Norm De Guerre
Left of the dial.
Veteran
10k Posts
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- Mar 27, 2004
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The team sheets don’t mean much. He actually dropped down the pecking order in our mids last year despite Dunkley leaving. His CBAs went down from 53% to 30% as Treloar went past him as a preferred mid. I’m not commenting on the merits of his desire to play there, merely that it’s correct to say that he’s not predominantly playing as a midfielder, it’s mostly as a half forward and wing.
If you draw the line at defining a mid by centre bounce attendances you would be correct.
However the modern game isn't nearly as binary as that. The heat map that covers his career shows that he spends the vast majority of games playing through the middle of the ground as a defensive or forward mid. It matters not if he's playing on the wing or hf, he plays in the midfield.
People carry on like he spends his time freezing his nuts off in the forward pocket. Its just not true.
That he hasn't been able to break into a starting rotation isn't a slight on him. Its just an indication that he hasn't been able to grasp the opportunities presented to him and that the likes of Treloar, The Bont and Libba are an experienced and difficult nut to crack.
If he thinks that life will be any easier for him at Hawthorn with Newcombe, Day, Nash Et. al. then I have some bad news for him.