The difficulty of identifying the worth of a player in first grade often takes months, not two full games and a couple of short stints off the bench.
Bozo identifies a problem regarding Barrett's coaching skill and certainly there were several players who were early on identified with flawed tackling skill, not the least being Turbo ( check out the comments when he first played including his positional play).
Wright's tackling in the juniors did not seem to be questioned. His only noted flaw was at times lack of involvement, but then I guess someone with his attacking ability is always going to be the focus of heavy defence against him. It showed in the SG Ball finals, where Wright exploded in the semi but was quiet in the GF leaving it to Cust to run the show...and help them win.
Coming into first grade must be an intimidating experience and Wright was thrust into 5/8 after barely half a games worth of experience in firsts through a couple of short stints off the bench (one for 6 minutes). Its tougher, harder, faster, more tactical. Adapting obviously rarely comes instantly ( I recall Toovey being one of the few who was a stand out from the start. Took Lyons several years). No doubt Wright was struggling a little in taking his time to adapt and fit in, which is quite common (I recall Sterling's first few games were a real struggle for him). I think his initial problems were positional play, which affected his apparent defensive issues, though one on one he seemed to have no problem.
And Wright hardly had the best coaching support from one of the Dragon/Steeler coaching group, who are at best adequate (Barrett, Brown, McGregor).
Like I said, tough call expecting the kid to meet all first grade requirements immediately.
