In his Engine Room column last week, assistant coach Robert Shaw said he believes Adam McPhee is the most improved player in the competition. Some might say this is a big call, but if you look at McPhee’s performances this season, he does have the runs on the board. The 21-year-old has regularly featured in the Bombers’ best and has become an integral player in the line-up.

McPhee has set himself this season to have a bigger influence in games. He isn’t content with being a fringe player and is determined to take the pressure off his teammates.

""We have a lot of key players in our side that get a lot of attention, so we need other players to stand up. We all have to put pressure on the other side to help our main players like Hirdy, Jason Johnson and these sort of players,"" McPhee said.

The feature that makes McPhee so appealing is his versatility. He has effectively been used forward, back and in the mid-field. He was the ‘x’ factor in the Bombers’ win against Carlton in Round 4 when he was moved to half-forward. His 10 marks proved to be a telling factor in the 37-point win.

At this stage of his career he is happy to play all over the ground, but said in time he would like to play a set position. ""At the moment I am enjoying my role. I don’t mind going up forward, back, on the wing in the midfield. I am happy to play where the team needs me most,"" he said.

The Bombers have won its past four matches and defeated West Coast, Carlton, Collingwood and Sydney in the process. McPhee said although winning form is good form, the team still has a lot of improvement to go if it wants to match it with the top sides in the competition.

""We have won four in a row but there is definitely parts of our game that are not working as well as we want them to be. We haven’t won every quarter, so we are looking at improving in that area,"" he said.

""There are also areas in the midfield that we need to work on. I think we probably worked a little bit better in that area last weekend against Sydney. Overall our tackling hasn’t been the best so we are still working on a lot of flaws in our game.""