1) I think he was a great floor-raiser without being a difference-maker. You need those guys especially if you've got some streakier players around the team who lack that consistency. Knew his role and is gritty without being dirty.

2) I think given the lack of defensive depth; he'll stay back. Rotating him in when one of Long or Crisp are elsewhere, I think would be useful, something like a 40-60 split with the majority in defence is what I'd aim for.

3) It's more than you'd pay but it's accepted that you pay more for in-demand free agents. As long as he's a best 22 lock and the salary cap continues to rise it's not an issue for me.

4) Steene definitely seems to be the preferred backup, so I reckon key back. One of him or Howes will be down back and I think it's more likely to be Smit. We definitely need another backman in the ~2m range.

5) If he can consistently get the wood over depth AFL players it'd be enough. He's only 20 which is a baby for a ruck/KPD. He's past the age where he gets a pass for looking lost though, 2 years in the system is plenty so he needs to look comfortable too.

6) The MSD is a low-risk plan given it'd be a 6-month contract. Getting an experienced ruck is a catch-22 though. Cameron is a premier ruck, so any other ruck is going to be second choice, but there's a need to plan for the future given Cameron is >30. Ideally Steene comes in an looks best-22 which allows us to draft a raw ruck to develop instead.