sr36
Hall of Famer
Stephenson is currently a significantly better player and all clubs would choose him above Rayner if given the opportunity. If Stephenson stays a forward, he will be on of the very best of his generation. If he becomes a midfielder, he'll have to be an extremely good one to justify him not playing forward.Rayner is playing in a side that has one less win than Stevos. His performances this year have been worse than last year when Brisbane was much worse so that theory doesn’t hold up here. He had 3 touches in a game they won on the weekend.
Rayner, however, is still a very good prospect. He's just taking a more normal amount of time to develop - Stephenson's first year and a half is the best we've seen from an 18 year old draftee since Selwood and Judd. At the same stage of his career, Alan Didak was still a fringe player for us, that's who Rayner is a better comparison with. There's a similarity in that Dids and Rayner arrived with awesome talent, but physically a long way off requirements. If he's developed well by himself and his club, Rayner will be quality.