Mills

[eaglesman]

Fantastic debate here guys.
Clearly just one of the many structural decisions that could prove critical to performance.

I think mills is a gun and this was before the game on the weekend. I had mates messaging me telling me the rising star is all but his so j assumed he must have been outstanding.

But when I watched the game yesterday arvo purely to monitor him, from a SuperCoach perspective I was a tad disappointed. Got plenty of pill and didn't hit the 100 and a good portion of those points were from stats I wouldn't normally be banking on(a cheap free kick and a questionable holding the ball free etc.) now it is only one game so nothing really to go off but at this stage not convinced on him at the price. When I think a player like Mathieson should line up and make more cash.

[GoLions]

I really don't see Matho or Keays playing round 1, providing we don't get any injuries between now and then

[eaglesman]

I really don't see Matho or Keays playing round 1, providing we don't get any injuries between now and then

He looked ultra impressive ... Attacked it like a bull ... No disrespect to the lions but gee I don't rate their depth at all. Shall head to the lions page and check out some best 22 lists.

[H1bb3i2d]

I really don't see Matho or Keays playing round 1, providing we don't get any injuries between now and then

He looked ultra impressive ... Attacked it like a bull ... No disrespect to the lions but gee I don't rate their depth at all. Shall head to the lions page and check out some best 22 lists.

And no disrespect to Matho but I don't think he has the tank to run out full AFL games just yet

[Ringo]

Thoughts from the coach

Leppitsch on Mathieson:

Impressing over the pre-season with his competitiveness, new draftee Rhys Mathieson was fearless around the contest on Sunday. The 19-year-old had 13 disposals (seven of those were contested) and kicked a superb banana goal from the forward pocket.

“He wants the footy, doesn’t he?,” Leppitsch said.

“He wants to get involved. He’ll be one that is pushing for selection early in the season to get a game and he did pretty well in that area.”

[Ricochet]

Thoughts from the coach

Leppitsch on Mathieson:

Impressing over the pre-season with his competitiveness, new draftee Rhys Mathieson was fearless around the contest on Sunday. The 19-year-old had 13 disposals (seven of those were contested) and kicked a superb banana goal from the forward pocket.

“He wants the footy, doesn’t he?,” Leppitsch said.

“He wants to get involved. He’ll be one that is pushing for selection early in the season to get a game and he did pretty well in that area.”

That's positive. Hopefully he has another decent NAB game and pushes for RD1

Mills has played 75 minutes of footy for the swans, I think we need to calm down a little bit until we see more.

100% this. The kid is a gun but its NAB1. Whether you liked his game or not, we need to see more of him

[GCSkiwi]

the question to me becomes if all named round 1.

Mills v Hopper v Parish if you had to pick 1 or 2 who would you go.

Pretty hard question to answer I reckon. Assuming Essendon treat this as a development year then Parish could be the Cripps of 2016 (if he has the scoring ability). If he's performing surely they'll try to load game time into him. Hopper and Mills JS would be a worry as both Sydney teams have some well established outfits. Would come down to how Hopper is played, what spots are they gonna take and how likely are they to hold them?

[quinny88]

the question to me becomes if all named round 1.

Mills v Hopper v Parish if you had to pick 1 or 2 who would you go.

Pretty hard question to answer I reckon. Assuming Essendon treat this as a development year then Parish could be the Cripps of 2016 (if he has the scoring ability). If he's performing surely they'll try to load game time into him. Hopper and Mills JS would be a worry as both Sydney teams have some well established outfits. Would come down to how Hopper is played, what spots are they gonna take and how likely are they to hold them?

I'll worry about answering all this after nab 3. Will be a lot clearer then

[Southstorm]

It's not just form, it's body size. Wines and Brayshaw were big kids when they had big first seasons. Cripps was a second year player who'd been through two AFL pre-seasons. Mills/Parish/Hopper aren't quite at that same level.

A kid that is at that level is Clayton Oliver.

[Holz]

It's not just form, it's body size. Wines and Brayshaw were big kids when they had big first seasons. Cripps was a second year player who'd been through two AFL pre-seasons. Mills/Parish/Hopper aren't quite at that same level.

A kid that is at that level is Clayton Oliver.

Hopper kenedy mills are big boys

Coming through academy helps too

[djbics]

It's not just form, it's body size. Wines and Brayshaw were big kids when they had big first seasons. Cripps was a second year player who'd been through two AFL pre-seasons. Mills/Parish/Hopper aren't quite at that same level.

A kid that is at that level is Clayton Oliver.

Hopper kenedy mills are big boys

Coming through academy helps too

Mills has also played half a dozen games in the NEAFL the past two seasons, obviously a far different standard to the AFL but a good test of how his body may stand up against fully developed men, rather than just in relation to his age group

[Southstorm]

They're certainly not small but they aren't manchildren like Wines/Brayshaw/Oliver. The first two practically had the build of an AFL player when they lined up for their first game. The other three aren't quite there yet, so the case that any of them will have a Wines/Cripps/Brayshaw-like first year isn't rock solid.

An Isaac Heeney-like year is more likely; similar scoring but not as many games.

[Southstorm]

It's not just form, it's body size. Wines and Brayshaw were big kids when they had big first seasons. Cripps was a second year player who'd been through two AFL pre-seasons. Mills/Parish/Hopper aren't quite at that same level.

A kid that is at that level is Clayton Oliver.

Hopper kenedy mills are big boys

Coming through academy helps too

Mills has also played half a dozen games in the NEAFL the past two seasons, obviously a far different standard to the AFL but a good test of how his body may stand up against fully developed men, rather than just in relation to his age group

It's not about how the body can stand up against fully developed men, but rather if the body can stand up and how long for.

[djbics]

They're certainly not small but they aren't manchildren like Wines/Brayshaw/Oliver. The first two practically had the build of an AFL player when they lined up for their first game. The other three aren't quite there yet, so the case that any of them will have a Wines/Cripps/Brayshaw-like first year isn't rock solid.

An Isaac Heeney-like year is more likely; similar scoring but not as many games.

From a Melbourne supporters perspective I really hope Oliver can have a similar impact to Wines/Brayshaw, like most Dees Fans its pretty frustrating to compare Wines and Toumpas and wonder what could have been.... though watch "The Toump" become the player he could be at Port, if he can just get his confidence back could be fairly damaging getting fed by Boak/Ebert/Grey and the afore-mentioned Wines

[H1bb3i2d]

Nobody's asking for a Wines-like first year, but players with half the bodies have great first seasons all the time. They just play different roles, and there's more to footy than inside midfielders.