You say "after consultation with the leadership group and coaches"...
Surely if this situation actually did happen, and I dont know if it did, coz the only person saying it did is you, who heard it secondhand apparenly, the forward in question would have said at least something to the coach/leadership group, and they must have said NO. end of discussion. they didn't trust that with his fitness, etc that he would be able to turn the game by being in the middle.
Also, hopefully you coach and get some egotistical players in your team, coz once you let one dictate where they play and when, you will generate a fair bit of disharmony in the playing group unless they're all mates, and agree on which position every player should be playing at any given time. There's only so many midfield positions, and if you have 5 senior players wanting to fill the 3 on-ball position (ruck excluded obviously) what are you gonna do?
Let them all go in? Nope. Coz thats a free the other way.
Let them work it out on the field? Maybe, but what if they don't like each other that much and it causes tension and arguments, while the games in the balance and emotions and adrenaline are high? Could be trouble.
Let the coach make the decision, take the brunt of the heat from the players, and keep the actual playing group on the field as unified as possible? I would. Maybe you would try something different, and thats fine.
This is all hypothetical coz this may not have even happened.
Im done too, I have work to do.