TeeKray
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- #2,201
This is not necessarily incorrect, but it is failing to see the forest for the trees.
Dixon's output as a KPF in the era of Bassettball hasn't been much better than a Butcher level player. Nor has the output of Dougal Howard, Justin Westhoff, Paddy Ryder, Jay Schulz, Todd Marshall, Billy Frampton, or any other poor bugger unlucky enough to be saddled with a KPF role in our forward line. The problem is not that Dixon isn't a better footballer than Butcher. The eye test tells you that he clearly is. The issue is that Bassettball reduces the output of any and every KPF unfortunate enough to be a part of it into that of a Butcher level player.
We haven't had a single player have a 50 goal season since we hired Bassett. Outside of 2017 we haven't even had a 40 goal season. The way we're going this year we might not even have a 30 goal season. And that's a forward line which has at various times included 4 time All-Australian Robbie Gray, 2 time All Australian Chad Wingard and 2 time All-Australian Travis Boak, so we're not talking about a bunch of scrubs here.
Is Charlie Dixon a better footballer than John Butcher? Absolutely.
Could we replace Charlie Dixon with John Butcher in our current side with our current gameplan and not see much of a drop off? Probably, but we could replace peak Wayne Carey with John Butcher in our gameplan and not see much of a drop off. The gameplan is the problem.
The two things aren't mutually exclusive. You can have a s**t gameplan that doesn't maximise the output of its players AND have players within that system who themselves aren't much chop.
I would be willing to bet that Jay Schulz could still put up good numbers under the current regime. Being able to do things like mark and kick straight always keeps you in the game, even in the most dysfunctional of forward lines.