Weight: 75kg
Preferred foot: Right/Dual Sided
Position: Midfield/Wing
Potential: 7.5-8.5/10
Style-like: Nick Dal Santo
Strengths
> Good- very good athleticism across the entire board – good pace off the mark, excellent evasive ability and balance, good running capacity, decent leap – very smooth mover, not a genuine line-breaker, but has the ability to burst into space, weave out of traffic and create space very effectively
> Very good-excellent vision, smarts and decision making ability in and out of traffic – composed with the ball, always seems to have time and is consistently creative
> Good ball winning skills – regularly gets to the drop of the ball (swooping on a loose ball seems to be his trademark method of gathering possessions) - naturally seems more an outside midfielder that can win his own footy and has very good stoppage reading ability – however only averaged 18dpg at TAC Cup level and U18 Championships this year
> Very clean hands
> Versatile and dual sided kick – decent reliability, good-very good weighting and precision, low trajectory, with very good speed through the air and OK depth – capable of having very good hurt factor considering he also gets the ball and uses it in damaging positions
Weaknesses
> Slim, lacks strength and narrow frame
> Seems to play a forward of the ball style/very offensively minded – doesn’t apply much defensive pressure and isn’t a strong tackler - accountability and the defensive side of his game will need tightening up at the next level
> Whilst he was solid at best in the U18 championships and did some very good things he didn’t standout consistently through enough games- some may have concerns that amongst a team of more talented players he takes a back seat role?
Other
> Didn’t see it at U18 Championships level (with 0 goals), but his TAC Cup stats suggest he has good goal kicking ability with 1.4gpg this season
> OK OH mark
> Shouldn’t matter too much given the roles he’ll be playing but he’s at a couple of cm reach disadvantage for his height
> Outstanding BOG TAC Cup GF performance
Stats
2007, 2008 and 2009 TAC Cup Stats
Overall
Melksham is an very good midfield prospect who is very easy on the eye (to watch play football of course!). Whilst he needs to round of his game in some areas (particularly defensively), he offers undoubted value with an offensive game well suited to AFL with his evasiveness, decision making and kicking hurt factor. I think at best he projects as a similar style of player to Dal Santo as a classy finisher who could look great amongst a midfield with some good stronger bodied, more inside types - potentially a top 50-100 AFL player at best. He is worth a mid-late 1st rounder IMO.
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