Jump to content

Featured Replies

Posted

15th MELBOURNE – 8 points

CURRENT A-GRADERS

Clayton Oliver, Max Gawn

POTENTIAL A-GRADERS

Bayley Fritsch, Angus Brayshaw, Steven May, Christian Petracca

DOWNGRADED

Tom McDonald, Jack Viney

The world seemed to be at the feet of the Demons after 2018, didn’t it? Gawn and Oliver were at the peak of their powers, but it was the next wave coming through that seemed to buoy their hopes. Angus Brayshaw finished third in the Brownlow and looked to be the next great Demon mid.

How times change. Jack Viney returned to the midfield full time and seemingly accomplished two things in 2019; he got sat on his ass by Sydney Stack, and he took the spot of Brayshaw in the guts, stifling the young bloke’s development, whilst posting his own lowest statistical return for five years.

We all heard about the hardness of Viney, and the way he plays the game… the commentators rammed it down our throats every time he went near the footy. The problem was that Viney went near the footy substantially less than Melbourne expected him to. It’s a slide he needs to arrest immediately in 2020.

The other slide was more like an avalanche. That was the velocity of Tom McDonald’s decline in 2019. After taking on the role of number one forward, TMac’s goals per game average dipped by more than half, and had it not been for his six goal bag in his final game of the season, he would have been clocking in at under a goal per game.

I’ve yet to read a valid reason for TMac’s sudden inability to hit the scoreboard, and one would hope that 2019 was the anomaly for him… not 2018.

 

I'm not sure Oliver is a genuine A grader in terms of being a match winner and dragging a team along with him, but he is a very good player nevertheless. Hard to disagree with anything else in that analysis. I think McDonald is still potentially an A grader, but he needs a lot more support in the forward line.

No love for Jake Lever?

Meanwhile, Rich and WC both rated as having 8 x A graders

Edited by Moonshadow

 
22 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

No love for Jake Lever?

Meanwhile, Rich and WC both rated as having 8 x A graders

Thanks why Richmond were Premiers and we were an abysmal 17th!

Bloke is right on the money!

Its Simon Goodwins job to develop players... If he has another Shizen start to 2020 he will be gorn by about round 8-10

Edited by picket fence

1 hour ago, picket fence said:

Thanks why Richmond were Premiers and we were an abysmal 17th!

Bloke is right on the money!

Its Simon Goodwins job to develop players... If he has another Shizen start to 2020 he will be gorn by about round 8-10

 

unnamed_(7).gif


11 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

 

unnamed_(7).gif

Well done Moon, you also got my best angle!

On 10/30/2019 at 10:25 AM, poita said:

I'm not sure Oliver is a genuine A grader in terms of being a match winner and dragging a team along with him, but he is a very good player nevertheless. Hard to disagree with anything else in that analysis. I think McDonald is still potentially an A grader, but he needs a lot more support in the forward line.

Oliver is an A grader.  I think he needs to bulk up to do what you hope and really dominate games so he take more tacklers when he wins contested ball. Also to use his pace out of stoppages more when he can.  He’d go from A grader to multiple Brownlow medalist if improved a few things like that but he is already more impactful than all the A grader mids listed bar 2 or 3.

Some of the A graders listed in other teams are baffling.  Maybe I don’t watch other teams enough, but is he serious that St Kilda have 3 A graders. 

45 minutes ago, Watson11 said:

Some of the A graders listed in other teams are baffling.  Maybe I don’t watch other teams enough, but is he serious that St Kilda have 3 A graders. 

How the feck they got Membrey as an A Grader?

 
On 10/30/2019 at 10:55 AM, poita said:

I'm not sure Oliver is a genuine A grader in terms of being a match winner and dragging a team along with him, but he is a very good player nevertheless. Hard to disagree with anything else in that analysis. I think McDonald is still potentially an A grader, but he needs a lot more support in the forward line.

Oliver can be rusty at the best of times by hand he is elite however he can do better by being cleaner.  A  young man  with the greatest of potential. IMO his kicking looks wobbly when belting it high into the forward 50 sometimes. Like playing kick to kick in the school yard.

He just knows how to get that ball like a hungry bear looking for a feed.  He is an A grader in my eyes however you have your opinion.


On 10/30/2019 at 5:23 PM, Moonshadow said:

No love for Jake Lever?

Meanwhile, Rich and WC both rated as having 8 x A graders

Don’t get me wrong, I hold a lot of faith for Jake Lever. 

But his highlight reel at the MFC thus far would be very short, and pretty underwhelming. 

He was edging towards elite/A-grader/whatever-you-wanna-call-it at the Crows. Some might say he even got there. But he does not have that kind of status now. He’s currently in no-man’s land between past and (hopefully) future form.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Roger Mellie said:

And Josh Kelly (GWS) is not.

Lol

Josh Kelly is behind Jade Gresham, who’s only elite stat is clearances which ranked him 50th in the afl last year!

May and Lever are both A graders. Watch their attack on the ball and their intercept marking and it is obvious.

Maybe I don’t watch enough Eagles games but I had to triple check that he had listed Lewis Jetta as an A grader.


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Featured Content

  • NON-MFC: Round 15

    As the Demons head into their Bye Round, it's time to turn our attention to the other matches being played. Which teams are you tipping this week? And which results would be most favourable for the Demons if we can manage to turn our season around? Follow all the non-Melbourne games here and join the conversation as the ladder continues to take shape.

      • Haha
    • 36 replies
  • REPORT: Port Adelaide

    Of course, it’s not the backline, you might argue and you would probably be right. It’s the boot studder (do they still have them?), the midfield, the recruiting staff, the forward line, the kicking coach, the Board, the interchange bench, the supporters, the folk at Casey, the head coach and the club psychologist  It’s all of them and all of us for having expectations that were sufficiently high to have believed three weeks ago that a restoration of the Melbourne team to a position where we might still be in contention for a finals berth when the time for the midseason bye arrived. Now let’s look at what happened over the period of time since Melbourne overwhelmed the Sydney Swans at the MCG in late May when it kicked 8.2 to 5.3 in the final quarter (and that was after scoring 3.8 to two straight goals in the second term). 

    • 2 replies
  • CASEY: Essendon

    Casey’s unbeaten run was extended for at least another fortnight after the Demons overran a persistent Essendon line up by 29 points at ETU Stadium in Port Melbourne last night. After conceding the first goal of the evening, Casey went on a scoring spree from about ten minutes in, with five unanswered majors with its fleet of midsized runners headed by the much improved Paddy Cross who kicked two in quick succession and livewire Ricky Mentha who also kicked an early goal. Leading the charge was recruit of the year, Riley Bonner while Bailey Laurie continued his impressive vein of form. With Tom Campbell missing from the lineup, Will Verrall stepped up to the plate demonstrating his improvement under the veteran ruckman’s tutelage. The Demons were looking comfortable for much of the second quarter and held a 25-point lead until the Bombers struck back with two goals in the shadows of half time. On the other side of the main break their revival continued with first three goals of the half. Harry Sharp, who had been quiet scrambled in the Demons’ first score of the third term to bring the margin back to a single point at the 17 minute mark and the game became an arm-wrestle for the remainder of the quarter and into the final moments of the last.

    • 0 replies
  • PREGAME: Gold Coast

    The Demons have the Bye next week but then are on the road once again when they come up against the Gold Coast Suns on the Gold Coast in what could be a last ditch effort to salvage their season. Who comes in and who comes out?

      • Thumb Down
      • Clap
      • Haha
    • 110 replies
  • PODCAST: Port Adelaide

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 16th June @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect the Dees disappointing loss to the Power.
    Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show.
    Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

      • Clap
      • Like
    • 32 replies
  • POSTGAME: Port Adelaide

    The Demons simply did not take their opportunities when they presented themselves and ultimately when down by 25 points effectively ending their finals chances. Goal kicking practice during the Bye?

      • Clap
      • Like
    • 252 replies