I think this bolded part is worth commenting on.
In modern footy, if no forwards applied pressure, would it be fair to say no forwards would be kicking goals to any great extent?
Melbourne's forward line is set up a certain way that worked fairly well when their midfield was totally dominant, but has produced 9,10,11,11 goals in the club's last 4 finals. Fritsch got 9 goals 6 behinds and 1 goal assist in those 4 games, which looks healthy enough without being dominant. But you can see what his role is by looking at his score involvements. Outside his own scores and his 1 goal assist, he had 4 score involvements in 4 games. He wins about 4 contested possessions per game. The vast majority of his role is to receive the ball uncontested from team-mates and score goals. A lot of footballers can do that and Cumberland is one of them. But Richmond have several players better at it than Cumberland, and some of them don't need to major in uncontested ball to get a decent amount of goals, and they are better in terms of retention and pressure. It is worth noting also, in 2023, Cumberland scored 8 goals in 9 games. And had 3 goal assists. Whereas at his 2022 level of goals and assists and score involvements his playing style is possibly able to be accommodated, at his 2023 level of scoring impact he is utterly useless and you would be orders of magnitude better off to play a pressure forward in his place.
