AFL Rd 20 2022 Pre Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide

[LP]

He plays half forward and plays the position better than Owies and Durdin combined.

Not really, that depends on a highly selective version of what you think the modern AFL HFF should be.

We've missed Owies deep running over the last few weeks, it has detrimentally affected the way the likes of Durdin, LoB, Cerra and Fisher play. SoJ doesn't bring that deep running, I get that SoJ plays the lead up marking HFF better than Owies or Durdin, but Charlie has been the one filling that role in recent weeks and now we have TDK to rest forward also.

We can't rotate TDK, Pitto and the other talls off the bench because we are already a team short on pace, and the talls occupying the bench leave us short of run and aerobic capacity. That leaves the MC with a choice, TDK or SoJ, and clearly TDK gets the vote at the moment. Put another tall on the bench and guys like Saad, LoB, Doc, Durdin, Fisher, Walsh and Owies suffer.

SoJ isn't competing with Owies or Durdin for a SF or HFF position, SoJ is not a pacey crumbing forward.

Earlier this season / pre-season I mentioned this was going to happen at some stage and forum members lambasted me for it, but any blind Freddy who isn't smitten with the Silvagni surname could see this coming. Now they are treating SoJ being dropped like a team and club death sentence, but it's not terminal, it's no different to Newnes, Cottrell, Satterfield or LoB being rotated through selection.

SoJ wasn't the first and won't be the last fan favourite to find himself in the VFL for a period of time, we are a strong list growing in strength each week and non-core players should not expect residency in the AFL team.

Nobody can argue either way, be it for or against, that making such decisions does not come with a cost!