John Williams v saints last game of 2008
I think we only had 2 emergencies even named in the squad. 5 or 6 guys picked who weren’t fit.
Many of the team were his equal. We were rubbish.
My pet hate with Zac Clarke is when one of our players has taken a mark on our back flank/wing, the opposition ruckman is positioned the next kick down the line, whereas Zac stands in the middle of the ground in no man’s land. All he has to do is make a contest, but he doesn’t.
And how many of those 45 happened when Clarke was out of the ruck?
Apologies, due to the tone of your question, i assumed you were referring to his “good” game against north, my brain didn’t register “against the crows”.
Actually, no! My point still stands, I thought he was excellent value when we played the crows, despite being in hospital.
Well luckily for you I’m a giant nuffie, so I can tell you it’s 10.
v Clarke: 35
v Brown: 7
v Hooker: 3
Ryder: Clarke 17, Brown 2, Hooker 1
Ladhams: Clarke 16, Brown 4, Hooker 2
Dixon: Clarke 1, Brown 1
Marshall: Clarke 1
Edit: I suppose it’s useful to say that means
Clarke: 16-35
Brown: 2-7
Hooker: 1-3
Sheesh, ouch.
Well he broke even against Dixon so that’s a positive.
That should keep the haters at bay.
For me, 1971 was the absolute low point. Michael Bates, John May, Andrew Radchenko…not quite up to it, unfortunately.
And before that, Brian Pirouet, David Starbuck and Stuart Barclay
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I mean, he was technically still our best ruckman, going down 2.2:1, Hooker 3:1, Brown 3.5:1
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So the bloke that for the most part competed against 2 ruckman, one of whom was an AA ruckman, got roughly 1/3 of all taps that the three contested?
Roughly 1/3, yes. The actual numbers are 14-33 for contests involving only those three because of other matchups. So in contests involving only the ruckmen, Clarke won 30% of his contests, Ryder 65% of his, and Ladhams 76% of his.
Clarke v Ryder 9-17
Clarke v Ladhams 5-16
Clarke v Dixon 2-1
Clarke v Marshall 0-1
And to round it out while I’m here, hitouts to advantage was Clarke 5, Ladhams 6, Ryder 6, so Clarke had a better proportion of hitouts to advantage.
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So… You’re saying he rucked better than Cale Hooker and Mitch Brown?
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I’m here making the big calls.
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I am usually a staunch defender of all Bomber players, especially when courage or effort is questioned. I think most here are questioning Zeds ability in the bigtime, not his heart, courage or effort.
Yep he is not the first choice for ruck, but he clearly is out of his depth. He is a large unit at 203 cm, looks very fit and is not that slow; I do wonder about his instruction from coaches and why our mid-field seem to be always where he doesn’t hit it. And he cannot kick further than 40 metres it seems, and he handballing is poor and not well directed.
He is better at throw-ins and at the centre bounce maybe he should just run straight at the ball and smash it (or try to) down the field. I would not give him another game until we see some ability in at VFL level.
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Play a tall mid as a ruckman. Clark offers nothing. Or at least Hartley, he can kick a ball better an pretty sure can handball an mark it. Something Clark can’t do any of
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I reckon he plays a blinder this week.
@ me I got time
Agreed. He’s looked like ripping a game apart all season, hopefully this is the one.
He’ll be our No.1 ruck by next season imo
If Clarke had any decency he would have a chat with Woosha and ask that someone else gets a go this week, theirs just too much riding on this. Brown and Smack with hooker chipping in will be much better
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