17 hours ago, deanox said:

Still one of the most dangerous and most dirty acts i have seen on the field in recent times. Should have been 6 weeks, elbowing a bloke in the back of the head while he lies on the ground in a disgrace and a dog act.

Agreed. Absolute dog act and I'll always dislike Rance due to these sorts of acts. He's raked the eyes of a few players and given cheap shots to the back of the head multiple times throughout his career. He's a dirty player.
As a defender he's also seriously suspect one-on-one. This year alone he got destroyed by Jenkins, then got beaten by Melksham. Teams need to play through his man and make him accountable, because one-on-one he's average and when isolated he repeatedly loses. 
Because the media love him, he never gets pulled up for all the negative aspects of his game and personality though. After we played them and Melksham kicked 4 on him and repeatedly beat him in one-on-one contests, Mooney interviewed him and kept saying he was "excellent", and even Rance was confused and replying "don't think I was great..." each time.

As for Oscar, he really has been good this year. He's yet to be beaten badly, and has improved dramatically in one-on-ones with opposition number 1 key forwards. Don't think he'll be All-Australian this year, but he's developing well and is now a reliable rock down at full back. Anyone denying that is judging him off 12-18 months ago when he was weaker in body and mind.

Edited May 3, 20186 yr by Lord Travis

Is Oscar underrated?    At 22 years of age he held down full back in  14 win team, and had the increased pressure of his gun key defender partner Jake Lever going down for the season.  They had just started to click and suddenly we bring in the very inexperienced Joel Smith to cover Levers role before the emergence of Frosty.

Your thoughts on O Mac and how he is tracking and how good he will be in 2019 and beyond.

 

Edited August 31, 20186 yr by Petraccattack

4 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

Is Oscar underrated?    At 22 years of age he held down full back in  14 win team, and had the increased pressure of his gun key defender partner Jake Lever going down for the season.  They had just started to click and suddenly we bring in the very inexperienced Joel Smith to cover Levers role before the emergence of Frosty.

Your thoughts on O Mac and how he is tracking and how good he will be in 2019 and beyond.

 

OMac is a good mark and a very good kick. Still building strength and not the quickest, but continues to improve, and hasn’t been beaten very often this year.

Only 22, on his way to developing into a very strong full back. 2018 has been a year of great progress for OMac.

Probably one of the most enjoyable facets of watching the Demons has been across the board improvement of our 20-23yo players:

Brayshaw

Harmes

OMac

ANB

JSmith

Oliver

Petracca

Hogan

Weideman

Stretch

Salem

Lever

While we’ve been very good this year, give them all another pre season, extra 20 plus games and will hit next years finals as an awesome machine! 

Fingers crossed for the finals, our best is very very good, and our composure is definitely improving!

A terrific season. Still a kid and huge upside. 

A beautiful (and much underrated) kick as evidenced by the sublime kick to lewis that set up our first goal and the later one to maxy.

He is very calm and makes excellent decisions with his disposals. The coach and team mates have complete trust in him.

Rarely beaten one on one and has some big scalps this year.  

He is already strong but but will get much stronger, fill out and possibly still get a touch taller over the next three years.

He is already one of the fittest players at the club and will only get fitter. Very durable which speaks to a fella who does everything right to prepare and recover. 

His key weakness is his pace and really is unlikely to get much quicker. So that will remain an issue but not a deal breaker, particularly with a fit and firing Lever playing alongside him.

Like most big fellas won't hit his peak until he is 25, by which time he will have close to 100 games (and a handful of finals) under his belt. 

As i noted at the beginning of the season will be a 200 plus game player for the dees and a mainstay of our defence for the next decade.

Edited August 31, 20186 yr by binman

I have always rated OMAC, he is a good defender good mark very composed, and almost always picks the right option.

Excellent season from Oscar. Feel like he got a bit better and more confident each week. Crucial piece.

I am a bit worried. If he is in the team to be the ‘gorilla tamer’ then he is in the wrong pen.

Frost went to Cameron and will go to Hawkins. If Oscar wants to stay in that team when Lever comes back, he needs to step it up. And not to sound like @Clint Bizkit here - but he does stupid little things like let players run around him for one-twos and doesn’t man the mark properly.

For his age he is fine, I just wonder whether he is in the team when we are healthy.

13 minutes ago, rpfc said:

I am a bit worried. If he is in the team to be the ‘gorilla tamer’ then he is in the wrong pen.

Frost went to Cameron and will go to Hawkins. If Oscar wants to stay in that team when Lever comes back, he needs to step it up. And not to sound like @Clint Bizkit

I just wonder whether he is in the team when we are healthy.

Of course he will be. Just as he was when we had all defenders fit for thw first 8 rounds of the season.

Sure frosty has been good last couple but not a patch on omac. The coach obviously agrees given last year and this year omac was selected ahead of him.

But happy to make an avatar bet. None of his critics took my bet that he would play every game up to round 11. Im happy to bet he wont be dropped next season. He wont be dropped until rhe end of his career.

The calmest player I have ever seen. 

 

1 hour ago, rpfc said:

I am a bit worried. If he is in the team to be the ‘gorilla tamer’ then he is in the wrong pen.

Frost went to Cameron and will go to Hawkins. If Oscar wants to stay in that team when Lever comes back, he needs to step it up. And not to sound like @Clint Bizkit here - but he does stupid little things like let players run around him for one-twos and doesn’t man the mark properly.

For his age he is fine, I just wonder whether he is in the team when we are healthy.

Frost is 25Yrs of age already, and so is more physically mature, with more strength for that reason.

Oscar is just 22Yrs-5Mths, so I think he will start to naturally fill out from this time forward.  And his strength will also improve markedly, with filling out.

Also, I think with this strength development, will come more self-belief generally, and more intensity with it.

Edited August 31, 20186 yr by DV8

bugger...was hoping this was set to be announcement of him signing a long-term deal

super handy player

45 minutes ago, Jaded said:

The calmest player I have ever seen. 

 

Interesting thought. hadn't considered that.

 

I rate Oscar. Have done for a while.

MUCH better foot skills than big brother at this stage of his career, and is very reliable for such a young KPD

Reads the play well, and is starting to zone off at the right times, to take the intercept marks. Has a footy brain.

Ok, gets mauled occasionally by the giants, but with the way the game appears to be going, 1 position gorillas may soon be a thing of the past.

With Frost showing signs of improvement, it bodes well for a flag attempt in the next few years.

1 hour ago, rpfc said:

And not to sound like @Clint Bizkit here - but he does stupid little things like let players run around him for one-twos and doesn’t man the mark properly.

You don't want to sound intelligent?

1 hour ago, Jaded said:

The calmest player I have ever seen. 

 

Wouldn't be surprised if he falls asleep on grand final day.

Any word on his contact, I thought this was nearly done a couple of months ago??

People would be screaming his name from the rooftops if he played for a big Vic club. Truth is most of our list is underrated because we don't get prime time games for casual observers to watch. A few Friday night games and people like Omac will start getting the respect they deserve.

Steve Waugh- they just picked him till he beat the world.

Justify son.

1 hour ago, Adzman said:

People would be screaming his name from the rooftops if he played for a big Vic club. Truth is most of our list is underrated because we don't get prime time games for casual observers to watch. A few Friday night games and people like Omac will start getting the respect they deserve.

Don't fall for that 'adzmn'.   We at the D's, traditionally overrate our own... That's why we fail so often in finals series, mostly for this reason.

Lets underrate them, and just continue building and developing,,, as we play Footy.

We can play, and chew gum at the same time.

4 hours ago, rpfc said:

For his age he is fine, I just wonder whether he is in the team when we are healthy.

He was in the team when we were healthy.

Not to take the [censored]... Your post was well considered (whether or not I agree)...

Outside of Lever and Nev, he's first picked in our backline.

6 hours ago, D4Life said:

Probably one of the most enjoyable facets of watching the Demons has been across the board improvement of our 20-23yo players:

If I'm having a rough day... I look at our under 25s.... And everything's ok again.

It's interesting to read that a lot people who are happy and confident with him are also saying he get's picked on by so many. It highlights a real divide in opinion.

I personally think he get's too much leeway and first team games. Reserve and first team footy this year and last would have been good for him.

He's kicking is pretty competent. He's handballing on his right side is also fairly good. And he's spoiling is fairly good. Hopefully with time and experience he'll improve his impact off the ball, he's tackling, awareness, he's aggression and he's reaction time.

A lot of people must seem to think that playing in the reserves isn't playing for us. Pederson is a proven gun and he plays in the reserves almost every week. What i'm getting at is Omac may become this defensive beast in time and play every 1st team game like some think he will, or he may not advance that much further; but still be handy for both the reserve and first team.

 

Edited August 31, 20186 yr by red&blue1982

6 minutes ago, red&blue1982 said:

It's interesting to read that a lot people who are happy and confident with him are also saying he get's picked on by so many. It highlights a real divide in opinion.

I personally think he get's too much leeway and first team games. Reserve and first team footy this year and last would have been good for him.

He's kicking is pretty competent. He's handballing on his right side is also fairly good. And he's spoiling is fairly good. Hopefully with time and experience he'll improve his impact off the ball, he's tackling, awareness, he's aggression and he's reaction time.

A lot of people must seem to think that playing in the reserves isn't playing for us. Pederson is a proven gun and he plays in the reserves almost every week. What i'm getting at is Omac may become this defensive beast in time and play every 1st team game like some think he will, or he may not advance that much further; but still be handy for both the reserve and first team.

 

Last year there may have been games where he could have played VFL, this year I don’t think so, getting more games into him has been a good thing for him. Interesting the comparison with Pedersen as they are in very different parts of their careers. 

2 minutes ago, layzie said:

Last year there may have been games where he could have played VFL, this year I don’t think so, getting more games into him has been a good thing for him. Interesting the comparison with Pedersen as they are in very different parts of their careers. 

We don't have many large defenders to rotate with Omac as well. 

Pedersen came to mind because he now epitomizes fringe first team, second team player. Hopefully he still has a few years in him.

19 minutes ago, red&blue1982 said:

We don't have many large defenders to rotate with Omac as well. 

Pedersen came to mind because he now epitomizes fringe first team, second team player. Hopefully he still has a few years in him.

We don't, that is true. 

Fair enough on Pedersen, I see your point.

15 hours ago, binman said:

He is very calm and makes excellent decisions with his disposals. The coach and team mates have complete trust in him.

This has been evident to me most matches at the G. Sitting close to Punt Rd fence, OMac is a bit of a leader in his own rights.

As the last defender, he sees a lot of what’s unfolding up the field and is vocal in barking out instructions or encouragement towards his fellow defenders when we have been scored against or hemmed in our defensive 50. The fans around us have noticed this also. 

He’s had a terrific season so far  IMO.

Edited August 31, 20186 yr by Dee Zephyr

17 hours ago, Dappa Dan said:

He was in the team when we were healthy.

Not to take the [censored]... Your post was well considered (whether or not I agree)...

Outside of Lever and Nev, he's first picked in our backline.

And Hibberd and Salem and Lewis and Fritsch and maybe Frost...

But this argument is irrelevant. Oscar won’t lose his spot Fritsch or Lewis. He will lose it if we think that Lever, Frost, and Hibberd with Gawn behind the footy is more value than having Oscar back there amongst that group.