Understand your reasoning Claw, but I think Batchelor has one advantage over Dea, Newman and even Morris and Vlastuin.
He has that extra bit of height that allows him to be used more flexibly as he did last year as CHB against Hurley.
I think really that Morris as you say has a lock on a HBF but I think his competition is really Dea, Newman, Vlastuin and surprisingly Petterd.
While I see your point about Helbig I think they're really looking at him as a more forward/midfield option competing against Knights.
Batchelor really only has Grimes as competition for that taller option until McIntosh or Darrou are more experienced.
Smalls as you say will be Ellis, Houli and Arnot.
i see it a little differently redan but i too understand where your coming from.
while jake at 188cm is no midget it certainly is not ideal to have him play against kpfs. hurley would tear him apart 8 out of 10 times imo. dea and vlastuin are both 187? just 1 cm in it.lets not have our players constantly having to fight out of their weight/height division. if we play 3 genuine talls back we want the other 3 to provide good run and importantly good delivery as well as accountability when needed and with good decision making.
batch would be ideal if a tall back went down during a game but you want him lining up on the chris maynes or even a edwards of the world and providing plenty of run.dylan grimes in his short interupted career has shown he is the third tall.
imo batch is in a dog fight with dea, vlastuin, and mcintosh who in time may become a kpp. in mcintosh i see a much more accountable grant birchall or andrew mackie.
i dunno i have some real concerns about jake yet there is also a lot of things i really like about him.
on morris morris is there because of his aggresion and ability to play on smalls imo batchelor does not have the pace/agility to play on smalls. morris and batch are not in competition.
imo helbig could do a similar role to morris with better skills. that would in time free morris up to do a run with role in the midfield eliminating the need for hacks like jackson and white.
ben darrou if he ever makes it i see as a genuine f/b a little like mal michael. the shorter but powerful kpd.others of his ilk have been grover at freo rutten at adelaide not overly tall at 190cm but powerful and strong at around 100kg.
most likely im wrong about jake but you know if i was looking down the track 3 yrs my back 6 plus a few in cover would go.
b/ morris 185/83 - chaplin 195/100 - grimes 193/93
hb/ mcintosh 192/92 - rance 194/95 - helbig 185/85 possibly ellis because of his foot skills coming out.
if helbig makes it as a mid fine,i just like the idea of playing him of hb. i have always had plenty of time for matt dea and batchelor let them fight for their spots.
over the next one or two drafts at the latest 3 drafts i really hope we target a genuine fb with a 1st or second rnd pick.
anyway just some thoughts on the subject. by the way an interesting exercise is say looking who will be there in 3 yrs time. over the next 3 off seasons we will likely turn over a minimum of 15 players thats conservative. by the start of 2016 i would hope we are in a top 4 if not premiship, sheesh its been that long i cant even spell it window, if we get it right. if blokes like batchelor are potentially struggling for agame in 2016 it means we have good cover in the role now, and done a few things right.
