* The match report says "Tyler Sonsie, Hugo Ralphsmith, Patrick Retschko and Kane McAuliffe started on the wings".
* Last seasons mid mins as a rough guide going forward; " End of season - CBA stats -
Jacob Hopper 466 81%
Tim Taranto 428 81%
Dion Prestia 189 68%
Kane McAuliffe 70 59%
Thomson Dow 130 44%
Jack Ross 194 34%
Kamdyn McIntosh 135 24% "
Note: McAuliffe not many appearances @ 70. Cumming. Grlj not on the list. Lalor. Smillie. Hotton. Some combination of being hurt or returning from injury. Plus first year , not expected to play too much inside yet.
* Smillie being hurt now. Is hopefully irrelevant , to the long term mid make up. Ideally he plays in the guts 50%+, minimum. It'd be suboptimal to draft a big, top 10 mid in a super draft. And not play him there.
* If grilj. Cumming. Lalor. Smillie. Hotton develop as expected (hoped). It's going to be challenging for macca & other young kids, to crack mins inside. At least in the first or even 2nd rotation.
* This is not accounting for Ross, Taranto, Hopper too. The fringe players are going to have to develop more string to the bow to get a run. Macca being a talented young player hopefully he can work it out. Even if not his natural role.
See, for KMac2 that's quite a lot of minutes despite less opportunity. I think that is a good thing.
My main point is that I don't think he should be pushed to the wing *at this stage* in anticipation of guys like Cumming (should fit in), Grlj (?hbf initially) or Smillie (injury) getting fit and developed for AFL midfield time. Long-term we'll eventually move past Hop and Taz and will still need a good 5-6 mids in the side.
We're aiming for something like Hopper, Taranto (3-4 years worth), then followed by Smillie, Cumming, KMac2, guys like Lalor/Hotton will be rotating forward. Ross will hopefully be obsolete by this stage.
Ironically when we drafted Ross he looked like a great inside mid option but oh no, we moved him to the outside, and from there he's remained modest IMO. Be a shame if we did this to KMac2 also.
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