It is no secret that Adam McPhee is flying at the moment. His current form would have him among the early favourites for the Crichton Medal. Last weekend against his old side Fremantle he was best on ground taking 10 marks and collecting 23 possessions. Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy admitted at training this afternoon that he has been surprised with the rapid improvement McPhee has made this season.

""I didn’t think he would be as good as the way he has played. McPhee is better than what we thought for a 21-year-old,"" Sheedy said. ""He is a player that got sacked. So when you get sacked, to play as good a footy as he has since coming to the club is fantastic. He has been a very, very good player for us.""

Despite singing McPhee’s praises, Sheedy said he still has a long way to go before being regarded as a top player in the competition.

""You have to be good for years in this game, otherwise you’ll just be a player that played well in his career. You have to put consistency in for years and years. That is the difference between Buckley, Hird, Ricciuto, McLeod and all these players – year after year that churn out good performances,"" Sheedy said.

On the other side of the coin, a player that Sheedy had hoped for a bigger contribution from this season is David Hille. With Matthew Allan performing consistently well in the ruck, Hille has found himself spending more time down in the forward-line.

""David Hille hasn’t played as well as we would have hoped. He will be under pressure with Laycock and Kepler Bradley putting their hand up,"" Sheedy said.

""There is no reason why David can’t go forward and kick goals. He just hasn’t kicked goals when he has had the opportunity. His tally is probably 33% goals and 66% points, so he has a lot of work to do on his goal kicking. I have spoken to him about that.

""We need to get him out there with Lloydy and get him into some ritual – throw a bit of grass up, pull up your socks, tuck your shorts in – this works alright for Lloydy!""