James Peatling transferred from Greater Western Sydney in the off season, after breaking out with a shift from defensive forward to defensive midfielder. Every good footy engine room needs someone whose main role is to quell opponents. You can tell how valuable this role is with how poorly GWS are going this year without Peatling in that position, and the Crows have posted solid wins over the Blues and Giants across the last month whose midfields are much-vaunted. Peatling's own game is unremarkable, but his presence helps Jordan Dawson and Izak Rankine immensely.
James Peatling transferred from Greater Western Sydney in the off season, after breaking out with a shift from defensive forward to defensive midfielder. Every good footy engine room needs someone whose main role is to quell opponents. You can tell how valuable this role is with how poorly GWS are going this year without Peatling in that position, and the Crows have posted solid wins over the Blues and Giants across the last month whose midfields are much-vaunted. Peatling's own game is unremarkable, but his presence helps Jordan Dawson and Izak Rankine immensely.
James Peatling has quietly become one of the more impressive defensive midfielders of the AFL, stepping into the role at GWS to cover the ageing Callan Ward moving out to a wing role. The Giants always seem to have another midfielder waiting in the wings who can step up when needed, fuelled by a seemingly inexhaustible supply of draft capital rolled over from its expansion period, albeit Peatling came from a mid-season draft so that's just good scouting. His 2025 fantasy stocks have risen the longer 2024 has gone on, in the middle of a late-campaign breakout.
