Quote Originally Posted by Ozza View Post
Yeah - have to say, I rate him pretty highly also.

I know Greystache watches a lot of Essendon - so respect his opinion.
But from what I've seen of Carlisle - he could be anything, if they just let him play centre half back, which is where he prefers to play (and thats not from media speculation...that's from Jake himself).
The media machine was working overdrive on Carlisle when he started to show some form, but the truth it's only been in small bursts and even then he struggled with the faster leading types. His first half of last season was very good, prior to 2013 he'd been predominantly a top up tall, but his 2nd half of 2013 was poor and he's continued in the same way this season.

As I said his limitations are the same as Roughead (pace off the mark, agility on quick leading forwards) and his strengths are the same (can play on the biggest of forwards, intercept marking, impacting a contest third man up). He only offers us something that's already a strength, plus he's been highly inconsistent to date, and has no leadership qualities.

I'm a fan of Carlisle, I liked what I saw right from his debut, but he's not an improvement on Roughead, and I certainly wouldn't be throwing big bucks at him under the assumption that Roughead will be just as effective playing somewhere else.