Don’t get me wrong, I still love him, just that they could have gotten him a big brother too.
Yeah ZClarke didn’t have a great game. But surely our mids are able to at least try and get to the ball.
I think our mids are at least 50% to blame for the thrashing we got on Saturday in the middle.
Was poor on Saturday obviously but I think Aliir is the type that is going cause trouble for him because he is so much more nimble and smarter than Clarke.
At least Goldstein won’t rove Clarke’s taps nor smash him on ground level.
All we need Clarke to do is nullify Goldstein’s influence by splitting ruck contests. Mckernan can’t do this verse Goldy coz he doesn’t have the reach
3 Likes
I think you’re making excuses for a spud. It’s not our midfielders fault he kept hitting it straight to either there midfielders or his direct opponent.
Yeah I couldn’t believe the number of uncontested ruck contests Clarke had where he ended up putting it down the throat of a swans player.
It’s either no plans/chemistry with our mids or crap tap work. Probably the latter
1 Like
One thing Belly can do really well is feed it down to the Essendon onballers.
1 Like
Correct, TBC’s ruckwork is underrated. He would have had a day out on Saturday.
3 Likes
Come back T-Bell!!!
5 Likes
Yes, it certainly seems that way. I still think we could make better use of our speed. Meaning why have super quick blokes down back if they have to wait for our fwds to setup.
Zlark vs gold giving me the shivers…
Lloyd said he’s worried about Zlarke and our chances for rest of season
Bartel not so much since he was winning hit outs but just being too predictable always hitting it forward… and sometimes to Aliir / to space Aliir got to if hadn’t bothered going up to contest ruck
Midfield and ruck coaches should easily be able to drastically improve what went on
There is also no way Goldy will just sit back, should be genuine ruck contest each time
3 Likes
One of very few sensible posts in this thread. The fact that Zlarke has hardly played in recent weeks, the fact he likely has barely had continuity as an AFL ruckman in his career (assuming Sandilands prevented this), let alone for Essendon, the fact he hasn’t got a chance to get confidence as an AFL player should tell people that the fact when the chips were down in the last quarter and he was able to focus on what was needed from him and he did it and helped win the game means we should encourage him rather than denigrate him, given he is a really important player if he can “bring it” in the next several weeks while Belly is out.
If he can play with confidence I believe he could be pivotal in helping us reach and maybe be successful in a final or two.
Against Goldie at least he can just go for it and not contemplate humiliation by being outplayed by a non traditional ruckman.
I hope he can show a bit next week and the crowd can get around him.
Give him a break, it could help a lot.
10 Likes
Allir is the type that gives Clarke trouble.
Also in that group:
Goldstein
Larkey
Hickey
Campbell
Marshall
NicNat
Hickey
Grundy
Cox
Sinclair
Naismith
Darcy
Sandilands
Ryder
Lycett
Gawn
Pruess
English
Roughead
Stanley
Abbott
Ratogulea
Phillips
Kruezer
DeKoning
Nankervis
Coleman-Jones
Chol
Martin
McInnerney
Witts
Wright
Mumford
Simpson
Jacobs
O’Brien
Pinnonet
Ceglar
McEvoy
12 Likes
I think he would do better against a traditional ruckman.
3 Likes
So paddy Ryder eh?
Idiot.
4 Likes
That is a pretty comprehensive list of AFL ruckmen though, I’ll give him that.
But if we play Richmond in future, and Ivan Soldo is rucking, Clarke will have his measure. Which is a nice assurance.
5 Likes
Got Hickey in there twice.
Zac Clarke is up there with Zantuck, williams and Cole, masterstrokes at the trade/selection table
Nah.
He was a free hit.
We needed another ruck, obviously, so we got one.
I don’t know if there were any better options in that pool.
And call me an optimist, but his season’s not done yet.
It’s possible he needs the now famous time to gel.
7 Likes