stevethemanjordan

Not a chance.

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

Oscar takes an intercept mark. Was thinking posters would be straight on to me about it. Alas. He misses a 15 meter target under no pressure yet again that nearly results in a shot on goal if not for Hibberd's calmness.

Lol. Today we have both Steven May and Oscar McDonald playing. I hope posters can now see that we need a player like May. Once again, I wonder what on earth anyone can see in Oscar McDonald.

You watching today's game? And you reckon asking for players with strong ball using ability is asking for Utopia? And no our greatest concern is not in inefficient conversion from good entries going inside 50. We have an innibility to use the ball efficiently from all areas of the ground. Whether from the backline, midfield, going inside 50 and even converting shots on goal as you said. The quality of our entries going inside 50 are actually incredibly underwhelming so I disagree with you on that.

We are the third or fourth worst ball-movement side in the AFL. Jones has many admirable attributes but ball use at this stage isn't one. There's no way in the world the club would give a first rounder for him. That's a Richmond-like move. I'm far more interested in players who will boost our ball use through the midfield. Run and carry is all well and good if it ends up in a scoring opportunity. I mean, Hunt's ability to break lines is great but he still butchers it or struggles to finish his work when he fails to kick to the advantage of our forwards. He is inconsistent with his finishing. And Jones is in that category. We need a serious injection of skill and class through our midfield imo and there are others we should be targeting for that reason.

Of course it reflects well on him! Apparently he is in our top three most important players... I still think the poster that thinks the fact that Oscar plays 92% game time must rank him in the top 30% for endurance takes the cake. I mean, they're both ridiculous stats. But I'm having a good time reading them.

^ You're totally right. I have no idea where Freo would be without Ethan Hughes.

Yeh, I challenged posters to give me a strong attribute that Oscar possesses. And I got two stats. One which I already rebutted because of how misleading it is and the other I didn't even bother with because of how nonsensical it was. A poster measuring Oscar's endurance against other players, based on the minutes he plays on ground ?! Even though he is a key defender. That is not a thing. It's a nonsensical correlation. I maintain that at this level, Oscar doesn't possess one strong and consistent attribute. Frost for example is really fast. That is his strong attribute. Hibberd is a strong user of the footy and strong intercept player. D'you see? Maybe we have a different idea of what difines a strong attribute, because it seems you're telling me what I meant by it. Strong attribute = strength. I'm happy to leave it there.

You're talking about a certain group of posters who are like that on this forum. Many of us knew that last week's game was a response win and the following game against North was going to be just as important, if not more so. If you were to go and look up what acts are included in the "one-percenter" stat, you will find that it's ridiculous and doesn't give a true indication of a player's worth. There are four actions that count toward a one-percenter: Knock-ons, spoils, smothers and shepherds. Now I can say right now that rarely have I seen Oscar smother the ball from someones kick or shepherd. Which leaves two actions left. Now if you go and look at what constitutes a 'spoil' in a marking contest as well as a 'knock-on', you will see how ridiculous these isolated stats are and what indeed is counted as both a spoil and a knock-on. A spoil that is recorded on a stats sheet is extremely limited in that it doesn't take into account things like who's advantage the ball is kicked to, whether or not the forward fumbled a mark, whether the defender fumbled a mark, how effective the spoil was etc etc. I'm talking about real, identifiable attributes. Not wildly inconsistent isolated stats that rarely take into account the wider context of the unfolding play. You might think all those other qualities that you've listed are his 'strong points'. I would say they are minimum requirements for a defender playing at this level. The top level. AFL. Maybe you're part of the soft Melbourne supporter group who are really easily pleased by bare minimums due to the fact that we've been below par for the last decade in nearly every facet of the club. It's not surprising that some supporters get excited by individual play that would otherwise be considered bare-minimum by any decent club's standard. This is not the amateurs. It's the elite. And if we want to compete in this environment, you simply can't be happy with bare-minimum.