He's 22, yet only just broke into the team this year. He's horribly inaccurate (7.12), kicking just over a goal a game.
Yes. It's been noted over and over that probably Levi's only issue is goal accuracy. Aside from that, he certainly didn't battle at AFL level, so I'm still struggling to see the validity of your jibe.
Gumby meanwhile averaged almost double the amount of goals - despite playing in a team that by stage of the year was getting smashed - while Hansen averaged only slightly less than Gumbleton. Dawes had a terrible year, but is a big body and would generate lots of crumbs for your smalls.
And this is where the skew comes in. Firstly with the great comment - Dawes would generate a lot of crumbs for your smalls - err ... not really what the Blues need; what we need is someone who can mark the bloody thing. CLEARLY that's what we need. And Waite and Casboult did that more than all but THREE players when they played last year. None of these three mentioned are better than them at that, all are inferior. Crumbs to the smalls ... really, what a stupid thing to say in the context of this discussion.
So what Gumby averaged more goals than Casboult? Not sure if it's simply a lack of knowledge on your part or a disingenuous approach to honest assessment, but Casboult played as the second ruck, not a stay at home KPF and in one of his six games, wasa lone ruckman who didn't play forward at all. Gumby should have averaged more and yet it's only ONE goal every second game; and Levi still took more marks inside 50 and more contested marks. So let's look at this claim on Gumby a little more closely, with a dash of the reality already discussed added in ... in the five games Levi played forward/ruck he averaged 3.8 shots on goal (1.4/2.4) and 3.2 F50 marks. Gumbleton averaged 2.5 shots on goal (1.8/0.7) and 1.8 F50 marks.
Gumbleton is a senior list player with 28 games over 6 years and a fused spine. He is the very epitome of the phrase battler. Casboult was recruited to the rookie as a project player in need of developing his body and game who's starting to come on now as expected. As the younger man playing both ruck & forward, he's still outperforming Gumbles in everything but goal accuracy; probably why he also outrates him in CD rankings. It's a no-brainer who you'd go with and your criticisms of Carlton for wanting to continue with Casboult's development rather than shelve him for someone like Gumby just shows ridiculous this thread really is.