My concern this year is that if you read all the draft comments Parish seemed to be the better player ie - a natural footballer - whereas Oliver filled the criteria of the big bodied mid fielders which are all the rage at the moment.

I will be really peed off if Essendon come out of this in front of us.  Time will tell but its going to be an interesting year.  

there is no perfect formula but I was happy when we picked Oliver. I think my patience had expired with skinny developing kids and, as a club, we need success  fast. I think Oliver can impact early and in some ways wines revealed what that body type mixed with super intensity could look like straight up. This board will be hell though if Oliver fails and Parish wins a brownlow. But i agree it will be an interesting byline for the season.

let's hope he's not a clayton's midfielder 

58 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

For me one of the most fascinating things for 2016 is to see if our recruiters got it right in selecting Clayton Oliver, especially after the stuff up with Jimmy T.   There is clearly no perfect formula for selecting young players but I think the current recruiters have done very well except for the Toump stuff up.

My concern this year is that if you read all the draft comments Parish seemed to be the better player ie - a natural footballer - whereas Oliver filled the criteria of the big bodied mid fielders which are all the rage at the moment.

I will be really peed off if Essendon come out of this in front of us.  Time will tell but its going to be an interesting year.  

when restructuring a club culture that was very soft & outside for a long time, & oue=r default position is for outside flashy types, we need to build the 'hard' 'at it'  part into our culture first before we add the little bits of polish here & there. otherwise we will be straight back to square one of what happens to this club. some players of exquisite skills & no winning any silverware.

 

.... this club habitually likes to show a clean pair of heels;   this is our Achilles heal.             To me, this is driven from the north sode, but its just not real.

 

we need to get back to being Checkers Demons.  Demons not fuchsia's.

According to the AFL Prospectus Champion data players at TAC who do not win enough of there own ball tend not to make it at AFL despite their Junior Comp disposal numbers. They said Toumpas and Morton were relatively low 'win own ball' juniors despite high numbers. Our recruiters at the time were obviously not aware of this. Since those days its no coincidence that its largely been ball winners. Oliver is a ball winning beast. Evidently Parish can win his own ball as well. By reports Oliver has more pace than Parish and also more size.

Whoever ends up the better player is irrelevant; Parish will get 10 times the media fellatio purely because of the team he plays for, due to the level of influence that club has in senior media positions.

He's the poster boy of their next rebuild (along with whichever unfortunate soul goes pick 1 this year), just as Heppell and Daniher were 5 years ago, just as Silvagni and Weitering are this year for Carlton.

1 hour ago, Good Times Grimes said:

A midfield of Gawn-Brayshaw-Petracca-Oliver will give opponents nightmares in a few years. I'm happy with our decision.

+ Salem, Viney and Tyson if you don't mind

8 minutes ago, SaberFang said:

Whoever ends up the better player is irrelevant; Parish will get 10 times the media fellatio purely because of the team he plays for, due to the level of influence that club has in senior media positions.

He's the poster boy of their next rebuild (along with whichever unfortunate soul goes pick 1 this year), just as Heppell and Daniher were 5 years ago, just as Silvagni and Weitering are this year for Carlton.

spot on

as discussed in the other thread re: Nathan Jones, every Melbourne player is underrated by the public just by default

1 minute ago, Curry & Beer said:

+ Salem, Viney and Tyson if you don't mind

+ vandenBerg and Stretch.

i know we shouldn't get overexcited about our youngsters, but this crop make it very hard not to.

Stretch has me super excited. He sounds like a hard trainer and seems to be developing into a player beyond the club's expectations. Great signs!

1 hour ago, TheoX said:

Were the current recruiters involved with the Toumpas pick? I thought Taylor came in after that?

Correct.

Taylor hasn't missed a pick so far.

1 hour ago, manny100 said:

According to the AFL Prospectus Champion data players at TAC who do not win enough of there own ball tend not to make it at AFL despite their Junior Comp disposal numbers. They said Toumpas and Morton were relatively low 'win own ball' juniors despite high numbers. Our recruiters at the time were obviously not aware of this. Since those days its no coincidence that its largely been ball winners. Oliver is a ball winning beast. Evidently Parish can win his own ball as well. By reports Oliver has more pace than Parish and also more size.

Parish also wasn't much of a tackler at U18 level either, and seemed to get brushed aside even in that comp.

Parish didn't test well at the Combine, either. Not that it's necessarily relevant in the grand scheme of things (plenty of players have tested poorly and gone on to be elite).

I expect both Parish and Oliver to be very good.  Unfortunately, you can't get everyone you want.

I thought Parish was a better fit, because he offers exactly what we need, however, if Oliver becomes a star he has a higher ceiling.

A pacy, inside, competitive beast, who kicks goals, is as valuable a midfielder as you can possibly get.

Parish looks okay, but AFL is all about size and grunt. If both players develop along similar line Oliver will be the better player because he has the bigger body. He also looks like more of a competitive animal.

21 minutes ago, Tony Tea said:

 He also looks like more of a competitive animal.

I dunno about that. What was the story about Parish playing out an entire game with a broken finger?

Being Parish's size, competitiveness would likely be one of his strengths. I'd be more inclined to call that one even.

Plus Oliver is supposed to have way more break away pace than Parish. Parish should be good but I think Oliver will be better.

Oliver reminds me of Patrick Cripps in how he plays.

20 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Oliver reminds me of Patrick Cripps in how he plays.

That would be nice! Looking forward to see how he shapes up. 

One comparison I've heard is Brent Moloney/Jordie McKenzie