51 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I too watched Martin on Sunday and he had Elliot Yeo tagging him (Who I rate as one of top 5 best players in the comp) and Yeo couldn't keep up with him. Martin just went to a whole new level and single handle willed the tigers back into the game. It was seriously awesome to watch.

I watched that performance and thought we have no one even remotely close to grabbing a game by the scruff of the neck and grabbing teammates along the way.

The smiling and laughing with opposition players is an interesting one. I too have noticed it too much this year and think to myself what the [censored] is so funny about losing every week?? 

It is obvious, with some players, that just making the big time and playing AFL is enough to fill the belly.  They are on good coin win, lose or draw.  Care factor!??

Then there are players like the Bont, Dusty, Danger etc who want to push themselves to greater heights even when they are already there or hovering. 

Much of this comes down to personal pride and internal drive DD.  Which is why "assessment of character/nature" is a hugely understated requirement in the trade selection process by 'some' clubs.  Others understand that it can often be the ultimate difference between an ok/good potential talent and a great one.

Edited August 19, 20196 yr by Rusty Nails

1 minute ago, Rusty Nails said:

It is obvious, with some players, that just making the big time and playing AFL is enough to fill the belly.  They are on good coin win, lose or draw.  Care factor!??

Then there are players like the Bont, Dusty, Danger etc who wish to push delude themselves to greater heights even when they are already there or hovering. 

Much of this comes down to personal pride and intwrnal drive DD.  Which is why "assessment of character/nature" is a hugely understated requirement in the trade selection process by 'some' clubs.  Other understand that it can often be the difference between an ok/good potential talent and a great one.

Great post. I dont want to sound like a tool but i have a mate, who is an ex AFL player who messaged me Friday night to say it really looks like the majority of the players are happy just to get their pay and move on, he said it was really stark watching a team with so little care for the game. 

 

4 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

It is obvious, with some players, that just making the big time and playing AFL is enough to fill the belly.  They are on good coin win, lose or draw.  Care factor!??

Then there are players like the Bont, Dusty, Danger etc who want to push themselves to greater heights even when they are already there or hovering. 

Much of this comes down to personal pride and internal drive DD.  Which is why "assessment of character/nature" is a hugely understated requirement in the trade selection process by 'some' clubs.  Others understand that it can often be the ultimate difference between an ok/good potential talent and a great one.

Spot on mate. Add Patrick Cripps to that list. [censored] hate Carlton but bloody hell he is such a delight to watch. Such determination and grit to be able to take their games to another level when challanged.

Oliver, Brayshaw and Petracca have got a long way to go in this regard.

33 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Spot on mate. Add Patrick Cripps to that list. [censored] hate Carlton but bloody hell he is such a delight to watch. Such determination and grit to be able to take their games to another level when challanged.

Oliver, Brayshaw and Petracca have got a long way to go in this regard.

Yes, Cripps is a cracker as well DD.  And you brought up that game by Dusty yesterday.  Wow.  I would say one of the great games at the G ever seen.  Ripping stuff.

I have always said you can build a premiership team around the likes of a Clarry, Big M and Harmes.  As you say though, there is a long ways to go from here if any of those three (Clarry, Tracc & Gus) are going to go close to the top line A graders mentioned.

Clarry is close.  Real close.  But needs some strong guidance and flaw fixes in the coming years, especially with kicking.  Also an injection of power to drive out and away from tacklers and contests.

Tracc i've seen glimpses of something bordering on A grade this season but the good stuff peters out as quickly as it appears!  Tank/bulk issue vs endurance/extra speed issue maybe?

Can only hope Burgess gets hold of both and turns them into insane burst / power beasts similar to Dusty / Danger.  And if we can add a bit of Bont/Cripps evasive agility & elite ball use to that mix...watch out!

Gus is the one that concerns me the most.  Ball use/decision making is so hit and miss and often seems happy to just cruise through a game and gather possessions.  Needs to add some line breaking run and finish IMV.

Viney also needs some serious improvement on his agility, evasive smarts and skill / finish.  Battering ram most of the time just doesn't cut it against quality mid fields now.that they know his game so well.  His career might also be shortened if he keeps playing in the same manner.

Edited August 19, 20196 yr by Rusty Nails

1 hour ago, Rusty Nails said:

Which is why "assessment of character/nature" is a hugely understated requirement in the trade selection process by 'some' clubs.  Others understand that it can often be the ultimate difference between an ok/good potential talent and a great one.

Can work as long as the player in question has some maturity on his side (age factor as well)

As for draftees - it's often a lottery.  Players at 17 or 18 can pass all the 'tests' with flying colours.  They obviously want to get drafted so they're going to tell the clubs what they want to hear. 

There's nothing like the big time to find out the nitty gritty though.  That is the true test.

On 8/17/2019 at 1:37 PM, olisik said:

This! Poor guy looks defeated by coaching decisions. Not the best way to retain talent. Imagine Trac in a Hawthorn or Richmond outfit. I think blame for his slow development should rest on the coaches.

Not sure Clarko or Dimma would hold back for fear of upsetting the 'poor guy'.

18 hours ago, Swooper1987 said:

Those suggesting that Oliver has had an ordinary season - the AFL coaches would disagree.  He has polled votes in 10 games this year, which is more than Max. Given we have only won 5 games, that is a pretty impressive effort.  His season hasn't been as good as his previous two, but that is quite possibly more due to the form of those around him. I'd imagine he'd be embarrassed by the optics of Friday night but I don't think he's a selfish player - just a young man who needs to grow up a bit.

Yeah well pretty hard to do when the leadership of our captains is so very bog ordinary! Who are his role models??

2 hours ago, Rusty Nails said:

Yes, Cripps is a cracker as well DD.  And you brought up that game by Dusty yesterday.  Wow.  I would say one of the great games at the G ever seen.  Ripping stuff.

I have always said you can build a premiership team around the likes of a Clarry, Big M and Harmes.  As you say though, there is a long ways to go from here if any of those three (Clarry, Tracc & Gus) are going to go close to the top line A graders mentioned.

Clarry is close.  Real close.  But needs some strong guidance and flaw fixes in the coming years, especially with kicking.  Also an injection of power to drive out and away from tacklers and contests.

Tracc i've seen glimpses of something bordering on A grade this season but the good stuff peters out as quickly as it appears!  Tank/bulk issue vs endurance/extra speed issue maybe?

Can only hope Burgess gets hold of both and turns them into insane burst / power beasts similar to Dusty / Danger.  And if we can add a bit of Bont/Cripps evasive agility & elite ball use to that mix...watch out!

Gus is the one that concerns me the most.  Ball use/decision making is so hit and miss and often seems happy to just cruise through a game and gather possessions.  Needs to add some line breaking run and finish IMV.

Viney also needs some serious improvement on his agility, evasive smarts and skill / finish.  Battering ram most of the time just doesn't cut it against quality mid fields now.that they know his game so well.  His career might also be shortened if he keeps playing in the same manner.

i watched him on Friday - he is so one sided, and even at school-level footy, the oppo will just camp on players like that, and make them turn on to their wrong foot. No where near the skill level required to be in the midfield.

On 8/17/2019 at 10:12 AM, Adzman said:

Another camera angle would show Oliver's lips moving, and lip reading would read something along the lines of "good vision but don't kick it to Neale-Bullen because he can't kick" .....

That’s exactly my thought too, ANB couldn’t kick a set shot from 30 out if his life depended on it, he’s the WORST player on our list!!

Clarry has had a good year without being outstanding, he’s still very good at finding the ball in close contests and feeding it out but he has to improve his efficiency with kicking and become more damaging. 

Mat the moment I’d say he’s an excellent inside player but that’s about it. Needs to hit the scoreboard and be damaging when he gets the ball on the outside. 

His spray of Fritch was a very poor look, I can only hope a senior player or coach has taken him aside and tell him to pull his head in and think of the team. 

5 minutes ago, Pates said:

Clarry has had a good year without being outstanding, he’s still very good at finding the ball in close contests and feeding it out but he has to improve his efficiency with kicking and become more damaging. 

Mat the moment I’d say he’s an excellent inside player but that’s about it. Needs to hit the scoreboard and be damaging when he gets the ball on the outside. 

His spray of Fritch was a very poor look, I can only hope a senior player or coach has taken him aside and tell him to pull his head in and think of the team. 

I don't even think you could say he's an excellent inside player after this season. He is excellent at getting the ball on the inside. But an excellent inside player would absorb the tackle and give the ball to a player in a better position. He rushes to get rid of the ball and often gives it to someone who is also under pressure.

I (like many on here) mark him harder because he has the ability to be a great player. His season has been disappointing, he has tried to kick more and it has maybe exposed his kicking (which many thought was quite good on a limited sample size), he hasn't developed his game as a forward (tried a few times going forward with little impact) and teams have adopted different strategies to combat him at stoppages, which he is yet to have worked through.

Despite all of this, he has still been one of our better players this season.

I think our clearance work in general has been poor this year, we rarely get value for money and Oliver is a contributing factor to this with his inability to hold onto the ball for more than half a second. The best clearance I can recall this season came on the weekend with Petracca in the ruck hitting it to Viney on an aggressive run forward (pretty sure it was a lovely kick which Frost dropped),

On 8/17/2019 at 10:05 AM, Swooper1987 said:

He's a young man with a great deal to learn.  He is an outstanding talent though, and if our coaches can harness that he'll become what we all believe he can be. At the moment it's all about Clayton, and that's a shame because he's the second best player on our list, but well down the list of team player's.  He perhaps needs to take a leaf out of Max's book - who is our best player and also our best team player - he helps everyone around him look better.  

To a degree our lack of width impacts Oliver. He wins lots of contested ball but all too often all his teammates are with him at the contest rather than some holding their width off the contest in space for the release handball. Too often this results in a handball that simply handballs the pressure to a teammate 1 metre away.

However like most of his teammates Oliver has to spend off season improving endurance and power.

And he could learn off Fritsch passing up the 1 metre handball in favour of short pass to a player inside 50.