whatwhat say what

his run up is fine cos - on the whole - his last five steps, his head positioning and his ball drop are very steady. it's only when there's a slight deviation from these key last vital ingredients that it goes awry. he's a bona fide superstar in the making. 26 games...it's freaky just how good he could potentially be.

Whatever happens, here's hoping he commits at some point...

love him, couldn't understand why he wasn't in the side from the first game.

This has always been my vibe too. Plus his buggered back, that'd put you off flying every second week.

Lachie Neale has just put off contract talks too for what it's worth.

his run-up to kick is not nearly as bad as everyone says. it is being critcised primarily because it starts so strangely with the ball held over the wrong foot - but then he has the stutter and from there it's actually super-steady and perfectly balanced. he's going to be helped massively by the limited rotations of modern football, because teams are going to start going long. look at kennedy for meth coke yesterday - he was unstoppable once they got their quick ball movement happening. admittedly the bears were absolute gash, but no one would've been able to stop kennedy with the amount of ball he was being presented with. people criticising hogan's second efforts need to watch that gif of him floating back and killing the contest in the last seconds. he impacted the contest and ensured it was neutralised. he's one impressive unit to be as starved of opportunity as he was in the first half, move up the ground to get involved in the third, and then utterly dominate the last.

Callum Mills should take out the rising star I reckon. Petracca and Oliver will hopefully split people on which Melbourne young gun to vote for...

i can't wait to see what this kid can do.

god i wish we'd recruited dunstall. imagine him as part of that late 80s / early 90s side alongside stynes, lyon, tingay, g lovett, b lovett, wight et al. anyway, back to oliver... was he better nab2 or nab1? probably more spectacular nab 2, with the mark and the big long sweeping handballs?

Back to Oliver... Some rumors around that Dodoro (Essendon recruiter) thinks he might be the best mid drafted since the Hodge - Ball - Judd era. No wonder they spat chips when we got him if he rated him that highly.

Back to Oliver - how much has he grown since being drafted? When he was being interviewed by Barry Hall on the weekend he looks almost as tall as him.

jake niall (ex-the age) on fox sports news just confirmed that negotiations have stalled and jesse wants to see how transition from roos to goodwin works, and essentially decision will be dictated to some degree on whether we can make finals in the next two seasons. something about the line "if it is to be, it's up to me" comes to mind to be honest...

let's just remember, this is all nasher's fault. kid looks a jet. natural ball winner and knows how to use it from the looks of things. perhaps too prone to handball would be the one knock on what we saw yesterday. ability to win the contest as well as work super hard defensively and lay some serious tackles is massively encouraging.

agreed. he won't just play round 1, he'll start on the ground.

Will be going up against some serious players too. Let's see how he travels!

Melbourne and Jesse Hogan put contract talks on hold Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/melbourne-and-jesse-hogan-put-contract-talks-on-hold-20160224-gn2ada.html#ixzz414LeHvhz Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook

i think the majority of commentators are happy to have a team to pick on, and melbourne has been an easy target for a decade, hence why they continue to speculate on hogan potentially returning to wa. another element that might be in our favour is that the peptides' cale hooker is a free agent at the end of this year - regardless of whether or not he wants his contract voided, as has been speculated amongst their playing list - and freo are into him big time. some reports this week had him getting the same sort of $$ as jesse. even with forthcoming retirements i doubt that freo could afford hooker, mccarthy and hogan. of course, in saying that, every club in the competition will likely open the chequebook up for our #1. can't wait to see what he can do in his second year.

He got off on appeal.

just don't lie down in the middle of any busy roads robert.

Wilbur Green is the elder of the two I think - my son and he are in the same AusKick, and my boy is in the year below, and he's six. Has skills, but not as much as Buckley or Hird's kids, who look natural footballers. But they pale in comparison to Wanganeen's boy, who will be a star for Port in a couple of years. Freaking amazing talent.

If Hogan requested a trade at the end of this year to Freo I'd want Neale, Tabener and their first round pick for the next two years minimum.

cripps news is important as he's another wa boy who is staying in victoria.

For what it's worth, reports have it that Cripps has signed on at the Blues til the end of 2019.

i don't see jones as in selwood's class either. viney is the one who i think can get there - he has the same offensive / defensive mindset, and sheer will to win every contest in which he competes. i am hoping oliver (and petracca, for that matter) can become more like rockliff than like jones - high possession mids who also work well defensively in addition to hitting the scoreboard regularly.

the story i have always heard is that neeld overruled viney, right up to when we picked up kennedy at the end of last year and emma quayle said he was the player we were looking at with #4. whether it's true or an apocryphal tale is another matter altogether.