Interesting take, and in most regards I agree. it is however a fact that if we had kicked 1 or 2 more goals instead of behinds every game last year we would have been top 4. Kicking for goal cost us 4 games and any analysis of the modern game would show a clear correlation between turn overs from missing targets and losing games.Yup. Skills are really important but they are not the be all and end all. They are treated as the be all and end all.
Really, no team in the league gives a s**t if a player is a hit and miss kick if they're going to reliably go in hard and produce at a good level without too many fumbles. They'll just eventually find them a role where they can hide those kicking skills if they're not producing at a top line midfielder level (i.e. mid-to-bottom rotation forward or lock down defender).
I love Keays and Murphy’s pressure and work rate, but missing easy conversions just hurts the team in so many ways.