Why resting Reeves is the right call
Get well soon, Big Noodle
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Ned Reeves’ season is over.
The Tallest Hawk Ever™ has gone in for the inevitable shoulder surgery we knew he needed after the dislocation against Geelong way back on Easter Monday.
It means he will miss our final three games against Gold Coast, Richmond, and the Bulldogs, but it will give him a chance at a full preseason.
You wonder whether, even though he is not officially on staff yet, incoming high performance boss Peter Burge sent Sam Mitchell a cheeky text along the lines of, ‘Get young Reeves into surgery ASAP’ because I need him for the start of pre-season.’
It’s a blow in the immediate term – he needs game time and we’d love to have him against the likes of Jarrod Witts, Toby Nankervis, and Tim English – but it’s the right call.
Even if Ben McEvoy and Max Lynch weren’t available, we wouldn’t be doing our job properly if we made our decisions based on the last three games of a season that’s already over. Giving him an uninterrupted preseason to gel with his midfielders and bulk up his frame is the clearly best thing long run.
He’s 23, turning 24 over the off-season. For a ruckman, that’s still a toddler. This has been, and was always going to be, a development year for Reeves, and he’s ticked most of the boxes. In his 12 games (well, 11 and a quarter), he’s competed hard at stoppages and managed to hit the scoreboard with seven goals as well.
He’s slowly adding strings to his bow, slowly getting stronger and playing with more confidence. And we learnt a lot about his determination this year, playing through the shoulder injury when the team needed him most.
So while we won’t see the Big Noodle again on the field this season, we should be very excited about what a fully fit Reeves can achieve in 2023.