Traded #17: Jake Melksham - Traded to Melbourne for pick 25

Whispering_Jack

Norm Smith Medallist
Joined
Jan 10, 2013
Posts
9,527
Likes
11,946
Location
Essington
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Crystal Palace FC, Tomato Atheism
Starting to look better, but for **** sake attack the ******* ball. There was a few contests where it looked like he was hoping the ball would end up in his hands instead of going hard at the footy.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

BrunoV

Brownlow Medallist
Joined
May 5, 2009
Posts
14,865
Likes
18,214
AFL Club
Essendon
12 disposals in the VFL on the weekend.


What a star.


It looked worse than it reads. Struggled to win the ball in close and then did not do any of the running required to find it on the outside. This is the risk involved in dropping some players. There is no way he can get picked on form but he's probably going to give more than 2 player currently in the seniors and it may be by necessity that he gets a recall.
 

Howard Moon

Brownlow Medallist
Joined
Dec 14, 2008
Posts
15,842
Likes
22,389
AFL Club
Essendon
He's too good for the twos, he may have flaws but we are a better side with him in it. Even tho we lost he was a reassuring presence in the front half when the bsll seemed to be pinging straight bsck out most of the times it went in.
 

Zach Package

Kyle Langfourd
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Posts
23,603
Likes
31,806
Location
Parish, Francis
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Piggy Smith, SFG, Heat, Raiders
I give him a bit of credit fordiversifying his game a bit though. Has shown he can be effective as a shut down defender, and I actually rate him as a forward as well, knows where the goals are.

Still definitely needs to pull the finger out though. Missing set shots like that kills us
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

rines

Norm Smith Medallist
Suspended
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Posts
8,340
Likes
9,310
AFL Club
Essendon
Matty Lloyd mentioned it a couple of weeks back.

Not everyone responds to the stick - Jake might need a bit of carrot.
Yeah.. I got flamed for mentioning that he has been using the 'stick' with Carlisle too.. and that didn't work at all..

Modern kids don't really respond to the 'stick'... I would imagine some of the younger AFL blokes would fit in this category too.. they come from the praise overload/self esteem generation..

Having said that.. Melksham has been gifted that many games it is now beyond laughing. Very bad first half, slightly redeemed himself in the third and the 4th quarter he was one of the best 5 players for us.

My two biggest complaints:
Disposal efficiency - not just skill wise (which isn't great) but also DECISION MAKING too.. chooses the 'wrong' option far too often
Going to ground at EVERY contest.. marking/loose ball.. whatever.. he ends up sprawled on the groun 95% of the time.. which holds up the ball and slows our movement far too often.
 

Pweter

Brownlow Medallist
Joined
Feb 12, 2010
Posts
12,691
Likes
15,689
Location
Right here, right now
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Central Districts, Detroit Pistons
When I watch the 4th quarter efforts of Melksham, that is when the frustration really comes to the fore. He has what it takes, just that we don't see it often enough. Funnily enough, when we see his best he is playing on instinct.

Is it that Melksham has the talent but like Jetta, he is getting left behind by the 100% mental application required to play the game in the current era? You can no longer get by on talent and instinct alone?
 

BrunoV

Brownlow Medallist
Joined
May 5, 2009
Posts
14,865
Likes
18,214
AFL Club
Essendon
I liked the look of Melksham forward.

If he gets the ball 70 from goal something happens. He is quite good overhead too.

Maybe we just leave him in the forward half for the rest of the season.

I wonder whether is all comes back to endurance. I think that maybe he just doesn't have the tank to hunt the footy as a midfielder.
 

EFC 1871

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Posts
30,277
Likes
11,508
AFL Club
Essendon
Thread starter #2,544
I'd like the club to fully transform him into a counter-attacking tagger, like Kane Cornes or Cameron Ling.

He's got the ability to run with players and keep them reasonably quiet, and he has the tools to hurt sides in patches.

Let him really hook into the opposition's best player every week, and make it his priority to keep them quiet, but hurt them where possible.

We'll be keeping his 10-15 damaging possessions whilst forcing him to be around the ball for the whole game.

It'd also allow us to bring in an additional midfielder like Kavanagh.
 

matty lloyd the champ

Premiership Player
Joined
Jul 8, 2006
Posts
4,934
Likes
3,281
Location
Australia
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Houston Rockets
I'd like the club to fully transform him into a counter-attacking tagger, like Kane Cornes or Cameron Ling.

He's got the ability to run with players and keep them reasonably quiet, and he has the tools to hurt sides in patches.

Let him really hook into the opposition's best player every week, and make it his priority to keep them quiet, but hurt them where possible.

We'll be keeping his 10-15 damaging possessions whilst forcing him to be around the ball for the whole game.

It'd also allow us to bring in an additional midfielder like Kavanagh.
Can we afford to play both Hocking and Melksham in defensive roles?

Hocking by his own merits isn't quite good enough to be an offensive midfielder in my mind. Doesn't find enough of the pill away from stoppages.
 

EFC 1871

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Posts
30,277
Likes
11,508
AFL Club
Essendon
Thread starter #2,547
Can we afford to play both Hocking and Melksham in defensive roles?

Hocking by his own merits isn't quite good enough to be an offensive midfielder in my mind. Doesn't find enough of the pill away from stoppages.
A lot of sides play two defensive midfielders, so that they can run with Dangerfield/Thompson, Judd/Murphy, Pendlebury/Swan etc.

Long term I'd be phasing Hocking out, but the beauty of him as a player (and something that most others should be looking to replicate) is his blocking work at stoppages. He's the 1%er king.
 

Zach Package

Kyle Langfourd
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Posts
23,603
Likes
31,806
Location
Parish, Francis
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Piggy Smith, SFG, Heat, Raiders
defensive forward IMO.

We've tried to get Kommzy to do it, but he just doesn't hurt sides at all either on the scoreboard or with the ball, and Merrett has done it in bits (but is more value getting up and back off a wing imo).

Melksham is actually very competent overhead and would be one of our better 1v1 footballers.

He looks so much better when he's given a job to focus on, and i think that job should be taking the opposition's 'quarterback' types, because they'll actually have to respect him, unlike Kommer or Merrett
 

Doss

Super Moderator
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Posts
70,960
Likes
96,343
AFL Club
Essendon
Admin #2,549
A lot of sides play two defensive midfielders, so that they can run with Dangerfield/Thompson, Judd/Murphy, Pendlebury/Swan etc.

Long term I'd be phasing Hocking out, but the beauty of him as a player (and something that most others should be looking to replicate) is his blocking work at stoppages. He's the 1%er king.
Very dangerous around the fifty too, is Hocking. He's one guy I'm very happy to get the ball on the run about fifty out.
 
Top Bottom