binman

Gary buckenara does a pretty interesting analysis here: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/melbourne/gary-buckenara-analyses-melbournes-list-after-the-2017-season/news-story/08afd8b49dedaf6938358873ff2d5b28 NB: if you care not a subscriber google this and go to the article direct (note their new website won't allow you to cut and paste the text from the summary to google, so you have to mnaully type it): Demons should rethink Watts trade Says this about Lever: 'The Demons are Jake Lever’s preferred new home after he requested a trade out of Adelaide and he’d be a nice addition to the backline as that intercept-marking player, which is so critical in the modern game. He is a third defender, not really a key-position player despite being 195cm. The Crows are asking for two first-round picks in a trade and to me, that’s overs. Melbourne currently has pick No. 10 so I’d offer that and potentially a second-round pick or a young borderline best-22 player such as Alex Neale-Bullen, who is an Adelaide boy, to sweeten the deal.' This comment from the comments section below the article made me laugh: Gavin 7 hours ago Lever is exactly what Melbourne need. Another easily physically intimidated player who fails to stand up in big games.

You have to love Demonland. Lever fails to poll in the top 10 at the crows B&F. There are two contradictory responses: It is clear evidence that the crows must have rigged the voting (out of spite? - must be because it makes little sense to deliberately under value him if you know you are going to negotiate draft picks ) because as we all know Lever is one of their best players, an AA no less (yes, yes, i know) who has had the best season ever for any young defender - better than Rance at the same age! Are the crows crazy asking for two first rounders? My response: I'm going to love watching the live stream of the bluey on Monday and watch Tmac's younger brother come top 10

Neeld didn't. He was about the process.

I think burton might not be the best person to be negotiating deals. I mean aren't most negotiations involving player's contracts financially motivated?

Some counselling for jack

Agree. The free lever 'gave away' right on the q time siren was incredibly soft. Didn't hurt them but geez. Meanwhile Saint Rance gets more protection than a la porchetta franchise

Actually i reckon hunt was tagged a bit in the latter part of the year. Or at least a fair bit of work put into him to stop.his run out of the back half. It worked too as earlier in the season it was one of our major weapons. I supwct his metres gained stats fell off a cliff

Agree. And i have no doubt this why we have targeted him and won't mind paying 'overs' (whatever that means)

Yep. Never a truer word spoken.

Well he better get used to it as he will be tagged next year at the dees. And given that likelihood we should temper our expectations. But so there is no confusion i am not potting Lever. A terrific young player and i'm rapt he will be at the dees.

Of course he will. And he's coming. But as i have pointed out many times about our defence - it will always struggle if we don't match the opposition's pressure just as the crow's much vaunted defence struggled today

And from afl.com (Ben Guthrie) those same players: Luke Brown – 3 Dubbed 'The Glove' by teammates, the small defender was under the pump throughout the afternoon. Out-bodied by Dustin Martin late in the second term in a one-on-one contest that he had no chance of winning. Will learn plenty from it. Kyle Hartigan – 3 Often played as Adelaide's deepest defender and spent some time on Dustin Martin when he went forward. Did not necessarily have a suitable matchup among Richmond's small forward line and often found himself tracking one of Dan Butler or Jason Castagna. Not his go. Jake Kelly – 4 Came off in the second term and appeared to be limited by a hamstring complaint. Got back out onto the ground but was part of a back line that struggled to contain the Tigers' forwards. Was at least strong in the air on a few occasions. Jake Lever – 4 The out-of-contract star took a couple of customary intercept marks in the first half and had Jacob Townsend for company for most of the afternoon. Lever had 15 disposals but, with the ball often on the deck in Richmond's forward line, he could not chop off kicks as effectively as he usually does. Could be his final game for the Crows, with speculation mounting he will join Melbourne in the upcoming trade period. Daniel Talia – 3 The miserly full back has made a reputation for not allowing his opponent to get off the chain. But this was not one of his better days. Opponent Jack Riewoldt was too athletic for Talia and there were a number of times where he trailed the Tigers spearhead into the contest. Rory Laird – 7 The All Australian defender was superb for the Crows across half-back in the first half, gathering 19 disposals. Was allowed the freedom to roam and he flourished. However, Laird couldn't exert the same influence in the second half as the Tigers ran away with victory.

For what its worth here is the crows defender's rating and comments from news.com (yes i know). Ratings out of ten in brackets 6. Jake Lever (4) — Unsuited to playing against the dynamic, small Tigers forward line. Exposed for pace at times and didn’t kick the ball particularly well. 8. Jake Kelly (4) — Appeared to be hampered by a hamstring issue and never made a mark on the game. 12. Daniel Talia (5) — Can’t really fault the key defender — unless you want to compare him to his opposite number in Rance? 15. Kyle Hartigan (3) — Filled his personal blooper reel at a furious rate early in the game before recovering slightly. 16. Luke Brown (5) — Did his job like he always does apart from one marking contest where he was left one-out on Martin. 29. Rory Laird (6) — In Adelaide’s best, but that wasn’t saying a lot in this game.

Their best defender today, by a country mile, was Laird.

And further to this point we don't know the amount of money we have offered him so using rumours of offers of 900k as proof of his ability - or that of the the existing dees defenders for that matter - is just plain silly. In any case rumors of 900k are likely to be codswobble. Jay Clark's stab of 750k x 5 sounds much more likely

Give it up steve. You have lost this argument. Quite sad really. How about you take my bet? It is a good one for you i would have thought. As 55 says he will do very well to make the top 10 in the bluey as there are at least 10 other players in the team who will poll well. By the by it must have burnt you bacon to see Tmac's younger brother get a brownlow vote. Difficult thing to achieve for a back man, especially one with no strengths and not up to AFL standard. Perhaps they liked his haircut?

But you didn't steve. Which is no hanging offence but you are so routinely condescending and rude (eg 'He made the squad you peanut') and think so highly of your football acumen and so lowly of others that such errors are likely to be commented on. I don't understand why you think this 'place would have exploded' if Tmac's younger brother had made the AA squad. No one has ever said he is a star, least of all me.

No i wasn't. I was using that as an example that man on man, one on one play is not his strength (ie not his go - an assessment i arrived at from watching him over his short career and one that few would argue with), which was a follow up from DeeSpencer making that same point a few posts earlier (a point that i agreed with in a post quoting that comment). I thought the fact that i used the word highlighting (as opposed to saying for instance that the danger example proved man on man is not his strength), which ironically you highlighted, would make it clear i was using the danger fail as an example. But there you go. By the way i didn't say he was hopeless man on man, just that it wasn't his strength.

Yep. A more revealing example was how Dangerfield out marked him at the start of the Crows cats game. No shame in getting out marked by danger but it was a pure one one contest rather than the more common zoning off Lever employs. Leverr tried to spoil without taking the body (like say Dunn or talia would have) and missed it, gifting Danger an easy mark (which he even had time to juggle). Don't get me wrong i'm not having a shot at him merely highlighting that man on man is not his go.

Agree with all your points. I suspect he will always play the zone off, intercept marking role rance has perfected. I reckon in time TMacs younger brother will be bigger than than Lever and maybe the go to one on one player when required (goody favours a heavy zone but flexibility is important). Technically lever is not the best kick in the world but he is pretty effective. As you say he moves the ball quickly and he also makes really good decisions (the two are linked obviously). As for the money i really can't see him getting 900k from the dees. Terrific player but a big part of his success at the crows, particularly this season, is, their incredible all field pressure which result in so many bombed, sloppy kicks (easy picking for a player of his ability) and how effective the rest of the backline is, particularly Talia. Both the Crows and the tigers have very similar approaches and it is no surprise both are in the granny. It is an approach we are clearly aiming to emulate and my concern for Lever is that if we don't apply the same level of pressure he won't be able to have the same impact as he does at the crows. So the worry is not that Lever does not have the ability but that us getting value from him depends factors outside his control.

Yes he is. As if Steve would get that wrong. It clearly says AA player on the poster he has of Lever over his bed. Maybe he is an emergency. Or maybe steve has confused lever with laird - who is an AA. Easy mistake to make. Same jumper after all. A tip for all recruiters - if keen on player jot down his number. its on the back of his jumper. But seriously, of course steve means he will be an AA at some stage. For sure. Then we will have 4 AA defenders. Not too shabby.

The blues are cappuccino's (sic)?

^Oath

A little birdy told me Barry Prendergast is a regular poster on DL. Thinks Lever is perhaps the greatest footballer ever, thinks Tmac's younger brother isn't up to AFL standard and more than happy for Weids to ply his trade in the maggos until 2019. Yet to pick a smokey though. Oh and doesn't mind the odd condescending post or two hundred.

Nah wasn't being smart. I assumed from your comment that Kelly was a cricketer also. I was of course talking about keath who was a star cricketer. Looked ok when he played for the crows and i agree that they will miss Lever but have the cattle to cover him.