I look at the 17 we just rolled out against the Cows and I don't see Dale as an obvious improvement on any of these players and he will be rusty as an old pitch fork when he comes back into the squad which won't help his case.
If somehow I knew Dale would come back as the Dale of 3-4 seasons ago in peak form then I would be open to it but as it stands every player is doing their job to a decent/good level and I think these players potentially provide more value to the squad.
Dale's position has become harder to justify considering how much Cam has stepped up the last 12 months and he is playing well and doing alot of the work week in week out. The Nut, Rudolf, Kafusi ect are continuing to improve, Iro and Williams cannot be dropped if coach has his head on and Sifa is a mainstay of this team.
Our defense is doing a much better job this year but even when Dale was on the pitch it wasn't enough to stop our D being diabolical during most of 2023 so even in that case there is only so much defensive fortitude a single player can bring and some games Dale wasn't even that great in D.
So someone puts a gun to my head and says I HAVE to drop someone out for Dale (sigh) well in this hypothetical it's prob Rudolf or Kafusi (too cruel to drop BHU after he just got back from bad injury) but I feel dirty even mentioning their names because they deserve a spot in this team and have been going pretty well.
Dale, outside of his initial months at the Sharks in 2022 where he was very good how much has he brought to the table for us? He has been suspended, injured or inconsistent / low impact. Why does he still deserve a place in this squad that has managed just fine without him.
I don't remember thinking this season during any of our games Man I really wish Dale was out there right now for us, we really need him, team misses him... maybe the Tigers game (If I actually watched it LOL) which we still would have lost.
Now at this point Dale feels borderline liability which is the exact opposite of why we signed him, he was supposed to be our rock, Mr reliable, Mr Leadership but beyond that just generally a good forward.
Fitz might not have been expecting Iro to go as well as he is and being presented with this head ache but he is 100% busting someones ass down to Cup to make way for Dale and it frustrates me that coaches feel obliged to make these decisions to the potential detriment of the team just because of a players name or contract.
Well I hope he shows he's still worth it