Rookies are getting upgraded everywhere at the moment, but the biggest concern is whether they will play..?
Logic dictates that a club wouldn’t usually go through with the hassle unless the player had definitely secured a place in the best 22. However, West Coast seem to have ignored that methodology in upgrading Will Sullivan this week. Cox is adamant he’s okay and we know Nic-Nat is raring to go, so the reasoning is elusive.
My theories are two-fold:
- The Eagles may have concerns about Cox’s ability to recover from games during the early part of the season. It would appear that he has only managed two halves of football so far this pre-season and it is not unreasonable to expect he may struggle to get up for rounds one or two. If he doesn’t you can be sure he’ll be a late withdrawal, so plan your ruck bench carefully if you end up with him.
- The Eagles would not have enjoyed watching their back-up ruckman head off to Sydney in search of greener pastures at the end of last year. He would have been more than handy to hold onto and they are possibly spooked by the experience. They may simply be making sure they do everything possible to look after the youngster in case offers from other clubs start coming at the end of the season.
In contrast at Geelong, Podsiadly has had the fortune of falling straight in to a forward spot due to the recent knee injury to Max Rooke. Podsiadly has already shown during the pre-season that he has similar pack-busting qualities to Rooke and will no doubt be asked to bring some aggression.
He was looking very likely to get the nod anyway, but Rooke’s set-back just makes it a little easier for him. However, the teams still haven’t been named for round one and I don’t believe Podsiadly has been officially upgraded yet, so still wait for confirmation on that one.
Other rookies to get the nod so far this week are Michael Barlow, Cameron Hitchcock, Jeff Garlett, Ben Howlett, Garry Moss, Ben Speight, Graham Polak and Relton Roberts. Of those boys, I expect Barlow, Hitchcock, Moss, Polak and Roberts to play round 1. Not too sure about the others. I need to do a little research… 🙂
You’ll notice I have also added a page at the top for tracking upgraded rookies. There’s nowhere else on the net this information is available, so I thought it might be a handy resource. I’ll need help with it though, so if anyone finds out about a newly upgraded player that isn’t listed, please let me know…
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