According to Callum Twomey ANB is close to signing on for a further two years. 

 

 

I hope he gets played as a mid soon instead of this half forward nonsense. 

Should have signed him for 5

Be just as happy having him sign autographs as a new contract.

Good luck to him but I just can’t get excited sorry. Have him in the same NQR basket as JKH , Oscar and a few others. A fumbly momentum killer at AFL level.

He started the season poorly (and who didn’t!) but came back for the Hawks game and played well, and I was surprised he was dropped the week after.

1 or 2 year extension is hardly going to make a difference either way to the club’s fortunes.

Strikes me as the sort of player that only plays well when the side plays well, which is not an overly great attribute.

Delist.  Free up a draft/free agency spot for someone that might actually help us.

 

I think it is easy to forget how good he was at times last year. Happy to see him sign on for another 2. 

Massive downhill skier. At best. TBH I'd rather Spargo in the team.

If they are going to extend his tenure then they need to play him and try him somewhere different.

I don't think he hits the scoreboard enough as a forward. His endurance is elite, perhaps he can be developed as a run with type player.

5 hours ago, Dee Zephyr said:

According to Callum Twomey ANB is close to signing on for a further two years. 

 

 

Wow, let's break out "The Grange"!!

Good news. One of our hardest workers and best runners, both things that aren't our strong suit as a club. No list has 40 superstars and to keep a player who is handy depth, works hard, contributes to culture and has shown plenty of upside is a smart (even though not very sexy) move.

If you look at his 2018 stats it paints a picture of someone who can help us improve our forward 50 deficiencies once he regains some form and continuity.

 

Hope he's paid on a par to his output this year

i'm confident he's the sort of player that can work his way back into form cos his workrate is excellent

Hope ANB puts pen to paper soon. Although he has had a mediocre  patch of footy he was good enough to hold his spot in 2018 after have a reasonable final series. Some just love to hate him because he plays a team role where he is a pressure forward who to maintain  the ball predominantly in the forward 50 and to stop the opposition breaking the lines. It can be a boring role. ANB is not there to excite the supporters he is there to stifle the opposition.

There might be some other roles that he would be able to play as well such as having more time in the guts  as an outside mid. He has a good tank and can certainly run all day.  IMO is still a handy acquisition and he will get better as time goes on. Is young enough to persist with. 

Same people calling him to be delisted are probably the same people crying we traded out Kent & Tyson and we now have "no depth" takes a squad of 40 odd to build a club. Only 22 can play each week & ANB at his best in in that 18-25 range, he proved more than that last year. He is not alone on output this year.

Per my profile sig, i endorse his re-signing.

Solid foot soldier who is not alone in having a poor year to date. I really hope he and his team mates can turn it around.

9 hours ago, picket fence said:

Wow, let's break out "The Grange"!!

Not just yet picket. Wait until we go on a mammoth ten game winning run and sweep all our finals this year. 

I like Nibbler, like others have mentioned he does a lot of the team things and by looking at the remaining players we have out of contract at the end of this year it makes sense to me to have him sign on.

thats a shame...

48 minutes ago, JV7 said:

Same people calling him to be delisted are probably the same people crying we traded out Kent & Tyson and we now have "no depth" takes a squad of 40 odd to build a club. Only 22 can play each week & ANB at his best in in that 18-25 range, he proved more than that last year. He is not alone on output this year.

Absolutely trading Kent a bad mistake a potential game winner who was undervalued due to injury. A typically bad Melbourne decision. Had no issue with the Tyson trade and resigning ANB is nothing to celebrate. Yes he is a depth player but would not get on a top team list so assume we just accept mediocrity because we need to fill 40 spot. The problem with Melbourne is our depth players are average at best and we have way to many of them. Next we will be celebrating the resigning of Gartlett another player who will ensure we remain at the depth of the ladder. At least trading out these depth players and bringing in new blood give you some hope for the future. Resigning players you don’t rate just reenforcers that we will never aspire to be any good.

kent got offered a significant three-year deal at the aints; he'd have been a fool to sign with us by comparison

5 minutes ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

kent got offered a significant three-year deal at the aints; he'd have been a fool to sign with us by comparison

Agree but why didn’t we match it. Good club rarely let required players go.

9 hours ago, nosoupforme said:

Some just love to hate him because he plays a team role where he is a pressure forward who to maintain  the ball predominantly in the forward 50 and to stop the opposition breaking the lines. It can be a boring role. ANB is not there to excite the supporters he is there to stifle the opposition.

Haha. What a classic stereotypical happy-go-lucky Melbourne supporter comment. 

People love to hate him because he plays a team role? Intriguing. 

He is fairly criticised when he butchers the ball, fumbles the ball and has very little to no impact at the contest. His performances this year have displayed those weakness areas and his demotions from the team are evidence. 

It doesn't matter if you're as fit as Craig Motram and can run up and down the ground all day if you're constantly making errors with the ball or not impacting when near it. 

 

6 minutes ago, Deesprate said:

Agree but why didn’t we match it. Good club rarely let required players go.

i'm presuming cos we didn't have the capacity / desire to match a significant three-year deal for a player who was so injury-prone and regularly failed to perform to a required level