If the criteria is whether he’s in the best 22 then I think that has been answered; but that wasn’t the topic of this post. The question at hand is whether Tabs is a star? Actually, whether he is so obviously a star that people like me who didn’t think he would become a star should apologise because he’s a star.
It’s a really good question and fun to discuss is because it’s not obvious either way, or even what the threshold is for someone to be considered a star.
All very good players have weaknesses (Fyfe’s kicking and chasing can be a bit untidy, Walters is a bit slight to play in the midfield, Mundy is slow as a wet week), Tabs has more weaknesses than most ‘stars’. I don’t think it’s nit-picking to say he has limitations any more than it is cherry-picking to say he’s an elite contested mark. Both are true.
He’s a 27 year old key forward who has never averaged 2 goals a season and never been within touching distance of an AA squad. He’s playing pretty well this year, but he’s received the grand total of 8 coaches votes this season.
I’d probably have him behind other key forwards like Kennedy, Hawkins, Dixon, Cameron and Lynch (and of course Buddy when he’s fit), but he’s not too far behind those guys in output, and I’d probably rather Tabs at his salary than Buddy at his, for example.
He’s certainly a more useful player than I thought he’d be.
