Crozier is a real interesting one Q. ...
Yep, he's struggled to be involved in the last few matches. It'll be the epitaph at the end of his carreer - "Good player, but struggled to get involved".
Yep, when he was in the backline last year, he looked pretty good and managed to be involved a lot of the time, and we made use of the pretty decent skills set that he has.
And yep, the wait has been long for this 2011 draftee. ( Must have been something about that 2011 draft...Sheriden has similar problems, minus the skill set!. )
His main issue is that he is too tall to be a small crumbing forward, especially when your team has 2 of the better ones of those, and he is not tall enough to be a KPP. He's an 'inbetweener', and soe he's the half back flanker/forward flanker/midfielder.
I don't think we've tried him enough as a midfielder over the journey, but then again, he hasn't shown signs of being a tough in and under type player (ala Fyfe, Neale, Mundy), nor does he seems to possess 'a supreme motor' (ala The Hills).
As a backman, the definable position of 'keeping on your man', or 'protecting your zone' is certainly an easier and more achievable job for him, but, When you've got the Blakelys', Hughes', Langdons, Balics', Tuckers' - who are all around his height & weight - how can you justify keeping them out and not developing them, especially when they don't possess the silky skill set that allows Crozier to be considered as a forward.
And there it is! Crozier has 'X factor'. He can jump on top of opponents heads (and, he likes doing that!) And he knows where the goals are ( he likes having a snap!) He has all those attributes that you'd like a half forward flanker to have. Especially when you know have a team full of 185cm young players who seem to have more dour skills, more suitable to defender/ defensive midfielder type roles.
He just misses one crucial element. He doesn't know how to keep himself in the game. He goes missing, or, his opponent's find it very easy to shut him down.
Having said that, when your team plays with either a) no semblance of a forward structure (or 'plan), or, b) a very confusing forward structure at best, its not hard to see how Hayden has trouble getting involved.
I suspect very much he is constrained by team (RoLy's) rules about what he can and can't do, and where he can and can't be. And really what he needs to be down there is a free spirit with licence to roam and 'get involved'
Its either that or he's just bone idle lazy, and as soon as we find another 185cm half forward with sublime forward skills who wants the ball every time it comes within a sniff of the 50m arc (eg Sambono), he'll be moved on.
But for the moment, we've got to live in hope everything suddenly 'clicks' and he becomes a Luke Bruest, or a Stevie J, or a Dustin Martin type 185+cm half forward flanker with skills to die for, and, a player every opposition fears.
Hopefully he can bring a bit of that this weekend.!
