Centre half-forward is the hardest position to play on a football ground. You need the lot – pace, strength, height and mobility. It becomes even tougher when you are surrounded by the likes of James Hird and Matthew Lloyd - the comparisons are inevitable and the job you do is often overshadowed. Make no mistake, Scott Lucas is an excellent centre-half forward and his hard running and contesting often goes unnoticed.

Lucas made an valuable contribution to the Bombers premiership cause in season 2000. In 23 games he had 265 kicks, 132 marks, 84 handballs and kicked 57 goals. He averaged 15.5 possessions per game. This season after 18 games he has 208 kicks, 91 marks, 57 handballs and has kicked 21 goals. He has averaged 14.7 possessions per game.

They are number that stack up pretty well against anything else the competition has to offer. These are the average possessions per match for some of the other centre half-forwards going around at the moment.

Lance Whitnall (Carlton) – 13.2
Jon Barker (Hawthorn) – 13.6
Jonathon Brown (Brisbane) – 13.7
Brad Ottens (Richmond) – 14.6
Scott Lucas (Essendon) – 14.7
Chris Grant (Western Bulldogs) – 15.1
David Schwarz (Melbourne) – 16.2
Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide) – 16.7

Schwarz and Grant have spent time in defence while Tredrea is having a brilliant season. In terms of getting the football, Lucas is travelling pretty well.

Yet as Kevin Sheedy said in a press conference this afternoon, Lucas seems to continually singled out if the side hasn’t performed so well. Sheedy said it was unjustified and the statistics certainly back up his claim. Lucas basically gets as much of the football as any centre half forward in the competition. He has 21 goals to his name this season and he could end up with about 20 less than he managed in 2000. When you are surrounded by the talent he is it isn’t always that easy to get on the scoreboard.

“When you lose a couple of games I think everyone feels the pressure to improve and I’m the same as everyone else,” Lucas said. And he will probably feel some added pressure this weekend with Hird and Lucas watching from the stands. “They are obviously going to be very tough to cover,” Lucas said. “As a group each forward will have to find a bit extra and hopefully that will cover the loss of them.”

“I’d like to contribute a bit more on the scoreboard but as long as we are manufacturing winning scores and I am doing my bit then I’m happy,” Lucas said. “The team is still pretty positive despite the past two weeks. As everyone has been saying you would rather get beaten now than in a months time. But that said we really need to find our form this weekend.”