forwardflanker
Cancelled
Thompson beat Cloke in several 1-on-1 contests despite being clearly outsized (championdata gave them both 2 contested marks). Given the delivery Cloke got from your midfield, no defender was ever going to stop him completely. Thompson managed to curb Cloke's influence while also giving us plenty on the rebound. Take into account that his job was made harder by McMahon's omission. I figure you guys probably don't rate McMahon but I personally rate him as one of our five or six most important players, and he and Thompson usually share a number of duties which Thompson had to do by himself today. Without Thompson we get beaten by much more than two goals today.
If Swallow played for a Collingwood/Hawthorn/Geelong, he would be amongst the favourites for the Brownlow right now. I say that as somebody who has been on the Pendlebury bandwagon for years.
Cloke had 18 disposals, 8 marks, 7 shots on goal - it's pretty optimistic to suggest that Thompson curbed his influence. Being outsized is no excuse when his role in the side is to stop the oppositions key forward. He may have done better than expected on the rebound but that doesn't make for the fact that his primary role is the side is to stop Cloke and when Cloke was one of the pies best I find it difficult to rate Thompson's game. I thought our delivery to Cloke was slightly better than usual but we're still not the benchmark when it comes to midfield kicking to forwards, we rely on both Lynch and Cloke to win one v one a lot or to at least provide contests for a small players to crumb which they both did well today. The fact that you rely so much on an "outsized" defender is a pretty huge weakness given the value of gorilla forwards go up in finals time and that most teams in the 8 have at least 1.
Regarding Swallow, I would have thought playing for North would be a help rather than hindrance when it comes to brownlow voting. Your midfield is competitive but clearly lacking in A list talent, he is picking up the greatest share of brownlow votes in your 22 than anyone else imo. If he comes to Collingwood he immediately goes behind Swan and Pendlebury in terms of share of votes, maybe even Beams. Not to mention guys like Thomas, Sidebottom and Ball who also steal votes. The same though to a lesser extent would be for all the other clubs with big midfields I would have though. The lack of competition for votes at North would make up for the 3 or 4 games less winning games that Swallow would play at if he were in a top 4-6 side - I think that's what you were getting at?