I reckon a huge part of whether players make it or not, is obviously fitness.
Lack of stamina makes fast footballers slow and good kicks sloppy ones.
You may be fast... but if you don't have the motor... then each sprint gets slower, kicks shorten, targets get missed and you come back to the pack.
To be consistently fast... all day, you have to be extremely fit.
Same with disposal, decision making and of course the ability to gut run and make 2nd and 3rd efforts (1%ers), link up play and so on.
The reason why Robbie Nahas has improved so much is because he can now run hard and fast all day.... and be involved more than once in a passage of play.
It's the key to Dane Swan's rise to elite level.... his incredible fitness. It makes the good players great and the great players the best players.
I know when I played as a midfielder.... my mantra was to run hard all day and I would get into the flow of the game.If I didn't run hard enough... I played like crap.
Same when I boxed.... when unfit I looked great for about the first five combinations i threw... after 2 minutes, I looked more like a drunken bum than a boxer.
Until I was fit enough, then I could throw punches all day and do what i wanted my body to do.
When you are at peak fitness, you are mentally strong and you can push your body to it's limits trusting it to be able to serve your will.
Then you talent and skills can come to the fore.
Footy isn't just getting to where the ball is.... it's knowing where it's going to be and getting there as well.... fitness.
Fitness builds confidence, then skills and decision making improve and a player can then reach their true potential.
The key with Tom is fitness... and if he can get the fittest he can possibly be... then I believe he can surprise and become a very good player for us.
He has the ability.
