Plays a very difficult position and plays it very well.
The first thing to remember about the last play is that Cumberland found space to receive a mark. That is invaluable and hard to put too high a value on, our congested forward line is difficult. But, Cumberland found a little space to receive. Would like to see others do this more often.
Playing on would have been the wrong decision 15 minutes into the second quarter, let alone at the end of a game where scores are level. I can understand he wanted to crib a couple of metres to make sure he could make the distance, but, he needed to be more aware of where opposing players were. Clarke was still going from the contest, would have run the other way if Cumberland didn't play on so quickly, no question he was in the protected zone, the protected zone did not yet exist. Effectively a 3 game player at the moment, who lacks awareness? Yeah, that ain't news, awareness comes with experience. He does this in his 200th game I will be upset, he does it in his third game and he gets a pass. He will learn, comes across as a great reader of the play so I figure will learn.
Such a pity though. He would have dreamed of being able to win a game kicking after the siren and just blew the chance to do so.
Definitely needs to stay in the seniors, needs experience and huge upside.
No comparison with Aarts' brain fade, Aarts has more experience, the game had more time to go and we needed to slow the game down, and Aarts has way more experience. Cumberland can learn from this, Aarts should have already learned by this point in his career.
DS
