Pretty simple question to answer. What is his best role.
He was the second tall taken in last years draft he was clearly drafted on the back of him being a very good defender and a stand out one at that.
He is currently 195cm and may grow a couple more before he is finished.
Like most young draftees he is a tad on the skinny side. Atm ideally suited to a third tall role down back and will most definately be a very good KPD.
with his ability to play in smaller roles imo he smacks us in the face as taller Grimes option. Play your two kpd,s and your flexible third tall.
If we are trying to replicate the structure of the flag years not that i think it has to be exactly the same anymore i think we need an extra running type then for me its
Astbury - Miller/Young
Rance - Balta/Gibcus
Grimes - Trainor
Broad - Brown/Smillie
Vlastuin - Trezise think we need to do better than Trezise
Houli - Atm its Banks but im hoping for a real impact type like Rioli.
For me our running players leave a lot to be desired and we really need some quality depth in these areas.
Based purely on potential and Attributes for the back half i think we have four that stand out for the tall roles and its one too many but it makes for real competition for spots and it probably means defenders will be tried as forwards.
Why on earth is Smillie there as a Broad replacement? lol
Astbury > Miller/Young yeah that makes sense I think
Rance > Balta (not as smart) and Gibcus (not as durable)
Grimes > Trainor yeah possibly
Broad > Brown, but not as tough or physical tbh
Vlastuin > we're screwed here if Trezise is the best we can do, agreed
Houli > Banks probably not a bad replacement like for like except the ceiling maybe
So yeah...unless we see some good progress we're only half way there maybe.
Makes you realise how stacked our backline was back then when you had guys like Broad and (IMO) Astbury sneaking in a role players behind Rance, Grimes, Houli, Vlastuin.
Have you watched any of Smillie as a junior. He has played in defense a lot. Besides i don't really have him as Broads replacement long term i see him as a mid.Clubs often play mids at hb to start their careers.
He is a 195cm and a mid but plays more like a medium . Also just about all clubs have played mids at hb to start their careers. given Smillie has played there as a junior why not start him at hb.Does it really matter where he starts his career as long as he is getting full games.
Broad well he too is a 192cm medium who happens to be tall. Broad is much more than just a defender. He provides run and rebound and can play on taller players or medium/smalls. They arent that dissimilar. 20 odd games into Smillie across hb and he can work his way into the midfield in time. Both are really just medium players who happen to be tall.
Personally next year i want us to fit into the team all of the following Lalor, Hotton, McAuliffe, Smillie and most likely our first two picks this year all mids, Throw in Hopper, Taranto and most likely Prestia, we have to fit em all in somewhere.
I want the club to start making some calls on borderline players.
H/B Smillie -
C/ Brown - McAuliffe - Campbell
R/ Nankervis - Hopper - Lalor
H/F Hotton - #### - Algar
INT/ Prestia - Taranto - Pick #2 currently - Pick #3 currently.
There is absolutely nothing to lose in doing this given the time frames we are obviously going to have to work with.
Given the need to get games into all of these youngsters and given the short comings of the team.
