That is a very different view!?What I'm saying is that our ball winning issues are actually more prevalent in our forward and back lines than in our midfield. Accordingly, we ought to prioritise playing ball winners on those lines rather than concentrate all of our decent ball winners in the midfield.
We were 7th in the league for clearances but 18th for contested possessions. That tells you that the midfield is decent at getting the ball out (largely in Naitanui's absence, no less) but that the rest of the team struggles to win contested ball.
A midfield of Yeo, Shuey, Kelly, Gaff, Sheed, Redden and Naitanui is a good contested ball unit. The absence of good ball winners on the other lines hurts us, because it's not just the midfielders that have to be responsible for winning contests. Our prime movers can't be at the foot of every marking contest around the ground.
In what universe are Rotham and Watson ball winners? Spare me.
The other issues with "Duggan to the midfield" are:
1) He's not a good midfielder and generally struggles to accumulate the football; and
2) We don't have room in the midfield to play him, particularly in circumstances where we trade for Tim Kelly.
Not sure whether that can be back up by statistics/data?