Is it possible that Tom Liberatore is now underrated?

Think back to pre-season 2015 and Liberatore was fresh off of a Sutton Medal winning season and had secured himself  a place as one of the competitions leading inside midfielders. 

Then injury struck, the Dogs jumped from 14^th to an elimination final appearance, and henceforth any discussion of the Bulldogs list began with emerging pups like Marcus Bontempelli and Jake Stringer.

But then Liberatore started playing football again. 

And while the numbers are similar, it’s a different Tom Liberatore we’re seeing.

He can still extract the footy from a pack with with the best of them and his 19-tackle performance against the Demons showed that he still has a hard edge, but on closer inspection, the 24-year-old is evolving into something else.

Speaking to westernbulldogs.com.au earlier in the season, midfield coach Joel Corey said that he thought that Liberatore’s game was a work in progress, and thirteen games into 2016, we’re seeing the evidence.

“He’s definitely an A-Grader in that [contested possession] area and has been for a long time now, but the thing about Libba is that he’s got a lot to offer on the outside in different sort of roles,” Corey said.

“We’re really happy with how LIbba is going inside, he’s got that down, [but] there’s elements of his game that he can grow out.”

The green shoots were apparent early when Liberatore kicked the first goal of  the year, a long range bomb that kick-started the Bulldogs round one demolition of the Dockers.  

After kicking just 18 goals in this first 77 AFL matches, he’s got eleven to his name already this year, and at 78.6% accuracy.  That places him 13% ahead of his closest rival, forward Jack Redpath, and second at the Club behind captain Easton Wood.

A catalyst of the change has been Luke Beveridge’s resolve for his players to be able to play in multiple positions. 

In 2014, Liberatore’s last full season, the Bulldogs had six players spend more than 74% of time in the midfield, including three players above 85%, including Liberatore himself at 94.5%

This season, no player has spent more than 70% of their time in the middle and Liberatore, one of the League’s best inside players, has spent over 30% of his time in the forward line. 

The result? A versatile, tough-as-nails goal kicking midfielder, seemingly purpose-built for Luke Beveridge’s game style.

He was a special player before his injury, but he looks to be even better now.