“Because we got the talls in the national draft, we needed to get more midfield run into our group,” Ratten said.
“(Edward) Curnow’s got a great engine, so has (Wayde) Twomey and so has (Mitchell) Carter, while Rhys (O’Keeffe) can play wing, midfield and half-back.”
Ratten reminded that O’Keeffe, the 65th selection overall in the 2008 national draft, had battled injury setbacks for the best part of two seasons - which prompted the club had changed its tack towards the player in initially delisting him with the understanding he would be redrafted as a rookie.
“We needed to get his body right, so we thought we’d go down that path of allowing him to get himself right and not have to play 22 games and be under enormous pressure,” Ratten said.
“He’s actually going extremely well. It looks like he’s over the worst of it, he’s back on track and it’s great to have him back on board . . . and we think that’s had a lot to do with the resources we now have here.”
Similarly, Curnow is also on the med after a serious setback mid-season. As Ratten explained: “Curnow broke his ankle in round 12 and has been in rehab, but he’ll be right after Christmas. He’s hard at it and I saw him rack up 45 possessions against the Bullants”.
