Player Watch Wayne Milera

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What is promising to see is Milera is starting to use his offensive weapons in his pace, run and skill

The slight knock is that when it is his turn he needs to go harder in the air and stick his tackle, still to many missed tackles and soft attempts at a spoil in the air

With that said he must be kept at HB for another year or two to build his game even when Smith returns next year

Smith and Milera runningbif HB in 2019 will be devastating and a nightmare for all opposition teams

Was actually quite impressed on Thursday, went back with the flight a few times in marking contests and I think pulled 1 or 2 down, or at least had a fair fist of it.

Is developing very nicely in the back half and should complement Smith very well when he returns.
 
I noticed that on Thursday night when I saw him up in the F50 at one point. It seems like Cheney has come in and squeezed him out of his spot in the backline.

The trouble for Kelly is that I'm not sure if he can play anywhere else. He doesn't have a penetrating kick, so can't play on the wing and I think there are better options in the forward line.

I think Kelly played predominantly wing for much of the night, unfortunately he does have the hurt in his disposal to do this. Unfortunately for him, Cheney’s finally been given a shot and we’ve realised he’s the better player for that medium defender role. More composed under pressure, just as tough but bigger bodied, deceptively mobile and a reliable kick for the footy who can actually set up plays by foot.

Kelly is one at this stage I’d be quietly having a chat to about a shift back to Melbourne. With the current make up of our defence, he’s just not a great fit, especially with Doedee coming through as well.
 

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I think Kelly played predominantly wing for much of the night, unfortunately he does have the hurt in his disposal to do this. Unfortunately for him, Cheney’s finally been given a shot and we’ve realised he’s the better player for that medium defender role. More composed under pressure, just as tough but bigger bodied, deceptively mobile and a reliable kick for the footy who can actually set up plays by foot.

Kelly is one at this stage I’d be quietly having a chat to about a shift back to Melbourne. With the current make up of our defence, he’s just not a great fit, especially with Doedee coming through as well.

Absolutely. I’m hoping we can essentially flip Kelly for Francis.
 
I am getting more worried about Milera. He does everything possible to avoid body contact and lay a tackle. He also doesn't run defensively.

The upside is he is getting plenty of the ball and you need all types in a football team but if he is going to be part of our next premiership push once the old guard moves on he needs to stop playing bruise free football.
 
I am getting more worried about Milera. He does everything possible to avoid body contact and lay a tackle. He also doesn't run defensively.

The upside is he is getting plenty of the ball and you need all types in a football team but if he is going to be part of our next premiership push once the old guard moves on he needs to stop playing bruise free football.
Not sure he avoids contact at all.
 

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I am getting more worried about Milera. He does everything possible to avoid body contact and lay a tackle. He also doesn't run defensively.

The upside is he is getting plenty of the ball and you need all types in a football team but if he is going to be part of our next premiership push once the old guard moves on he needs to stop playing bruise free football.

Does he? He seems to do the exact opposite for the most part and is overeager to do defense when he has the opportunity right now.

The thing here is it probably happened once, or twice (which I mean, he's an outside midfielder and a kid, this s**t will happen occasionally) and your bias kicked in* because bruise free football hasn't been a Milera thing all year.


*I will say it is fair enough. Milera last season was bruise free as it comes. He has made massive strides in improving it however.
 
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Give it another go he's more mature now and bigger body

He's a 1st round pick as a mid which isn't to be sneezed at

Time we made the side more flexible, he can rotate across half back anyway

Smith really hasn't had much of a crack around the stoppage. When he has been in the vicinity he's shown himself to be very quick, agile and strong while hunting the loose ball. One of the issues has been that we've always needed to find a role for Mackay, so if a spot opens up for a player to sit just off the stoppage, Mackay has historically been deployed to that role. But from what I've seen of Smith around the contest, he's extremely capable and it's a shame that he hasn't had much of a crack at it.
 
looking for all the posters who claimed he is soft at the contest

I never really saw that myself. There were times where he could have gone but didn't, but then we've been complaining about multiple players being sucked to the contest and then getting torched on the spread if we lose it for the last few years. He's just a kid that is finding his way and he's not going to go for everything whilst there are more senior players around the area with the same opportunity. But even whilst posters were saying he was soft, they were ignoring the times that he did go to genuine bodily contests and instead focused on the times that he chose not to go.
 
I never really saw that myself. There were times where he could have gone but didn't, but then we've been complaining about multiple players being sucked to the contest and then getting torched on the spread if we lose it for the last few years. He's just a kid that is finding his way and he's not going to go for everything whilst there are more senior players around the area with the same opportunity. But even whilst posters were saying he was soft, they were ignoring the times that he did go to genuine bodily contests and instead focused on the times that he chose not to go.

Milera is also in much more strife from the coaches if we are dealing with players being sucked into the contest then misjudging and staying on the outside.
 
The thing is what’s the harm in trying? We’ve even tried Mackay in there FFS

Mackay at centre bounces, I mean, are they deliberately trying to give us a laugh? Imagine being one of the other 2 players in there as you're staring down the big bodies of the opposition and you look to your left or right and wonder WTF this guy is doing in there with you.
 
Young fella is building nicely - averaged 20 touches over the last 6 and looks to be getting more comfortable.
Looks to have a Brodie Smith ceiling at this stage for mine, but you need 22 very good players to win a premiership, and think we can mark him down as one of them over the next ten years or so. Happy with that.
 

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