I have had Berger in my ruck selections from the start but now am looking to give him the boot.
He has only ave over 100 once in 2011 which I would consider his break out year. And he probably could have ave higher given he spent some time up forward early in the season and did not score much. His second half of that year was great and included a 172 against Gold Coast. His next best result is 2013 when he ave 97. He scored 10 tons that season but the best was 121 and 5 of those tons were against Melb x 2, Gold Coast, St Kilda and the Bulldogs. He also had 7 scores of 85 or less and you can also toss in an 86 and an 88 on top of that. I am not entirely convinced by that scoring.
And the early draw for Brisbane while not a horror draw does not have many easy games either. Now toss in the obvious injury issue with 3 seasons lost out of the last 6. And note that in each of the 3 “lost” seasons his injury has always happened within the first 4 rounds. Doesn't mean it will be the same this year but then again...
I know he is not a keeper, he is a stepping stone but I am still not convinced. This is not like Sandi last year. He was a clear injury risk but he already had a solid history of consistent big scores when he was fit. So you knew what you would get and the reward justified the risk.
The problem is I have no idea yet who should replace him. Not a Kreuzer fan and not with Malty talking about playing him forward. Having already built much of the team with Berger as R 2 it is not easy to find another 150+k to fund a high end replacement without major surgery.