- Apr 1, 2009
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- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
Ignoring all the hypotheticals, the idea that Trengove (and Impey) leaving the group triggered Chad to go too reflects a level of entitlement and over-comfort in the list which is a massive black mark against Hinkley in itself. That's a festering sore that developed under his watch and I'm really worried it's going to sprout up again if we don't can the campaigner soon.Here's a hypothetical series of events.
We rookie list a state league ruckman in the 2016 preseason.
Ryder gets suspended, we elevate that ruckman and he plays all season, servicably enough that he holds the spot down.
Jackson Trengove remains in defence, his best position and one where his performances earned him a John Cahill medal. He remains the cornerstone of the defence throughout that season. Because he's still pretty good, we never take him out of defence, which means he never becomes a tall Paul Stewart style jack of all trades, he retains his competitive defensive acumen.
Because he's a defensive gun, we build the new defence around him, Jonas and Clurey and never move him to forwardline in 2017. He then never becomes obsolete and doesn't leave the club.
Potentially in 2017, we put more forward line games into the likes of Brett Eddy, or on his return from injury, Dougal Howard, who we leave up forward because we don't suddenly need a tall defender.
Trengove remains a leadership force in the locker room, and his best friend at the club Chad Wingard doesn't fall into the downward effort spiral that saw him leave the club. We not only have Chad Wingard, we have a committed Chad Wingard.
We're suddenly a better team on every line. We still get Rozee and Butters because Polec's situation doesn't change. We still get Lycett because he wanted to come home anyway.