My secretary has drafted my response above Metal Leg :o) Thanks Patrick.
I can kinda see the point you are making. I was referring more to last year but was not clear on that. I will give you Sigmund. You then expanded on the point more than just favourites so I won't reply to that in the context of the point of favourites cause its not related, whether you have a point or not.
I don't buy into this 'never got a fair crack' thing. If Lindsay was good enough in training, he would have kept someone else on the pine. Hogg was good in one game of the 3 he played. The other two he got caught out position a lot. Read the boards, the posts are all here. When Lochhead came back in, it showed he was better. You don't just give someone a run to see how they go, not in a professional football side. They earn the right to get a shot. Hogg got 3, and was good in 1 of them. I do accept though that he has more upside and probably would have benefited from more time with the team and a preseason. In the context of match to match performance, he was given a shot and was a partial success. That's pro football. You want a contract, perform with the chance you get.
I agree with you Leggy that I don't think Lia is an consistent A League footballer. I view him as a squad filler but that does not mean there were players last year he was keeping out of the lineup. If so, name them. It's the Downey clause that Patrick alluded to in drafting my response.
In defence of Hogg he came off a long non-playing spell and was not up to speed when he got his chances. He needs a proper pre-season and more game time before a decent assessment can be made. I agree JV, he does offer more upside in terms of improvement than the older and fading Lochhead. I would also like to see Boxall given more game time because he too has potential.
I see Derby County wants to sign Krishna (but there are NZ residency issues). Can they see something in the livewire 25-year-old that the Phoenix can't? I think he's a better option than Totori and could make a good defence splitting partner for Brockie. There's no question Krishna's game has improved since his last trial at the NIx. For a start he stays on his feet better and reads the game with more aplomb.