Whilst Oscar has been great, I think the midfield is still getting used to his ruck work. With Stef in the centre, it was like the mids had a better understanding of where it would go, both when he won the tap and where the opposition ruckman wouldn't / couldn't place it. That sort of understanding takes time.Further to the discussion above about source of goals I think we've lost a few in this period. No Rich for those games had a huge impact on our ball movement. Neale dropping way off in contested footy has hurt our clearances, especially the centre clearances which are usually a great source of goals. No Stef and a slow Zorko has made it tough to score goals from inside 50 stoppages.
On top of this our goal kicking and an out of form Charlie has really hurt.
I think Hipwood has been in great form though apart from goal kicking. One of our better contributors over that stretch of games.