When teams are bombing it long in the last 10 minutes of a close final, you want someone like Lake (Barrass) down there. Allows us to throw Sic forward.For years we have been obsessed with getting someone who "can play on the gorillas". That was why we aimed at Ben McKay and even Ratugolea (which I could not believe). Ever since we got Brian Lake we have always thought we were short in this area. As it turns out, Ben McKay's disposal is terrible and is not worth the coin he gets at Essendon.
And these days, there just aren't any gorilla forwards left. Hawkins is done and all of the other big key forwards are more athletic running types like Cameron, Kings. No-one really threatens to kick 7-8 goals anymore and the system won't allow it. As it stands, our guys are good enough to compete against the remaining gorillas and then just run off. Last Sunday was a great example - Tex Walker, Thilthorpe and Himmelberg - all really big and when they did not mark it, we just waltzed out of the backline repeatedly and put 19 goals on them.
Curnow and McKay might be the only real marking types left, but I don't believe the gorilla defender is as important as it was in history. Worried we might disturb the current balance, while the defence is hardly conceding anything as it is.
In short, concerned that we don't need Barass, especially given the likely cost.