I think we are making the same case here.
He has come from so far back I can't see how he doesn't still have plenty of learning to do before he is able to adjust to AFL level footy. The Grand Final performance was amazing but there's a big difference between a one off performance and grinding it out week after week.
I see him as being like a test batsman who bursts onto the scene with a century, but then opposition sides take notice, find a weakness and 10 tests later he is back in the Sheffield Shield honing his game.
I'm not questioning his ability to handle pressure or his toughness, I'm wondering more about how quickly he can adjust to the speed and structure of an AFL game.
I know the easy answer is look at the Grand Final but that was a Grand Final in name only, GWS's pressure parkers were lower than an Auskick game.
For example Pickett loves to do plenty when he has the ball and we all loved his blind turn, but I guarantee every assistant coach in the competition coded the tape to show that in the opposition meeting before playing his this season.
Teams will make a point of breaking the usual convention of corralling and have a mantra to press on him on every occasion. They will know he doesn't have training years under his belt so they will pummel him at every opportunity in order to fatigue him.
He will never have taken as many bumps in a game of footy in his life as he will in every game next year. Teams will make him take every step they can to blow him up. GWS won't have placed anywhere near that sort of focus on him for the GF.
That's just a couple of examples of the scrutiny you just don't find in the WAFL or VFL and it bound to take some adjustment.
It may well be that he has the sheer talent to overcome all of that but given he will be coming from a long way back in fitness base he will be a very, very special player if he is able to seamlessly continue to perform at senior level.
I hope he can and does but I'll be pleasantly surprised.
