Originally Posted by
liz
It's an interesting question. Is McLean on the senior list or the rookie list? If he's on the rookie list (to replace the inactive Tippett), then maybe Bell could play (with Maibaum on the LTIL).
In any case, I don't think Bell is ready for senior football yet. His progression in the early stages of the season has been encouraging - he's stayed far more involved in the play throughout games, rather than drifting in and out as he was prone to do last year. A large part of this is, I suspect, greater responsibility and the chance to play around the ball now that the likes of Towers, Robinson and Foote are no longer in the team. He moves very smoothly and is capable of executing skills well. But I think, at times, he is prone to dispose of the ball without thinking, or looking for an option. That's sometimes necessary when under pressure, but he still needs to get a better feel for how much pressure he is under in each situation, and to still retain some composure when he is under pressure (recognising that the pressure at senior level will be more constant and more intense).
I think he's tracking reasonably well but I remain agnostic about whether or not he is a senior player in the making. He has some competition from other players seemingly best suited to playing predominantly outside, in Ling and Stoddart (and McInerney and maybe Tucker when we get to see him). It's an area where the senior team could do with an injection of class, but only in time, when these players are ready. And they're unlikely to all find a place in the same senior team in the near future.
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