I think Slalom is already an excellent young talent. He will be thrust into the midfield more this year on account of his quality disposal.

1 hour ago, pineapple dee said:

I think Slalom is already an excellent young talent. He will be thrust into the midfield more this year on account of his quality disposal.

....and fierce aggression.

Bumping this thread after his game last week. Both coaches gave him the maximum of 5 votes after the Carlton game.

I thought he played well through the mid-field in the pre season and probably played his best game for the club at half back last week.

With a proper run at a pre season, he seems to have alleviated some of my concerns. At times he showed some good pace, he defended well, and took some nice marks. The mark he took before kicking the goal, he had to sit under a high ball with Casboult closing in.

Well done to Christian - I hope he can continue to improve.

No concerns over talent or application. We just need him to stay on the park!

12 minutes ago, The team we love said:

Bumping this thread after his game last week. Both coaches gave him the maximum of 5 votes after the Carlton game.

I thought he played well through the mid-field in the pre season and probably played his best game for the club at half back last week.

With a proper run at a pre season, he seems to have alleviated some of my concerns. At times he showed some good pace, he defended well, and took some nice marks. The mark he took before kicking the goal, he had to sit under a high ball with Casboult closing in.

Well done to Christian - I hope he can continue to improve.

Marking was something I wasn't aware he was particularly good at, but he took a couple of rippers on Sunday.

If he stays fit, he's a permanent fixture and a seriously good player.

Out of contract at the end of the year. Needs to be re-signed asap.

5 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Out of contract at the end of the year. Needs to be re-signed asap.

Will want to re- sign and will no doubt be part of something special at the club. He's not going nowhere.

9 minutes ago, pineapple dee said:

Will want to re- sign and will no doubt be part of something special at the club. He's not going nowhere.

Agree, apart from interstate boys wanting to return home, can't see why the local lads would want to go anywhere. We have the cap room to satisfy their needs, and we are just starting to come good.

Put your hand up if you were suggesting we trade him.

There were a few who forgot his talents when he lost the weight.

14 hours ago, Luther said:

Marking was something I wasn't aware he was particularly good at, but he took a couple of rippers on Sunday.

If he stays fit, he's a permanent fixture and a seriously good player.

Used spend time up forward as a jnr and showed he was a very good 1 v 1 mark, would like to see him thrown forward every once in a while.  

Was also compared to Luke Hodge when he was coming through, and I think all of the reasons why were on display on Saturday. Hopefully that has set the standard for Christian.

It makes sense he hasn't put pen to paper yet. If he continues the season as he did on the weekend, he could potentially almost double his salary. Will be a great tactic of motivation of wanting to end the season strong and make himself an in demand player. Smart move.

Godfather offers will come.  For Salem, Hogan, Oliver, Hunt.  

Melbourne FC needs to be a good place to be and the list managers will be earning their money over the next few years.

Salem is a gem and brings a skill set that offers a point of difference to our other youngsters.

59 minutes ago, ChaserJ said:

Used spend time up forward as a jnr and showed he was a very good 1 v 1 mark, would like to see him thrown forward every once in a while.  

Was also compared to Luke Hodge when he was coming through, and I think all of the reasons why were on display on Saturday. Hopefully that has set the standard for Christian.

completely agree.

looks like the sort of player who can have an impact be it behind the ball, on the ball, or drifting forward.

they're pretty rare and pretty exciting to have.

How clean is he??? his skills are sublime - he is one of the very few that get the ball and you can relax.

also didnt realise how clean his marking is as well

reminds me of a young Yze (a harder version)

On 5 April 2017 at 6:25 PM, dazzledavey36 said:

Out of contract at the end of the year. Needs to be re-signed asap.

I agree. But I'm not actually worried about him ultimately re-signing - I reckon he's here for the long haul.

 

Last year posters suggested trading Salem, now already this year there have been suggestions of trading brayshaw. 

Both are guns, both are long term demons

salem will re-sign just wanting to play some good injury free footy first 

On 26/02/2017 at 0:13 PM, Bobby Clark said:

I'm really liking Salem in the middle. Where do you see him playing majority of his footy in the future? 

Back, forward or midfield?

For me i'd love to see him playing majority midfield & a little bit of forward. 

 

Looks like a  breakout season is on the cards for Salem.  Hes looking superb out there.... finding  a heap of the footy and using it beautifully.

He has the potential to be a 30 goal a year midfielder if he plays a more attacking role. 

On 06/04/2017 at 7:41 PM, Abe said:

Last year posters suggested trading Salem, now already this year there have been suggestions of trading brayshaw. 

Both are guns, both are long term demons

salem will re-sign just wanting to play some good injury free footy first 

Both might be guns..

Only one is firing 

I understand the need to play him down back but Jeez i find him much more dangerous when he is in the midfield. On the weekend in the last when he went into the midfield he was the only player to show calmness and composer with the ball while everyone was going million miles an hour.

The fitter he becomes, the better he'll get.

I think people still forget how broken his seasons and pre-seasons have been and how much of an effect that has on a young player's development. You build fitness over consecutive pre-seasons and seasons of footy.

Christian has an incredible skill-set and is one my favourites. 

 

Edited April 19, 20178 yr by stevethemanjordan

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I understand the need to play him down back but Jeez i find him much more dangerous when he is in the midfield. On the weekend in the last when he went into the midfield he was the only player to show calmness and composer with the ball while everyone was going million miles an hour.

When Lewis returns, and hopefully Hibberd replaces Melksham, and even when Die Valkerie returns then it will give an opportunity to have Christian in the midfield, wing, forward line for many more minutes.  

his skill level and his versatility remind me of hodge - can play the sweeper role, the wing, play through the middle, and go up forward and hit the scoreboard.

On 06/04/2017 at 7:37 AM, Biffen said:

Put your hand up if you were suggesting we trade him.

There were a few who forgot his talents when he lost the weight.

I don't think anyone was suggesting it flippantly like a "get anything deal" like the Toumpas trade. It was more a "How do we lure an established A GRADER" topic. He and Tyson were brought in instead of Josh Kelly. It's not absurd to declare that we haven't come out on top in that regard. We of course might.

Edited April 19, 20178 yr by DominatrixTyson

4 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

 

Looks like a  breakout season is on the cards for Salem.  Hes looking superb out there.... finding  a heap of the footy and using it beautifully.

He has the potential to be a 30 goal a year midfielder if he plays a more attacking role. 

Agreed - and the same with Bernie - we could find another 60 goals from those two alone... 

I see him as our go to guy when we're struggling going inside fifty. I love our mids, but by gee they can spray it. Hunt, Jones at times, Viney, Tyson... They often bomb it into space or into the vicinity of whatever tall they see. We have just a handful of players now who are great kicks inside fifty. Tracca is prodigious, Salem's good, Oliver always look for a target, Braysh is super smart and Lewis obviously.

His position is off half back, and that's fine. But anyone there at JLT1 when we couldn't find a target inside fifty despite having heaps of the ball will attest to him drifting forward to good effect. I love that move too, since he's not a shut down defender with a job on someone dangerous. He'll be hard to pick up wandering all over the place. Well done Goody. Put your good users where they can do damage.