Sorry I left out Jackson.
I guess its a question of whether you value marketability as the greatest importance to the club, onfield consistency, leadership or onfield brilliance.
Cousins, Richo and Brown are the money men of the team who are the public face and often voice (particularly given their media jobs) of the club. Cousins brought in a lazy one million to the club before he even played a game. Richo has been one of the most loved personalities in football circles - last years Brownlow revealed that clearly.
If you value players who don't go missing and whose low and high points are not far away from each other week in week out then we have very few. Tuck, Newman, Foley and Moore would be my choices here though you could probably argue that even some of these have gone missing at times this year.
Leadership is in drought proportions at our club at the moment and realistically for years. Newman is our captain but after the debarcle of last week his stocks are low. Johnson never had the on field presence and even players such as Richo, Bowden, Simmonds and Brown do not have the selfless attitude and onfield mental strength to lead us out of losing positions. My leaders are therefore 'hopeful' and include Cotchin, Riewoldt, Foley and Lids but if someone can stand up out of the younger brigade it would do our club wonders.
Onfield brilliance is a flash in the pan occurance and, IMHO, means nothing unless the across the board team consistency is there. We have a few players who can make you stand up in our team including Nahas, Riewoldt, Cotchin, Lids, Foley, Brown and Morton.
So what really is the most important criteria to choose a players importance? Stripes
