He played both roles in his draft year, iirc. Finished the year as a forward from memory.
Some rival club recruiters reckoned we may have picked up the bargain of that draft.
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With Draper not debuting, at least Mason playing will add that extra interest to the match.
Heās always looked a natural half back to me, but that might be because he looks so much like Goddard.
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PLayed forward for SA in the champs but played predominately wing/HBF from memory.
He burst on the scene in his first couple of VFL matches playing forward many experts early on were talking him up as the next coming and plenty of fans were excited. He then had a quiet debut against the swans and afterwards he stagnated as a forward and the coaches realised that he wasnāt actually a forward and switched him to defence where he looked a whole lot more natural.
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I mean ages until his 2018 games. 2016 debuts donāt really count. Then he went away and was out of the team for ages, and came back cherry ripe.
Others have been in and out over the corresponding period, showing more initially but not necessarily showing the same improvement.
Had some injuries during that time. Didnāt play uninterrupted for 2yrs before getting another opportunity.
No, of course not. But others who have had injuries have had a game here or there, and everyone sees an inkling of what they could be.
I guess my point is that I expect Redman to be a genuine AFL player at this point, not someone whoās playing games for development and what they might become. And that (in my mind) puts him in a different place to guys like Begley, and perhaps even Lav.
I reckon at the start of last year there were doubts around this place. And then he was ready, and was great.
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I think the reality is that anyone in their first 50 AFL games is developing, let alone first 10.
The kid has talent, hopefully he gets a solid block of games to show it in.
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And at one stage admitted in an interview he had no ā ā ā ā ā ā idea what he was doing as a forward both pre draft and early days with us
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IMO he has a damn good idea how to play down back now at 22. Reads the play well, understands defensive structures is fast and he also brings it when required and I expect he will fit into our backline seamlessly.
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Really looking forward to seeing Redman & Riley down back together.
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Yeah Iām even more pumped than the Ridley selection. Redman looked seriously good before he succumbed to injury - good skills, read the ball well and heās an angry bugger on the field.
Hereās hoping he plays well and holds his spot.
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Brisbane specialist
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Itās nice to think you are seeing the future coming together. But itās been too stop start to be real - but hopefully theyāll get a chance to string some games together.
I reckon heād be a heck of a lot more vocal down back than young Guelfs is atm.
Getting Hooker and Redman back should make our entire defence more organised than it has been until now with just Hurley at the helm.
Gleeson is the last piece to bring back inā¦ and Francis now as well I guess.
I was really impressed with Redmans games last year.
If he can get back to that level it will be good.
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If Harts is a gonner, then weāre still missing a key backman.
Zerk-Thatcher?
So in 5 years or so, weāll have ZH, Saad, Gleeks, Ridley, Francis - maybe Redman/Oirish there, maybe wingers, maybe Ambrose, maybe not. I reckon we need to be thinking 195-ish backman, and would be surprised if we werenāt.
Zerk is 195 cm