Apparently Zaka has turned our whole midfield fortunes around, the media sure like to do their best to put up a players price. Below is an extract of an article I posted in the midfield woes thread.
However, perhaps the most significant move in terms of personnel has been the decision to switch David Zaharakis from a role solely on the wing to one as a pure midfielder.
“He’s almost been one of the linchpins for their improvement,” Gerard Healy said on Fox Footy’s On The Couch.
“His run through the middle of the ground, when perhaps he was playing too much on the wing, has seen his numbers change enormously through this five-week period.
“His whole impact on games has been superb.”
Zaharakis’ numbers have risen significantly over the last five weeks, making him a damaging prospect for opposition coaches who already have their hands full when facing the Dons.
He is averaging 28.2 disposals per game in that five-week period (+5.7 per game from the first 11 weeks), 464 metres gained (+140m) and 10.2 score involvements (+5.4).
Winning the majority of his footy on the outside, Zaharakis has also proved the perfect man to complement the team’s contested winners like Dyson Heppell, Jobe Watson and Zach Merrett.
However, such a role makes him the easiest to tag — a facet of the game triple premiership winner Jonathan Brown believes he will be forced to deal with in the coming weeks.
“He has to be sat on — the opposition has to set a tagger on him,” Brown said.
https://discourse.bomberblitz.com/t/midfield-woes-instant-fix-zack-fest/10289/1004?u=scarey