I've avoided the Castagna stuff really, as it is a kind of an ...ad nauseum scenario, with the back and forth, it's neverending good this, bad that stuff. And...that's a fair bit how he is anyway, per se.
Yes he's a chaos creator, and yes that HAS been when we were at out best, at points in time. So he's of value, and Dimma has valued him, clearly. So yes Smoking, okay fair enough. And yes Zip, he puts in 110% every time, he does.
But (yes it had to come) those propositions are not infinite - there's a degree, an extent, after which they no longer apply. In a similar vein, they don't apply for all time either.
Mr B mentions the fact George is a momentum killer, as SO many have, over time. For damn good reason, as he is just that. I was certain someone would mention the 3rd quarter scenario - Lambert to Stack, THAT kick, and George stuffs it up. Sure later, he hits the left foot snap, but that just can't somehow....'make up for it'. It's a very tough gig, and basically...he has to make both, if we are to be as good as we could be.
Every sport turns on momentum, obviously. Even like golf for heaven's sake, you make a certain shot, or even a putt or whatever, and it turns the whole damn thing around. Or it doesn't, if you miss. Of all games though, I think our game - AFL - having watched the game for years on end, is particularly susceptible to this.
I don't want to wax overlyrical here, but taking the most recent example, of all passages of play in the Saints game, I'd say the most 'beautiful', the one that got people out of seats, the kind of thing we want to see, was that 3rd quarter play. It's not as if that game was loaded with that kind of thing, but anyway never mind that for now.
And he stuffed it, at the knocker. Okay it happens, fair enough. But again SO many times, he does this. Last year, the GWS game - it is unfair generally, to say one player cost us a certain game. But that one? About as clear as any could be, he did.
Look even Richo, one of the most popular ever to have played for the club, had this in him. He could just kill you, the team, the game, at times. He had that same thing where your heart would be in your mouth, not knowing if he'd screw up, something you'd think was relatively basic, at a certain point. BUT he also brought so much regardless, you could let it go, kind of. George is not in that league, no way.
I forget the scoreline at the time George made that miss, but it was close, the game was in the balance. It's not just the score either. If he makes it, the entire team is lifted BIG TIME. And this was one of the lesser teams in the league, so we could get away with the miss. In a close game, an important final or the big one, against a seriously good team, you want to feel, he is MORE likely than not to make it. The problem is, we will never be able to say or feel that, barring divine intervention, a bolt of lightning, something of that ilk.
So in short I'm saying, okay on your points, but honestly, in the end? A team has to evolve, and George can be very expensive, in ways that are not just 'in the moment' or the score. With people coming in, I can't see him lasting, whatever Dimma might have thought about him, whatever our 'game style' is or has been, all of that.
