If we are sending Brayshaw back to the WAFL to gain confidence in kicking then we should we also:
- Send Lobb back to WAFL to regain confidence in marking when playing forward;
- Send Taberner back to the WAFL to regain confidence kicking at goal;
- Send Wilson back to the WAFL to regain his kicking from defence; and
- Send Cerra back to the WAFL to learn how to defend against tall forwards?
(Just as examples)
And that is ignoring the players that have never done that well in a skill/aspect of the game, like Langdon and Conca (Kicking), Walters (staging for free kicks), Taberner (hard hands in marking) etc.
The reality is everyone has stuff to work on, but if they are contributing enough and we are winning and there is no one bashing the door down for their particular spot then keep them in the team. Brayshaw has specifically running games out well and putting a lot of pressure on, and I thought his kicking this last week was better than the week before - the improvement from week to week is enough reason to believe he can fix it up whilst playing at the highest level.
Pity about Duman, he was showing some real promise in that game before the incident, we might miss him more than people expect (unless we replace with a similar type) as we were using his great kicking skills out of the backline a lot.
Not defending his actions that have seen him suspended and not his biggest fan, but yes I agree that I think Duman will be missed this week, particularly his run and kicking from defence; it was quite prominent last week. I honestly think the best replacement would be Carter based upon exposed form (ignoring the fact that he is a rookie and would need to be upgraded for Kersten / Bennell / other), but would also be happy to back Blakely to fill that role as well.