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Rance is 193cm so is only 2cm off 195cm and McGuane plays taller than he is considering he's mostly matched up on 196cm+ opponents and does quite well. The weight issue will come with more time in the game, however the new rules that make a backmans job harder has moved away from your big powerful defenders. The most important aspect in a defender now is closing speed. Teams know that a key forward in a 1 on 1 contest near the goals is something they need to aim for, however defensive structures and zoning mean this is quite rare for this to happen.
The problem with trading one of them for a draft pick, firstly, the are very few kpps in this draft of quality, even Butcher is expected to slip. Secondly you need to wait 4 years to see if they turn out any better than what we've already got.
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I didn't actually mention Rance. I was commenting specifically on Moore McGuane and Thursfield. But on the subject of Alex: Now that he has nearly a whole season under his belt, I imagine in 2010 he'll step up from the sweeping defender role that he played this year while his body was still developing, into probably a CHB.
I agree with you that closing speed is absolutely essential in a defender, and unfortunately that is why I believe that Jarrod Silvester will struggle at AFL level.
I also agree that Thirsty, Moore and McGuane have all done brilliantly playing against bigger and stronger opponents. Sometimes they have managed to curb them,and other times they haven't.But I'd still like to see a situation where we have a "monster" defender or two to play on the many monster forwards of the competition.This current
scenario reminds me of a few years back when Gaspar was regularly playing on the giants. He would perform really admirably, but I'd be thinking "gee, I'll be glad when we draft a proper full-back,and he can go back to a half-back flank where he's more ideally suited." As we know, it never happened in his time.I just hope we don't ignore this gaping hole on our list once again.