The last player whom I can recall cruising to such SANFL dominance and blitzing the Magarey voting was back in 1992 - one Nathan Buckley. The competition was marginally stronger then but so too was the Magpie side he was playing in. I reckon Bucks might have turned 20 that year (he certainly was not a raw 18yr-old), which puts him a year older than Brett for the same achievement.
Gee, I don't know, but people here are talking about a kid like Cassisi playing a vital role in our midfield. If anyone kicks the ball up-and-down on the one spot it would be him, and he certainly does not get anywhere near the weight of possessions that Brett does. Everytime Dom takes a mark or free possession, his instinct is to look sideways....just the thing we are all so resentful of in our gameplan.
Talking about temporal spread of Brett's touches, I do agree that last quarter surges can be deceiving, but this wasn't always the case. I recall several games where he virtually went missing in the last ten minutes after turning on fireworks earlier.
One match which particularly highlighted his maturity and standing as a player of match-changing quality was against Westies at Richmolnd mid-season. He didn't have quite as many touches as usual (maybe 25ish) but he was extremely dangerous when he got the ball and showed an ability to mark inside of 50 and convert, something that Francou and Stevens have never had as part of their repertoire.
I am genuinely excited by this kid. His rate and degree of improvement are what impress me. 12 months ago you could have been excused for thinking that he was a sentimental pick-up as a father-son. Now he has just come off from being clearly the best player in the second best league in the land.
He has a star quality and if you're good enough, then let the opposition players defend against and chase you. We have enough defensive-minded midfielders to supply at least three other clubs. Let's inject some possession gathering and free-spirited brilliance into our pretty unimaginative midfield.