He had a poor year, and tbh I thought he was poor in the preseason matches (internal trial, and versus Crows and Dockers) before his injury surfaced on the eve of round 1.
The jury is out on him. He had some good moments in 2023 highlighted by one out-of-the-blue final in which everything he did turned to gold. The sad reality is that he hasn’t come close to scoring 4 goals or even having 4 shots on goal at either level, before or since.
His big fall-off in 2024 was a lack of competitiveness which had been the shining feature of his 2023 campaign. He stopped playing from in front, launching at packs and straight lining the bouncing ball. The excellent below knees handling of the footy was nowhere to be seen.
Guys like Logan Morris and Geelong’s Neale have shot past him.
However, we don’t have a viable alternative right now. Marshall is not suddenly going to become a bash and crash, pack contesting forward especially off the back of multiple concussions, some of which seemed to be triggered by minor incidents. Todd will be in a direct contest with Lukosius to be the second leading, link-up forward behind MG and probably starts behind him based on current form and fitness.
Scully should be the guy. I can see his weaknesses but for the club to even consider giving up on him seems crazily premature. Hopefully, they’re giving him a Jase Burgoyne style rocket at the start of his third preseason to say that it’s time to buck up, grit his teeth and start playing like a beast.
In the meantime, we have to push Lord to get more out of himself in year 5.
The jury is out on him. He had some good moments in 2023 highlighted by one out-of-the-blue final in which everything he did turned to gold. The sad reality is that he hasn’t come close to scoring 4 goals or even having 4 shots on goal at either level, before or since.
His big fall-off in 2024 was a lack of competitiveness which had been the shining feature of his 2023 campaign. He stopped playing from in front, launching at packs and straight lining the bouncing ball. The excellent below knees handling of the footy was nowhere to be seen.
Guys like Logan Morris and Geelong’s Neale have shot past him.
However, we don’t have a viable alternative right now. Marshall is not suddenly going to become a bash and crash, pack contesting forward especially off the back of multiple concussions, some of which seemed to be triggered by minor incidents. Todd will be in a direct contest with Lukosius to be the second leading, link-up forward behind MG and probably starts behind him based on current form and fitness.
Scully should be the guy. I can see his weaknesses but for the club to even consider giving up on him seems crazily premature. Hopefully, they’re giving him a Jase Burgoyne style rocket at the start of his third preseason to say that it’s time to buck up, grit his teeth and start playing like a beast.
In the meantime, we have to push Lord to get more out of himself in year 5.
