Is Melbourne's midfield one of the best of all time?

[Demon Disciple 12,068]

46 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

Yes agree faultydet could be, I really like this kid and needs to be locked in long term ASAP.!!

Clarry first pls

[dazzledavey36 54,285]

13 hours ago, picket fence said:

Um Um NO! I swear I saw him not make the distance for goal from 30 m out once!

Dazzle, serious question for you, where do you see Luke Dunstan fitting in??

Round 1.

I think getting Dunstan is such an underrated trade. I have always admired him as a player right from his junior under 18's days at SA where he captained the state team and even throughout his career at St Kilda.

His early days at St Kilda he was highly rated by the club to the point where they offered him jumper number 7 straight after Lenny Hayes retired. He started his career well until Ratten came along and it was obvious that he just didn't rate him. 

I don't buy into the whole St Kilda got rid of him because he's a crap etc. St Kilda's list management is seriously all over the shop, and some of their recruiting of recent is pretty questionable. I see this as a Luke Ball type recruit where a player does not feel valued at all, loses confidence, and then is picked up by another team where the culture is about embracing your strengths as a person and a player which results in him back playing to his best football and hopefully help the team back up a top 4 finish.

Dunstan will want to prove a point also. As Alan Richardson said, he's a culture fit for our club and will drive standards hard and push others along the way.

Where does he fit? history will tell you that you're not going to play your best 22 from the last game the previous year so I certainly think there will be players who'll miss out on form or injury come round 1. 

[picket fence 17,059]

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Round 1.

I think getting Dunstan is such an underrated trade. I have always admired him as a player right from his junior under 18's days at SA where he captained the state team and even throughout his career at St Kilda.

His early days at St Kilda he was highly rated by the club to the point where they offered him jumper number 7 straight after Lenny Hayes retired. He started his career well until Ratten came along and it was obvious that he just didn't rate him. 

I don't buy into the whole St Kilda got rid of him because he's a crap etc. St Kilda's list management is seriously all over the shop, and some of their recruiting of recent is pretty questionable. I see this as a Luke Ball type recruit where a player does not feel valued at all, loses confidence, and then is picked up by another team where the culture is about embracing your strengths as a person and a player which results in him back playing to his best football and hopefully help the team back up a top 4 finish.

Dunstan will want to prove a point also. As Alan Richardson said, he's a culture fit for our club and will drive standards hard and push others along the way.

Where does he fit? history will tell you that you're not going to play your best 22 from the last game the previous year so I certainly think there will be players who'll miss out on form or injury come round 1. 

Agree 100%

[Diamond_Jim 12,551]

How is a midfield measured.

In my time the Eagles had the best run and carry midfield whereas Brisbane had the best stoppage midfield.

Centre clearances is another measure.

Have we finally managed to leverage our ruck dominance (Gawn)..... not sure

Jackson could just be the magic sauce that does give us that "star quality".

Rewatching the season I just smile at the skills of Oliver and the impact of Petracca.

Bit early to give them the "best midfield" laurel but the signs are good.

[monoccular 17,413]

On 12/15/2021 at 11:19 AM, leave it to deever said:

Would love to see him [Rivers] in the middle but I think hes just too valuable down back at present. He has the strength,  speed, confidence and presence of mind to break through tackles and packs.

He's only just started so you never know. Perhaps his future is in latching onto Luke Jacksons taps, shrugging the odd tackle and roosting them 60 m through the middle.

A very nice dilemma to have - Rivers would fit in as a midfielder or as a rebounding halfback ….. we have decent half back depth so he may well be offered some opportunity to show his wares in the engine room, if and when the brains trust sees it as appropriate. 

On 12/15/2021 at 5:34 PM, Wrecker46 said:

I reckon Jordie McKenzie could play a role now. He fits alot of our criteria.

 

On 12/15/2021 at 6:44 PM, dazzledavey36 said:

Don't think so.

While he was an honest battler, he was also a diabolical kick and barely had other strings to his game other then being a one paced tagger.

Jordie could have benefited by our current fitness and skills development team. 
He was reputed to be the hardest worker at training …. ANB has risen from honest battler with questionable skills to an essential cog in a Premiership team.  Who really knows what could have happened if ……….

[Queanbeyan Demon 6,840]

On 12/15/2021 at 11:30 AM, Fork 'em said:

Rivers reminds me of James Hird.

There .... I said it.

Phnk. I hope not.

[Queanbeyan Demon 6,840]

On 12/16/2021 at 10:29 AM, Diamond_Jim said:

How is a midfield measured.

In my time the Eagles had the best run and carry midfield whereas Brisbane had the best stoppage midfield.

Centre clearances is another measure.

Have we finally managed to leverage our ruck dominance (Gawn)..... not sure

Jackson could just be the magic sauce that does give us that "star quality".

Rewatching the season I just smile at the skills of Oliver and the impact of Petracca.

Bit early to give them the "best midfield" laurel but the signs are good.

This. 

Could someone please define in specific terms what is meant by a midfielder? This term is thrown around meaninglessly by morons in the media (no one on 'Land of course) and I really have no idea WTF is actually being talked about. For example, do we consider Langdon a midfielder because he runs up and down the ground all day (and in September, most of the night) but rarely starts in the square? And what about ANB who occasionally starts in the square, but often covers more territory than 14 other blokes in the team? And if Kossie starts in the square a couple of times in a game to shake things up, is he considered a midfielder?

[Dante 2,739]

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_player_compare?playerStatus1=A&tid1=12&playerStatus2=A&tid2=8&type=A&pid1=3820&pid2=3486&fid1=C&fid2=C

Interesting comparison between JV and Libba. Over the course of the journey, so far they are pretty evenly matched and JV is a couple of years younger.

I know that stats don't give you the complete picture but I think people on here tend to undersell Jack.

In his last Junior game, a Grand Final, he was BOG in a beaten side and his teammate T Greene was second best on ground.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,193]

On 12/14/2021 at 12:40 PM, Wrecker46 said:

When our backline is talked about May and Lever have been fantastic and get the glory but anyone who doesn't have Salem in the same picture hasn't watched enough of Melbourne.

As evidenced by his well deserved 4th placed B&F - he was close to our most important player early in the season I reckon

[Dr. Gonzo 24,193]

On 12/14/2021 at 3:49 PM, Doggas front teeth said:

Replace Ling with Bartel in that list.

 

But our midfield may well be in that conversation in 4-5 years time, need more runs on the board though. Hopefully 1 or 2 more flags and the comparisons will be impossible to ignore.

And replace Hart with Lappin or Aker

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 10,805]

When Christian Patracca can't win your B&F, because he gets pipped by another mid and you have a ruckman who places 3rd behind him, you know you have a good midfield.

[Demon17 5,187]

7 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

As evidenced by his well deserved 4th placed B&F - he was close to our most important player early in the season I reckon

Excellent comment on Salem.

Sublime delivery and cool in a crisis. he set up finals games from the first bounce. 10 possieis in first 1/4 of a GF. Teams did not either do their homework on him, or underrated his role or just couldn't plan for him.

Just a fabulous component of the best defence I have seen at the Dees in 50 years.

The Dees kick over 65 points in a game - we win. 

[BDA 22,735]

21 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

When Christian Patracca can't win your B&F, because he gets pipped by another mid and you have a ruckman who places 3rd behind him, you know you have a good midfield.

And they all made the AA team

[FlashInThePan 1,893]

2 hours ago, BDA said:

And they all made the AA team

Yes, just think about that for a second. Three of our four players who start in the centre square are all Australians in the same year. I’d  have to go back and take a look but I’d guess that has either never happened before or incredibly rare.

I agree with some others that the group needs to do it over a number of years to achieve greatness, but they’ve made a pretty damn good start!