37 metres gained (team low) was a shock in his stats, but otherwise great game.
Iād be trading him.
Best player at Essendon.
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Had -14m at 1/2 time.
He won a heap of clearances where he distributed the ball backwards with a handball.
He was a tackling machine today and still our best clearance player
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Iād be looking at a few others before trading Dylan Shiel. We need his experience for the next couple of years and heās in good form. Trade for who Iād be asking ā¦ for more young high pick raw draftees? With Hooks, Zaka, Tippa, Hurls, JD, Saad and potentially Heppell leaving we are way too short on experience.
We do have to solve the DP and Shiel conundrum in the middle. But Shielās a top player and since the Swans game has been regularly amongst our best this year.
Definite keeper for mine.
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Seems to have got rid of the panic in his game and is standing up in the contest finally which is great to see.
Whether he does that in a final is the next step, but who knows whether that will happen.
I had him cannoned in to a larger cannon and then thereās no to some other miserable solar systemās sun earlier in the year, but he has turned it around.
Good on him.
Yes, because no premiership team, or team building towards flag contention ever has any 30+ year old players on the list.
How bad are we in the centre without him?
He is actually really good in there.
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Terrible.
As we were earlier in the year with him.
But clearly, the massive improvement has come from him, because this club makes absolutely nothing better.
So credit to him.
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Question?
Could Shiel be developed to be a damaging running half back?
If so it will open up more opportunities in the midfield for Hobbs and Perkins. Merrett Parish Caldwell and Stringer cameos plus the developing Hobbs and Perkins is already chockers.
Plus possibly appearances from Langford, Durham and there is Setterfield too.
If Shiel could become a good running back with McGrath Redman Hind and Massimo, that could become a strength and also help develop the younger mids.
Or is he incapable of developing enough defensive skills for this to be possible.
I donāt know but Iād love to have a look at him exploding out of the back line and yes hopefully cleaning up his disposal skillsā¦
Thoughts?
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No can do. His strengths are in gathering the ball, getting through traffic and breaking forward. But he fails to hit targets like he should given his experience ā¦ think Luke Parker pointed his defensive deficiencies out but to his credit he dealt with it and responded. One of our best players post bye.
But even running HBFs must have a defensive mindset. Dylan is not that and probably has never played the position.
No chance regarding the HBF idea in my opinion.
Dylan either is an absolute elite midfielder if he can hit his targets. Under those circumstances there is no chance he is moving from that part of the field.
If he canāt hit his targets, then you want him nowhere near HBF.
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I donāt see why he couldnāt be used there.
He played there a bit coming back from injury, at the end of either 2020 or 2021.
As you point out, he learned and developed and improved even through the course of 2022. Heās probably got similar speed to Hind, but a lot better in every other facet of the game.
If thereās a worry about losing Heppās experience off half back, Shiel could with that.
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We donāt need or want shiel kicking under pressure in our backline. Heās defensively suspect and I donāt think he offers anything in the air. I would not play him down there ahead of McGrath, red, mass or hind and Iād probably only be picking three of those guys anyway.
3 Smalls
2 medium/talls
2 tall
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I suppose we i.e. Scott should ask him. Hey Dyl fancy a stint off HB? Me ā¦ just cant see it as getting the best out of him.
Probably not.
But itās about getting the best out of the list, not getting the best out of just one player. Might solve a problem with the size/saminess of the midfield, and add a decent option at HBF which isnāt a super deep part of the list.
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I guess depends if they persist with Mass forward.
But I would go Shiel > Hind any day.
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Now you put it that wayā¦ I can see it worth giving it a go. At some point
I dunno if I love the idea, TBH
I really would like to see Shiel set as a wing for the next few years, but this is along similar lines.
I like him, but heās nearly certainly not in our next flag midfield.