Personally thought he had earnt it with the disclaimer I thought we were a better side than what we are. In hindsight the kid should have been promoted regardless because we suck and should be getting games into guys with upside. 
I admit I thought it was neck and neck really apart from Miles being young getting the nod from me. Don't let Claw see you thought we were a better side than we are 
too late ive seen it and made note.
on miles and thomas. geez i know thomas has many critics, im one of them well im one who cringes at some areas of his game.
geez i argued pretty hard that we should not have taken thomas under any circumstances. slow as a turtle, poor decision maker, and even worse kick. what clinched it for me was at afl level he just didnt find enough ball either.
the flip side to that was he played basically all of 2013 in the twos at p/a he was a beast and an absolute stand out at that level. he was winning plenty of ball he improved in nearly every area and imo that had to be acknowledged.
so what i cant ignore was his great form in the sanfl and the vast improvement at least statistically he has made in the afl games he has played for us. to me despite the howlers which have become fewer, i reckon hes played at a more than passable standard for afl level an the inside role hes been asked to perform..
like tuck im prepared to forgive a few things just as long as he doesnt drop away in winning contested ball laybig tackles and wins his share of clearances. for me like tuck he has made up for some obvious weaknesses by being very very good in a few other areas.
the key is to keep him at the level hes at and have him play within his limitations a bit more than he has. still needs to cut more of the howlers out of his game.hes been a decent pick up as it turns out.
miles well what can you say. doesnt really have an outstanding attribute but he just knows how to play and make decent decisions. inside he reminds me an awful lot of foley without the burst of pace. gotta give em credit for taking this kid. the bonus here is hes still only 22 and hes likely to be a good long term player for us.
im not critical of the club for not promoting miles in front of thomas. i thought the reasoning pretty sound. i would criticise em though for waiting as long as they did to promote miles and play him.
imo i reckon both have been good pick ups especially when you consider they both were nothing but rookie picks. as you know where im critical and i have argued pretty hard was we failed to adequately balance our recruiting out last yr by taking too few kids. imean to say just one 18yo still rankles me and peees me off no end.
