- Aug 6, 2021
- 10,719
- 31,010
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
Okay lets look at the stats.One thing to remember he is coming from a club winning lots of games and also being the No1 Mid for many years. He will be another year older and he is already slow and I personally think he will be frustrating player to own.
There are lots of mouths to feed in the North Midfield and I doubt he goes above 85 average.
Between 2021-23 at Sydney he averaged 72-75% CBAs each year. Over that period he averaged 102 in SC.
In 2025 he's $343k so back of the napkin arithmetic suggests he needs to average a little under 100 to make 150k.
Then lets consider who was getting CBAs at North at the end of last year.
Phillips is on a one year contract. He could turn it around (and I hope he does) but he's not getting 58% of CBAs at the start of this H&A season.
Is Phillips even getting selected? Barring injury or spec tasks like a tag role, I doubt it. Not only does Parker straight up trump him in leadership and proven ability, but LP's also got positional versatility. Simpkin, Powell, Sheezel and Parker can all rotate through the flank when they're not on-ball. Phillips is midfield or bust.
Reports suggest Parker's asserting himself at training as the most vocal presence on field, directing traffic in match sims, and so forth. Reckon he's been tasked with ensuring that our midfield isn't less than the sum of its parts, as it was for much of last year.
Just a hunch but I could see Parker averaging 65-70% of CBAs until the round 12 bye.