Well above average. He is crucial to our team's success.
But then below what (I may be being harsh) I think he is capable of - I actually think Wells should be a superstar in the McLeod mould, but he just isn't and hasn't been.
Agree very much with that. He'd be a top fifty player over the last two or three years for me, personally. Although being ranked as a top fifty player (35-50 range) is a great position to hold, he really should be ranked in the back end of the teens.
I would back myself to know his qualities more than anyone on this board, to be brutally honest. When you mentioned McLeod, who is in fact my all time favourite footballer, what immediately jumped into my thought process was balance. When Andrew had the ball in his hand, the major difference (besides the good kind of selfishness) was McLeod could swivel on a five cent piece and launch an attack whichever angle he choose from attacking from.
When Wells attacks a pack front and centre with blinding pace he has a major flaw in which if he does not crumb the ball, he straight out runs out of the screenshot. He literally has one opportunity to win the ball and even if he lands the ball, the degree of difficulty is so high he is only able to crumb a very low percentage of ball.
While I think he handles tags better than most, he still can get caught up in all sorts when the opposition not only set a man up against him but the other midfielders start to make an effort to curb the bloke either legally or illegally. Our midfielders frustrate me no end. While Boomer and Wellsy cop hard hits and dirty tactics, which is fine by me btw, our other midfielders rarely concern themselves with this. On the rare occasion when I do see a fellow midfielder provide a block or try to improve their situation it sticks out like dogs balls.
We have a highly skilled midfield, that I have no doubt. The things that gets me going is the selfishness, the complete and utter brain fades/football stupidity, the major lack of confidence in their own ability, the intiative shown and this one is simple...the manning up of opposition players.
**** is our discipline?
Anyway. Back on Wells. I sometimes wonder if people knew the op he went through was worse than Judd's and Ball's. 4 years completely ruined by an injury that was quite easily curable. This was Laidley's worst moment.