In a scratch where the idea was to get as many miles into Drapers legs…I’m guessing we want him playing seniors ASAP, so who cares where two younger, raw, physically weaker future rucks played.
Get Draper playing senior footy consistently, put TBC or Phillips out to pasture and then develop the other two ruckman. No need to rush their development this year. Get them bigger and stronger and worry about their “ruck” development next year
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You’re speaking as though these guys’ development will delayed by years. There may be a log jam now but Bellchambers, McKernan, and even Phillips are not long-term prospects. At least one of those guys will not be on the list next year. This is very much a temporary problem.
Plus, Draper wasn’t even fit to play scratch matches until mid-July and would have only got a couple of games before the end of the season in a normal year. That would have left Bellchambers/Phillips and Bryan rucking VFL and Crauford perhaps in VFL seconds for most of this year. So, had this year gone to plan, they would all have been rucking anyway.
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And we knew Draper would have a delayed start to the year through injury.
So Crauford is rookied for one year.
A typical Essendon season sees Belly out with a calf by Rd 4.
Phillips does a finger in Rd 6.
So without Crauford you’re chucking Bryan, or, God forbid, Smack into the first ruck role from Rd 7.
It’s happened twice in the last few years.
If Crauford doesn’t show anything he’s gone at the end of the year, Belly retires, and we’re back to 3 rucks, 2 of whom are newbies - Draper & Bryan.
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Uneven grass strikes again.
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I bet the wheelchair guys hate the uneven court.
Also, looking at this I start to understand why Thatch can’t get a senior game. WTF is he doing in the front row?
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Swapping hair dye tips with Guelfi?
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Plays small.
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I think the point is that not playing ruck (or playing very little ruck) for 12 mths is losing a year of their development. Playing ruck this year somewhere is not “rushing their development”, it is a normal, necessary part of their development.
PS that is not to say I am a critic of the recruitment of Bryan and Crauford this year. If they were identified as talents, and available cheap (Crauford, not so much Bryan, instead of whom we could have got Rantall) it was fair enough to pick them up. But it still throws up the development problem.
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On this subject, I’m guessing it is not within the rules to allow a listed player to play in another comp. But maybe it should be. Crauford could be playing SANFL this year, while we retain rights to him by having him on our list. Doesn’t NBA allow something like this?
A fair few mullets growing with our big guys
If any of them are even quarter-decent as a forward, in the bloody seniors.
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It’s not only allowed, it’s done regularly. So normally, the guys who aren’t in the VFL first team play in other leagues. Of course, with no VFL or those other leagues due to COVID, it puts us in a pinch.
However, Crauford isn’t even really on the list - he’s a pre-season supplemental pick for Johnson (due to his ACL). He’s short term cover, with the advantage that if he does show a lot we can add him on. In fact, at the end of the year if it’s like Snelling & Pickett, he’s technically a DFA and any club can pick him up, including us. So worrying too much about his development is a little silly.
As others have said, if this had been a normal season Draper wouldn’t have been taking a VFL spot for most of the early rounds. So we’d have had plenty of space for Bryan to get a go.
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It has happened but it’s very unusual (for us, at least). It’s pretty hard to have players left over after you include 22 in the AFL team and 22 in the VFL team (plus maybe a non-playing emergency).
In any case, the AFL has outright banned it this year, to keep the master race pure and clean.
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I should have added:
In a normal year they would be playing ruck and learning their craft…wether it be in the VFL or lower leagues, but this isn’t a normal year so the main priority is getting Draper ready ASAP and getting some form of football into the rest.
Nick Bryan
“He played full-back and spoiled really well. His closing speed was really good. He probably had four or five spoils where he closed down his man really well. His work below the knees, decision-making and skill execution were at a really good level. He hasn’t played back-line a lot, but his improvement over the last three weeks has been great. He’s been very competitive in the air, which is what we’re looking for.”
They seem to like playing him in defence.
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Another defender seems the logical choice at the moment.
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So basically everyone was brilliant.
Hmmmm
More encouragement than serious critique one would think.
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I’m sure there was a VFL game at some point in the last few years where we won by over 100 but one of the regular VFL watchers hammered basically all of our players with his report on here. @theDJR would probably have something like this in his huge collection of bookmarks…or just remember the game off the top of his head.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure the person writing these VFL scratch match reports, isn’t the same person 
I do remember one game where I gave nearly everyone a “meh” despite a comfy win.
Note: it’s a hell of a lot easier to review 10 rather than 23!
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I would like to think the message going out to the public is very different to what is shared in private. I’m guessing each player would have lots of learnings to work on.
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