Nick Dal Santo is confident Collingwood can replace Adam Treloar’s midfield output in 2021.
A key cog for the Magpies, Treloar was traded to the Western Bulldogs in one of the surprises of the trade period.
With the likes of Josh Daicos and Callum Brown ready to step up, Dal Santo can see Collingwood working out a strong midfield rotation without Treloar.
“Can they replace Treloar next year? Midfields in particular have a great ability to fill gaps and fill holes,” Dal Santo told SEN Breakfast.
“Treloar is a superb player and I know he has his knockers in regards to his disposal and probably rightly so and I’m in that camp to a certain degree, but the man finds the football 30 times a game.”
Dal Santo wonders how the Bulldogs will utilise Treloar’s prolific game in their incredibly deep midfield and believes he may be better in a role that sees him feeding the other Dogs midfielders.
“That’s a lot of football even in a shortened game. His next step might be to give it off to better ball users at different times,” he said.
“He’ll be great at the Western Bulldogs, I can promise you that with the likes of Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, Lachie Hunter, Josh Dunkley and all the other good midfielders.”
The Bulldogs ended up keeping Dunkley despite his request to be traded to Essendon and it will be interesting to see how they utilise him, given his desire to leave was based on his wish to play a more pure midfield role.
However, the Dogs now have to accommodate Treloar in that role to go with Bontempelli, Macrae, Bailey Smith, Tom Liberatore and Hunter.