Rockliff and Redden have once proven a formidable duo in the midfield this season, and rank first and second in most of the Club’s key performance indicators.
On average, the pair combines for 53.3 disposals, 16.2 tackles, and 11.3 clearances per game.
It leaves some pretty big shoes for the likes of Pearce Hanley, Ryan Lester, James Aish, Rohan Bewick, and Dayne Zorko to fill when they come up against an Eagles outfit featuring Matt Priddis, Luke Shuey, Chris Masten, and Andrew Gaff.
Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch recognises that his midfield is far from settled, but believes that they have the capability to step up.
“Our starting midfield is out of the team at the moment – (Matthew) Leuenberger, Redden, (Daniel) Rich and Rockliff – so it adds a bit of stress to that part of the ground,” Leppitsch said on Thursday.
“Our defence is in order, I think that’s pretty good at the moment, but our midfield can’t get any sort of continuity so far this season.
“There are certain things that (ruckman) Stef (Martin) can control, but the rest comes down to our ground level players and their communication. They have to get their set-ups right and work together.”
Despite having most of his experienced players sidelined through injury or suspension, Leppitsch remains confident that his team can be more than competitive against the Eagles.
“I think our recent form, that last six-week patch, has been OK. We had a really poor game against Fremantle over there, but generally it’s been competitive,” he said.
