On 15/11/2016 at 6:28 PM, SaberFang said:

Club took a huge gamble taking Oliver over Parish, considering Parish was basically the sure thing. I think we knew it was high risk but high reward but my blood will boil if we got this one wrong because Oliver can't be disciplined.

Get Lewis on his back for the rest of the preseason and have him leech off his experience. That should straighten him out if he's serious about putting his immense talent to good use. I agree with the sentiment of others that this sort of thing needs to be nipped in the bud now, not in a few years.

You can't substitute height and size. Oliver is both bigger and stronger than Parish. 

It took Scully almost 6 years to have an impact at AFL level as he was too small to compete with the bigger mids. 

The Dees can't afford to wait 6 years until Parish fills out. They needed a mid that has immediate impact i.e Wines 

Will be interesting to see how Parish deals with the pressure of a tagger and ability to shake off and make tackles. 

Oliver was rag-dolling the opposition in his first season. 

12 minutes ago, bandicoot said:

You can't substitute height and size. Oliver is both bigger and stronger than Parish. 

It took Scully almost 6 years to have an impact at AFL level as he was too small to compete with the bigger mids. 

The Dees can't afford to wait 6 years until Parish fills out. They needed a mid that has immediate impact i.e Wines 

Will be interesting to see how Parish deals with the pressure of a tagger and ability to shake off and make tackles. 

Oliver was rag-dolling the opposition in his first season. 

Disagree with this  - the comparison between Parish and Scully is not a good comparision - Scully is still and will probably be an outside player - he relies on others to get him the ball. It is no surprise that Scully's rise has basically mirrored GWS's rise. This is not a knock on Scully as he is running machine. Parish already spends large licks of time in the guts and gets a nice balance between inside and outside ball.

  

On 16 November 2016 at 10:29 PM, whers_jacka_now said:

If anyone thinks Parish is ahead of Oliver in any possible way then they do not know anything about football.

He is Diesel 2.0, only taller. He is the best, in close - quick hands type player, debut season I have ever seen at Melbourne. 

Think about it. 

Nobody, I don't think, is suggesting we'd rather Parish to Oliver, but to say that Oliver is ahead at the moment is rubbish. 

19 votes in the rising star to 1 backs this up. 

We're all excited about what Oliver will become but Parish had a better and far more consistent first season.

Parish looked almost too good,too balanced,too free,too poised. Strange it was!

If you had to choose today between Oliver and Parish you would take Oliver all day every day. He is a clearance machine.

Why are we comparing Oliver and Parish?

Did Parish also blow over?

2 hours ago, It's Time said:

Agree with all of this.

My worry is his lack of a tank. If he can sort that out and reaches his full potential, from what I've seen I think he'll be our best midfielder. 

I would have thought that of all players on our list he would have worked the hardest in the off season but instead based on training reports he has come back under done always running at the back of the packs.

Now maybe he has an injury or given his osteopubis history the year before he was drafted maybe they have him on a modified running program. We wouldn't have a clue. Saty maybe you could get some info on this and what they think about how he has come back.  You'd think he'd be in the rehab group for the first period of the pre season like they are doing with Hibberd and Melksham who dont have injuries but are being eased in. 

He might have worked harder than anyone else but no one is going to build an elite tank in 8 weeks away from the club...

Remember this is only the first week of his first full preseason.

1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

If you had to choose today between Oliver and Parish you would take Oliver all day every day. He is a clearance machine.

I think that we Dees supporters think this because we have seen him all his games close up and seen the sublime stuff he is capable of.

I have watched quite a few Essendon games (I have no idea why) and Parish is very good. A few of my Essendon friends ( not sure why I have them either) rave about Parish.

Without any evidence if you asked the so called "experts" who they would select now, I am not sure it would so one sided based on the evidence of one season. There have rightly been very good reviews on Parish's season. 

For me it is a no brainer but I am obviously horrifically biased on this one.  

11 minutes ago, nutbean said:

I think that we Dees supporters think this because we have seen him all his games close up and seen the sublime stuff he is capable of.

I have watched quite a few Essendon games (I have no idea why) and Parish is very good. A few of my Essendon friends ( not sure why I have them either) rave about Parish.

Without any evidence if you asked the so called "experts" who they would select now, I am not sure it would so one sided based on the evidence of one season. There have rightly been very good reviews on Parish's season. 

For me it is a no brainer but I am obviously horrifically biased on this one.  

Parish wil be good but lots can do what Parish can do. 

Very few can do what Oliver can do.

14 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Parish wil be good but lots can do what Parish can do. 

Very few can do what Oliver can do.

maybe so.

As i said, very happy with our selection - but i will keep my powder dry for another couple of seasons - I want to see those sublime Oliver touches consistently produced. 

Comparisons with Parish are irrelevant. We have Oliver and I hope he becomes a great player. He has loads of potential but so do many others. Fitness and attitude to preparation and training are going to be all important. The drink driving thing is a storm in the teacup, the most important thing is whether it represents a pattern of poor behaviour, and, if so, can it be turned around. Hopefully, he will have a good mentor who can be a positive influence.

1 hour ago, willmoy said:

Parish looked almost too good,too balanced,too free,too poised. Strange it was!

I hope you're not suggesting what I think you are 

People always seem to think these days that there must be something sinister going on 

After the warning re derailing threads, this thread has become seriously derailed and has become an Oliver vs Parish thread.

Oliver did a very stupid thing that very fortunately, on this occasion, resulted in no physical injury to anyone (or worse).

The club and the playing group need to let him know that this is unacceptable, punish / sanction in their appropriate manner, encourage and educate him to avoid a repeat........then get on with improving him as a player and as a person.  At his best, he has an enormous amount to contribute  

Good luck (some may consider it just bad luck that he was caught) won't necessarily repeat - he needs to ensure that it isn't needed.  Only he can do that.

 

4 minutes ago, monoccular said:

After the warning re derailing threads, this thread has become seriously derailed and has become an Oliver vs Parish thread.

Oliver did a very stupid thing that very fortunately, on this occasion, resulted in no physical injury to anyone (or worse).

The club and the playing group need to let him know that this is unacceptable, punish / sanction in their appropriate manner, encourage and educate him to avoid a repeat........then get on with improving him as a player and as a person.  At his best, he has an enormous amount to contribute  

Good luck (some may consider it just bad luck that he was caught) won't necessarily repeat - he needs to ensure that it isn't needed.  Only he can do that.

 

actually to be accurate - the thread has segwayed which is allowed. Derailing  = getting personal and nasty  - a big no no.

 

51 minutes ago, hemingway said:

Comparisons with Parish are irrelevant. We have Oliver and I hope he becomes a great player. He has loads of potential but so do many others. Fitness and attitude to preparation and training are going to be all important. The drink driving thing is a storm in the teacup, the most important thing is whether it represents a pattern of poor behaviour, and, if so, can it be turned around. Hopefully, he will have a good mentor who can be a positive influence.

.....and the Ollie Express  comes back off the No 2 road and back onto the mainline !!!  

Has any more details come out about the actual incident? Was it morning after or late at night, was he just over or full as a boot? When would the likely date for court be during the season or does it happen pretty quick?

26 minutes ago, Redbeard said:

Has any more details come out about the actual incident? Was it morning after or late at night, was he just over or full as a boot? When would the likely date for court be during the season or does it happen pretty quick?

Jon Ralph tweeted today that it was lower end, ie not over .05, but as has been said, he's a P plater.

It would be nice to know what he exactly blew on the alco meter, not to say that it's right that he was over 0.00 while on his P plates but honestly if he was only 0.02 or so I wouldn't be as upset.

13 hours ago, Members' Wing said:

Jon Ralph tweeted today that it was lower end, ie not over .05, but as has been said, he's a P plater.

Then what a great little parable for all young players about 1 per-centers and the attention to detail required in elite sport.

On 17/11/2016 at 11:26 AM, Members' Wing said:

Jon Ralph tweeted today that it was lower end, ie not over .05, but as has been said, he's a P plater.

Yeah I saw that, it ties into the way the club has reacted (not the fans). They have recognised he has done a very stupid thing, the leadership group will punish him and we can move on. 

This blokes got a great future with us and we can only hope he's learned a good solid lesson.

At least he didn't smash a car then do a running like another player who use to play for us.

15 minutes ago, ILLDieADemon said:

At least he didn't smash a car then do a running like another player who use to play for us.

except the "another player" didn't smash "a car". it was his car but he was a passenger

at least that is my memory of the event

13 hours ago, Pates said:

Yeah I saw that, it ties into the way the club has reacted (not the fans). They have recognised he has done a very stupid thing, the leadership group will punish him and we can move on. 

This blokes got a great future with us and we can only hope he's learned a good solid lesson.

Glad to see we've moved past that Parish nonsense. Clarrie is our player - and for someone who'd never done a pre-season - he put in a terrific first year. He loves the contest and has lightening hands in close ( which is a huge plus in the modern game)

P-platers can be pinged for readings as low as .01. Seems to me like a competitive beast who'll work hard to put this behind him

Let's all do the same!!

On 17/11/2016 at 11:54 PM, Rafiki said:

It would be nice to know what he exactly blew on the alco meter, not to say that it's right that he was over 0.00 while on his P plates but honestly if he was only 0.02 or so I wouldn't be as upset.

Regardless of what he blew (even if it was .01), it displays a lack of self discipline, something that I would have thought was a prerequisite to becoming an elite AFL player. Sure it could normally be put down to the exuberance of youth, but in Oliver's case, he should know exactly what is required if he wants to make it at the top level of his chosen sport. 

We can only hope he has learnt a very important lesson - do not under any circumstances, drink and drive.

41 minutes ago, hardtack said:

something that I would have thought was a prerequisite to becoming an elite AFL player.

Ablett senior, Swan, Hodge, Heath Shaw, Steve Johnson and I'm sure many others we don't know about have hardly been angles but have become elite AFL players.

And while I support your "don't drink and drive" message I think you're making a bit of an issue out of a situation where we don't know many of the facts.