Ah Chee has still only played 20 games, and he was sub in a quarter of them. Apart from the Showdown, the games he played last year were mostly very good.
I dunno where all this 'how long do we persist?' crap is coming from, as if he's a 25 year old with 50 games under his belt. For somebody with Ah Chee's obvious natural ability, you persist a hell of a lot longer than 15 games.
And speaking of O'Shea myths, can we all finally agree that the 'he always comes good in the second half of the year' one is total horseshit?
From my perspective I am talking about what we need to do to win a Premiership. If we are going to take a flag any time soon we need improvement across the board. I did not single Ah Chee out, I mentioned him as one of many players who need to improve. Ah Chee has not played that many games but he will be 23 years of age in December so he is no longer a raw kid. The Club has already invested 5 seasons in him and I think we are entitled to see improvement.
I guess it is a question of how long to we invest in a player? Do we have another three years to wait while the likes of Ah Chee, Amon, Austin, Clurey, Neade, Toumpas, Howard and Impey become more consistent? Do we have another three years to hope that players like Boak, Polec, Hartlett, Westhoff etc. somehow recapture their 2014 form?
If we want to win a Premiership we cannot afford to mark time, with one or two exceptions all players need to improve next year or we will face the real possibility that a premiership is beyond our reach with the current list. Brendon Ah Chee is no exception in any of this, if that sounds tough then that is the way it has to be. There are no favourites on the road to a Premiership just consistent performers.
Ah Chee shows promise but he is not a 'must keep' and if the right deal came up we could trade him but it has to be said that he is no orphan as several other players are also in this category.