“He’ll win a Brownlow. ”

They have put a qualifier on it 'since the 70's'.  I agree he is better than our last two Brownlow winners: Woewodin and Healy. 

Restricting the comparison to midfielders leaves out the sublime Robbie Flower who was a wingman but today would be considered a midfielder.  Robbie didn't (but should have) won a brownlow so will be interesting to see how they would compare.

I would be very happy if Oliver wins a Brownlow but I will be a lot happier if he wins the Norm Smith medal in a winning Demon team

Edited March 3, 20196 yr by Lucifer's Hero

Injury permitting he will go down as the greatest Demon of all time.  Special player.

Why restrict the comparison only to Melbourne? ?

That's probably the least controversial statement any Melbourne supporter could say.

Leaving aside Flower, because wingmen were very different to on-ballers back in the day, Oliver is easily the best midfielder I've seen since Greg Wells.  He's better than Wells, who's the second best midfielder I've seen at Melbourne.

I can also see Oliver being hailed our greatest mid ever if he leads the side to some flags.

Edited March 3, 20196 yr by ProDee

Having Oliver in your teams jumper is like waking up from a dream and realizing  that you have an Ablett or a Dangerfield or some superstar talent working for you in your midfield. I know that's the case but I daren't believe it.

His awareness of what is around him is just sublime. Those look away handballs have purpose to them. Unfortunately the receivers don't always have the same sixth sense.

Just for fun: 

Different camera angle, same action.

Certainly the best Demon midfielder I have seen. Covers territory at pace, gets to multiple contests, hits the contests at pace, leaves the contests at pace, finds the footy in traffic and in space, makes space out of no space, good kick, sublime hands, sublime handballer, knocks opponents over, good mark, I could go on, but youse get the drift. He's different to, say, Judd. He's more like a combination of Voss and Black.

Normally you might say this is a big call, but it really isn't.  His ability in close, his excellent hands, footy IQ and so on is just sublime.  You would have expected him to struggle a little to find his feet after two shoulder ops over the summer, but it didn't make a lick of different.  32 touches in under 70 percent game time says it all.  

A gun of the highest order.

Not completely dismissing the one fairly good year that he had in his Brownlow yeah, comparing to Woewodin is a pretty low bar.

Todd Viney was an absolute bull of a midfeilder over his career and there are plenty of others during that era that make a better benchmark than Woewodin.

Damn right he is boi. 

11 minutes ago, Tony Tea said:

He's different to, say, Judd. He's more like a combination of Voss and Black.

My thoughts to, Voss hardness Black skill. Is Judd like for how far ahead of the pack he is. Has more mongrel than Judd started off with, and just a tad slower.

Gus wont be far behind - especially if he tidies up his disposal. Two absolute stars who also seem dedicated to the club. Love what Harmes is bringing as well. 

28 minutes ago, pineapple dee said:

Having Oliver in your teams jumper is like waking up from a dream and realizing  that you have an Ablett or a Dangerfield or some superstar talent working for you in your midfield. I know that's the case but I daren't believe it.

 

18 minutes ago, Tony Tea said:

Certainly the best Demon midfielder I have seen. Covers territory at pace, gets to multiple contests, hits the contests at pace, leaves the contests at pace, finds the footy in traffic and in space, makes space out of no space, good kick, sublime hands, sublime handballer, knocks opponents over, good mark, I could go on, but youse get the drift. He's different to, say, Judd. He's more like a combination of Voss and Black.

It's nice to think that we finally have a player that looks like he can be talked about in the same breath as Judd, Ablett, Dangerfield, Voss and Flower. There will always be arguments about whether he's the best or second-best, etc, but just having a player of that ilk is so un-Melbourne like, I'm not quite sure how to react. 

And, unlike Judd at Carlton, Oliver is not on his own with players like Gawn and Brayshaw also with the potential to be rated by the end of their careers as genuine superstars of the competition. 

Just hope the free kick levels being paid to Gus and not Oliver do not get unsurprisingly out of kilter. 

1 minute ago, willmoy said:

Just hope the free kick levels being paid to Gus and not Oliver do not get unsurprisingly out of kilter. 

My suspicion is the opposite. I believe the data will show that top players generally get a better run with the umpires. 

In addition, the change to the rules this year which sees all punching of players a breach of the rules which will earn a free against the puncher should assist genuine ball players. As such, opponents of Oliver and Brayshaw won't be able to use that particular tool in their arsenal.

His greatness is obvious for all to see but what I really love is his ability to just stop, prop, turn and then go. He creates so much time and space by doing this.

Frost and Hunt are quick, but often kick under pressure because they just start running and then think about where they are running later.

Also, his hand passing is the best I've ever seen.

Darcy Parish is better.

7 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Darcy Parish is better.

Imagine if we got Curnow and Oliver in this draft, that would have been the all-time greatest drafting coup.

1 minute ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Imagine if we got Curnow and Oliver in this draft, that would have been the all-time greatest drafting coup.

I assume you mean by Melbourne. I think Hawthorn getting Roughead, Franklin and Lewis in 2004 and Geelong getting all of Bartel, James Kelly, Steve Johnson and Gary Ablett in 2001 fared reasonably well. 

1 hour ago, Tony Tea said:

He's different to, say, Judd. He's more like a combination of Voss and Black.

Best description. He is as effective physically as Voss, but moves with the grace of Simon Black.

Might be a little controversial, but I want to see Oliver's Kick to Handball ratio improve slightly this year which hopefully takes his game up another level. He still prefers to handball in preference to kicking...

Still think he's one the best I've seen at Melbourne, and was in the top 4-5 midfielders in the comp last year! Which considering his age is incredible

I'd agree.

I spend so much time rewinding the game to watch his hands and body work. He's just a joy to watch.

I've never seen a player with the awareness and skills that he has.

And he's got some mongrel in him too.

39 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Imagine if we got Curnow and Oliver in this draft, that would have been the all-time greatest drafting coup.

Well i am happy with Weidemans progress and think long term he will turn into a gun forward in the Josh Kennedy mould, Curnow would have been pretty bloody amazing!