- Mar 16, 2022
- 5,907
- 8,848
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
I think the bolded says more about how the umpires dish out their votes.I think you're going to be both disappointed and ecstatic if that's what you want. Nick's not the finished product as an inside mid with a fair bit of physical development to come, but in his first year in the role, he finished third in the league in clearances and second in the Brownlow - with nearly all his votes coming after he moved to a first possession role.
He's already the best ground ball hunter in the league and regularly finds space for himself or teammates with the best ball handling, awareness, agility and vision in heavy traffic in the league - and as he gets stronger, he'll become even better at creating his own space or putting a teammate into space. No one will be as good as Nick at the crucial aspect of getting the ball from inside to outside. It'll trump him playing a stationary role and then looking to peel off if someone like Mitchell wins it. We'll be watching Nick on the move hunting the ball at stoppage for a decade or more to come and individual awards will rain from the sky.
On the whole first possession first receiver debate, I’d like Nick to have the flexibility to switch through both depending on how the game is going and he doesn’t get if he’s our main first possession player.