Farewell Oscar McDonald

[Pickett2Jackson 3,904]

21 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

Petty is more suited as a medium mobile forward imv.

and choose winners so early on in a colt's career is surely a high risk venture that is likely to come unstuck om occasions.

Yeah I like him as a forward but he isnt going to play there now.  We have too many tall forwards.

There is a spot at CHB waiting for him however.

[binman 44,726]

2 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

If you like them so much show some respect & spell their names correctly

- Its Ray Biffin not Biffen and Rhino Richards not Richardson

Show some respect?

Never needed an irony button more. 

[Demon Dynasty 17,135]

1 hour ago, Pickett2Jackson said:

Yeah I like him as a forward but he isnt going to play there now.  We have too many tall forwards.

There is a spot at CHB waiting for him however.

I doubt it.  If he gets an injury free pre season in he might end up taking over the 2nd string tall role from the Weid in 2021 and vying for that with LJ eventually.

I hope they all come in injury free with a big pre-season.  A bit of healthy competition for too few spots might be just the tonic we need to see this forward line finally fire up (along with the injection of BB of course).

[KysaiahMessiah 725]

Some on Carlton BF mentioning Oscar after their delistings today, I assume replacing Macreadie ?

[Turner 1,516]

2 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

I humbly admit I was wrong. 

For 47 years I thought Melbourne supporters were different to those of other clubs. Although we have been, in the main, inept for those years, I thought we had the capacity to show some dignity, respect and, for most of us at least, unconditional love for the institution and by implication, its players.

But I was in denial and delusional. 

What I have learnt from this thread is that many are just as egotistical, righteous, ignorant, envious and insecure bully(boys) as other clubs' supporters and those in the broader community. Oscar is not the enemy, just the mirror. It would serve some to cease projecting their own inner demons (pun not intended) on a soul who gave his best and take a deep look inside their hearts and take stock of their own defects of character. The MFC would be better served, and by implication, the broader society, if we appreciated people like Oscar who's been nothing but a demonstration of grace, decency and commitment.

why is it necessary to try and take some sort of moral high ground like you've never muttered a single bad word about anybody before in ur life. people are allowed to express their displeasure at players performance and skills and acknowledge when changes are made as a result because ultimately were all after the ultimate success and we like seeing the club take steps to reach that 

[Dame Gaga 2,453]

Poor Oscar. It really was death by a thousand cuts. But he hung on for 81 games. He has to be admired for his tenacity just for this achievement. Good luck, Oscar.

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

The club is entirely to blame for the sheer amount of criticism Oscar copped over his career. They just simply kept playing him, underdeveloped, underperforming, hoping that he'd come on and ultimately he never did.

I agree that Oscar copped a lot. Unfairly only because he was consistently relied upon over the years to hold down a key position whilst underperforming more often than not.

Posters are beyond out of touch if they truly believe he was never as bad as what some like myself believed. I get the emotion involved in being a supporter and posters like @binmanwho consistently defended him because he was a favourite. Oscar simply shouldn't have been playing AFL football on many many occasions during his career and that is absolutely indisputable given the fact that he didn't find a suitor over the trade period and has now been delisted at under 25 years of age. Think about that for a minute. It's near unprecedented.

Honestly, this club make some absolutely bizarre decisions sometimes and they are to blame entirely for the way Oscar was managed, developed and then delisted.

An embarrassment really.

Whilst I was never a fan (and couldn't for the life of me understand why the club wouldn't target a mature-aged stop gap gorilla to allow Oscar to develop in the twos), I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

One can only hope the club has learnt from this one because they did everyone including Oscar a disservice in the way they managed him.

Edited November 18, 2020 by JimmyGadson

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,074]

2 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

The club is entirely to blame for the sheer amount of criticism Oscar copped over his career. They just simply kept playing him, underdeveloped, underperforming, hoping that he'd come on and ultimately he never did.

I agree that Oscar copped a lot. Unfairly only because he was consistently relied upon over the years to hold down a key position whilst underperforming more often than not.

Posters are beyond out of touch if they truly believe he was never as bad as what some like myself believed. I get the emotion involved in being a supporter and posters like @binmanwho consistently defended him because he was a favourite. Oscar simply shouldn't have been playing AFL football on many many occasions during his career and that is absolutely undisputable given the fact that he didn't find a suitor over the trade period and has now been delisted at under 25 years of age. Think about that for a minute. It's near unprecedented.

Honestly, this club make some absolutely bizarre decisions sometimes and they are to blame entirely for the way Oscar was managed, developed and then delisted.

An embarrassment really.

Whilst I was never a fan (and couldn't for the life of me understand why the club wouldn't target a mature-aged stop gap gorilla to allow Oscar to develop in the twos), I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

One can only hope the club has learnt from this one because they did everyone including Oscar a disservice in the way they managed him.

Sorry. It's completely disputable by the facts. He played.

Did he play well enough? That's a different argument where opinions can vary. Ultimately, though, not well enough to extend his career with the club beyond 81 games. 

[Cheesy D. Pun 1,765]

11 minutes ago, Turner said:

why is it necessary to try and take some sort of moral high ground like you've never muttered a single bad word about anybody before in ur life. people are allowed to express their displeasure at players performance and skills and acknowledge when changes are made as a result because ultimately were all after the ultimate success and we like seeing the club take steps to reach that 

I get where you're coming from but you can critique a player's performance without the disrespect that many have shown here.

Add to that the fact that people are still continuing with the same rhetoric after the player is gone and it's pretty evident that many aren't interested in anything other than making themselves feel good by degrading others. 

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

16 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Sorry. It's completely disputable by the facts. He played.

Did he play well enough? That's a different argument where opinions can vary. Ultimately, though, not well enough to extend his career with the club beyond 81 games. 

No, it's indisputable due to the overwhelming amount of criticism he received compared to any other player on our list over that period and due to the fact that he has been delisted at age 24, with not one club interested in him over the trade period.

Key position players at age 24 are not delisted off a whim. The club refused to address our lack of key position depth and talent for too long. Oscar played as an underdeveloped and underperforming player for near the entirety of his career. The sheer amount of supporter backlash toward him as an individual is evidence of that. How can you argue it?

Sure it sucks, but that's the reality.

The club is at fault.

Edited November 18, 2020 by JimmyGadson

[old55 23,848]

The general critique of Oscar is very superficial, a lot of good work that KPDs do is hard to see and their mistakes on the final line are conspicuous because they usually result in opposition goals.  Players up the field making more egregious and repeated mistakes are cut far more slack e.g. forwards missing straightforward shots for goal.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Pollyanna

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

1 minute ago, Pollyanna said:

The general critique of Oscar is very superficial, a lot of good work that KPDs do is hard to see and their mistakes on the final line are conspicuous because they usually result in opposition goals.  Players up the field making more egregious and repeated mistakes are cut far more slack e.g. forwards missing straightforward shots for goal.

Your assessment simply doesn't add up. 

Oscar has been delisted at age 24. 

He could not be relied upon due to his deficiencies and he became a liability because of them. 

Supporters could see that and the criticism came. 

How anyone can argue that still astonishes me. 

He is gone at age 24. 

I repeat. Delisted.

[binman 44,726]

28 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Your assessment simply doesn't add up. 

Oscar has been delisted at age 24. 

He could not be relied upon due to his deficiencies and he became a liability because of them. 

Supporters could see that and the criticism came. 

How anyone can argue that still astonishes me. 

He is gone at age 24. 

I repeat. Delisted.

Out of curiosity what happens to your argument about not being AFL standard if another AFL club gives him, say, a rookie spot on their list?

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

48 minutes ago, binman said:

Out of curiosity what happens to your argument about not being AFL standard if another AFL club gives him, say, a rookie spot on their list?

@binmanwith all due respect, it's near impossible to talk to you about Oscar. 

It wasn't long ago you were making bets that he wouldn't be dropped over the course of a season, then it turned to how many games he'd play in a year or something.. Now he's been delisted and you're trying to catch me out for something I've never said in the hope he's going to land a rookie contract somewhere? You're like the black knight from Python's 'The Holy Grail'.

I get that you're super passionate about the guy. Good for you. But you're wrong about him when it comes to assessing his ability at league level.

If we can all agree, (which we can), that there are plenty of footballers in this country who could be playing AFL level football but are not for varying reasons, then we can surely agree that there are footballers who have been and are playing AFL football who perhaps shouldn't be, also for varying reasons.

I don't understand this black and white 'AFL standard' BS that posters talk about. Oscar obviously has some level of ability and along with a myriad of factors, he ended up being drafted to a team extremely light on for key position depth and quality who ultimately decided that playing him early would fast track his development rather than building him through the twos. In my estimation, that was an error. I said it at the time and ultimately, fast forward six years and the guy has been delisted. Not even kept for backup. What does that tell you @binman? I mean really, what does it tell you?

Oscar at best was serviceable. And at worst was a complete and utter liability.

He did not develop and his weaknesses were so clearly magnified at AFL level.

He lacked intensity and was too slow in his movement.

Take note that I'm not saying "I told you so". But you must wake up and smell the roses mate. He is not the player you thought he was and the club failed him as well.

Edited November 18, 2020 by JimmyGadson

[FireInTheBennelly 4,104]

I finally agree with all those posters that said the footy department knows best.

[bing181 9,436]

4 hours ago, Pollyanna said:

a lot of good work that KPDs do is hard to see and their mistakes on the final line are conspicuous because they usually result in opposition goals. 

This.

[Undeeterred 3,127]

5 hours ago, JimmyGadson said:

The club is entirely to blame for the sheer amount of criticism Oscar copped over his career. They just simply kept playing him, underdeveloped, underperforming, hoping that he'd come on and ultimately he never did.

I agree that Oscar copped a lot. Unfairly only because he was consistently relied upon over the years to hold down a key position whilst underperforming more often than not.

Posters are beyond out of touch if they truly believe he was never as bad as what some like myself believed. I get the emotion involved in being a supporter and posters like @binmanwho consistently defended him because he was a favourite. Oscar simply shouldn't have been playing AFL football on many many occasions during his career and that is absolutely indisputable given the fact that he didn't find a suitor over the trade period and has now been delisted at under 25 years of age. Think about that for a minute. It's near unprecedented.

Honestly, this club make some absolutely bizarre decisions sometimes and they are to blame entirely for the way Oscar was managed, developed and then delisted.

An embarrassment really.

Whilst I was never a fan (and couldn't for the life of me understand why the club wouldn't target a mature-aged stop gap gorilla to allow Oscar to develop in the twos), I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

One can only hope the club has learnt from this one because they did everyone including Oscar a disservice in the way they managed him.

Sorry, but if you're saying that it's 'near unprecedented' for players to be delisted under 25 years, you have absolutely zero credibility. I'll give you a crack at clarifying, because that's surely not what you actually meant. 

And if you did, between the rest of us I think we could probably come up with 20 names just from our own club this has happened to. Corey Wagner, this year, for a start. 

[Pates 9,690]

10 minutes ago, Undeeterred said:

Sorry, but if you're saying that it's 'near unprecedented' for players to be delisted under 25 years, you have absolutely zero credibility. I'll give you a crack at clarifying, because that's surely not what you actually meant. 

And if you did, between the rest of us I think we could probably come up with 20 names just from our own club this has happened to. Corey Wagner, this year, for a start. 

"Unprecedented" might just be the most overused and wrongly used word in the world right now.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Pates

[Elegt 872]

5 hours ago, JimmyGadson said:

The club is entirely to blame for the sheer amount of criticism Oscar copped over his career. They just simply kept playing him, underdeveloped, underperforming, hoping that he'd come on and ultimately he never did.

I agree that Oscar copped a lot. Unfairly only because he was consistently relied upon over the years to hold down a key position whilst underperforming more often than not.

Posters are beyond out of touch if they truly believe he was never as bad as what some like myself believed. I get the emotion involved in being a supporter and posters like @binmanwho consistently defended him because he was a favourite. Oscar simply shouldn't have been playing AFL football on many many occasions during his career and that is absolutely indisputable given the fact that he didn't find a suitor over the trade period and has now been delisted at under 25 years of age. Think about that for a minute. It's near unprecedented.

Honestly, this club make some absolutely bizarre decisions sometimes and they are to blame entirely for the way Oscar was managed, developed and then delisted.

An embarrassment really.

Whilst I was never a fan (and couldn't for the life of me understand why the club wouldn't target a mature-aged stop gap gorilla to allow Oscar to develop in the twos), I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

One can only hope the club has learnt from this one because they did everyone including Oscar a disservice in the way they managed him.

Completely agree. Oscar would never cop all that he does if he wasn't gifted games. It's not his fault at all and it's quite embarrassing from Goodwin et al. Reminiscent of when jack watts debuted

[Undeeterred 3,127]

6 minutes ago, Elegt said:

Completely agree. Oscar would never cop all that he does if he wasn't gifted games. It's not his fault at all and it's quite embarrassing from Goodwin et al. Reminiscent of when jack watts debuted

At risk of invoking with the old adage about arguing with fools, who exactly would you have played instead of Oscar in all these games he was ‘gifted’?

Name names he should have been behind, but played in front of. 

[Deefiant 441]

1 hour ago, Undeeterred said:

Sorry, but if you're saying that it's 'near unprecedented' for players to be delisted under 25 years, you have absolutely zero credibility. I'll give you a crack at clarifying, because that's surely not what you actually meant. 

And if you did, between the rest of us I think we could probably come up with 20 names just from our own club this has happened to. Corey Wagner, this year, for a start. 

Corey was delisted in the same year. Obviously Oscar set the precedence. 

[Elegt 872]

42 minutes ago, Undeeterred said:

At risk of invoking with the old adage about arguing with fools, who exactly would you have played instead of Oscar in all these games he was ‘gifted’?

Name names he should have been behind, but played in front of. 

First of all I would have never gotten rid of frost or lynden dunn. Both got shafted to make way for Oscar and both had better talent than Oscar. Second of all I would've recommended recruiting a ready made body, someone like Sam Collins who was delisted from freo instead of relying on an underdeveloped kid to man full back

[Pates 9,690]

1 hour ago, Deefiant said:

Corey was delisted in the same year. Obviously Oscar set the precedence. 

I'll just throw one out there from us: Michael Newton. Ironically another KPP, delisted at 24 in 2011.

I'm sure there would be more if I really wanted to look. 

Edited November 18, 2020 by Pates

[No10 466]

1 hour ago, Pates said:

I'll just throw one out there from us: Michael Newton. Ironically another KPP, delisted at 24 in 2011.

I'm sure there would be more if I really wanted to look. 

Jetta? Delisted at 24 also.

Did ok after Roos rookied him.

[Kent 2,920]

14 hours ago, JimmyGadson said:

The club is entirely to blame for the sheer amount of criticism Oscar copped over his career. They just simply kept playing him, underdeveloped, underperforming, hoping that he'd come on and ultimately he never did.

I agree that Oscar copped a lot. Unfairly only because he was consistently relied upon over the years to hold down a key position whilst underperforming more often than not.

Posters are beyond out of touch if they truly believe he was never as bad as what some like myself believed. I get the emotion involved in being a supporter and posters like @binmanwho consistently defended him because he was a favourite. Oscar simply shouldn't have been playing AFL football on many many occasions during his career and that is absolutely indisputable given the fact that he didn't find a suitor over the trade period and has now been delisted at under 25 years of age. Think about that for a minute. It's near unprecedented.

Honestly, this club make some absolutely bizarre decisions sometimes and they are to blame entirely for the way Oscar was managed, developed and then delisted.

An embarrassment really.

Whilst I was never a fan (and couldn't for the life of me understand why the club wouldn't target a mature-aged stop gap gorilla to allow Oscar to develop in the twos), I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

One can only hope the club has learnt from this one because they did everyone including Oscar a disservice in the way they managed him.

well said Jimmy

Well crafted piece with perspective. The club Chose Oscar over Dunn and then in a bizzare way kept playing Oscar even though he clearly wasn't up to it. I blame the footy department and really feel sorry for Oscar

Should never have come to this in my opinion.