Re: Jack Silvagni - The Ultimate Medical Sub
Reply #47 –
Fox Footy has published our "best 23" for 2024. Apart from including Elijah Hollands, they have gone with one ruckman, Tom De Koning, with Jack Silvagni as third tall forward and second ruckman. That's only going to happen if Marc Pittonet is injured and our developing rucks aren't ready to play at AFL level.
AFL.com has a more convincing "best 22" with Tom De Koning and Marc Pittonet sharing the ruck duties and Jack Silvagni nowhere to be seen. However, I'm not sure that whoever picked that team appreciates Jack's ability to find space inside 50, to mark on the lead, and his value when giving Charlie or Harry a break, as well as making the opposition sending a competent tall defender to him ; I don't really want to see Matty Cottrell lining up on a key defender. On the flipside, we don't want Jack playing against a defender who will run off him.
If Jack is in form, he plays as our third tall forward and one of Matt Owies, Jesse Motlop and Lachie Fogarty misses out.
I'm not opposed to the idea of Jack as the sub. He has the versatility to be the ideal contingency sub as well the ability to have an impact as a strategic sub. I'm not convinced that a strategic sub needs to be speedy player to have an impact.