Hill went from 18 touches a game with Hawthorn, to 23 touches a game at Freo, then down to 15 touches a game at the Saints.
He has his flaws, but he’s a weapon to be used, and either the St Kilda coaches or players aren’t using him correctly.
The common refrain by commentators when an ‘outside’ player isn’t getting the ball is that he needs to go get it himself. It’s lazy analysis and largely garbage. Hill has one elite skill you can’t teach, which is running hard and finding space. Asking him to give that up to fight with bigger, specialist ball winners is like entering a Ferrari into a demolition derby.
His role is to be near the end of another chain of events. So long as he’s where he needs to be in that chain, it’s not his fault if it falls down before the ball gets to him. Mick is basically yelling at the delivery driver for his package being stuck in the port.
