45 minutes ago, Chook said:

He's not a leader. He just knows a shitload about footy. Why would he not talk?

Clayton is a leader. 

Future Captain material 

2 hours ago, KingDingAling said:

Everytime I watch Oliver play I am thankful we picked him ahead of Parish. Imagine the uproar if we had've let Oliver slip? It would be crazy. Lyon is right, Oliver is the best kid to emerge in the last 20 years. We would be slitting our wrists if we overlooked him.

TBH, we'd have taken Parish and probably be grumbling... but not as much as we were with the Wines/Toumpas one...

I reckon football supporters always are glass half full on their guys and glass half empty on opposition ones. Wait 4-5 years until he's more decorated by the external footy public, and then you'll see the recruiters get the credit.

Another comparison for you. The 6'5" Paddy Cripps. Blues supporters are thanking the heavens for the Docherty, Cripps, Curnow types to balance out their current nightmare. Most clubs would kill for Cripps as he's a star. Blues supporters point to the ridiculous contested ball numbers he regularly puts up. Now I'm not saying we wouldn't take him in a heartbeat... but the thing is, we've already got one in Clarry. Two, really, if you count Viney.

2 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Clayton is a leader. 

Future Captain material 

Nuh-uh. Footy nerd through and through. Nothing wrong with that.

Just now, Chook said:

Nuh-uh. Footy nerd through and through. Nothing wrong with that.

Gotta stop thinking Choirboys make the best Captains. 

They don’t

it what stuffed up Schwab. He wanted a nice athletic team....

we saw the results

Clayton will stand up for himself and lead by example

8 hours ago, don't make me angry said:

It is a myth we don't have leg speed, salam is quick, viney is quick, Clayton is quick, Bradshaw is also quick, can't believe how many think we are slow, it is not true, hibbo is also quick. 

Nev Jetta can really motor when he needs to.

1 hour ago, Demon17 said:

 

As the great John McEnroe said:

"...you cannot be serious.."

Do you understand the various leadership qualiites?

Such as " follow me"  as a prime example, train hard, play hard, look how I play ... etc.

 

Not criticising the bloke. I just reckon he's a footy nerd. That inspires in its own way, but isn't traditional "leadership".

2 hours ago, deefender said:

Clayton’s handball keeps the game open and fast - just as the AFL like it.

There's something about the way he and now the rest of his team mates are handballing that reminds me of the great Geelong team and the flag-winning Bulldogs of 2016. Exciting stuff.

4 hours ago, Sargent Shultz said:

When he changes his handball to kick to handball ratio and kicks a few more goals (you cant handball a goal yet) he will win a Brownlow - something not achieved by MFC since 2000.

Otherwise, he compares favourably to Dustin Martin - and we all know what he achieved last year.

Clarry to Martin (Averages per match this year)

Marks 2.6 to 3.4

Goals .5 to 1.5

kicks 9.1 to 14

handballs 19.2 to 10

contested possession 16 to 11

clearances 7.3 to 5.4

tackles 7.7 to 1.7

inside 50's 4.5 to 5.2 (more kicks will improve this)

metres gained 328.5 to 423 (more kicks will improve this too)

So yep  I think he is the most exciting talent we have uncovered for a long time

I reckon this stats comparison misses the point. 

You could just as easily argue that if Martin was a better ball winner he would be more valuable to the tiges. To do that he would need to increase his contested ball winning and his clearances. Of course this would probably result in bringing his kick to handball ratio down but that's ok because he'd be moore damaging for his team by winning the ball.  It's harder to win the ball than finish, so a lesser outside player can pick up the offensive statistic slack (ie  goals and inside 50s might drop off a but someone else will kick them if you get it out to them).

Has literally not played one bad game since debut. Even his “down” games are like 26 touches and 8 clearances. 

 

11 hours ago, KingDingAling said:

Everytime I watch Oliver play I am thankful we picked him ahead of Parish. Imagine the uproar if we had've let Oliver slip? It would be crazy. Lyon is right, Oliver is the best kid to emerge in the last 20 years. We would be slitting our wrists if we overlooked him.

Not sure we were ever going let him slip. Apparently we were the only ones that liked him as a first round pick. Was considered a bolter only because Melbourne were interested and had two picks in the top 10. That's the great thing about our recruiters now. Capable of identifying real talent and going for it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Nasher said:

Imagine if we’d drafted the disappointing Parish and were watching Clarry running around in a Bummers jumper. Those poor chaps must be seething ?

Great little 'trick' that recruiting effort of the Dees. The mantra was well spread for several weeks: '  ... we want Parish, we want Parish ...'  but we didn't want Parish, did we? We wanted to deflect attention from Clarry, coz '...we want Clarry, we want Clarry...' and the poor Essendrug team fell for it. Picks at that level of drafting order sometimes work out that way. 

On 5/28/2018 at 9:58 AM, Danelska said:

it's almost like journo's come to demonland and get the gossip/facts from here...

Journalists have become stale and lazy. just collating information and passing it on.  And the AFL control independence. journo's are stopped from doing some journo work under the weight of the AFL heavies.

The AFL tries to control the tone to protect the Game (really not the game but the finances invested invested in it)... this damages the integrity of the game.

 

The game is/was sound enough to withstand any situation, as the people protected it with Love.

The AFL sort of disengaged the public love, by putting things up on a pedestal, out of reach of everyman. And undone connection via the same methods.

 

The AFL has constructed a feeling a bit like the monarchy....  out of touch to the common-man.

 

The Melbounre footy club has been doing this for decades,,, and has gotten much worse, since the Northern-Stand has been built.

 

 

.

sorry for getting off post.

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by DV8

16 hours ago, KingDingAling said:

Everytime I watch Oliver play I am thankful we picked him ahead of Parish. Imagine the uproar if we had've let Oliver slip? It would be crazy. Lyon is right, Oliver is the best kid to emerge in the last 20 years. We would be slitting our wrists if we overlooked him.

And he came with some question marks over attitude and behaviour.

We took on the gamble and won.

15 hours ago, Nasher said:

Imagine if we’d drafted the disappointing Parish and were watching Clarry running around in a Bummers jumper. Those poor chaps must be seething ?

Parish the clean, choirboy.

Oli the imperfect Man footyplayer with Aussie rules in his head.

54 minutes ago, DV8 said:

Parish the clean, choirboy.

Oli the imperfect Man footyplayer with Aussie rules in his head.

See, I don’t give a rats that Parish is a choirboy type. Sam Weideman is too, with the neat hair and soft features. I’ve seen 8 year olds that look tougher than Jayden Hunt, but the correlation with his football style is precisely zero, current form notwithstanding.

It’s the not being good at football part that puts me off Parish. Or if I’m to give some benefit of the doubt, not yet as good as you would hope for the level of investment and underage promise.

The baby boomer men’s obsession with the appearance of young footballers gives me the irrits big time.

1 hour ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Great little 'trick' that recruiting effort of the Dees. The mantra was well spread for several weeks: '  ... we want Parish, we want Parish ...'  but we didn't want Parish, did we? We wanted to deflect attention from Clarry, coz '...we want Clarry, we want Clarry...' and the poor Essendrug team fell for it. Picks at that level of drafting order sometimes work out that way. 

They fell for nothing...

We had the pick before them.

Natural talent and he busts his gut to improve.

 

Whats not to love. Couldnt ask anything more from a young guy.

1 hour ago, rjay said:

They fell for nothing...

We had the pick before them.

I'd like to think that was not the case because I am so happy we did get Clarry and they blew it by selecting Parish, in comparison. That left Clarrie as our pick who they also wanted. They had the dilemma, we had a clear run. 

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by Deemania since 56

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

See, I don’t give a rats that Parish is a choirboy type. Sam Weideman is too, with the neat hair and soft features. I’ve seen 8 year olds that look tougher than Jayden Hunt, but the correlation with his football style is precisely zero, current form notwithstanding.

It’s the not being good at football part that puts me off Parish. Or if I’m to give some benefit of the doubt, not yet as good as you would hope for the level of investment and underage promise.

The baby boomer men’s obsession with the appearance of young footballers gives me the irrits big time.

not having a go at you Nash.

Weideman isn't a choirboy like watts.

Weide has some mongrel about him,  is said to have, at least. hoping to see his aggression, onfield soon.

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

See, I don’t give a rats that Parish is a choirboy type. Sam Weideman is too, with the neat hair and soft features. I’ve seen 8 year olds that look tougher than Jayden Hunt, but the correlation with his football style is precisely zero, current form notwithstanding.

It’s the not being good at football part that puts me off Parish. Or if I’m to give some benefit of the doubt, not yet as good as you would hope for the level of investment and underage promise.

The baby boomer men’s obsession with the appearance of young footballers gives me the irrits big time.

I don't care for appearances, and you should not assume that's what it is, Nash. that's where you go wrong, assuming things.

Translation is different for all of us.

Its whats in the heart, that's what we look for, the play like a man, not a boy stuff.

 

You could do well to learn from your seniors, Nasher; they know a lot more than you think.

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by DV8

The kid is so slick and quick that I often fail to notice some of his contributions at the time. Upon rewatching the game without the pressure of "will we or won't we win" you get a real appreciation of what he does and how he applies his craft. He is out and out our biggest star and is truly an A-Grader. This is something they we have not had many of in my Melbourne supporting lifetime.

I gave up making gifs of Oliver's best handballs this year due to the sheer weight of numbers and how 'blink and you'll miss it' the best ones are.

22 hours ago, pineapple dee said:

Can I just say 1 last time , I shook Clarry's hand in the supermarket just after he got drafted. I thought I noticed something special about that hand.

That's because you didn't actually shake it.  His hand was that quick he had you imagining you did

3 hours ago, Deemania since 56 said:

I'd like to think that was not the case because I am so happy we did get Clarry and they blew it by selecting Parish, in comparison. That left Clarrie as our pick who they also wanted. They had the dilemma, we had a clear run. 

2015 AFL Draft:

1. Carlton: Jacob Weitering

2. Brisbane: Josh Schache

3. Sydney: Callum Mills (Academy selection - matched bid from Melbourne)

4. Melbourne: Clayton Oliver

5. Essendon: Darcy Parish

6. Essendon: Aaron Francis

7. GWS: Jacob Hopper (Academy selection - matched bid from Gold Coast) 

8. Gold Coast: Callum Ah Chee

9. Melbourne: Sam Weideman

10. Carlton: Harry McKay

(12. Carlton: Charlie Curnow - the only other player in the draft to go close to Clarry's impact)

----

Essendon were extremely keen on Oliver. One version of events had us trading up to Pick 3 from Pick 6 to get ahead of Essendon to ensure we got him. 

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by Thrice

Hopefully the maggots open their eyes this season when doing Brownlow votes.  Criminal he only polled 12 last season, he was dominant.

And he was only 19!