stevethemanjordan

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.

I genuinely can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not..

Frost to play on Moore. Who does Oscar go to? Slightly concerning.

^ 12 30

As much as I hate the term, this is as 'season defining' as it gets for our club. For two reasons really: Given that Essendon smashed Port yesterday, positions 5-13 are wide open with Richmond only one game ahead sitting fourth with a similar percentage to us. We'll be sitting equal 5th if we win tomorrow, one game out of the top 4. What an opportunity. This year's evenness is unheard of. Secondly, this may well be the last game we play (touch wood) without one of Gawn or Hogan for the year. When those two come back, it'll be a huge morale booster for the entire club. We play the Dogs and Eagles next, both of whom are out of form but will be enormous challenges. Tomorrow is simply a must win if we're serious about challenging this year. Make a [censored] statement Dees. Go.

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.

We may well do things properly now but that doesn't change the fact that not all players that are signed to a list, stay on that list. Speculating on who will make it or not is part of being a supporter and is welcome discussion on a forum like this. I agree with Biff. I don't think there's a future for Hullett at the MFC based on what I've seen of him, regardless of his development. He doesn't possess anything we're crying out for attribute-wise. He is just a solid foot-soldier.

Is the last player we need. Doesn't possess anything we don't already have. Is exactly the player we would have gone for during the early post-Neeld era. Watch Richmond pay overs for him.

Supporters of teams are a funny lot. If he was one of our own, I'm sure the excuses would be coming left, right and centre in regards to form, injury, being dropped, pay etc. Clearly, the guy can play. At his best he is a monster and that can't be argued. His best is very very good. The question is whether or not he can get back to his best and for the right price I'd absolutely be all for bringing him to the club. He seems off at Sydney and maybe a change would be welcome for him.

Lols.

Not a chance.

A limited player who is playing the easiest position on the ground to a high level. A bona fide star is going a tad overboard. Let's see for how many seasons he can play at this level for.

Any of the three would fill a great need. On Lever, he is without a doubt more than "only a prospect". You're really underselling him if that's what you believe.

I'd have played him ahead of Tyson a couple of times this year already.

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.