Aramis
Premiership Player
- Jul 31, 2016
- 4,324
- 9,074
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
Fine. Let's move on
But please don't tell others they need to accept your opinions, and imply that if they don't, it's because they can't handle the truth.
It's not conducive to a good discussion. That's one of the few things that gets me riled on this board, so my apologies again.
Ok cool well heres my opinion and thoughts on Birchall.
1. He has been out for a very long time. He is practically an unknown quantity at this point and past performance is never a reliable indicator for future success. If he comes back, I dont believe he will make a big impact.. see: rule changes, playing style has changed, different team mates.
2. There are young players in the position he would have played now (Scrimshaw, Hardwick, Sicily). They are playing well and I feel we need to get games into them over giving Birchall a game. (see my thoughts on Roughead being dropped, its its good enough for one not to play seniors its good enough for the other). We're tracking for premierships in the next 2-3 years. Its highly unlikely Birchall will be around then.... Those 3 I named, will be.
3. List space and cap space.
a. We could take an extra in the mid-season draft. Yes, they might not set the world alight (would Birchall though?) and at least they could theoretically play and add depth?
b. cap space heading into arguably our most important off-season where getting Coniglio could literally be the difference between us competing and being mid-ladder also rans for the next 5 years.
In summary, I think it's time the club makes the business decision. The known positives of retiring Birchall outweigh the unknown positives of him returning. That is the point i'm trying to make.
Happy to take rebuttals and your perspective.
Last edited: