Two-time premiership Kangaroo David King has questioned whether Sydney will be missing George Hewett after the former Swan's brilliant start to the year at Carlton.
Sydney didn’t match Carlton’s four-year offer to Hewett at the end of 2021 to allow the 26-year-old to walk to the Blues as a restricted free agent.
That came a year after the Swans explored the possibility of trading to get something in return for Hewett before he became a free agent.
He’s since developed into a crucial cog of Carlton’s midfield of the first five rounds and impressed in the absence of captain Patrick Cripps with 33 touches and 13 clearances in the Blues’ three-point win over Port Adelaide.
“It was fantastic to see them without Cripps, just to see who would elevate, who would take the responsibility, and clearly we’re answering the George Hewett question,” he told SEN’s Whateley.
“But he would be the most coachable player for Michael Voss, plug and play type.”
What has since left King intrigued is the hole Hewett’s absence has left in Sydney’s lineup.
The Swans sit 4-1 and fifth on the AFL ladder after their strong start to the season, their midfield showing plenty of dynamic characteristics in their dominance.
However, the Roos great believes John Longmire is missing an in-and-under contested beast, suggesting the move to bring Callum Mills on-ball led to Hewett on the outer at Sydney.
“I look at Sydney now and the one gap in their game is a player like Hewett,” King continued.
“They don’t have the clearance beast at the moment, they don’t have the contested possession game that they thought they probably thought they were going to get with Chad Warner, Erroll Gulden going in there on occasion, Justin McInerney going in there, elevated responsibility on Luke Parker, Callum Mills and Isaac Heeney and these guys to become clearance and contest-winning midfielders.
“Hewett, he played a lot of tagging roles for Sydney, didn’t he?
“He was very much a negating midfielder… so they didn’t have another spot for Hewett when they thought they wanted to get more out of Mills.
“So sometimes you just have an oversupply, and Sydney have thought, ‘well, we’ve got to get Mills into the midfield, we’ve got Hewett playing that role at the moment, (if) can we get Mills playing a bit more of that then do we need Hewett?
“But then to lose him for nothing is a bit of a kick in the guts.”
Sydney received an end of second round draft pick as compensation for Hewett's departure which the club then used to select youngster Corey Warner.
Hewett’s new role at Carlton has him averaging big career highs in several key statistics including disposals (30), inside 50s (4) and clearances (8.2).