We're not convinced about our midfield yet.
Our midfield might not be the greatest going around, but it was good enough this year to get us to 11 wins from a difficult draw, to a ranking of 3rd for clearance differential and to provide our forward line with the equal-4th most shots for goal- from the 2nd easiest spots, according to CD- so imagine how much better it could be next year, if nothing changed but Steven being back to full fitness and form?
Like he showed when had 40 and 11 clearances off a wing v North in R22 where he ripped them a newy, in a reminder of what we'd been missing for most of the year!?
That alone could make our midfield 10-20% better, and that's before taking into account what it might be like on top of that, IF Armo is back to full fitness and form, and Freeman keeps progressing like he did this year, and stays reasonably injury free (in particular soft tissue) again. Big "if's", but also completely possible.
Then there's the very serious potential of any of Dunstan, Steele, or Acres really stepping it up in a pretty significant way, in their 4th/5th years, like say Seb did.
I see them all as being ahead of where Seb was at the same age and they were all drafted/bid on earlier than him, too, and in stronger drafts, which suggests greater natural talent.
I looked at Seb's career stats last night and in his 4th year (like Dunstan and Acres were in this year), he averaged just 18 disposals- from his 10 games- and didn't have more than 25 disposals in any of those games.
Dunstan averaged more than that in his very first season, and when he finally got it all back together late this year, he averaged 28 and nearly a goal a game for those last 6 games, and had 5 games from his 16 of between 27 and 32 touches.
Acres, despite playing mostly forward this year, averaged over 20, at the same age Seb averaged 18 from more midfield time, and Blake had two games of 30 and a goal, and another of 27 and a goal.
Yet in his 44 games in his 5th and 6th seasons Seb managed to have between 30 and 39 disposals 22 times, which shows how much improvement can be made once you're no longer a "kid", and have at least a couple of full preseasons under your belt.
If even just one of those 3 "do a Seb", or something like that, our midfield could be significantly better just as a result of that, and it wouldn't be any great stretch to see at least two of them take big steps forward.