Go you beauty!

I'm hopeful on Harmes but still in 'wait and see' mode. There has not been a big enough body of evidence to say whether he is the real deal or not. If he can continue on from where he left off last season then awesome. I'm just a little worried that he will be another Hunt or Kent, showing us blocks of great stuff and then not following up...

Just now, FlashInThePan said:

I'm hopeful on Harmes but still in 'wait and see' mode. There has not been a big enough body of evidence to say whether he is the real deal or not. If he can continue on from where he left off last season then awesome. I'm just a little worried that he will be another Hunt or Kent, showing us blocks of great stuff and then not following up...

Apt username.

9 minutes ago, FlashInThePan said:

I'm hopeful on Harmes but still in 'wait and see' mode. There has not been a big enough body of evidence to say whether he is the real deal or not. If he can continue on from where he left off last season then awesome. I'm just a little worried that he will be another Hunt or Kent, showing us blocks of great stuff and then not following up...

I get your point there 'Flash' but he's way ahead of anything Kent had done and a fair bit on from Hunt I would think.

Harmesy really came of age last season, however, for me I love the fact that he is a natural footballer/ball winner who is capable of breaking the lines & kicking some goals.

Barring injury, 2019 shouldn't be any different with experience the big winner.

Go Nut.

48 minutes ago, FlashInThePan said:

I'm hopeful on Harmes but still in 'wait and see' mode. There has not been a big enough body of evidence to say whether he is the real deal or not. If he can continue on from where he left off last season then awesome. I'm just a little worried that he will be another Hunt or Kent, showing us blocks of great stuff and then not following up...

I respectfully disagree. 

From day one he showed he had the guts and determination, and also showed flashes of what he could become.had  However, he lacked the consistency and polish. He was rough around the edges.

Last seasons efforts showed to me that he has what it takes and the class to be something special. He developed consistency and confidence to take the game on, taking himself from a fringe player at best to a team player with the individual skills to influence games.  

42 minutes ago, FlashInThePan said:

I'm hopeful on Harmes but still in 'wait and see' mode. There has not been a big enough body of evidence to say whether he is the real deal or not. If he can continue on from where he left off last season then awesome. I'm just a little worried that he will be another Hunt or Kent, showing us blocks of great stuff and then not following up...

Think you are a little off the money here.  Harmes is no one game/season wounder.  I've been watching the MFC rebuild over the last decade and the signs have been there for Harmes from the beginning.  He showed glimpses of what he can do in that breakout win against the Hawks in and others in 2016 and has been steadily building his hard agressive game style ever since.  He set a new standard for himself in 2018 and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain that level - I'm quite confident he will, but even if his form drops off a bit, I think he will still be a fairly solid contributor.

I think what we are seeing with Harmes is something which is common to quite a few of his contemporaries in the red and blue at the moment, is that the years of football and phyisical development they have done to date are starting to pay dividends as they reach a point of physical and mental maturity together.  Watching these guys like Harmes, ANB, Guys, Clarry, Track, Viney, Oscar, Freitch and Co impose themselves upon the competition is a tantalizing prospect.

Harmes is pretty much living all our dreams.

Grew up a passionate Melbourne supporter, won the ‘most determined’ award in under age comp, rookie listed to us, improved each year and last season becomes a key member of the team with 3rd placing in the B & F. 

Just needs the flag now to complete the fairytale 

40 minutes ago, hemingway said:

I respectfully disagree. 

From day one he showed he had the guts and determination, and also showed flashes of what he could become.had  However, he lacked the consistency and polish. He was rough around the edges.

Last seasons efforts showed to me that he has what it takes and the class to be something special. He developed consistency and confidence to take the game on, taking himself from a fringe player at best to a team player with the individual skills to influence games.  

Erudite as is your norm, Ern

1 hour ago, FlashInThePan said:

I'm hopeful on Harmes but still in 'wait and see' mode. There has not been a big enough body of evidence to say whether he is the real deal or not. If he can continue on from where he left off last season then awesome. I'm just a little worried that he will be another Hunt or Kent, showing us blocks of great stuff and then not following up...

Rjay is too polite to say your point is silly.  I'm not.  Although, naturally, you're welcome to it.

Averaging 25 disposals per match for his last 9 games and kicking 7 goals while nullifying some of the best players in the game is enough of a sample size to say Harmes is the real deal as long as injury doesn't raise its head, or his application drops.  I don't see the latter happening.

Clearly, the club was also happy with his output, as a top 3 placing in the B&F for a prelim team attests. 

He's fast, aggressive, and he's strong bodied.  He's also improved his foot-skills.  

1 minute ago, ProDee said:

Rjay is too polite to say your point is silly.  I'm not.  Although, naturally, you're welcome to it.

Averaging 25 disposals per match for his last 9 games and kicking 7 goals while nullifying some of the best players in the game is enough of a sample size to say Harmes is the real deal as long as injury doesn't raise its head, or his application drops.  I don't see the latter happening.

Clearly, the club was also happy with his output, as a top 3 placing in the B&F for a prelim team attests. 

He's fast, aggressive, and he's strong bodied.  He's also improved his foot-skills.  

Thanks for the needlessly rude response. Perhaps you misread my post, I entirely agree that he grew last season and I really hope that it continues. I am just remarking that his body of work is not at the level where I am completely certain that it will. I don't think there is anything silly about it, although I know your form on this forum enough to know that you get cheap satisfaction from being pointlessly aggressive, feel free to continue if it makes you feel good.

6 minutes ago, FlashInThePan said:

Thanks for the needlessly rude response. Perhaps you misread my post, I entirely agree that he grew last season and I really hope that it continues. I am just remarking that his body of work is not at the level where I am completely certain that it will. I don't think there is anything silly about it, although I know your form on this forum enough to know that you get cheap satisfaction from being pointlessly aggressive, feel free to continue if it makes you feel good.

Nine games in a row at AFL level is more than enough, especially if one is familiar with his development years.  And especially as he performed on the biggest stage in front of 90,000 people - finals.

As I said though, you can please yourself.  

Edited February 18, 20196 yr by ProDee

his second half of last year was absolutely brilliant

i'm expecting more of the same

for me it's either harmes or ben jacobs as the best run-with midfielders in the afl

12 minutes ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

his second half of last year was absolutely brilliant

i'm expecting more of the same

for me it's either harmes or ben jacobs as the best run-with midfielders in the afl

Jacobs is more of a negating midfielder where he is more about blanketing the output of the opposition player. I felt that the games that Harmes played, were significant because not only did he negate the output of the player he was tagging but he more often than not racked up good stats and forced those players to consider his output.

By playing this role, Harmes has actually been dragged into the game and into the play and beating his opposition in the process

46 minutes ago, FlashInThePan said:

Thanks for the needlessly rude response. Perhaps you misread my post, I entirely agree that he grew last season and I really hope that it continues. I am just remarking that his body of work is not at the level where I am completely certain that it will. I don't think there is anything silly about it, although I know your form on this forum enough to know that you get cheap satisfaction from being pointlessly aggressive, feel free to continue if it makes you feel good.

What exactly is "completely certain" in the AFL (apart from nepitism and double standards, of course)?

Ask anyone from an opposition club where they rate Nut. I believe they'd trade for him in a flash, if it ever came to be.

And still only 23 years old!

2 hours ago, FlashInThePan said:

I'm hopeful on Harmes but still in 'wait and see' mode. There has not been a big enough body of evidence to say whether he is the real deal or not. If he can continue on from where he left off last season then awesome. I'm just a little worried that he will be another Hunt or Kent, showing us blocks of great stuff and then not following up...

Injuries are the only way this kid will slow down

There will be plenty of opposition on ballers very keen to keep out of harm’s way I reckon. 

He can run both ways, chase, tackle, win the ball and deliver long and quick into the forward line. He breaks lines and upsets opponents.

He showed all these traits in bits and pieces over the years but got them all together last year. It's called development and maturity.

I look forward to his continued efforts - like the others he adds to the overall strength, power and versatility of our multi talented midfield.

2020

Go dees.

 

Harmes has certainly had his doubters and knockers on this forum before and clearly also in the professional world of AFL footy having to work his way up from the rookie list.  I just love the way he has stuck at it, kept applying himself, working hard and learning from those around him.  I understand that he identified Nathan Jones as an early mentor (couldn’t have done better in that respect).

From being a tagger at the end of last season, I think it's only a matter of time before our opposition start tagging Harmes himself and he will need to learn new tricks to deal with that.  What should make it easier is that our opposition will be left with a devil of a problem trying to work out who they should actually tag out of Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw and others like Trac and Vanders that we could use in bursts through the guts.  I think it will come down to them having to switch strategies mid game, depending on who is hurting the most at the time.  What should make it even harder for our opponents is Gawn's dominance out of the ruck.  We could soon find ourselves dealing with taggers on a regular basis.

I've personally found it difficult to  reconcile the various media articles about us having the best midfield in the competition with my own assessment of our team in this regard as it's taken a while to break out of the psychology of us being inferior to other teams and of being a young developing team.  The Geelong games of last season clearly demonstrated to me that our guys have matured to the point where they are ready to match it with the same level of skill, endurance, physicality and not be intimidated by the previous old gaurd.  I'm really looking forward to seeing us take that to the next level on a consistent, regular basis next season against sides like Collingwood, Richmond and West Coast.

Harmes has improved his football the last 3 years running that at one stage early in his career they were looking at giving him the boot as he was only a rookie and wasn't doing enough to earn a spot.  Harmes  showed determination and fought onto the senior list and started to show his worth and   gradually  got better with game time.

However not in the mould of Clarry , Petrac, Brrayshaw with silky skills but he will hold his own With his gutso,  determination  tackling running  hard in the midfield. laid over 20 tackles in the finals against the hawks and was important in  our quest to make finals in 2018.

Harmes is a vital component as he has improved his football very much so that he has added a another string to his bow. He tagged Ablett to minimal possessions in a quarter when he looked dangerous  and then nullified  Dangerfield  in the same game. No mean feat. It gave him great confidence in his ability and belief. Harmsy is one tough  cookie and is becoming important to our cause   to be a successful club and help win the ultimate.

To me Harmes and ANB remind me a little of the Febey twins in the late 80's. Both pairs went from being okay to very solid contributors with the ability every now and then to really turn it on.

I know it's cliched but getting that bottom 6-10 players up by a couple of notches is where the coaching staff earn their dollars.

36 minutes ago, nosoupforme said:

Harmes has improved his football the last 3 years running that at one stage early in his career they were looking at giving him the boot as he was only a rookie and wasn't doing enough to earn a spot.  Harmes  showed determination and fought onto the senior list and started to show his worth and   gradually  got better with game time.

However not in the mould of Clarry , Petrac, Brrayshaw with silky skills but he will hold his own With his gutso,  determination  tackling running  hard in the midfield. laid over 20 tackles in the finals against the hawks and was important in  our quest to make finals in 2018.

Harmes is a vital component as he has improved his football very much so that he has added a another string to his bow. He tagged Ablett to minimal possessions in a quarter when he looked dangerous  and then nullified  Dangerfield  in the same game. No mean feat. It gave him great confidence in his ability and belief. Harmsy is one tough  cookie and is becoming important to our cause   to be a successful club and help win the ultimate.

Any player who can nullify the above 2 plus Josh Kelly, Sloane, Selwood, Lachie Neale, and Mitchell while also being damaging is no flash in the pan. If it was a one off, then maybe.  But all those players are champions that no other teams could stop.  We have a gun.

6 hours ago, FlashInThePan said:

I'm hopeful on Harmes but still in 'wait and see' mode. There has not been a big enough body of evidence to say whether he is the real deal or not. If he can continue on from where he left off last season then awesome. I'm just a little worried that he will be another Hunt or Kent, showing us blocks of great stuff and then not following up...

Yep... ha has to back up last years efforts again.

 

The same...  actually goes for the whole side.   As 2019 is a brand new season approaching, and we start from the bottom of the ladder, along with all clubs.

2 hours ago, tiers said:

He can run both ways, chase, tackle, win the ball and deliver long and quick into the forward line. He breaks lines and upsets opponents.

He showed all these traits in bits and pieces over the years but got them all together last year. It's called development and maturity.

I look forward to his continued efforts - like the others he adds to the overall strength, power and versatility of our multi talented midfield.

2020

Go dees.

 

His (Harmes) running power and rise,  probably put paid to Gaff, and to the coming of May.