we were heavily weighted with inside mids with greenwood in the side. I think in time we will see that greenwood leaving is a blessing in disguise.
Let's be honest - Cunners, Spitta and Jack will always be played ahead of greenwood. Only reason he played this year is because of injury to Spitta. And in fairness to him, his form meant he couldn't be pushed out.
The key to a successful side is to have a good mix of inside and out.. I would argue that I would prefer to have Sewell beside me in the trenches ahead of Brad Hill. But Hill plays because he adds balance to the overall team.
Greenwood in the middle was > Ziebell in the middle, as much as I love Jack, he looked best when he was a half-forward.
I was just playing devil's advocate for those who suggested our strategy was to push hard for a flag within the next two years, losing Greenwood imo was disastrous if that was the mindset because Greenwood was one of our best performing midfielders this year.
The difference between Patrick and Swallow, Cunnington and Ziebell is when he gets the ball he plays aggressively, he will burst through the pack and we can gain significant momentum when he gets a clearance... assuming he doesn't shank the kick. We don't really generate that kind of momentum with our other inside mids, they tend to turn the ball over within the center square or just sink the boot to it so kicks often end up shallow.
Ziebell is the only one who really shows a lot of that aggression but only when there is ample space because he is slow over the first 10-15m so struggles to get the separation required to be damaging. Patrick is just very quick off the mark, gets that separation and more frequently gets into a position where he can get significant momentum.
The problem with out balance is that Swallow and Cunnington are too similar, and Ben is physically superior in terms of dealing witht he physical punishment you get from that position. Patrick was a far better complement for the extractor than having two extractors there. If Ben and Swallow get the ball the other is not very useful at the stoppage, when you add Ziebell into the mix you end up with three guys who do not complement eachother.
If Ziebell was a bashing, crashing 1%er plow who created space and one of Swallow was quick over the first 10-15m and played aggressively then that would be an amazing 3 core inside mids. The problem is they are not. Unless some of them can evolve their game or someone like McDonald can step in and step up then imo it will tarnish our short-term prospects.