If you put aside reputation...

Is Easton Wood a best 22 player?

Wood's a medium size player who doesn't use the ball well. In fact I expect horrible things to happen when he has the ball and am simply satisfied when he doesn't directly turn it over.
Does he impact enough contests for us to sacrifice a 4th defender position to a player who doesn't use the ball especially well or provide significant rebound? (Assuming Naughton, Cordy and Morris are playing).

If Wood doesn't intercept mark or arrive to spoil a significant number of contests I'm not convinced he's offering a great deal to the side. Without the reputation of 2015 and the captaincy is he legitimately best 22?

Was thinking the same... he was tried as a forward (and failed miserably) partly because we needed a forward, but also because his form wasn't great in defence.

In Morris, Cordy & Wood we have 3 players that aren't hurtful with ball in hand which isn't desirable in the modern game & are fairly limited in the type of player they can defend.

Interested to see how it plays out.

He's typically been a player that has never had a lot of expectations placed on him.
When Christian Howard, who was also a half back flanker, was placed under the microscope, Wood's performances were never looked despite averaging less possessions and not being a great kick.

Having both he and Morris in the backline actually limits us because we need more running players and certainly players who can use the ball a bit better.

He's more than a decent player but he has limitations and we accept that. He can't really play on taller opponents well not week after week and he's not quick enough for some of the smaller opponents but he an excellent at intercept mark and zoning in the back line.

Being the captain he's under no pressure though.

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Originally Posted by GVGjr

He's typically been a player that has never had a lot of expectations placed on him.
When Christian Howard, who was also a half back flanker, was placed under the microscope, Wood's performances were never looked despite averaging less possessions and not being a great kick.

Having both he and Morris in the backline actually limits us because we need more running players and certainly players who can use the ball a bit better.

He's more than a decent player but he has limitations and we accept that. He can't really play on taller opponents well not week after week and he's not quick enough for some of the smaller opponents but he an excellent at intercept mark and zoning in the back line.

Being the captain he's under no pressure though.

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I want to challenge the last two points. I'm asking if Easton is in our best 22 purely on performance and team balance. Reputation and leadership positions to the side.

Is he a great intercept marker or has he been a great intercept marker? When's the last time he had a great or even good game as an interceptor? How many times in 2018/17/16 has he pulled off a game like what we regularly saw in 2015?

If he can't do that, or if we can't enable him to do that, then I believe he needs to add another string to his bow as a defender.

Maybe the issue becomes less glaring if Morris retires. It'll still be an issue though.

He's got to be marking the ball in flight to be a contributor. The past two seasons this has been less and less a feature of his game and hasn't been replaced with anything to compensate. Concerning for him is Naughton looks set to make this role his own, with the benefit of also being able to play on better forwards. Neither are good kicks so that balances out.

I think he needs to get back to intercept marking or it's going to be hard to justify his place in 2019. I hope he does because he was a weapon at his best. I also never want to see him play as a permanent forward again.

Ever since he had his ankle rebuilt he hasn't quite been the same player. Not sure if it's related, but my take on it at least.

Agree that Wood at his best, intercepting and shutting down contests, is important for us. Given we have Naughton, Cordy and Morris in the back half too, I question whether our balance is right. We need to generate more run and we need more sill behind the ball.

He has shown glimpses during the JLT without putting it all together - the issue is we have a similar player who is performing to a much higher standard (Crozier). I'm willing to give him a few weeks to see where he is actually at.

I want to see Wood be a great captain most of all. A captain that is demanding of his players. Wood is a little bit similar to Nick Maxwell when he was captain of Collingwood. Both were/are not gifted with great football skills but play that intercept loose man type player pretty good. I never rated Maxwell much as a good footballer but I thought he was a terrific captain. He demanded a lot from his team and was always busy barking orders. I would like to see Wood show that sort of captaincy because I'm in the boat of if he wasn't the captain he'd be playing seconds footy at the moment.

I think he has to be the 3rd tall unless he gets back to his former self. At the moment, playing alongside Naughton, Cordy and Morris means we massively deprived of rebound.

Ironically the move of Naughton forward may help Wood rediscover his best form. Give him accountability to the opposition's tallest spud forward/ruck and he should be able to rebound mark to his heart's content.

Naughton is going to be a hell of a key defender but we have such pressing problems in our F50 that we might not have a choice but to play Naughton in F50 if we want to cobble together a winning score most weeks.

I'm less concerned about Wood's form than I am about our ability to score. We ruined Wood last pre-season, at least he'll get some continuity leading into this season.

I thought Wood played well in the last round in 2018 and hopefully he can keep it rolling