stevethemanjordan

True. But I'm a Melbourne supporter and have been programmed to think otherwise.

His worst game on Monday, by a mile. The positive is that we won and he's now got an opportunity to have a response game in an arguably more important clash. I really am only expecting one win over the next three rounds given our continual one-quarter lapses. If we continue the trend, none of the next three teams will be as kind during those lapses. Any of the dogs, WC or Sydney could put us to bed in one quarter if we stink it up like we have been. I'm confident that our best can match it. But I'm not confident that we will play our best for long enough.

I said that about his past month. Not Monday's game.

An honestly ridiculous post. Especially your last sentence. Any player who continuously makes errors, is slow to react and looks completely and utterly out of his depth like Oscar has over the past month will be criticised. There's a reason why he was named on the extended bench at match selection. And that's still on the back of being three talls down. (Spencer, Gawn and Hogan). To me, that says a lot. He is young and will hopefully develop. But not all players come on, which is something some supporters fail to understand. There are no guarantees at AFL level and if you're a later draft pick, it generally means there are some knocks on your game unless you had a severe injury during your draft year or some other special circumstance that meant you were taken late. Both McDonald's were late picks and Frost was a rookie. None of them had serious injuries during their under 18 years so therefore they have more obvious weaknesses to their game. Examples: General footballing specific skills for Frost, skills of Tom McDonald, speed and awareness of Oscar. They're weaknesses. If you look at the other lines we have, we're stacked with high end picks. Midfield and Forward. Which is why we see players like ANB, Stretch, Kent etc in and out of the side constantly. They don't have the same room to move as Oscar does on game day. We have much more coverage and higher quality coverage at that. An important point that is often missed when the Oscar debate sparks. Oscar will continue to be "bagged" until this problem is resolved. Which will without a doubt be by the start of next season

Apparently it does around here. It's odd that a player who plays to the standard you expect from someone playing in that position gets his own congratulatory thread. I'm talking about basic spoiling in the air and hitting basic targets by both foot and hand. He showed that he was competent in the second half without staring or doing anything particularly special. I saw him take a good intercept mark. But I genuinely can't recall anything other than him not making mistakes in the second half? (After making quite a few in the first). I mean, the very creation of this thread is proof that he has been under-performing. Congratulations Oscar for not making any diabolical errors in the second-half. If you are able to reproduce that effort, you may be considered a future star in the making on demonland. I'm more than happy to discuss in detail what it was about his second-half that posters think was anything other than solid.

Yes. It's a headf*#^

Both, given May and Lever feature strongly. Lever is a must get.

With opposition teams targeting Oscar in one-out situations, it's understandable that he features. Unfortunately, ineffective spoils are also counted as spoils. A spoil is a spilt ball that an opponent gets a hand on. Again, that spoil stat doesn't really tell the full-story. The quality defenders are the guys that feature in many of these stat categories.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-09/key-to-defence-back-yourself-and-team-structures Some more stats for the stat lovers.

Has played 43 games and is 21. Is anyone watching tonight? If demonlanders are convinced Oscar will become a 'great' key defender over time, I can't even imagine what they'd think Lever will become?!

All of these concerns are a non issue if your team possesses the following: - A competent key defender who can combat a disadvantage in height with strong body work and a really competitive and hard edge to the way they play. (Rance, May, McGovern). None are above 196cm - A two-way running midfield who consistently provide pressure on the opposition's quality of forward 50 entries. - A ruckman who is willing to run defensively, sit in the hole when required and be that tall that you're talking about. If you get those three things right, the opposition are going to have a very tough time marking anything inside 50. No matter the size of the forward. Part of why we're missing Gawn is for his ability to defend as that extra key defender at times. But we'll soon have him back. I think our midfield has generally been pretty good at disallowing really easy forward 50 entries. (Compared to the last few years anyway). We can always improve. And I would say it's our key defenders that have been the weakest link at present. Oscar doesn't cut it, Frost is still learning and T-Mac has been wildly inconsistent.

Defensively speaking, yeh, champion data will show that he is clearly in the top 5. He is a wonderful defender. The criticism comes from his kicking and decision making with ball in hand. And it's warranted. I don't need champion data to tell me that. The fact that improvement in this part of his game can barely be seen is the reason supporters get upset. It's totally understandable.

Sometimes it is. And sometimes it isn't.

And the Port Adelaide supporter would say the exact opposite.

Debatable.

He plays in a zone defence at Gold Coast...

But he is bigger. Bigger in that he plays with much more physicality and aggression than any of our defenders. And he is also a bigger and stronger build than any of our defenders. May would be perfect because he'd allow T-Mac to do what he does best. Intercept spoil and mark. Atm when Tom plays defence, it looks as though he feels like he needs to be superman and stop everything. Which is part of why he is making errors and is only further evidence that Oscar is untrustworthy. How many defenders do we see go up to spoil the same ball? Tom plays his best footy when his role is simplified and is allowed to stick to his strengths. We're a rabble back there because Frost and Oscar are unable to hold those key posts as well as we need. Frost is another who needs a simplified role to play his best. But part of that is because he is limited in his football-specific attributes. Get someone like May in and we solve many problems.

It's about the quality of player you are. If you're a high quality defender, you're going to know how to combat 7+ cm in height. May and Hurley are both 193 cm but are better than any defender we have. They use their bodies, strength and timing to outmanoeuvre taller opponents. The height issue is overtalked. Of course, if there is little pressure on the ball carrier coming in and the kick is too good, no defender will be able to stop that. There are no elite defenders in the league that stand at 200cm.

^ SEN Adelaide correspondent. Honestly, the only reason these guys get gigs is to spread rumour and innuendo from their 'sources'. I'm not saying Lever is going. But the amount of times these SEN nuffies like Denham and Smith etc get these things wrong is absolutely comical.

Nobody knows anything, I'm not sure why you've drawn a conclusion from the fact you haven't officially heard that we're targeting May.

Yeh, it was poor. But he has credit. Is in the top handful of key defenders in the league. Let me know when Oscar reaches that level.

You're right, there aren't a lot. Doesn't only have to be FA however, they can be coming out of contract or even still have a year running. Liam Duggan and Darcy Tucker are two I'd be looking at. Robbie Gray is a restricted FA 2018. Maybe we have someone in mind in this years draft. Let's see.

Depends on who you ask.

I'm not thatttt bad am I...?

Yes, he was easily this good in his best year at Essendon. It's upsetting that you don't know this. It only confirms my concerns that so many supporters on here are one-eyed. There are good footballers out there everyone. Outside the walls of the MFC. There are some really good players. Paging @Satyriconhome