I’m enjoying the content as well. It’s been given a lift. 

My questions to those making Viv Michie, Ben Newton and Harley Balic comparisons is that did you seriously invest great hope in those blokes making regular senior selection?

They were speculative at best and stop gap players until some top grade talent could be bought in at worst. KK is in the former category thanks to his injury history but as has been pointed out, he is also a top ten pick. The upside is there but we haven't exactly bet the farm on his development. Pick alone 6 for May would have been commensurate with his value in my eyes.

53 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

My questions to those making Viv Michie, Ben Newton and Harley Balic comparisons is that did you seriously invest great hope in those blokes making regular senior selection?

They were speculative at best and stop gap players until some top grade talent could be bought in at worst. KK is in the former category thanks to his injury history but as has been pointed out, he is also a top ten pick. The upside is there but we haven't exactly bet the farm on his development. Pick alone 6 for May would have been commensurate with his value in my eyes.

Top 5 pick actually, not sure why some continue to relegate him to only top 10 status.

On 10/22/2018 at 4:01 PM, Moonshadow said:

Still think we are two quick, skilled outside mids and maybe an A grade small forward short of complete. Might develop from our list or from a draftee this year, but they may equally come in over the next 2 or 3 years.

We can always improve our list further!

I'd agree with this, as we do have speed in some young'uns at Casey who are on the verge of senior selection - and in reality we possibly need only two more ... in addition, the further development of a few (of the likes of Hunt, Wagner, Spargo, Stretch) - with the return to form and desire of Garlett - may well be the key as these guys know the brand, code, plays, teammates, set-ups and expectations across the field, already. KK will be a considerable asset, too, in this 'confirming' year of play and training to come. Given that we also have run from the backline now - with Hibberd, Frost, May, Jetta, Salem, et al, we are not going to need an overcooking of pace specialists, just open space finders and receivers with take-off skills and onfield space hogs. The quality of training and development for these bright sparks is perhaps most important to a stirring year of ball possession, delivery and opposition confusion. 

 

From the Dees website.

“MELBOURNE recruit Kade Kolodjashnij has wasted little time trying to impress his new teammates with a strong performance to finish third in the Demons' 2km time trial on Monday.

The time trial was won by perennial pacesetter Alex Neal-Bullen, who ran an unofficial time of 6min 22secs in hot conditions at Gosch's Paddock.

Defender Joel Smith ran over the top of Kolodjashnij in the last 70m to pinch second place after the former Sun took the lead early in the race.

Neal-Bullen is renowned as one of Melbourne's best endurance runners and motored home in the last lap to claim victory in his pet event.

Kolodjashnij set the tempo early as he looked to take it to the field in couple of laps and looked comfortable out in front in his new colours.”

Edited November 20, 20186 yr by Males

Good to see him impressing first session with his new teammates. He's a good runner clearly and I'm hoping he can make the wing position his own. By all reports he was also a stand out with the skills at training. He was an elite kick as a junior and before concussion issues at Gold Coast. If he can realise his potential, he will become a running kicking weapon for us. Great pickup for steak knives in the May deal!

 

 

I had previously read the "ongoing problems were neck related not concussion related" but this article adds a bit more insight. Apparently he kept failing concussion tests until they identified that the neck muscles ere giving him comparable symptoms.

From his debut he played 67 of 75 games before the concussion issues. Missed the back half of 2017. Came back for the first 4 rounds of 2018, had lingering issues, thought it was concussion and took a couple of months to identity the issue. Commenced the neck exercises, and came back for 4 games towards the end (playing out of position as a KPD) when he was injured again. 

Has really only missed 1.5 seasons with the injury, and it was clear he was ready to leave during this season given the rumors etc. Lot's of upside for us. 

Can’t wait to see him on a wing.

If Hunt can return to form and claim the other wing we could go from no/average wings to seriously dangerous wings. Hunt for elite pace, KK for elite kicking. Here’s hoping one or both of them can stay injury free and build consistency!

5 hours ago, deanox said:

I had previously read the "ongoing problems were neck related not concussion related" but this article adds a bit more insight. Apparently he kept failing concussion tests until they identified that the neck muscles ere giving him comparable symptoms.

From his debut he played 67 of 75 games before the concussion issues. Missed the back half of 2017. Came back for the first 4 rounds of 2018, had lingering issues, thought it was concussion and took a couple of months to identity the issue. Commenced the neck exercises, and came back for 4 games towards the end (playing out of position as a KPD) when he was injured again. 

Has really only missed 1.5 seasons with the injury, and it was clear he was ready to leave during this season given the rumors etc. Lot's of upside for us. 

I guess it goes to show how in AFL these days players are only a dozen or so games from being a superstar to an ordanary player - at least in the eyes of the media and some supporters (myself included).  When he was at his peak, KK was a player that I really thought, gee there's a player I'd like to have at Melbourne, but those few seasons or so of concussion and average form have just put that question mark over him that can he get back to his best.  Really looking forward to see what he can do for the MFC.

21 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

Can’t wait to see him on a wing.

If Hunt can return to form and claim the other wing we could go from no/average wings to seriously dangerous wings. Hunt for elite pace, KK for elite kicking. Here’s hoping one or both of them can stay injury free and build consistency!

Nice little summation, that. Reasonable likelihood, too. 

15 hours ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

I guess it goes to show how in AFL these days players are only a dozen or so games from being a superstar to an ordanary player - at least in the eyes of the media and some supporters (myself included).  When he was at his peak, KK was a player that I really thought, gee there's a player I'd like to have at Melbourne, but those few seasons or so of concussion and average form have just put that question mark over him that can he get back to his best.  Really looking forward to see what he can do for the MFC.

Nev Jetta went from delist to essential part of the team and leading AFL small defender after recovering from (presumably) similar issues.  Hope KK can do the same.

I hope that I'm wrong, but i can't see Hunt as being more than depth in 2019. Has speed and competitive desire, but his vision and disposal have always been poor. Disposal is hard to improve in this stage in a player's career. I love the idea of KK recieving a handball and spearing off a pass into the forward 50. That's also why Salem will be important in 2019. I rate footy smarts and disposal skills above pure foot pace any day. Better players have pace and skill/vision. Hunt has foot pace, I hope he shows us his new and improved smarts and pinpoint kicking in 2019. I won't be holding my breath though.

Edited December 29, 20186 yr by Moonshadow

On 11/14/2018 at 11:57 PM, Colin B. Flaubert said:

My questions to those making Viv Michie, Ben Newton and Harley Balic comparisons is that did you seriously invest great hope in those blokes making regular senior selection?

They were speculative at best and stop gap players until some top grade talent could be bought in at worst. KK is in the former category thanks to his injury history but as has been pointed out, he is also a top ten pick. The upside is there but we haven't exactly bet the farm on his development. Pick alone 6 for May would have been commensurate with his value in my eyes.

I think he will finish in top ten if not the top 5. Kk will be a household name.

if we have a few bogan supporters we may have a few young dees supporters called

kiki or kaykay.

 

2 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

I hope that I'm wrong, but i can't see Hunt as being more than depth in 2019. Has speed and competitive desire, but his vision and disposal have always been poor. Disposal is hard to improve in this stage in a player's career. I love the idea of KK recieving a handball and spearing off a pass into the forward 50. That's also why Salem will be important in 2019. I rate footy smarts and disposal skills above pure foot pace any day. Better players have pace and skill/vision. Hunt has foot pace, I hope he shows us his new and improved smarts and pinpoint kicking in 2019. I won't be holding my breath though.

I don’t think that Hunt is a particularly bad kick, but rather he doesn’t steady himself before kicking it, too often trying to kick when at full pace 

On 12/29/2018 at 1:14 AM, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

I guess it goes to show how in AFL these days players are only a dozen or so games from being a superstar to an ordanary player - at least in the eyes of the media and some supporters (myself included).  When he was at his peak, KK was a player that I really thought, gee there's a player I'd like to have at Melbourne, but those few seasons or so of concussion and average form have just put that question mark over him that can he get back to his best.  Really looking forward to see what he can do for the MFC.

It’s been common knowledge that the Suns medical team capabilities and rehab programs were far from effective. Take the knee issues O’meara, Prestia, Swallow and Lynch for example. All but Swallow has pulled the pin on the place which I found surprising but not so much surprising now that his older brother is part of the Suns FD.

Hall rubbished the place soon after he got to North and IIRC made special mention of their inability to rehab the players properly.

KK is another prime example of the Suns injury mismanagement given the final identification of the root cause took them eons to discover. 

Professional players look for success, get home sick or get fed up with being injured and not properly rehabbed. This is why I’m particularly confident that KK will be a fantastic inclusion to the team and a lock for Round 1. 

On 12/29/2018 at 9:34 PM, Dirts said:

I think he will finish in top ten if not the top 5. Kk will be a household name.

if we have a few bogan supporters we may have a few young dees supporters called

kiki or kaykay.

 

Anybody who thinks Hunt is a poor kick has nfi about football. He can kick 70m torpedos with short legs.

 

4 minutes ago, Wrecker45 said:

Anybody who thinks Hunt is a poor kick has nfi about football. He can kick 70m torpedos with short legs.

 

And that's useful once in a career. Football in the modern era is made up of 1%ers done repeatedly over the entire year, not some fluke long kick.

The 1970s rang and asked you to beam yourself back.

33 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

And that's useful once in a career. Football in the modern era is made up of 1%ers done repeatedly over the entire year, not some fluke long kick.

The 1970s rang and asked you to beam yourself back.

Makes some interesting reading.

https://www.zerohanger.com/champion-data-reveal-best-worst-kicks-2017-14091/

Has Hunt in the best 10 kicks of 2017 based on a variance between the difficulty of the attempted kick and the % of those kicks then hit. Proves you can make stats support almost any outcome.

 

Edited December 30, 20186 yr by big_red_fire_engine

15 hours ago, big_red_fire_engine said:

Makes some interesting reading.

https://www.zerohanger.com/champion-data-reveal-best-worst-kicks-2017-14091/

Has Hunt in the best 10 kicks of 2017 based on a variance between the difficulty of the attempted kick and the % of those kicks then hit. Proves you can make stats support almost any outcome.

 

Snap. I've always maintained that Hunt was nowhere remotely near as poor a kick as what he is made out to be on here - based partly on - and I can't be bothered going back and retrieving old posts - my conviction that the footy department were encouraging him to break the lines by run and by foot.

Some shockers, sure - but in my mind he had been asked to execute much higher degrees of kicking difficulty - with the full support and expectation of Goody. Wasn't dropped for his disposal, but lack of confidence and getting his hands on the ball. Build that back up and he'll be one of the first selected.

10 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Snap. I've always maintained that Hunt was nowhere remotely near as poor a kick as what he is made out to be on here - based partly on - and I can't be bothered going back and retrieving old posts - my conviction that the footy department were encouraging him to break the lines by run and by foot.

Some shockers, sure - but in my mind he had been asked to execute much higher degrees of kicking difficulty - with the full support and expectation of Goody. Wasn't dropped for his disposal, but lack of confidence and getting his hands on the ball. Build that back up and he'll be one of the first selected.

Fully agree with all of the above. 

If you wanted someone across our halfback line to pinpoint a sharp kick to a leading forward, I'd rather it be KK, Salem, May, Jetta or Lever rather  than Hunt.

Edited December 31, 20186 yr by Moonshadow

Hunt is a conundrum.  He does have genuine AFL attributes.  He's like a cricketer who needs to hone his game and remove the errors.

It's a coaching and development challenge, but I like what Hunt offers and can see him still being an important part of the team.  There's no reason he still can't improve.

20 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

And that's useful once in a career. Football in the modern era is made up of 1%ers done repeatedly over the entire year, not some fluke long kick.

The 1970s rang and asked you to beam yourself back.

Hunt is a professional athlete like Jordan and Tiger Woods.

Was it a fluke when Jordan jumped from the foul line and dunked it?

Was it a fluke when Tiger hit a 30ft put to win the under 16 world championship and announce himself to the world?

Honestly one of the worst posts I have read on demonland and I have been reading since the merger talk.