Strengths: His strength is his strength. Alessio has the bulk to go with the likes of Matthew Primus in the ruck and when moving forward it enables him to stand his ground and take contested marks. He also has experience and that will be important to the Bombers this season in the absence of Paul Salmon. He has played a lot of football with the likes of Misiti, Mercuri, Hird and Johnson and that will be a bonus in the midfield.
Position: Basically there are only two options for Alessio – he plays in the ruck or pushes deep into the forward line to stretch the opposition defence. He will probably do both – perhaps having a 10-minute run on the ball before again heading forward. Match ups, game situation and the form of David Hille / Aaron Henneman will have a big bearing on where Alessio spends most of his time.
2003: It goes without saying that this is an important year for Alessio. He career was on the brink of being over before the Bombers gave him another chance at the draft. He will want to repay that faith and prove that the decision to de-list him was wrong in the first place. At 31 years of age he will be very keen to ensure this is not his final season at AFL level.
Sheedy says:Steven is lucky to get a second chance at EFC. No other club had a need for him and passed him over in the Draft. However, he brings great experience to this club and we need to remember he is still only 31 and was a Premiership player less than three year ago. Training very well and is injury free. In fairness to Steven it has been a long time since he has been without injury. He will provide great assistance and support for David Hille in the Ruck, and it will be interesting to see how he handles this opportunity late in his career. We are hoping his contribution will be similar to that made by John Barnes and Paul Salmon.
