12 hours ago, Deeoldfart said:

As I mentioned in my training report yesterday, Hunty was one of the standouts for me. He now has a stronger physique to match his undoubted courage, and yesterday he seemed to be in the right place for every contest, and win heaps of ball against strong opposition. If he can do this consistently in the heat of battle, and combine it with his explosive pace, then we will have an undeniable 'weapon' on our hands. I know it's only one viewing (for me), and only part way through pre-season, but I can't help being very excited based on what I saw yestetday.

Sorry if you have mentioned this elsewhere but did he train with the backs or mids when they split into positional training?

19 minutes ago, big_red_fire_engine said:

Sorry if you have mentioned this elsewhere but did he train with the backs or mids when they split into positional training?

Defender.

The kid has pure footy IQ, even if he was slow he would still get to the right spots and do the right thing. Really looking forward to seeing him and Hibberd off the HBFs this year.

Totally agree, Hibberts penetrating kick to Hunt on the burst, will cause havoc as they perfect it. 

This kid is a jet. Would love to see him do short stings up the ground on the wing going forward, but I love what he brings to the defence so don't want him up the ground full time. He just reads the ball so well and cuts across to help out. His speed is obviously a huge asset, but it's great that he uses it both ways to help cover in defence and to break the lines rebounding. 

Hoping he has a big year next year as he could definitely be a key to our ball movement and ultimately our push for finals. Love the kid!

17 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Image taken 18 months ago. Massive transformation. I wonder how some of the skinny young kids that didn't work out would have gone under the new regime. 

He could have been one of that bunch, if many on here had their way.

5 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Yes and no, I still look at other clubs and compare comparative talent and wonder where our money goes. It will be interesting as the majority of our talent is 24 years of age or younger. (Gawn just turned 25). 

Salary cap management is complex but they are accutely aware of who is in or out of contract, how much they might need at each stage of the players career etc, There will always be smokeys and players who get overs relative to performance. And vice versa.

They pay upfront where they can so that when players develop they have enough in the kitty to retain them. The best way of retaining them however is success.

In short don't worry about the money. we have to pay it every year regardless of who is on the list.

17 hours ago, bingers said:

I suspect other teams will target him physically next season. 

I was just going to say something along the same lines - not in a negative way at all, just that after 2016 he won't be flying under the radar anymore and he will be aware that teams will put more focus and effort into stopping him next season.  Hopefully we have some strategies in place that allow him to continue to get into space to use his pace, but with the 'new Melbourne', I'm confident that we can do that.

18 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

I was just going to say something along the same lines - not in a negative way at all, just that after 2016 he won't be flying under the radar anymore and he will be aware that teams will put more focus and effort into stopping him next season.  Hopefully we have some strategies in place that allow him to continue to get into space to use his pace, but with the 'new Melbourne', I'm confident that we can do that.

I think our backline now has some serious offensive power about it now, frost can run and carry, Salem and Hibbo are beautiful kicks who can set up the play and nev and vince are just good players so I think we are in a position where other teams will struggle to stop all of those players. But I agree hunt will be a huge focus of teams because he is such a game breaker, he creates quality scoring opportunities out of thin air 

51 minutes ago, Abe said:

I think our backline now has some serious offensive power about it now, frost can run and carry, Salem and Hibbo are beautiful kicks who can set up the play and nev and vince are just good players so I think we are in a position where other teams will struggle to stop all of those players. But I agree hunt will be a huge focus of teams because he is such a game breaker, he creates quality scoring opportunities out of thin air 

Spot on about our backline. With some of those offensive weapons down there, you wonder if Hunt will be pushed to a wing this year, or at the very least he might spend some time there during games.  Giving an outlet handpass from the stoppage for him to run on to in the front half will be a sight to behold, plus he is a pretty good shot for goal on the run.

21 hours ago, Emerald said:

During the Carlton game,he didn't seem to be affected by the rest of the team playing [censored]; he was the only thing about that game that I liked.

This is an extremely important part to us progressing as a team IMO. For too long our best players have gone missing with the team. Players who keep going when the chips are down are really worth their weight in gold. Viney is somewhat capable of doing this but we need more than just him and as you said, Hunt did so in the awful game.

Hunt took me by surprise last year. Hogan, Petracca, Viney et al were all touted as guns. It's great to pick one up from left field. IMO the quickest player I've seen at the club, even moreso than young Davey (maybe).

Fast

Agree, a major test for him this year with the added awareness and attention.

Hopefully a few will lift a notch or two to divert the attention.

Need to physically protect him.

I absolutely love him, he adds something totally unique to our team lineup with his speed, courage, attack on the ball and willingness to take the contest on and move the ball. I too would love to see him have short bursts on the wing, and with Hibberd and Melksham down back, this may be possible. Could even alternate with Salem. 

On 1/7/2017 at 2:03 PM, Lord Travis said:

This kid is a jet. Would love to see him do short stings up the ground on the wing going forward, but I love what he brings to the defence so don't want him up the ground full time.

I assume you meant stint but stings works! I can see him pulling of lots of stings next season

6 hours ago, Crossroads said:

Agree, a major test for him this year with the added awareness and attention.

Hopefully a few will lift a notch or two to divert the attention.

Need to physically protect him.

See my posts on the training thread from today, he does not need protecting

Dare I say it he reminds me of Andrew McLeod the way he just takes the game on with blistering pace. 

On 1/8/2017 at 3:48 PM, don't make me angry said:

Fast

It's the Indian Express the night before each match

I love the sequence of pics with Chomper knowing damn well that he will not catch him.

McCartney list update on Hunt from MFC site.

"He returned from the off-season break far from satisfied from a real breakout year. Jayden made it pretty clear to us that he wanted to actually ‘go again’ and improve again. He has done that so far in training. Jayden has a real appetite to be successful and a real appetite to play in a great team."

1 hour ago, big_red_fire_engine said:

McCartney list update on Hunt from MFC site.

"He returned from the off-season break far from satisfied from a real breakout year. Jayden made it pretty clear to us that he wanted to actually ‘go again’ and improve again. He has done that so far in training. Jayden has a real appetite to be successful and a real appetite to play in a great team."

Thought I would dig up the video of Jayden from 2016 B&F.  http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2016-09-08/best-young-player-jayden-hunt

The first minute, Macca's preamble to the best young player award, is really worth listening to again - Glowing (and well deserved) praise.  Similar to the quote b_r_f_e refers above, in the video Macca says Jayden will stop at nothing to be his best! 

Interesting Jayden signals Jack Grimes as one who spurred him into action to stay on the list in 2015.  Grimsey will look back with great pride as Jayden stars over the coming years.

Jayden is a very impressive young man and will be a great credit to our club.

On 7 January 2017 at 2:28 PM, Redleg said:

He could have been one of that bunch, if many on here had their way.

I was one of the "many", but to be fair, Red, we get to the end of each season, look at who is in/out of contract, have no knowledge of who is asking to be traded, or has been discussed as a potential trade.  Knowing we have to make the minimum amount of list changes, it was not illogical to have Hunt's name in among the top handful of players that we would've looked at moving on.

These views are based purely on a very simple criteria, which thankfully, those inside the club know the complex criteria.  It's why they get paid to do their job, and I get paid to do mine (which isn't on the MFC payroll).

 

jayden and big maxy got me seriously excited in 2016. they are reasons in themselves to go to the game.

2 hours ago, billy2803 said:

I was one of the "many", but to be fair, Red, we get to the end of each season, look at who is in/out of contract, have no knowledge of who is asking to be traded, or has been discussed as a potential trade.  Knowing we have to make the minimum amount of list changes, it was not illogical to have Hunt's name in among the top handful of players that we would've looked at moving on.

These views are based purely on a very simple criteria, which thankfully, those inside the club know the complex criteria.  It's why they get paid to do their job, and I get paid to do mine (which isn't on the MFC payroll).

Fair enough Billy, but it amuses me when so many on here write off players, without seeing them play, or knowing much about them, or their particular circumstances.

A common criticism is, "well the guy didn't play this year so he is no good."

If Max was shorter, some on here would have gotten rid of him for being injury prone.

Edited January 10, 20178 yr by Redleg