It's really disappointing Stef being picked in the squad before May. I sometimes wonder if it's just our bias and whether we overrate our own players, but looking at the impact of both players on a match for us and May just adds so much to our defensive intensity and attitude, along with all the stats and the minutes. He is a very good tackler, often single-handedly creating dominant tackles along with his consistency in attack and offloading ability.
Stef is a big body who occasionally runs hard. He is usually poor when against the momentum and is a weak defender in the tackle who also can be lazy in his movement and doesn't have much of a motor.
There's just no comparison between them, May is so much better.
I think we all expected Stefano to go to another level at Melbourne, but he's the same plodder. This is surprising not only because he's in the Bellamy machine but also because they've been much more dominant in momentum than he ever experienced at the Tigers and for us that would usually be when he has his big games, but he's not really any different in his play.
I get May, Api and Luai not getting picked, with May being the most hard done by, but picking Stefano in the extended squad is just really poor and does unfortunately highlight that the perception of our club has a huge impact on rep selections.
