caesar88
Moderator
- Apr 26, 2016
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- 70,486
- AFL Club
- Sydney
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- #2,376
He will get his opportunity in the midfield. Pretty much nobody comes up from NEAFL start into the AFL midfield unit. Hewett, Florent amongst others cut their teeth in other roles first. Even Robinson who dominated midfield at NEAFL level rarely had the opportunity to play big midfield minutes (if at all).
My reservation on Dawson so far is his aggressiveness at the coalface of the contest (individually for an inside role not concerned about his pace, as a midfield unit though may be an issue). From what I’ve seen of him at NEAFL level he kind of cruises into the contested rather than hitting it hard. This is fine at NEAFL level because of the lower pace of the game but it’s going to need to go up several levels as an AFL level midfielder.
Robinson was similar where it was so easy for him at NEAFL level but he couldn’t take his game up the necessary levels to succeed as an AFL midfielder.
Dawson has a lot more tools at his disposal than Robinson did (taller, stronger kick, better goal kicker, better mark etc), so certainly has the attributes to succeed.
He is still learning to be a midfielder given he played his junior footy as a forward and he will be given plenty of opportunity if he can put a strong preseason together.
I would expect early on for him to play an OKeefe style forward role with some midfield minutes potentially replacing Kennedy down the track in the guts.
I agree with all of the above, though Florent this year did prove that sometimes if you bite the bullet and trust a young'n with a big responsibility, that faith can be rewarded. Dawson is more experienced than Florent and has a body more ready for senior footy. I reckon he could handle a 70-30 load in the midfield.