RM, as I have said numerous times, including in this post, based on our current list I would have Tabs in the team for his contested marking.
But that is one attribute. Another attribute is his frequent gifting the ball to the opposition. There is an official stat that tracks errors, and he is a league-leader in it, despite modest positive contributions.
To put it in context, how do you feel about Levi Casboult? To me he's a great contested mark who is so useless with the ball as to make him only a fringe AFL player. And yet statistically he is exactly the same player as Tabs but has vastly superior kicking efficiency and way fewer clangers. Imagine being a key forward that is significantly worse with the ball than Levi Casboult?
So when Lyon says Tabs is at Peel to work on some things, I believe him. We were burned relentlessly by turnovers this season, and Tabs is a turnover merchant. It's something he should be working on.
As for Sutcliffe and Sheridan, like Tabs they are placeholders for better players that we don't yet have; although I actually think Sutcliffe is unfairly maligned. He's played out of position in the backline, and that's also where mistakes are magnified. For the record, he has a much better kicking efficiency and is responsible for almost half the clangers of Tabs.
Tabs has a tough call to make. No club drafted him, and Freo took a punt on him as a rookie, and in that four years he has been given the chance by Freo to play professional football and work on his game. He's just about to enter his prime and he has to decide whether the club that gave him a lifeline - but not a regular spot - is where he should spend that prime. Freo suck, and he's a Victorian lad, so it would be completely defensible if he left.
