Way, way too early to tell. He’ll be compared to the other top 10 picks and particularly Parish.
It will take years to know one way or the other or even somewhere between.
What you can tell about Oliver though, even on the small sample size of a couple of NAB matches, is that he plays with a real dynamic intensity around stoppages and he has that rare ability to accelerate away from congestion at a stoppage. Players who can do that are gold. I.e. Dangerfield, Judd pre-OP.
The added dimension he has to his game is that he is a good size and is great overhead. This will make him valuable when drifting forward.
The Demons made a point of trading with the Gold Coast up to pick 3(4 post academy- the one before ours) for a reason. I’d love to know whether they traded up at that time specifically to get Oliver or whether they were still undecided on Oliver or Parish and only officially sided with Oliver closer to the draft.
Cos the word was that Gold Coast were going to draft Callum Ah Chee regardless, whom they drafted eventually at pick 8.
If Oliver, Parish and Francis were still on the board at our picks I wonder which way we would have gone.
Way, way too early to tell. He’ll be compared to the other top 10 picks and particularly Parish.
It will take years to know one way or the other or even somewhere between.
What you can tell about Oliver though, even on the small sample size of a couple of NAB matches, is that he plays with a real dynamic intensity around stoppages and he has that rare ability to accelerate away from congestion at a stoppage. Players who can do that are gold. I.e. Dangerfield, Judd pre-OP.
The added dimension he has to his game is that he is a good size and is great overhead. This will make him valuable when drifting forward.
The Demons made a point of trading with the Gold Coast up to pick 3(4 post academy- the one before ours) for a reason. I’d love to know whether they traded up at that time specifically to get Oliver or whether they were still undecided on Oliver or Parish and only officially sided with Oliver closer to the draft.
Cos the word was that Gold Coast were going to draft Callum Ah Chee regardless, whom they drafted eventually at pick 8.
If Oliver, Parish and Francis were still on the board at our picks I wonder which way we would have gone.
Just the way we did.
We wanted Parish and Francis since we got our juicy draft picks.
Oliver was never really a serious consideration for us.
Way, way too early to tell. He’ll be compared to the other top 10 picks and particularly Parish.
It will take years to know one way or the other or even somewhere between.
What you can tell about Oliver though, even on the small sample size of a couple of NAB matches, is that he plays with a real dynamic intensity around stoppages and he has that rare ability to accelerate away from congestion at a stoppage. Players who can do that are gold. I.e. Dangerfield, Judd pre-OP.
The added dimension he has to his game is that he is a good size and is great overhead. This will make him valuable when drifting forward.
The Demons made a point of trading with the Gold Coast up to pick 3(4 post academy- the one before ours) for a reason. I’d love to know whether they traded up at that time specifically to get Oliver or whether they were still undecided on Oliver or Parish and only officially sided with Oliver closer to the draft.
Cos the word was that Gold Coast were going to draft Callum Ah Chee regardless, whom they drafted eventually at pick 8.
If Oliver, Parish and Francis were still on the board at our picks I wonder which way we would have gone.
Just the way we did.
We wanted Parish and Francis since we got our juicy draft picks.
Oliver was never really a serious consideration for us.
It will go down alongside the Dyson “dodgy groins” Heppell draft in Essendon folk law.
Interesting to know that boot, Cheers. Glad to hear that actually, that we didn’t get gazumped by the Dees.
Fwiw I think Oliver will be the better more impactful player but Parish looks like a very safe bet. Good decision maker, good user and pretty dependable.
You’d have to be pretty farking irrelevant if there’s clear evidence that Stephen Dank worked at your club and injected it’s players with AOD and Thymosin and the media don’t think it’s newsworthy and the anti-doping regulator thinks it’s not worth their time investigating.
Watts played well the week before. Deserved his spot in Rnd 2. Not sure if he'll be playing seniors in Rnd 3.
Unless injured, he will. You can’t start throwing your toys out of the pram after a loss in round 2. And it’s not like the Dees have much they can replace him with. Quite aside from the necessity of having someone next to Hogan, Watts is quite possibly the best kick they have, if they can get the ball in his hands.
Watts played well the week before. Deserved his spot in Rnd 2. Not sure if he'll be playing seniors in Rnd 3.
Unless injured, he will. You can’t start throwing your toys out of the pram after a loss in round 2. And it’s not like the Dees have much they can replace him with. Quite aside from the necessity of having someone next to Hogan, Watts is quite possibly the best kick they have, if they can get the ball in his hands.
Watts was also playing with a thigh injury that hampered his movement, he copped that the week before when he was one of the main reasons for their last 1/4 comeback. His kicking to Hogan was outstanding.
People have too many blinkers on when they think of Watts.
This bit about losing because of not respecting Essendon is just about greatest cop out I have ever heard. It is just bs of the first order.
Lets see…
Quarter time in the huddle: Roos says. Essendon have dominated possession in their forward half. They are leading us on the scoreboard We have to get first use of the ball, Melbourne players think " we are better than them we will win this without trying"
Half time in the rooms :: Roos says. Essendon have dominated possession in their forward half. They are leading us on the scoreboard, We have to maintain our structures, and get first use of the ball, you started to get back into the game that quarter, Melbourne players think " we are better than them we will win this without trying"
3 Quarter time in the huddle: Roos says. Essendon have dominated possession all over the ground. They are leading us on the scoreboard, We need o roll the dice and go for it, Melbourne players think " we are better than them we will win this without trying"
Full time : in the rooms :: Roos says. Essendon have dominated us in every department of the game and they won. , Melbourne players think " how did we lose , we are better than them"
Come on, surely after all this time playing Aussie rules they know when a team has “turned up to play” and know at each break what they have to try to do to win? Really what is the collective IQ of these guys ?
This bit about losing because of not respecting Essendon is just about greatest cop out I have ever heard. It is just bs of the first order.
Lets see…
Quarter time in the huddle: Roos says. Essendon have dominated possession in their forward half. They are leading us on the scoreboard We have to get first use of the ball, Melbourne players think " we are better than them we will win this without trying"
Half time in the rooms :: Roos says. Essendon have dominated possession in their forward half. They are leading us on the scoreboard, We have to maintain our structures, and get first use of the ball, you started to get back into the game that quarter, Melbourne players think " we are better than them we will win this without trying"
3 Quarter time in the huddle: Roos says. Essendon have dominated possession all over the ground. They are leading us on the scoreboard, We need o roll the dice and go for it, Melbourne players think " we are better than them we will win this without trying"
Full time : in the rooms :: Roos says. Essendon have dominated us in every department of the game and they won. , Melbourne players think " how did we lose , we are better than them"
Come on, surely after all this time playing Aussie rules they know when a team has “turned up to play” and know at each break what they have to try to do to win? Really what is the collective IQ of these guys ?
To be fair, for the media, this excuse is absolutely valid. I mean, they keep feeding the sheep bullshit, and the sheep keep coming back for more.