Gator

Just noticed he tops Inside Football Player Ratings:1. OLIVER, Clayton Melb 612. MERRETT, Zach Ess 603. MURPHY, Marc Carl 594. MITCHELL, Tom Haw 595. EBERT, Brad Port 59

Imo Petracca was second best behind Viney and Oliver third. We all see things differently.

Votes by both coaches for the 6th time in 8 games. ADELAIDE v MELBOURNE10 Jack Viney (Melb)8 Michael Hibberd (Melb)5 Clayton Oliver (Melb)5 Christian Petacca (Melb)2 Bernie Vince (Melb)AFLCA LEADERBOARD43 Elliot Yeo (WC)42 Rory Sloane (Adel)36 Clayton Oliver (Melb)32 Gary Ablett (GC)31 Marcus Bontempelli (WB)31 Sebastian Ross (StK)31 Joel Selwood (Geel)29 Ollie Wines (PA)27 Marc Murphy (Carl)27 Jack Steven (StK)

I love KB and reckon McCartin can play.

That's not quite correct. Williams stats were better from his first 19 games. That said, Williams debuted at 20, so had an advantage with age. Williams averaged 26 disposals from 12 games in his first year - 1984, and averaged 30.6 in his second year on his way to the B&F in '85 at 21. If your point is that Oliver's second year may be better than Williams' second year well that is a possibility, but obviously not yet resolved. I'd also argue that stats in 1985 are worth at least 20% more than the possession game of 2017, so 30 disposals then is at least 35-36 today, imo.

The best bit to take out of the Champion Data stats is that in 2017 he's ranked the 6th best general forward in the competition. The other stats are irrelevant, because they're based on a comparison of 23 games and not the players' respective ages. Ablett and Dangerfield were 19 through 23 games, so you wouldn't expect them to have the same due to a less mature body. I recognise Petracca missed a year with knee, but still consider his age a significant advantage. Gray was the same age as Petracca after 23 games.

Gawn

I'm talking about Cripps first 18 games, not the 3 in his first year. When you add the first 15 from his excellent second year to the 3 from his first year I think you'll find his first 18 games provide similar output.

The first 5 games of his second year blow everyone else out of the water. I hope and expect him to keep it up for the remainder of the year. But when you isolate just his first 18 games I suspect Cripps and Tom Rockliff's numbers would probably be as good.

I've not suffered from either affliction, but am aware it's a problem across society. As it's an important issue, my suggestion is to pin this thread. I've never opened it, but there's a similar thread pinned on the main page of BigFooty and it has over 400 posts. Some might like to also reference that thread.

If you don't think Hibberd is a "gun" and only rate him "slightly higher than Melksham" to use your words, then I doubt you'd recognise a gun if it was pointed at your temple.

You don't rate Hibberd, so I find your views on Jones interesting.

He's in my Dreamteam, so i watch him a bit. He's OK, but he turns it over by foot a lot and I'm not sure how he differentiates from what we already have. I'm not the most romantic guy, so the fact he's Nathan's brother means zero to me.

Is meh the term ?

Another 5 votes on Monday (votes from both coaches). He's equal 4th the AFLCA leaderboard after round 5. AFLCA LEADERBOARD 34 Rory Sloane (Adel) 31 Joel Selwood (Geel) 29 Ollie Wines (PA) 25 Dustin Martin (Rich) 25 Clayton Oliver (Melb) 23 Zach Merrett (Ess) 21 Luke Shuey (WC) 21 Elliot Yeo (WC) 20 Patrick Dangerfield (Geel) 20 Robbie Gray (PA) 20 David Mundy (Frem)

He's not the answer as a fill in ruckman. Won't happen.

If he keeps going he'll win this year's B&F. Would definitely be presently leading. Will be the club's best midfielder since Barassi.

I don't think he's "sub par" for a 7 game 19 year old key forward. I like the traits I see. Happy to disagree and we'll both watch him develop with the same hopes in mind.

Not to mention Weideman is still 19. I think many forget he's still a teenager. Darcy Moore is 21 and still struggling.

Glad you went to the trouble. I couldn't give a rat's toss bag either way. I shared the information as I thought some may be interested and I also made it clear that I wasn't certain of the veracity of the claims.

Disagree. A post that lacks insight. He read the play well and made good decisions under the pressure of his first game. Goog handballs, good decisions, good reading of the play. He's a nice mover and will be a very good player by the time he's 23.

He's very brave in the air and will crash packs when he gets bigger, but it's not "all he has". You either didn't see or have forgotten his first game against Hawthorn in round 20 last year. Some of his linking handballs up the ground were excellent and showed that his ground skills and decision making were very good. He had 11 handballs that day. Saying "he's only got" when you have such a small sample size for a very young key forward is close minded. I think he'll have a nicely rounded game.

I look forward to your search and subsequent report.

The following was posted by a Saints fan. I can't vouch for the veracity, but I'd be concerned if I supported St Kilda. "Read this article it has some interesting information... After reading this. If its true. I'm actually surprised we drafted a big pack marking forward with type 1 diabetes." "Diabetics cannot withstand head impacts as well as those who are non-diabetic. This is because brain cells in diabetics have a very poor ability to use glucose and all diabetics tend to be deficient in magnesium. Magnesium is critical to ATP and energy production. In diabetes, since the brain has a poor ability to use energy, this makes the brain more sensitive to the effects of excitatory neurotransmitters like glutamate, which are released in massive amounts following a concussion."

Oliver isn't getting in Viney's way, just like Dangerfield doesn't get in Selwood's. Viney hasn't been playing a hard tag, but he did sacrifice some of his game as he kept Steven quiet and has played a slightly more defensive role in 2017. If he could stop running around to try and get on his left when it's silly to do so it would help his game. We should perhaps look at our midfield as a collective, because they have specific roles that we're not necessarily privy to.