Nick Riewoldt examines the selection dilemmas facing big clubs and their returning stars come finals time
They’ve pushing their bodies to the limit to return to match fitness, but should selectors gamble on the likes of Gary Ablett, Shane Edwards and Jeremy Howe? Nick Riewoldt puts his selector’s hat on and makes the big calls.
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For some players, normal rules do not apply.
Gary Ablett, Shane Edwards and Dan Hannebery fit into that category. You could even throw Eagle Elliot Yeo and Magpie trio Steele Sidebottom, Jordan De Goey and Jeremy Howe into the conversation.
If fit, they’re all a lock to play finals.
It is not a matter of risk. For some players, their upside is far too great – even after a lengthy time out of the game – to cave in to the risks.
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Take Ablett. You look at Geelong and the fact it is functioning so efficiently in all facets of the game – the Cats are the best in the competition for offence, defence and pressure.
They are No.1 in all the big metrics.
So for a side functioning so well, do you want to upset the applecart?
The answer for most players is “no”. Particularly players coming back from a 10-week absence.
But we are not talking about just anyone. We are talking about arguably the player of our generation.
Reputation aside, when you actually drill down on his more recent body of work, his pressure as a small forward was strong late last year and was OK at the start of this year.
So despite people arguing that he won’t bring defensive pressure to the Geelong forward line, that is not right.
Then his offensive stuff is up there with the best small forwards in the competition.
His Round 1 game against Greater Western Sydney — coming off the long pre-season break — was one of his best for the year.
The reason we have Geelong as one of the two favourites to win this year’s premiership is that we are actually having these debates or discussions about Ablett and Joel Selwood coming back into the side. They have depth.
But if they weren’t performing so well, we would be thinking they both need to be rushed back into Chris Scott’s team.
With Ablett, there is a romantic element of wanting to see the best to ever do it, do it a few more times.
Having said that, this isn’t a farewell tour.
He is still playing at a level that warrants his spot, and will make a strong Geelong team even stronger.
We don’t get many Shane Crawford-type fairy tales in which your last game ends in a premiership. But this has the makings of it.
Ultimately, he comes straight back into the side for Brad Close.
I think with Edwards and Yeo, the conversation is a little bit different because of their youth.
But you could also make the argument — in regards to their importance to their respective teams — it is even more critical that they are brought straight back in.
For a regular player, the coach walks in, sits down with the medical staff or the sport science guys and asks, “are they right to go?”.
The answer might be: “They’ve done the work, but there’s a risk.”
That’s true with all players.
But it’s a risk you’re more willing to swallow when you get players of the calibre of Edwards and Yeo, who have both been critical in their sides’ recent success.
Edwards is the ultimate glue man.
You can plug him into the midfield, run him off halfback, or play him on the outside.
He is so important to Richmond’s transition game because of his defensive running and clear head with the footy.
Yeo is “The Hammer” for the Eagles. He’s their Dustin Martin or their Patrick Dangerfield — a big bull who can take a mark and has the size and build that dictates he can do things other midfielders cannot.
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Collingwood would be sweating on possible returns of De Goey, Sidebottom and Howe from injury or off a limited preparation.
No other side in the competition possesses three players of such importance sitting on the sidelines.
I think for Collingwood it is a simple equation: They can’t win the flag without those three on the field.
If they are given a green light, even with a risk asterisk, you are just playing them.
So then there’s St Kilda’s Hannebery.
He’s probably the riskiest proposition of this group.
The other guys are coming off extended breaks, he is coming off a long injury history.
But what was evident on Thursday night when St Kilda lost to the Eagles was its lack of midfield class and leadership against a severely depleted West Coast midfield.
Given Hannebery’s history, there is probably a reasonable likelihood he could break down again.
No one is cheering for that. This just a fact.
But where St Kilda currently sits, it needs to find out about this guy.
If the Saints are to get over the Giants next week, which shapes as an elimination final, then I think it’s worth them taking the risk and bringing “Hanners” straight back in for such a big game.
He has the things few St Kilda players possess: finals experience and a cool head.
There is another element to this “should they pick them” debate.
In any normal year, the risk for these players coming back would be greater. The gap between match-hardened footballers playing week-in, week-out and those returning would be huge.
But in this compact, frantic season we are seeing week-after-week that the incumbents — those who are playing — are on the edge like never before.
For these stars coming back off extended breaks, the gap has closed because the rest of the competition is playing on the edge.
They are not as risky a proposition as they normally would be.
So that probably gives everyone more confidence to pull the trigger — coaches are already rolling the selection dice every week.
A bit of good management and good luck comes into it. And the team that goes on to win it all will have a decent measure of both.
Originally published as Nick Riewoldt examines the selection dilemmas facing big clubs and their returning stars come finals time