Reading posts no one is hating Ross it bemuses me when people talk that way is it to create a deflection?
What i do get from reading the thread is most people think he is a okay player who has more talented players we hope will go past him.
If those players don't go past him then we have recruited wrong and are in trouble.
The expectation of most is pretty clear. Lalor, Smillie, Hotton Cumming Grlj are expected to be very good players for us can say the same with McAuliffe to a lesser degree. Who in his right mind doesnt think we should be playing and prioritising these kids anyone?
We then look at our experienced mids and ask who is a better player than Ross. Well its simple Taranto, Hopper and Prestia quite simply are and remain better mids than him.
So as a mid where does it leave us and Ross.?
I did this as an example of how our kids are tracking. Pick 40 Kane McAuliffe is probably the one most would pick Ross in front of when all our mids are fit and ready. Kane imo is more an inside beast who does have very good traits for transitioning from inside to out.
Jack is coming off his best year statistically at least.so i thought why not compare the closest competition for a mid spot that he has in McAuliffe.
Remember we have had Kane for just two very injury interrupted seasons he is yet to get a clear run at it to date. but his power pace, size and strength are tantalizing attributes along with his crunching tackling.
He only managed 5 senior games last year because of all the niggles so its a small sample size.He also did not get huge game time.
DIS - CP - MKS - TKL - CLR - I50 - GLS -
Ross 19,1 - 7.0 - 4.4 - 3.8 - 3.1 - 4.0 - 0.17 -
McA 18.4 - 7.6 - 4.0 - 4.8 - 2.0 - 2.8 - 0.00 -
In just his second year and off both years being injury interrupted albeit off a small sample size McAuliffe has basically produced a similar year to Ross and its supposed to be Ross's best year to date.
This is why you try and play kids with good attributes over players who have no real upside imo who after what entering year 8 coming off his best season that is still only okay.
Like Andy there is no hate i to just don't rate him as highly as some others and think we can replace him reasonably easy.