May and Lever - Best Defenders in Last 20 Years?

[Reader 99]

Following on from great season last year both May and Lever have been playing amazing footy.

Lever was bog against the Tigers 

May was outstanding against Dogs 

Huge upgrade from Oscar and Frost.

Would have to go close to being our best key position defenders in the last 20 years. Thoughts?

[spalding 1,128]

You are on the wrong forum for posts such as this. The thread should be titled  "Are May and Level a waste of high draft picks and front-running pea-hearts like the rest of the team", and then you would have got a lot more readers on board.

To be honest though - unless Neitz was at CHB there isn't much competition. When I saw the post of of our 2000 GF team, I didn't think any of those (perhaps with the exception of Ingerson and Febey) would make the current team - and no-one between 2000 and 2020 stands out in my mind. So the answer, particularly for May, is probably "yes". Jury still out on Lever atm.

[Reader 99]

5 minutes ago, spalding said:

You are on the wrong forum for posts such as this. The thread should be titled  "Are May and Level a waste of high draft picks and front-running pea-hearts like the rest of the team", and then you would have got a lot more readers on board.

To be honest though - unless Neitz was at CHB there isn't much competition. When I saw the post of of our 2000 GF team, I didn't think any of those (perhaps with the exception of Ingerson and Febey) would make the current team - and no-one between 2000 and 2020 stands out in my mind. So the answer, particularly for May, is probably "yes". Jury still out on Lever atm.

Cheers, our defence is working really well and only getting better

If Brown was fit we would be looking at top 4

[DubDee 26,117]

May yes. Lever still has to put a quality full season together.  the longer they play together the better

when you have confidence in your big men at the back to mark/spoil, it makes it a lot easier for the others to run off and rebound

[BDA 22,875]

Frawley went ok. I'd have him ahead of Lever at this stage.

[Reader 99]

Jake Lever – absolutely spoiled everything and looks the fittest he’s been since he’s been at Melbourne. Eight marks, seven rebounds and used it magnificently (86per cent). 

[Pickett2Jackson 3,904]

  May and Jetta our best two defenders of the last 20 years.

Lever looks like he could be set for a breakout season.

[Demon Disciple 12,271]

Frawley at his best would be pretty close to May, 

Jared Rivers at his best as 3rd man up is superior to Lever during his time so far  at the Dees.

Richo still has nightmares of being Nicho’s beech, though ?

[Forest Demon 4,681]

Frawley’s AA season was the best season a Melbourne defender has had in my time watching Melbourne, and that includes May’s very good 2020. He was an athletic beast and was basically unbeatable, although it proved to be a flash in the pan.

[bobby1554 1,261]

They will need to be......the pill will be going into their area a fair bit this year!

[4_Kent_Watts 892]

Any Love for Anthony Ingerson. He wasn't no flash, but he was a very handy key Backman who wasn't beaten to often if I remember correctly. Great spoiler. Someone kick me. 

[Nelo 813]

11 minutes ago, 4_Kent_Watts said:

Any Love for Anthony Ingerson. He wasn't no flash, but he was a very handy key Backman who wasn't beaten to often if I remember correctly. Great spoiler. Someone kick me. 

I was a massive fan of Ingerson back in the day. Did all the team things and didn’t get beaten too often one on one. 

[BAMF 4,385]

Key defender or just defender?

My love for the Wrecker is still very strong. Think he edges out Nev in the back pocket position. 

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Lever hasn’t done anything for us yet.

[Little Goffy 14,639]

7 hours ago, spalding said:

You are on the wrong forum for posts such as this. The thread should be titled  "Are May and Level a waste of high draft picks and front-running pea-hearts like the rest of the team", and then you would have got a lot more readers on board.

No, No, Mr Spalding, it's, "May and Lever would be our best defenders in 20 years except that Goodwin ruined them so now we've wasted all those high draft picks and turned two great players into front running pea-hearts."

Anyway, for the topic itself; I think May has managed to demonstrate he is legitimately elite and we have every reason to be confident he will keep it up.  Sustain his current/recent level and he is indeed our best KPD this century.

Lever still hasn't been able to put together his best aspects all at the same time in any kind of consistency for us, so I wouldn't go that far yet.  It's definitely possible though.

As others have noted, the other 'best key defender' options have been either more on the dependable worker end of things (which deserves full respect for sure) or only had shortish bursts of being really outstanding.

[Roger Mellie 4,102]

Lever's still got a few things to work on, like bringing the ball out of defense - which is horrible. His spoiling and intercept marking are top notch.

[Pates 9,660]

So far Lever is probably only a pass for his time with us. A lot of that is because of his injury issues and he had periods last season he was showing his worth, but we need him to get back to being a damaging interception marker. Having someone take a grab in defence and be able to rebound is absolutely massive in the modern game. 

May is a gun, early days this year but I think he’s annoyed he got overlooked for AA last season and his gunning for it big time. 

If those two have big seasons we look good down back, we just need someone to really step in to own the small defender position (I love Jetta but he shouldn’t play many games this year). 

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

Ummm Alistair Nicholson..? 

[Waltham33 475]

9 hours ago, Nelo said:

I was a massive fan of Ingerson back in the day. Did all the team things and didn’t get beaten too often one on one. 

Plenty of love here - symbolised that 2000 team perfectly, was underrated and rarely lost a battle during that year.  Unfortunately his knee gave way the very next year.

Lever did look great Monday, May has been mint for the past year, however its after these 2 where the headaches start.  Though Tomlinson may be a surprise

 

[BDA 22,875]

1 minute ago, Waltham33 said:

Though Tomlinson may be a surprise

That would be a very big surprise. He should be dropped for Petty.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,909]

8 hours ago, JimmyGadson said:

Ummm Alistair Nicholson..? 

Yeah...nah.

I still remember a game at the MCG when he forgot to take his tracksuit top off when running on to the ground from the interchange bench. This would have been back in the days when interchange players waited a long time for their turn so kept jackets on to stay warm. He ran on about 20 metres, realised and returned quickly to the bench to discard the unnecessary garment.

[DeeZone 10,100]

I would feel happier to review this after a couple of years time when we get to see the full benefit of May & Lever together with some continuity as the team hit's their straps, no doubt these two make us a much better side but we need a number of players to lift to their level for us to get the max out of them both.

[whatwhat say what 22,933]

On 3/11/2021 at 4:04 PM, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Yeah...nah.

I still remember a game at the MCG when he forgot to take his tracksuit top off when running on to the ground from the interchange bench. This would have been back in the days when interchange players waited a long time for their turn so kept jackets on to stay warm. He ran on about 20 metres, realised and returned quickly to the bench to discard the unnecessary garment.

velvet sledgehammer loves to tell the story about when big al came to him at the start of the 2000 grand final he said 'fantastic, been waiting for this match-up' or words to that effect

four goals in a 10 goal premiership...that's almost under par for lloyd ultimately

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

On 3/11/2021 at 4:04 PM, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Yeah...nah.

I still remember a game at the MCG when he forgot to take his tracksuit top off when running on to the ground from the interchange bench. This would have been back in the days when interchange players waited a long time for their turn so kept jackets on to stay warm. He ran on about 20 metres, realised and returned quickly to the bench to discard the unnecessary garment.

I often wondered what world he was in half the time..

I remember one day at the G, I was sitting MCC (centre wing), and had the pleasure to watch him attempt to gather up a bouncing loose ball not two or three... but four times.

Nobody around. No pressure. Just big Nicho fumbling over himself in a pre-game warmup.

 

 

Suffice to say we got flogged that day.

[Swooper1987 3,322]

We have had some pretty poor defensive units in the last 20 years, but individually some good players.  Frawley, Whelan, Jetta, Ingerson were all at times, excellent defenders.  The game has moved past Nev now but at his best he was very good.  Frawley was a star in 2010; Whelan about as tough and courageous a player as I've seen at Melbourne and Ingerson was one of the main reasons we made the 2000 GF.  Nathan Brown was underrated by the football world by and large but was also a very courageous player.  May is probably a better player than most of those guys but we are basing his Melbourne contribution off just last season.  I actually think Lever is potentially the best player of all of them.  He's crazy brave in the air.  His disposal can let him down a little but he looks fit, tuned in and ready to repay the club's investment.  And he is likely to see a bit of the ball, too.