This has been a problem for at least 6 years. Our ruckmen need to be able to wrestle and win, plus we need Perkins, Caldwell and Hobbs to win the ball on the inside at these stoppages, because they are much more crowded and generally require power mids rather than agile ones that do well at the more open centre bounces
Dont forget Setterfield. Perkins has a lot of competitors, but anyone who can tackle a Paddy Ryder body, spin him around and floor him in just his second season gets kudos from me.
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Do you think he is going to quit? I don’t see him that way, l am sure he will stick to it.
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No, but it’s not unknown for young mids/mediums to get pushed into midfield and battle. There’s that much more intensity, more running, more contact, more pressure more often. All of that takes the sharpness away from their skills.
And not unknown for young players battling to drop their heads.
Parish would be a good example 2017-20 ish when he’d go into midfield - would sometimes look great, sometimes look sluggish. We probably needed to fast track him for a decent sized role for 10 or 15 games, be prepared for him to crash or blow up. Just to learn the level of fitness and consistency that’s actually required.
That’s probably where Perkins & Hobbs are going into this year. Challenge them for a certain amount of midfield minutes, and be prepared for them to fall short at times. They’ll get plenty out of it in the long term.
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I think Brad Scott will love this guys traits and will give him plenty of opportunity. Strong and evasive is not something a lot of our players have.
Biggest query is whether he can win his own ball or will he always be a player that needs to be fed the ball.
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Well if the KPF is on a running KPB, and can’t or won’t match him, the KPB will basically be a spare running down the ground picking up easy kicks and thumping his kick to his KPF. Next level up from 2022 end to ends is what would happen 
Our KPFs must be able to run. We’re lucky, we have 20k 2MP and Jonesy
No I don’t think he’ll quit. He’ll hopefully rotate with Hobbs and Calders off a HHF and CB role. But as HAP summed up it’s a big 2 years for him to break into becoming one of our preferred first choice mids and clearance gurus. He has all the tools and ambition just hope he pushes through the ups and downs that’ll naturally challenge him.
My only fear is Archie’s a type of player come his contract end of 2024 a Richmond or Collingwood would bust a gut to lure away from Tulla if he’s not got the role he wants and Bombers still languishing mid table.
Better still, I will banish these pathetic fears from my mind and just enjoy Perko’s rise to stardom.
I hope Archie becomes a full time mid because it will pay bigger dividends if he’s an A grade mid rather than an A grade forward.
However I’m concerned that we may be trying to turn him into something that he’s not. Perhaps he’s just a forward.
We have a history of this with high picks.
Hurley tried as a forward
McGrath tried as a mid
Parish as a forward
Francis as an AFL player.
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He was recruited as a midfielder / forward.
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From all reports/ an interview with him he hardly played any midfield minutes in juniors
He missed a whole year with the covid year. And still played midfield minutes in his underage year.
With his athletic profile, it would be bonkers to never at least try him in the middle.
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Yeah I think it was noted the intention was for him to transition to midfield in under age year but didn’t get chance to given covid
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Surely would have played as a midfielder as a junior outside of underage TAC. Probably would of played midfield as a top age in the TAC if it wasn’t for covid too.
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Played on the wing as a underager, and plan was to move onball in his draft year, that got cancelled. showed forward traits though, kicking goals, and decent mark for size.
Perkins averaged 0.5 clearances his first season, then just under 1.0 his second. Compare this with Parish who always averaged more than 3 clearances per game even when playing predominantly forward.
Its not completely unheard of that someone dramatically develops that area of their game, but its not super common. There’s a lot of instinct in reading the ball and moving/reacting before everyone else.
He’ll be dangerous in there even if he’s typically second possession in the chain given his burst and skills.
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The strength to stand up in the Merrett tackle & get the ball out, then to go again and hit Jones with a perfect kick under pressure. 
EDIT: there are 4 vids in that link but only the first one shows up
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Archie Perkins is looking a million dollars but currently delivering about ten cents.
Time for him to produce a bit.
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Yep 39 games, aged 20, delist.
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I think Archie will work out…but if we had done more of that in the past 20 years, wed likely be in a much better position now.