Yes. Definitely. The mix makes a difference.
Add in Durham and Tsatas and reduce percentage of CBAs to get the mix right, then we’re fine.
That means, midfielders need a second position to play when not at the CBA.
That could be wing (opposition teams do this a lot), it could be high half forward, deeper forward, it could be off the backline. Their game (offensively and defensively) needs to force the opposition into a tough position.
That’s sort of why I’m not worried that players develop in other positions. If we’re going to have 5 or 6 midfielders at the contest (CBA or elsewhere), then a decent percentage of their time is elsewhere on the field and needs to be just as impactful.
The guy is showing really good signs at half-back, and we clearly need another playmaker in that position (as demonstrated by the Martin and Shiel experiments). We’ve also got Merrett, Caldwell, Durham, Parish, Shiel, Hobbs, Tsatas, Setterfield and Perkins to play as centre square mids. And here we are suggesting that Johnson be turned into a mid. A lot of Dodoros in this thread, apparently.
Just develop him as a HBF. It’s an important position, a position of need for us, and he seems to have the right skillset for it.
Yep, Scott he is closer the AFL selection than you (would think). Just wants to make sure he is ready when he does come in. Said he had already translated his elite traits from junior days to the VFL against grown men.
Don’t think his debut is this week but sounded like it’s not far away.
Depends on where you’re referring to when you say junior.
He didn’t play midfield very well at Talent League level and eventually was moved out of there into other roles, and he didn’t play midfield at the Champs.
Have you actually seen the photo? I’m not sure how it could be off, they are right next to each other standing side by side. How do you lose 6 cms there?
From memory it’s taken at an angle (high to low), it doesn’t show them from the waist down so you can’t see their feet or if there is any bend at the knee or postural change.
6 cms in the context of a human in a photo isn’t actually a lot, a hairstyle can account for it (not in this case, from memory it was wet).
Point is, it isn’t a smoking gun without full context.
He’s very young for a draftee, he didn’t get much of a preseason with his shoulder surgery. He doesn’t have enough muscle on his frame and his tank isn’t close to AFL level yet.
Throwing him into the senior team when he’s not ready risks damaging his confidence. If the coaches pick him in the coming weeks then I’ll back in their judgement but I think its completely fine to just let him develop at his own pace in the VFL for most of this year, with perhaps a game or two in the back end of the year to give him a taste and inspire him to hit the 2026 preseason hard.
Some people here are like kids wanting to open their presents on Christmas eve.