I think it goes deeper in that Sloane didn't want to allow one of our younger mids such as Berry or Schoenberg to cement a full time mid position for the remainder of the season. It seemed a strange decision that he would permanently risk the usage of his finger to lead us to 15th or 16th. He knows that once he is out of the midfield his importance will diminish. Never underestimate the selfishness of some of our experienced brigade. It has been endemic for some time.
No doubt, opening bounce midfielder is a status that isn't handed back easily. Sloane's spot in the side going forward isn't in question, but he doesn't want to lose the wings on his shoulder. With a guy like Thommo, you can understand it, he was midfielder or bust. But if Sloane gets his body right, he's got 2 contracted years to continue to deliver playing half forward/back with some time in the midfield. Where I think the coaches might be making this hard, is that they seem to want to run as few players through that rotation as possible. 3 that play 100% then Seed then the kids. If Crouch wasn't injured, that'd be 4 guys playing sharing all 3 stoppage rotation units and none of the kids would be required. I don't think our club thinks a deep midfield is part of the recipe of success. Continuity week to week, continuity within games.