Adam The God

It's not relevant that we were VFL standard during a lot of those attempts? Rubbish. You've had a bad week LT. Just settle down.

None of those years were decent years. In fact, they were all shockers.

So there's a difference between the club having interest and the player...

We usually do, Steve. He is one of the elements we're missing. But I'd suggest someone like Lever would be much higher on the shopping list and cheaper...

Fair enough. My point was we've moved on from that though. Melksham was signed in a time when we couldn't attract anyone and we saw him as a role player. Garland was signed simply because we needed defensive depth. I gather he was being targeted by other clubs and so we put a 3 year deal to him, instead of two. Last season we attracted a four time premiership player who is still an A grader. I hope we can attract a player of Lever's quality. But Kelly isn't the right fit for $800k+, IMO.

Kelly is not a blue chip. I'm not really concerned about the Melksham comparison. We're not Melbourne of 2 years ago anymore and we've built a list of young talent that will need to be paid. The fact that some would blow $800k on a soft outsider with great skills is mindboggling. Thankfully, I know our list management wouldn't be silly enough to entertain the idea.

They won't keep their list together GWS if they're offering a player like Kelly $750k. He's not a blue chip A grade mid. He's a silky outside mid who needs to play in a good team. He won't win you games. He'll help you win games. Prestia has started poorly at Richmond, but is the best player IMO.

I'd certainly have a word with his management. We can offer a lot more than North in terms of top 8 potential and we're equally based in Melbourne, so if it's about a money increase and moving to Victoria, we can tick a couple of boxes. $600k is a lot more than he'll get at GWS.

I'd be offering Kelly no more than $600k. Good player, could play an important role at Melbourne, but he's not worth paying anymore than that. $800k is absurd. That's a sure fire way to demolish all the good list management over the past 3 years.

Yep, I agree, mate. The Stringer model. Oliver, Viney, Tyson, Brayshaw and Salem gives us plenty of elite talent to vie for starting mid positions once Jones, Lewis and Vince hang up the boots. Petracca, Hogan and Watts for bursts as well.

I'm surprised very little has been made of Oliver's stats in comparison to any other midfielder in the modern era. He has better stats than Greg Williams at this point...

Still remember that great contested grab in his first game against Ward. That's my favourite Clarry mark, but the Essendon one was a beauty too.

I maintain I said it first. Haha.

How was I wrong here? I said he wouldn't go out...

His mark today reminded me of his contested mark on the wing in his first game. It was taken on the GWS captain, Ward. Very Michael Voss too.

Agreed, mate. I think often people feel like they have to point out an area of focus to work on, but I think this is misplaced.

I was born in 1987, so only saw videos of Robbie.

I think he had 28 touches to three quarter time, so had 4 touches for the last. Haven't been able to confirm that anywhere though. I don't. I yell it out and commentate his every disposal. He's a genius. The most exciting footballer I've ever watched in a Melbourne jumper. Ahead of Jesse, Hunt, the Wiz, Davey, Gaz, Schwarz and for a short time, Jackovich.

In Cripps' breakout season (2015), he had x4 30+ disposal games. x7 30+ disposal games in 2016. In Rockliff's breakout season (2010), he had x3 30+ disposal games. It's also worth noting Clarry's CPs are a lot higher than Rockliff's were at the same time. There is a similar correlation between Cripps' CPs and Clarry's though. I'd argue Oliver's breakout has been this season, rather than last, so he's taken slightly more games to hit 30+ disposals, but is now doing it with such regularity that he's having a steeper climb in form that than other two and being more consistent about it. But, we're only 5 games in. It'll be interesting to see how he tracks this year.

I know we keep going on about what a special talent we have, but statistically, he's currently tracking better than any other midfielder in the modern game (post 1990). He's on par with Greg Williams, regularly cited as one of the best midfielders of all time, and who started in the 1980's, so I won't count him. His hands are Williams-like and his kicking is strong. Just his ability to be so clean in the wet the other night, said so much about his talents.

Aliir Aliir, as has been mentioned, would suit our system to a tee. I reckon we could play Aliir Aliir, Tom McDonald and Sam Frost in the same backline, as long as a wise head like Lewis, backed by Jetta and Hibberd. A good mixture of experience, pace, height, good ball use and offensive-mindedness. Jones has improved, but would much prefer Aliir and he suits our needs a lot better.

Completely agree with this.

Yep, probably, but where does that put Kent? If he got the same attention as Dom, people would be saying he'd never play again. Despite his brainfades, even ANB has been improving. Harmes is a more solid player this year too. If we can convert some of these C graders into solid B graders, we'll be ready to challenge come 2018. Until then, we have to back in our FD and that goes for Tyson and Viney's development too.

He's had a history of slowly working into seasons off the back of reduced pre seasons, so I'd say there is a relevance. As much as we'd like our 70+ gamers to be hitting their straps right now, sometimes the reduced pre season does impact on their ability. His kicking the other night was probably the worst I'd seen for the season, but his hands were cleaner. Tyson is in exactly the same basket as Viney is. He needs to work on his disposal and his decision making. But both players are doing the team things and tackling. It doesn't bother me that you don't rate the tackle stat, but I can assure you the FD do. That's why turnover merchants like ANB keep getting games and why JKH is likely to get another game too.

He's coming off an injury interrupted pre-season and is getting involved despite really struggling. His ceiling is a lot higher than he's given credit for. It's tiresome reading the same posts over and over again, so that's me done for this thread. We'll agree to disagree. You've got your thread to talk about Tyson. Now it won't need to be brought up in every second thread.