I am a tad wary of the returning midfielders to Victoria from the GWS & GC teams. IMO neither Josh Caddy or Taylor Adams have got close to the hype that surrounded them when they said they wanted to come back to Vic and even Dom Tyson has a lot to prove before justifying giving up Josh Kelly for.
What?
It is laughable to insinuate that Melbourne would be regretting effectively trading Kelly for Tyson and Salem.
Tyson has shown more thus far at senior level than Kelly, and Salem looks a very likely type who could well develop into a jet in his own right.
I guess we should write off a 21 year old Caddy who has suffered a few injuries since joining Geelong. Or we could watch him play and acknowledge he's an outstanding young player who will almost certainly be a 10+ year player.
Adams has shown from day 1 that he is comfortable at AFL level having played some wonderful football for GWS over the first two seasons of his career. He hasn't managed to replicate those performances thus far at Collingwood but that's no surprise considering they've trialed him in a few different positions. He's behind Luke Ball as an inside midfielder but he'll step into that role once Ball retires over the next year or so and be an outstanding ready made replacement.
I guess it's easier to stick the boots into players who are 21 and 20 years old respectively than look at the facts as they present themselves.
Some of these kids are outstanding talents and that doesn't change if they aren't getting regular games at GWS or GC. Both clubs have been handed enormous concessions to ensure their success and it was always going to be the case that talented players were going to miss out or be pushed out and redistributed across the competition.
We'd be idiots to be 'wary' because a 20 year old and a 21 year old are yet to hit their straps.