I am going to be brutal. Is Ben Middleton a need, want or power forward that we need. no no and no.
He is only 193 cm tall played 42 games and kicked 42 goals.
He is a poor mans Tom Medhat (192cm 61 games and 75 goals.)
Yes we have lost Zach Hill (192 cm) but With Sebit back and i would assume Mitch Schofield back from injury i am not sure of his role.
You would assume we will go with Tom Graham, Sebit and Schofield as our three main talls and Medhat our next best tall.
i see Middleton as depth unless somebody has left the building that we haven't been advised of.
Like Larry i think Crowden is the one midfielder we will miss the most.
After the Grand final i thought we needed to refresh our midfield as we are not a very quick side and i thought we may have to offload somebody. I am worried about the chatter as we have some points to recruit at the moment but just waiting to see what will transpire.
As far as I’m concerned,Middleton is a bigger body and has more physical presence than the players you’ve mentioned,and from what I’ve seen of him,he would easily be a better centre half forward option.For mine Sebit and Schofield are our best full forward options,and Medhat is more suited in the forward pocket.I also believe the coach should stop persisting with Graham as a key forward as his set shot kicking and mobility leave a bit to be desired,and he should be used in the changing ruckman and roaming forward role,where his strong overhead marking can cause headaches for the oppositions 2nd and 3rd best best defenders. The Grand Final predictably exposed our midfield pace,and I would be creative with Sebit and give him the occasional run on the ball,because when he gets a full head of steam,no one in the WAFL can catch him,but whether we get the career best form Sebit we had before he got drafted is anybody’s guess,but this is the first time post alignment that I have been satisfied with our spine,and I am quietly confident we will be more than competitive next season.
