Salem - An unsung hero

[Lord Neville X Flash 284]

Our entire team has developed in leaps and bounds this year - so many players have improved.

Salem's year has been outstanding, and has flown under the radar. 

In my opinion he is in our top 6 most important players. He's our jared Mcviegh, just controls the ball out of back line with such confidence. His 30m kicks inside are deadly, and he is probably the best decision maker in our team. Not too mention that he is hard as nails, loves lining up opposition players and laying huge tackles. 

I can see him playing well into his 30's. An absolute gem of player. 

[faultydet 7,623]

Funny how we all see the game differently.

Although overall he had a good night, I was cursing him early for at least 3 terrible kicks out of half back that resulted in turnovers.

 

Hugely improved player though. It's so nice having a number of players with that sweet left foot now.

[Dingo 1,183]

It really helps when you are not injured or sick.He has played a full season.

 

[Redlagged 813]

Best in ground for mine (though he did fluff a couple of kicks early).

[dl4e 5,851]

Salem is a gun. It shows what a few hard years under your belt will do. 

[layzie 34,528]

There’s a new silk in town! May have had a couple of chopped kicks but still generally on a dime.

[Little Goffy 14,963]

In my mind Salem is emblematic of our strength of excellent players a step down from the hyped star level.

Also emblematic of the number of players we have, who have had to overcome all kinds of strain and pain and frustration to get where they are now, at a personal level mirroring the club's overall experience.

[Jibroni 5,057]

Has been very good this year, credit to him considering the challenges he’s had to endure.

[spirit of norm smith 16,679]

He has been very good as the half back quarterback but also can take the hard footy. 

Disposal last night was very disappointing at times however so needs to get it right if we are to progress

[praha 11,267]

11 hours ago, faultydet said:

Funny how we all see the game differently.

Although overall he had a good night, I was cursing him early for at least 3 terrible kicks out of half back that resulted in turnovers.

 

Hugely improved player though. It's so nice having a number of players with that sweet left foot now.

It is funny. The way I see his game/s, his errors fly under the radar because he does so much, so well. He was all over the ground last night and I feel your MFCSS has blinded you because those miskicks were a dime a dozen in the first 10 minutes. Even Oliver fluffed it early on. And Max tapped directly to the Cats about 5 times in the first quarter.

[monoccular 17,760]

Of course he makes mistakes - everyone does especially if they get heavily involved.

Christian Salem shows poise, skills, judgement and courage.

One of our best and most consistent.

[low flying Robbo 979]

Yeah he's been so strong off the half back.. even with a couple of broken thumbs at the moment. He'll be off to surgery at the end of the year

[Dr. Gonzo 24,468]

Loved him since his first game against the Swans. Tough and skillful player, I'd love to see him push forward more, he had a couple of opportunities to score on Friday that he would usually gobble up a little bit more composure and he would've snagged both of them.
Clearly a favourite of Roos as well. Amazing what a guy can achieve when he has a clean run at it.

 

[Tony Tea 2,816]

Don't be surprised if Hawthorn put some work into Salem.

[Guest]

Neither Tyson or Salem will ever be better than Kelly on an individual level but that trade was definitely a win/win for both teams.

Kelly is the type of player you can build a club around. Tyson is a good foot soldier and Salem is an Yze style quarterback (though I think he has a bit more grunt than Ooze). However, we didn't have time to train up a speculative 18 year old who would be earmarked as our savior. 

We needed a bloke who could come in and play straight away but we didn't want to put all our eggs in one basket. Hence why we got Salo at 9.

I think he also is a good advertisement for intelligent player development. Salo was exposed to senior footy when he was ready (and only in dribs and drabs in his first year). 

It's amazing what players can deliver of they are viewed as individuals rather than cattle. Jesse was ready in 2015 and didn't need rests at Casey. Weed has needed time and it's been a good thing that we had Pedo on hand to give him time to find himself in the twos. Salem was able to develop without expectations and that's why he is the player he is.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Colin B. Flaubert

[Steve13 457]

Hes tough as! 

[rpfc 29,029]

1 hour ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Neither Tyson or Salem will ever be better than Kelly on an individual level but that trade was definitely a win/win for both teams.

Kelly is the type of player you can build a club around. Tyson is a good foot soldier and Salem is an Yze style quarterback (though I think he has a bit more grunt than Ooze). However, we didn't have time to train up a speculative 18 year old who would be earmarked as our savior. 

We needed a bloke who could come in and play straight away but we didn't want to put all our eggs in one basket. Hence why we got Salo at 9.

I think he also is a good advertisement for intelligent player development. Salo was exposed to senior footy when he was ready (and only in dribs and drabs in his first year). 

It's amazing what players can deliver of they are viewed as individuals rather than cattle. Jesse was ready in 2015 and didn't need rests at Casey. Weed has needed time and it's been a good thing that we had Pedo on hand to give him time to find himself in the twos. Salem was able to develop without expectations and that's why he is the player he is.

Also we would have taken Billings. So Salem, Tyson, and Hunt for Billings and Gardiner. 

Its a great deal. 

Almost as good as the lambasted deal for Sam Frost when we gave up ND23 (Pat McKenna) for Frost, ANB and Oscar.

And then recruited McKenna for a pick in the 60s a few years later...

[DV8 2,271]

16 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

In my mind Salem is emblematic of our strength of excellent players a step down from the hyped star level.

Also emblematic of the number of players we have, who have had to overcome all kinds of strain and pain and frustration to get where they are now, at a personal level mirroring the club's overall experience.

Just on 68 games now... so he knows the game, and how to handle its bumps. that's the difference now, this year.

Just look at this link and check the players, with games between 50 & 70 AFL matches.

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/tp-melbourne-demons?year=2018&sby=13

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,508]

Arguably our best field kick, needs to work on his shots on goal.

[DV8 2,271]

1 hour ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Kelly is the type of player you can build a club around. Tyson is a good foot soldier and Salem is an Yze style quarterback (though I think he has a bit more grunt than Ooze). However, we didn't have time to train up a speculative 18 year old who would be earmarked as our savior. 

We needed a bloke who could come in and play straight away but we didn't want to put all our eggs in one basket. Hence why we got Salo at 9.

I think he also is a good advertisement for intelligent player development. Salo was exposed to senior footy when he was ready (and only in dribs and drabs in his first year).  

Spot on CBF. 

 We needed more coachable experience inside the contest straight away. (enter Tyson)...  and we needed a skilled running player with work ethic. Salem was the one available.

 

I agree about Yze.  Salem has him covered for work rate and grunt,,, hard at it.  Our players were so spoilt back then...  got away with murder, they did.

[Swooper1987 3,322]

Will be top 6 in the B and F.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Swooper1987

[Gorgoroth 13,220]

Yes he sometimes misses targets by foot, but he slices the game apart more often and he is doing the good and bad kicks from deep in defence where the pressure is ramped up twice as much as some one butchering it through the midfield.