The Finch and Labaschagne picks this season (and to a lesser extent the Mitch Marsh pick) were so awful because they prevented Australia from truly learning how well the form shield players could have done with those extra two spots.
After the tampering saga, I expected the top 6 to be Burns, Renshaw, Khawaja, S Marsh, Maxwell, M Marsh. This would have rewarded the players who performed at first class level. Of those guys, Khawaja is the only one to have played all 8 tests this season (forgetting the final South Africa test).
The non- selection of Renshaw, the selection of Labaschagne, the non- selection of Burns until the second last test, the rightful dropping of Shaun and Mitch Marsh have all been so disruptive to the potential development of this side.
Shaun Marsh stinking up the side for six tests in a row, Khawaja being useless in most of the tests and Mitch Marsh turning to puss again with the bat have been highly disruptive to a team trying to find its feet.
Khawaja and Shaun Marsh in particular really should have kicked on by now as the senior players. The fact that neither of them did over the summer is really hard to take.