Longer game and time in ruck instead of forward is why he had more disposals, more hit outs, but less goals. Overall impact was the same to my eye, but if I need to look at stats then I guess his fantasy score adjusted for game length is within 10% of last year, so I still think people are underselling how impressive he was for a short burst last year.
Chol's issue is consistency. Even in yesterday's game it was mostly a super 1st quarter followed by his typical game. Career on the line, the #1 ruckman goes down, and he's fully switched on going into that 1st quarter - he was great. But last year, after one or two good games he was already talking about wanting to be like LeBron James. His expectations on himself were way too high, and from the next week on it only took 2-3 umpiring decisions going against him or 2-3 imperfect passes by teammates before he'd get frustrated and lose that focus. After he got noticeably frustrated, from that point on he'd lose every contest before he got there. Whether he's improved this area of his game remains to be seen.
But, with maturity and support from those around him, it would be great for everyone if he can tap into that mindset he had in the 1st quarter consistently. Keeping expectations in check and surrounding him with positivity gives him the best chance to do that, and we can trust the club to give him that chance.
On a more positive note, I understand he's been being playing in defence in the VFL recently. That's probably why his confidence was up for those intercept marks. The club has done a great job with their development of him this year away from the forward line. I think they've found the best role for him as a ruckman who intercepts by having the play in front of him, which means it doesn't matter if he's not a typical big man in marking contests. This role makes sense.
