Jump to content

Oliver's Weapons of Mass Distribution

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

 

The media are starting to catch on, the idea Oliver needs to kick more is a myth his hands are just as damaging, it’s about time 

  • Quote
    1 minute ago, brendan said:

    The media are starting to catch on, the idea Oliver needs to kick more is a myth his hands are just as damaging, it’s about time 

    Exactly. He extracts the ball from a tight contest where you can’t kick it out of. More often than not his handball hits a target who gets a clean kick away. 

  • Quote
    •  
    23 minutes ago, brendan said:

    the idea Oliver needs to kick more is a myth his hands are just as damaging

    I only want to see him kick it more because he is a lethal kick as well. He can pump it a mile, and equally put it down the throat of our forwards. But as the saying goes, if it ain't broke.............

  • Quote

    The game against the bulldogs hammered this home once and for all for me. The number of times he extracted it and his lightening hands started something was incredible. 

  • Quote

    27 minutes ago, brendan said:

    The media are starting to catch on, the idea Oliver needs to kick more is a myth his hands are just as damaging, it’s about time 

    I want to see him kick more on occasions, there's times where he is a link in a chain streaming through the middle and rather than take a kick when he has a chance he can stop and go sideways/backwards halting our momentum somewhat. He is a beautiful kick as well.

  • Quote

    His hands are only one of his weapons. His footy smarts and decision making is years ahead of his age and experience. He doesn't play like a young player in his 3rd season, he looks like he has been doing this forever. 

    He is like nothing I have seen before.

  • Quote
    •  
    1 hour ago, Adzman said:

    His hands are only one of his weapons. His footy smarts and decision making is years ahead of his age and experience. He doesn't play like a young player in his 3rd season, he looks like he has been doing this forever. 

    He is like nothing I have seen before.

    This.

  • Quote

    Nic named him Cool Hands Clarry after about 6 games.  It's taken the AFL media about 2 seasons to finally realise he has amazing hands.  Then there's the rest of his game they still haven't caught up with.  Talk about lagging!

  • Quote

    In The Age player of the year votes currently 17 of the top 20 vote leaders are midfielders. Oliver is not one of them nor any other of our midfielders from the highest  ranked clearance and contested possession team ATM. Unfair or perhaps a sign that our midfield is the best balanced unit of them all. 

  • Quote
    47 minutes ago, Nasher said:

    Anyone noticed that his teammates are now starting to do more of those backwards handballs to find players in space? He is revolutionising this team’s ball use out of packs.

    I think that is direction from the coaches box. We also haven’t laid a sheppard in 3 years so that is direction as well.

    Usually, you get yelled at for handballing backwards over your head to someone you can’t see... Maybe I am just getting old...

  • Quote

    I was born in 94, so I haven't been around for nearly as long as many Dees fans on here. I also recognise that recency bias tends to play a part when making these kinds of calls, you only need to look at the current debate around Jordan/Lebron in the NBA.

     

    Having said that, I am now certain that Clarry is the best footballer I've seen at the club in my lifetime. The incredible aspect of that statement is that he's still only 20 years old, and will probably still get better. I have never seen the consistency of excellence he provides every week from anyone who's pulled on our jumper, regardless of age. 

  • Quote
    5 minutes ago, Davos said:

    I was born in 94, so I haven't been around for nearly as long as many Dees fans on here. I also recognise that recency bias tends to play a part when making these kinds of calls, you only need to look at the current debate around Jordan/Lebron in the NBA.

    Having said that, I am now certain that Clarry is the best footballer I've seen at the club in my lifetime. The incredible aspect of that statement is that he's still only 20 years old, and will probably still get better. I have never seen the consistency of excellence he provides every week from anyone who's pulled on our jumper, regardless of age. 

    79 here, and Clayton Oliver and Jesse Hogan will end up alongside Stynes, Schwarz, Farmer, and Flower for me...and I only saw the tail end of the latter’s career 

  • Quote

    4 hours ago, Nasher said:

    Anyone noticed that his teammates are now starting to do more of those backwards handballs to find players in space? He is revolutionising this team’s ball use out of packs.

    I was thinking a similar thing on Saturday at the game. But i was thinking that some players are also doing the Oliver special -  those super quick punch like handballs from above the head whilst still in the air. Spartacus did one, as did ANB (i think) and Harmes is doing them regularly

    Getting the ball out of packs quickly and clearing congestion is critical in today's football. And probably has been right through his junior days. Oliver has developed an adaptive response to the need to clear congestion. teammates will use his techniques, other AFL players will start using them and i have no doubt they are already being used in junior footy to some extent.

    How many players influence how the game is played? not many - perhaps one or two a generation?

    The other thing he does few others do is his back pedal to create space. Most players always go sideways or forwards to get clear - Clarry goes forward, thorough packs, sideways and back. His back movement often gives him both space and time and makes his next disposal really dangerous.

  • Quote

    I’m amazed he is not rated more highly.

    I mean you only have to watch the bloke play, and see the efforts he puts in contest after contest ,to see that he is a once a generation player.

  • Quote
    1 hour ago, binman said:

    I was thinking a similar thing on Saturday at the game. But i was thinking that some players are also doing the Oliver special -  those super quick punch like handballs from above the head whilst still in the air. Spartacus did one, as did ANB (i think) and Harmes is doing them regularly

    Getting the ball out of packs quickly and clearing congestion is critical in today's football. And probably has been right through his junior days. Oliver has developed an adaptive response to the need to clear congestion. teammates will use his techniques, other AFL players will start using them and i have no doubt they are already being used in junior footy to some extent.

    How many players influence how the game is played? not many - perhaps one or two a generation?

    The other thing he does few others do is his back pedal to create space. Most players always go sideways or forwards to get clear - Clarry goes forward, thorough packs, sideways and back. His back movement often gives him both space and time and makes his next disposal really dangerous.

    Confidence is an amazing thing.

  • Quote
    14 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

    He should be called Bluey because of his red hair and the amount of Blueys he'll rack up through his career.

    I read as Bloweys. My bad

  • Quote

    It's not only how he distributes the ball. In order to distribute the ball he must first win the ball.

    His ability to both hunt the ball and win the ball in close is exceptional (and remarkably remains unnoticed). In doing so he denies the opposition use of the ball and increases our possession.

    That he can also distribute the ball to advantage is the icing on the cake. I cannot recall another player in any team who could do all three as well as Clarry and I was there in 64.

  • Quote

    i suspect that he's underrated because most of his works is of the  'blink and you'll miss it' variety.

    He doesn't do the flashy Dusty palm off etc.

    Like all Dee's fans, I rate him as highly as everyone, and I'm still constantly surprised to see his total numbers at the end of each game.

    I reckon I only see half of them, and I know he's going to be there doing it!

  • Quote
    9 hours ago, Rusty Nails said:

    Nic named him Cool Hands Clarry after about 6 games.  It's taken the AFL media about 2 seasons to finally realise he has amazing hands.  Then there's the rest of his game they still haven't caught up with.  Talk about lagging!

    As an aside to this, the umpires are realising - ever so slowly - that where they have penalised him for 'incorrect disposal' (ie: throwing the ball, not handballing) in the past was entirely wrong and ridiculously, it only took two years for them to use slow-mo clips to actually see how fast he was handballing, not throwing.

    I knickname him ' The Wall ' because ball hit wall - ball bounces off wall. In that split second between his possession of the ball and its legal despatch, a full handball has been executed with accuracy and limited loss of momentum. How unfair for poor old Filth, Carlscum, Essendrug, Whoreform and the rest of less gifted.

  • Quote

    • Archived

    This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

    Go to topic listing

    Featured Content

    • NON-MFC: Round 13

      Follow all the action from every Round 13 clash excluding the Dees as the 2025 AFL Premiership Season rolls on. With Melbourne playing in the final match of the round on King's Birthday, all eyes turn to the rest of the competition. Who are you tipping to win? And more importantly, which results best serve the Demons’ finals aspirations? Join the discussion and keep track of the matches that could shape the ladder and impact our run to September.

        • Vomit
        • Like
      • 96 replies
      Demonland

    • PREVIEW: Collingwood

      Having convincingly defeated last year’s premier and decisively outplayed the runner-up with 8.2 in the final quarter, nothing epitomized the Melbourne Football Club’s performance more than its 1.12 final half, particularly the eight consecutive behinds in the last term, against a struggling St Kilda team in the midst of a dismal losing streak. Just when stability and consistency were anticipated within the Demon ranks, they delivered a quintessential performance marked by instability and ill-conceived decisions, with the most striking aspect being their inaccuracy in kicking for goal, which suggested a lack of preparation (instead of sleeping in their hotel in Alice, were they having a night on the turps) rather than a well-rested team. Let’s face it - this kicking disease that makes them look like raw amateurs is becoming a millstone around the team’s neck.

      • 1 reply
      Demonland

    • CASEY: Sydney

      The Casey Demons were always expected to emerge victorious in their matchup against the lowly-ranked Sydney Swans at picturesque Tramway Oval, situated in the shadows of the SCG in Moore Park. They dominated the proceedings in the opening two and a half quarters of the game but had little to show for it. This was primarily due to their own sloppy errors in a low-standard game that produced a number of crowded mauls reminiscent of the rugby game popular in old Sydney Town. However, when the Swans tired, as teams often do when they turn games into ugly defensive contests, Casey lifted the standard of its own play and … it was off to the races. Not to nearby Randwick but to a different race with an objective of piling on goal after goal on the way to a mammoth victory. At the 25-minute mark of the third quarter, the Demons held a slender 14-point lead over the Swans, who are ahead on the ladder of only the previous week's opposition, the ailing Bullants. Forty minutes later, they had more than fully compensated for the sloppiness of their earlier play with a decisive 94-point victory, that culminated in a rousing finish which yielded thirteen unanswered goals. Kicks hit their targets, the ball found itself going through the middle and every player made a contribution.

      • 1 reply
      Demonland

    • REPORT: St. Kilda

      Hands up if you thought, like me, at half-time in yesterday’s game at TIO Traeger Park, Alice Springs that Melbourne’s disposal around the ground and, in particular, its kicking inaccuracy in front of the goals couldn’t get any worse. Well, it did. And what’s even more damning for the Melbourne Football Club is that the game against St Kilda and its resurgence from the bottomless pit of its miserable start to the season wasn’t just lost through poor conversion for goal but rather in the 15 minutes when the entire team went into a slumber and was mugged by the out-of-form Saints. Their six goals two behinds (one goal less than the Demons managed for the whole game) weaved a path of destruction from which they were unable to recover. Ross Lyon’s astute use of pressure to contain the situation once they had asserted their grip on the game, and Melbourne’s self-destructive wastefulness, assured that outcome. The old adage about the insanity of repeatedly doing something and expecting a different result, was out there. Two years ago, the score line in Melbourne’s loss to the Giants at this same ground was 5 goals 15 behinds - a ratio of one goal per four scoring shots - was perfectly replicated with yesterday’s 7 goals 21 behinds. 
      This has been going on for a while and opens up a number of questions. I’ll put forward a few that come to mind from this performance. The obvious first question is whether the club can find a suitable coach to instruct players on proper kicking techniques or is this a skill that can no longer be developed at this stage of the development of our playing group? Another concern is the team's ability to counter an opponent's dominance during a run on as exemplified by the Saints in the first quarter. Did the Demons underestimate their opponents, considering St Kilda's goals during this period were scored by relatively unknown forwards? Furthermore, given the modest attendance of 6,721 at TIO Traeger Park and the team's poor past performances at this venue, is it prudent to prioritize financial gain over potentially sacrificing valuable premiership points by relinquishing home ground advantage, notwithstanding the cultural significance of the team's connection to the Red Centre? 

        • Haha
      • 4 replies
      Demonland

    • PREGAME: Collingwood

      After a disappointing loss in Alice Springs the Demons return to the MCG to take on the Magpies in the annual King's Birthday Big Freeze for MND game. Who comes in and who goes out?

        • Clap
        • Like
      • 368 replies
      Demonland

    • PODCAST: St. Kilda

      The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 2nd June @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we have a chat with former Demon ruckman Jeff White about his YouTube channel First Use where he dissects ruck setups and contests. We'll then discuss the Dees disappointing loss to the Saints in Alice Springs.
      Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show.
      Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

        • Sad
      • 47 replies
      Demonland
    View All