We already have Tippa for that. Until one of the Davey twins can take it over
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The rucks cannot develop their craft when you have five on the list - We only play one in the AFL team, then even if you assume one is injured, you have to find minutes for 3 rucks in the VFL - It doesn’t work.
Most ruck craft is developed off field against their teammates.
Bryan and Crauford will both need to learn how to play kpp if they want to be anything other than a backup.
You’d also have carry over emergencies.
And by the end of 2021 we’ll only have 3 on the list, all under 25
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So why play VFL or any scratch matches at all ? The club is paying the price for unbalanced recruiting.
It is not unbalanced recruiting, it is planning which is what you and everyone else has been screaming out for.
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Other than just planning for the future (retirements) they would/should be allowing for the very high likelihood that at least one of the younger rucks wont make the grade
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I think it was good planning, we’re over loaded this year but I expect that it will go like this.
End of 2020 belly Gone, potentially Joe traded.
End of 2021 Smack and Philips will be on their last legs. Crauford could be a bust and as a rookie numbers wise that’s the most likely outcome.
So 2022 we would (assuming it goes to plan). Draper as No1, Bryan No 2 hopefully Joe still playing and pinch hitting.
This also means that we don’t have to spend draft picks or trading on a ruckman for 2-3 years, we are stacked in the backline and small forwards so we can concentrate on mids, medium and tall forwards for a bit.
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If Draper and Joe are well established those few years down the track, Jones’ progress will make things interesting.
Bryan is the very obvious pinch-hitting ruck, but I struggle with the idea of triple beanpoles of Joe and Bryan, at over 2m, plus Jones (who is maybe 197 but still growing).
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I thought Jones was under 195
Dodoro said 197 when he was recruited, and on a quick search he is listed as 194 or 196 elsewhere. He’s definitely not 194, though.
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Jeremy Cameron size. We’ll go with that.
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Hf: Davey Jones Mosquito
F: Tippa Daniher Bryan
E: Eyre
Does look a bit tall. Maybe worthwhile experiment to see if Bryan can also play key defence.
Stringer into the midfield permanently?
I had Stringer and Fantasia on HFF but took them out too tall/vanilla lol.
If Stringer could become a midifled beast it would be amazing.
I just cant see it permanently. Given hes older than petracca, and Petracca has made the step this year.
Would probably replace one of Jones/Bryan in that setup with stringer.
Jones is very mobile, he won’t be slowing us down, and he is no schmuck when it comes to defensive pressure.
Who knows what mobility Joe will have left when/if he gets back on the field.
It gets more confusing when you add Stringer to three talls you mentioned.
And we haven’t even factored in the logjam for KPFs we’ll have when the Davey twins arrive at Tulla
WTF. They’ve been unbalanced for years, but having 5 ricks this year, including one coming off a knee, and one 18yo, is somehow “unbalanced”.
These guys will fight it out for the spots. They’ll battle against each other at training, 5 times a week. And then the coaches will decide on the best match day lineups. We might end up playing 2 seniors and 2 reserves rucks, we don’t yet know the coaches long term vision when they have Draper or Bryan available. We know they haven’t been keen on playing Bellchambers and Phillips together, so far, but that is all we know.
In every flag in my lifetime we’ve had a good ruck setup. Madden with support from Merrett, Salmon etc, Somerville and Salmon, Barnes and Alessio. And the best we’ve been in the last decade was when Ryder and Bellchambers were playing at career best level. Investing in taking our ruck division from being in the bottom half dozen (being generous) that it was last year was absolutely crucial.
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I rarely comment on recruiting - You can’t have 5 ruck types on your list because they don’t receive the necessary development in their craft.
True rucks need to play in the ruck to continue their development - An AFL team and VFL team doesn’t allow for 5 rucks to function in their true position - For heaven’s sake we played 4 rucks in the Scratch Match with TBELL spending lots of time forward, while Bryan and Crauford played as back pockets - The only one who got decent ruck time was Draper.