1 hour ago, Wells 11 said:

Im not sure it matters how well WE would play Jibroni. Im 57 and couldnt complete the warm up without fatiguing lol. But Oscar is turning into a super reliable player . His decision making and marking has gone through the roof. Shows you why its worth perservering with youth sometimes. Hoping Weid is in the same boat.

My main point was Wells i think he plays one of the hardest positions on the field and sometimes we don't factor this in when judging someone. 

Yes i agree his decision making is brilliant ATM, hope it continues.

Has been fantastic. Never panics. Good with ball in hand. Super consistent. 

Never in doubt. Even was he was fresh and everyone called him a spud because they are impatient, he showed some good signs of being calm under pressure and a good reader of the player. Will be a solid FB for years to come!

Need to sign up him and Tommy stat. 

Oscar and Gawny head 2 head for the B&F.

i acknowledge that he's been a lot more reliable of late and his extra bulk means that he is no longer a pushover against most forwards.. HOWEVER, he is still super slow in his decision-making and is rubbish below his waist. as soon as the ball goes to ground he's done. he gets into weird positions during congestion in the back half too. so he's definitely not out of the woods yet, but yes, much much better these days and lots to work with!

The lid is off!

Oscar is now mainstream.

 

1 hour ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

The lid is off!

Oscar is now mainstream.

 

So to make sense of this, get Lever now, best case for 2018, but really 2019 onwards ... so as Oscar will become the gorilla defender that we are after (a la Talia) - Lever will in due course fall back to a similar role... the McDonald, Hibberd, Lever alliance may be up and down as McDonald improves, fills out frame, matures in 2018, but this will be a pretty solid backline for years to come

22 hours ago, Darkhorse72 said:

Oscar has come up nicely.  He'll been a lynchpin for years to com.e

Yes but let us not get ahead of himself.

He now has to improve below his knees, and gain more intensity,,,  and stop getting clean bowled by full length deliveries. 

Lever as well, let some low balls roll past below knee level. 

 

We cannot let any ball past us in the back half. especially ground ball.

20 hours ago, Jaded said:

Has been fantastic. Never panics. Good with ball in hand. Super consistent. 

Never in doubt. Even was he was fresh and everyone called him a spud because they are impatient, he showed some good signs of being calm under pressure and a good reader of the player. Will be a solid FB for years to come!

Need to sign up him and Tommy stat. 

A little bit laconic, needs to develop some more intensity. For those soon to be, oneday, Finals games.

Onya Oscar. 

15 minutes ago, DV8 said:

Yes but let us not get ahead of himself.

He now has to improve below his knees, and gain more intensity,,,  and stop getting clean bowled by full length deliveries. 

Lever as well, let some low balls roll past below knee level. 

 

We cannot let any ball past us in the back half. especially ground ball.

harsh as [censored] pal.. you do know the ball is oval shaped, going  roughly 30 metres a second...just sayin'

6 minutes ago, Danelska said:

harsh as [censored] pal.. you do know the ball is oval shaped, going  roughly 30 metres a second...just sayin'

I don't know if you noticed the few occasions in the last couple of weeks, where both were clean bowled out on their lone-somes.   The Ball went past them down low on separate occasions.  They were each out  in space.

This cannot happen in future, if we're to play finals, its just an area of weakness, particularly for Oscar,  & a lesser degree for Lever, when he was less confident than yesterday. Oscar has a long road of improvement ahead of him, before he becomes a leader, as defenders go.

Admittedly the standard in the AFL has dropped, the last couple of years.

 

but lets not put Oscar up on a pedestal.  he's not that good yet.

 

And I've been one of his biggest supporters over his journey.  but he's improved, but only improved.

He's got a lot of weakness's, including his leg strength. still.  he's on the improve.

21 hours ago, Jaded said:

Has been fantastic. Never panics. Good with ball in hand. Super consistent. 

Never in doubt. Even was he was fresh and everyone called him a spud because they are impatient, he showed some good signs of being calm under pressure and a good reader of the player. Will be a solid FB for years to come!

Need to sign up him and Tommy stat. 

Honestly this is just pure rubbish, He has had a really good start to the year, no question but have a look at the forst foray Essendon made into its fwd line where he loses the one on one and then allows his man to run off the mark into an open goal as an example. 

He is learning and improving but you are trying to make him sound like Mathew Scarlett and Stephen Silvagni rolled into one.

9 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Honestly this is just pure rubbish, He has had a really good start to the year, no question but have a look at the forst foray Essendon made into its fwd line where he loses the one on one and then allows his man to run off the mark into an open goal as an example. 

He is learning and improving but you are trying to make him sound like Mathew Scarlett and Stephen Silvagni rolled into one.

Talk about twisting my words. 

He is very calm and uses the ball well. He has beaten every opponent so far (take away Brown’s dodgy frees and he had 1 kicked on him), and has been our most consistent performer this year. 

Lets appreciate his improvement and not compare him to players that don’t need comparison

2 hours ago, Jaded said:

Talk about twisting my words. 

He is very calm and uses the ball well. He has beaten every opponent so far (take away Brown’s dodgy frees and he had 1 kicked on him), and has been our most consistent performer this year. 

Lets appreciate his improvement and not compare him to players that don’t need comparison

Well said.

He has improved out of sight, still has things to improve, but the signs are bright.

On 6/17/2017 at 3:17 PM, binman said:

#OMacmyths - OMac is a fringe player

One of the funniest myths in fact. Fringe players yo yo in out of the side. think ANB, Kent, Stretch, Wagner and from last year Mat Jones. OMac has been dropped once in his career, came back after a week, been in since and in likelihood will play every game for the rest of the year. In fact i would go as far as saying he may not be dropped again for years. 

A fringe player? hardly. He is key member of our back six - now and in the future. I don't think the coaching staff can make that much clearer. 

 

Good thread bump PA. Quite good value going back through some of the old posts in it.  I had to chuckle with your assertion TMac was no forward - you and PD both. We all get things wrong. Most are able to admit it as this thread attests to. There were quite a few posters who were critics of TMac's younger brother, but most have at the very least conceded he goes ok.

Some will never be able to admit when they are wrong though. Two in particular come to mind - jnrmac and STMJ. And it is instructive that in recent posts on this thread both still can't get past their blinding confirmation bias. Take this quote after the hawks game from STMJ, where even whilst trying to acknowledge TMac's younger brother he can't help give him back handed compliments and a decent whack:

'And for the record, I agree he showed great improvement in certain areas in the first half of the Hawthorn game. He was genuinely making a positive impact in contests and turning them into wins rather than floating about in an insignificant way. His kicking is usually very good. His defending needs improving along with his general intensity, body positioning, reflexes and awareness'

And this from Jnrmac the following day:

'The talk on here about Oscar improving out of sight and being our key defender is hilarious. He has played OK this year and hasn't disgraced himself at all but he is still a deer in the headlights, has little or no physical presence or awareness, cannot compete one on one, is slow with the turning circle of the titanic and rarely impacts a contest. His disposal is pretty good and that is about his best trait. Yes he is developing and that is great. As a Melbourne supporter I want him to succeed but it will be a long slow process at this rate.' 

I posted my quote above after last years QB game. I started the joke about the #OMacmyths because there were so many stupid comments about him. 

Not long after that post i decided i would stop defending TMac's younger brother as it was getting tedious refuting so much silly rubbish and it was evident that logical, fact based argument would have no impact on some posters  So i said i would not mention his name again and let his football do the talking. Of course i struggled to stop myself defending him, hence my, admittedly silly, TMac's younger brother work around. 

Well i don't need to defend him anymore. The argument has well and truly been won. In my favor. It is evident to all that Oscar McDonald is the real deal. 

I quoted the above post (i could have chosen any number of my posts from last year - or 2016 for that matter) to highlight that what is happening this year is no great mystery, has not come from nowhere and his potential has always been there for all to see. Most actually did - it was really only a noisy minority who did not get it (or couldn't as the case may well be). And of course the FD also understood what they had in Oscar. 

Last year i posted the footywire stat comparisons of Lever and Oscar McDonald. I noted i wasn't suggesting that  Oscar was as  good a player, but none the less given they had played very similar roles and were almost identical in age, number of games played etc etc they were a good duo to compare. I noted that on raw stats that Oscar more than held his own. Of course some railed at the comparison. Doesn't look so silly now. Beter than lever. No. But from what i have seen of Lever firsthand this year Oscar is a much better kick and a far superior one on one defender - pretty important attributes for a defender. 

I also put up the same age stats of Tmac and Oscar. Again Oscar more than held his own. For what its worth my opinion is that Oscar will be a better player then his brother when their careers are compared. 

And on the issue of confirmation bias, if you are in any doubt it is real phenomenon and makes it impossible for some posters to hold balanced, accurate views on certain players i offer this quote from jnrmac, responding to Jaded's comment that Oscar never panics:

'Honestly this is just pure rubbish, He has had a really good start to the year, no question but have a look at the first foray Essendon made into its fwd line where he loses the one on one and then allows his man to run off the mark into an open goal as an example'  

I can't do gifs but look at this video from the 14 second mark, which shows that very goal. At least i think it does - they had had at least 6 inside 50s by then (and two points), unsurprisingly given it halfway through the quarter, so obviously not the first foray and nothing else resembles jnrs description.

Firstly Oscar does not lose 'the one on one'. It isn't a one on one contest. Oscar is at least 10 metres in front of Smith and the ball is kicked well over his head (because there is zero pressure on the kick).

Secondly he doesn't allow 'his man to run off the mark into an open goal'. Smith, a small quick forward,  marks running with the flight of the ball, doesn't stop so never gets put behind his mark and runs into an open goal. Oscar had very little to no chance of holding Smith up. Its not even Oscar's man for petes sake.

If you only read jnrs version and had not watched the game you would assume the that Oscar had made two errors and cost us goal. And maybe he believes that. But the reality is different. That is confirmation bias, pure and simple. I am sure if it was Lever not Oscar the description of the event would have been completely different ('who was on Smith?, where was the pressure on the Zharakis')  

Good on you Oscar. Your improvement has been steady though your short career and you have had terrific start to the season, besting some of the best forwards in the game. Having just turned 22 you are one of the most promising KPD's in the league.

Edited April 30, 20187 yr by binman

4 hours ago, Jaded said:

Talk about twisting my words. 

He is very calm and uses the ball well. He has beaten every opponent so far (take away Brown’s dodgy frees and he had 1 kicked on him), and has been our most consistent performer this year. 

Lets appreciate his improvement and not compare him to players that don’t need comparison

Sorry, I am going to sick my neck out a bit and compare him a bit with the asertion that at this point I think he uses the ball better for is than Lever does.  It's actually a bit more of a statement of non confidence in Lever at presemt as much as anything.  Where I think Oscar makes sound, safe decisions and generally passes within his capability with good execution, I think Lever is the complete opposite and I would go as far as to say that I think Lever is the worst ball user in our backline right now.  Whether it's because he is uncertain of our system of ball movement and his teammates positioning and that he will get rapidly better once he finds his feet more, I couldn't say, because I didn't take much notice of him at Adelaide, but right now, I recon his ball use for us is rubbish.

Has anyone considered Lever is struggling to deal with playing in Oscar’s colossal shadow?

 

But seriously, I don’t even watch Oscar with a critical eye anymore. He’s a good, solid defender who does his job every single week. 

Anyone still criticising him must forget that the best defenders in the league make mistakes every game. Hurley was touched up by Fritsch and Spargo at times, and Rance was flailing about between Pies kids in their game. 

Neville Jetta is the only defender to have never made a single mistake in his life.

7 hours ago, Danelska said:

So to make sense of this, get Lever now, best case for 2018, but really 2019 onwards ... so as Oscar will become the gorilla defender that we are after (a la Talia) - Lever will in due course fall back to a similar role... the McDonald, Hibberd, Lever alliance may be up and down as McDonald improves, fills out frame, matures in 2018, but this will be a pretty solid backline for years to come

We need someone else in there too IMO. A versatile tall, which would allow Lever to play the role he is best at, and would free up Hibberd to run like he did last year. He's all tangled up at the moment.

11 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Honestly this is just pure rubbish, He has had a really good start to the year, no question but have a look at the forst foray Essendon made into its fwd line where he loses the one on one and then allows his man to run off the mark into an open goal as an example. 

He is learning and improving but you are trying to make him sound like Mathew Scarlett and Stephen Silvagni rolled into one.

Watched the replay with this post in mind. The problem, mate, is that it is simply wrong! Suggest you watch it again and apologise!

7 hours ago, Deestroy All said:

 

Neville Jetta is the only defender to have never made a single mistake in his life.

Quoted for truth

#Jettaforpresident

Keep up the good work Oscar. Made the Round 6 Team of the Week.

http://m.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-05-01/three-demons-in-r6-team-of-the-week.mobileapp

Edited April 30, 20187 yr by Dee Zephyr

2 hours ago, Farmer said:

"he loses the one on one and then allows his man to run off the mark into an open goal as an example." Watched the replay with this post in mind. The problem, mate, is that it is simply wrong! Suggest you watch it again and apologise!

Aside from the fact you need to go to Specsavers there are three things wrong with this.

1. Oscar is the last man in defence and he let a player get goal side of him

2. He fails to spoil and places places no physical pressure on Smith

3. He lets Smith run into an open goal

 

Oscar had a strong second half of last season and has followed it up with a very good start to 2018. Wrapt for him as he has copped plenty since debuting but is now showing why the FD has shown the faith.

He is extremely solid down back and has built some confidence which is helping immensely. Great to see and I have faith now that he'll get the job done when the ball heads down there.

Oscar is another example of the time it takes for young players to find their feet and develop into good players. A few can make an immediate impact and excite fans but most take time.  

Many referred to Oscar as a spud. He is showing us that far from being a spud he is becoming a very important player. Who would have  thought that Tom McDonald would develop into a very good forward. And the list goes on and on. 

The expectation and demand for  immediate success is everywhere.  We all get tired of waiting for success to come. 

However, patience is required before judgement is passed on a players career. Clearly the club got it right with Oscar and persevering with him. 

4 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Aside from the fact you need to go to Specsavers there are three things wrong with this.

1. Oscar is the last man in defence and he let a player get goal side of him

2. He fails to spoil and places places no physical pressure on Smith

3. He lets Smith run into an open goal

 

You're dead right. A howler..

But his howlers are decreasing discernably. 

I'm not overly sold yet but he has certainly put in some decent footy this year when many around him were below bog average.