I've long held the view that Toby Bedford is an outstanding player and should be playing midfield for us.
I must admit I was won over by Bedford when he plays midfield. Saturday was no exception. Bedford is so bloody good, so fit, quick and bloody tough and puts on hard tackles on opposition and a great kick and dangerous, and runs and also dynamic. For example his game against North reserves back in Feb 2020 when he ran and kicked a magnificent goal at the City end.
In summary I just think Bedford is a better player at this stage than Viney, I like Viney and respect him but more the reasons expressed above we can do better with Bedford.
Further, whilst Jack Vineys courage cannot be questioned Jack is somewhat limited/lacks outstanding abilities in many vital parts of the afl game:
a) kicking the ball (in particular depth, accuracy, ability to pinpoint a quick incisive pass as compared with and not be confused with a slow 15m easy kick)
b) marking(caveat here, its not surprising and to be expected given his short height)
c) pace, spread from the contest, ability to get into dangerous positions to receive the ball, ability to put on a side step or burst of pace (not to be confused with ability to jog beside/behind an opposition midfielder who he is tasked with tagging- he tagged Wines on Thursday and Wines had 33 possesions! And a goal.
d) damaging with handball (not to be confused with ability to handball in tight
e) never impacts with a goal
Like all supporters I admire Vineys courage and big heart but above all I want our midfield to be better in fact it is a longstanding theme of discussion in post match statements by Goodwin
With respect our midfield could be much better, imo there is so much room for it to grow so that it is less dependent on stars like Oliver, Trac and Jordon and Kozzie with his midfield cameos , that is to have a player who is more skilled and in particular better at kicking, has pace/spread from the contest, side step and just a better overall package rather than mainly tackling.
I cannot see it happening but I think the Match committee should not select Viney unless the other midfielder players mentioned above are injured
Furthermore I would play Toby Bedford in the midfield instead of Jack Viney to see if the hypothesis that Bedford can do more than Viney is correct and test whether Toby makes us a better team.
I know this appears to come from left field but hear me out: firstly it's based on long held views about limitations of Jacks game and I respect Vineys commitment/courage, secondly I fear he is not the best available option if we want to win a premiership and teams with better midfields will expose what I perceive to be an inherent yet fixable weakness in our midfield.