Buhrer's role is important to the team for many reasons. Being smaller and quicker, he plays something like a rover in Australian rules, the player that is busy in the middle cleaning up, slipping through the gaps, fast enough to cover in defense. Des' Bulldogs are the perfect example of a side without an effective Buhrer, in that the forwards are all big lumbering types that lack variation. And with the reduction in replacements per match, the smaller guys are going to be all the more important. Buhrer adds the variety needed in a forward line up.