Originally Posted by
liz
He led the onball division in the practice game against GWS (the first one, not the official JLT game) in the absence of the AFLXing Kennedy and Parker, and looked like he'd been playing there all his life, notwithstanding that the GWS midfield wasn't at its best that game. I agree with you that we can't expect him to emulate Cripps from day one, but the sooner he starts, the sooner he can find his feet.
I can understand why Longmire is loathe to move Heeney full time into the midfield because he is so effective up forward. And I'm not convinced he's a natural onballer either, though he can certainly take his turn in there. With Mills, I'm curious whether they think he's too valuable down back to move, or if they have reservations about his midfield capabilities, based on what he's done at training. I suspect it's the former. But while he is usually very reliable and courageous overhead in defence (forgetting about yesterday for a minute), I'd have thought they can find someone else who can perform that role nearly as well. It's not as if Mills has breakaway speed that he uses to rebound from defence. And his overhead marking strength will be just as valuable further up the ground, ideally creating turnovers (in our favour) before the ball gets in the defensive 50.
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