DEES DEAL DONE
Lever may be missing link for a club aiming for a shock flag
MELBOURNE has paid a premium price for a premium player in the Jake Lever deal, which the Demons hope will launch them from September hopefuls to premiership hopefuls.
The game’s intercept king could be the missing link for the underachieving Dees.
And after shock flag wins by the Western Bulldogs and Richmond, it is time to aim with ambition.
Melbourne yesterday added to its track record of getting good deals done early as Lever followed Michael Hibberd, Bernie Vince, Dom Tyson and Jake Melksham into the club and into its best 22.
The Demons will end up parting with pick No.10 this year and about pick No.14 next year. It is a bounty, but also less than the Nos.7 and 8 selections Collingwood parted with over consecutive years to secure Adam Treloar.
Melbourne holds picks 27 and 35 and will get another pick for Jack Watts and now has Lever.
At just 21 Lever is the AFL’s No.1 intercept player with his aerial ability to kill opposition entries his one-wood.
Lever averaged 9.5 intercept possessions a game this season, shading four-time All-Australian Alex Rance (9.4). Then, there was a big gap to Michael Hurley (8.5) in third.
The Romsey boy wins it in the air as well as on the ground.
Lever is the AFL’s No.2 intercept marker, his 3.6 clunks per game ahead of Jeremy Howe’s and just behind another All-Australian, Jeremy McGovern’s.
Champion Data rated Lever the third best key defender this year, behind Rance and McGovern. That is stellar company. Why else do you think Adelaide kicked up such a stink when he told the Crows he wanted out?
Tex Walker didn’t go haywire when Jarryd Lyons left last year.
Comparisons with Rance have flowed all season. The grand final was just Lever’s 56th game and compared with the same stage of the decorated Tiger’s career he is well in front. Over Lever’s career he averages 7.8 intercept possessions and 2.7 intercept marks.
After 56 games Rance averaged 6.9 and one.
The critical question is this: Can Lever actually line up as a key defender?
He had a dream run this season as Daniel Talia and Kyle Hartigan toiled away in lockdown roles.
Lever’s one on one numbers aren’t great. From 49 contests this year he lost 37 per cent, worse than the AFL’s 29 per cent average.
Can brothers Tom and Oscar McDonald — and perhaps even Sam Frost — allow Lever to replicate those Adelaide antics? He hasn’t really been exposed to gruelling match-ups.
The only forwards he spent more than 50 minutes on this year were Peter Wright (zero goals), Charlie Curnow (one goal), Harrison Himmelberg (one goal) and, in the grand final, Jacob Townsend (two goals).
They can hardly be called a star-studded quartet. But he is in. And with Jesse Hogan staying and a bunch of elite midfield talent — headlined by rock star Christian Petracca and hard nut Clayton Oliver — rounded out by ruckman Max Gawn, this is a juicy list.
The time for early draft picks at Melbourne is long gone. They need success, and Lever is ready to help deliver that.