Why do you think he doesn't lift for the big games? I think he's a gun and can't work out why this would be the case. I get the impression he rates himself a little but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The only knocks on his game are kicking and speed, but then again that is the same for nearly all contested ball-winning mids.
He isn't that good of a clearance player. There is a media perception that the Swans are clearance beasts but it just isn't true. We often lose the clearances and when we win them, a big percentage of them are hack kicks forward. We don't have a lot of the precision clearances that many other teams enjoy.
Also, I did this a few years ago so it is not entirely relevant anymore but here was disposal efficiency of the Swans, compared to the Hawks
1. Daniel Howe -
92.2%, (Heath Grundy -
82.3%)
2. James Frawley -
87.1%, (Zak Jones -
82.2%)
3. Josh Gibson -
86.1%, (Jeremy Laidler -
80.3%)
4. Jonathan Simpkin -
85.7%, (Rhyce Shaw -
80.3%)
5. Grant Birchall -
85.1%, (Jarrad McVeigh -
79.9%)
6. Ben McEvoy -
84.8%, (Dane Rampe -
78.8%)
7. Angus Litherland -
84.4%, (Harry Cunningham -
78.2%)
7. Matt Spangher -
84.4%, (Nick Smith -
77.8%)
9. Jonathan O'Rourke -
82.4%, (Lewis Jetta -
77.6%)
10. Ben Stratton -
80.7%, (Ted Richards -
75.8%)
11. Brian Lake -
80.1%, (Sam Reid -
74%)
12. Billy Hartung -
79.1%, (Daniel Robinson -
73.7%)
13. Shaun Burgoyne -
78%, (Jake Lloyd -
73.3%)
14. Taylor Duryea -
77.8%, (Isaac Heeney -
72.3%)
15. Bradley Hill -
76.9%, (Kieren Jack -
72.2%)
16. David Hale -
76.1%, (Mike Pyke -
71.3%)
17. Isaac Smith -
75.9%, (Dan Hannebery -
71.3%)
18. Matthew Suckling -
75.6%, (Tom Mitchell -
71.1%)
19. Brendan Whitecross -
75%, (Dean Towers -
71.1%)
19. Jack Gunston -
75%, (Kurt Tippett -
70.4%)
21. Paul Puopolo -
74.5%, (Xavier Richards -
70%)
22. James Sicily -
73.7%, (Brandon Jack -
69.8%)
23. Luke Breust -
73.6%, (Craig Bird -
69.7%)
24. Luke Hodge -
73.5%, (Ben McGlynn -
69.6%)
25. Cyril Rioli -
73.4%, (Gary Rohan -
68.7%)
26. Sam Mitchell -
73.1%, (Luke Parker -
68.1%)
27. Jonathon Ceglar -
71.1%, (Adam Goodes -
67.6%)
28. Ryan Schoenmakers -
71%, (Josh P. Kennedy -
64.2%)
28. Jordan Lewis -
71%, (Toby Nankervis -
61.5%)
30. Liam Shiels -
70.6%, (Lance Franklin -
59.2%)
All through the top 30, the Swans were consistently worse, and I suspect the disposal efficiency numbers have not improved much in 2017.