#39 - Vigo Visentini

All well and good.

But he has to show form not club need. Half the guys here just want to plonk him in the 1st for their own gratification. Does no one anyany favors if not ready.

Vigo plays and gets injured because he’s not ready

If we play Vigo, he’ll be the third tall forward, behind Wright and Caddy and will do very little ruck work, just the odd spell to give Goldstein a breather. That way we can keep Wright as KPF where he belongs.

Langford only turns up for one game in four as it is and has just done his level best to cripple Reid at training… With Vigo in we could afford to send Langford back to the Magoos.

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I’ve liked his ruck work much more than his forward craft. But a big improvement between year 1 and 2 isn’t atypical, so he might be looking great if he’d continued this year as a forward.

At least we know that if/when he does come in to the team that he is more than capable of playing forward.

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Hard disagree, where they were drafted would definitely impact their ability to be ready, as those rucks who are more athletically developed and physically developed are far more likely to be taken early than those who are not.

And those who are more physically and/or athletically developed are definitely more ready to play early.

The above was a general comment however, not directed towards Vigo. I haven’t seen him, but I sure hope he’s ready, cos he’s gonna play at some point.

No, Vigo should never play in the same side as Goldy and Wright. It would only be when one of them is rested or injured.

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Why not ?

On present form, Wright is too valuable as a KPF to pissaround with him in the ruck. But Goldy needs a series of short breaks from ruckwork to get his breath back. Vigo has shown ability in both areas. He’s 19, which is young, but Simon Madden started as 3rd forward/2nd ruck at the age of 16.

It’s time to give Vigo a run in the Ones.

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Think you might be right there @percebushby .

Come next round (and a quicker turnaround btw) Goldy will be needing more help before he breaks. So if we limit 2MPs ruckwork and bring in a fresh Vigo who btw has plenty of height on big Nank to help Goldy it might make sense if matchups and conditions work vs the Tigs. He won’t be phased by Nankervis who as each week goes by, starts to resemble old Neville Crowe even more, for mine :slightly_smiling_face:

From the VFL report post North match on Vigo:
ā€œHe’s getting back behind the ball really well, his follow-ups are getting more consistent, he took on two rucks on the weekend and beat them both.ā€

Last week v Swans he won the HOs and helped serve it up for Tsatas and co to run riot.

In for Dreamtime … under the lights.
What an introduction that’d be for the young fella.

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I’d disagree on the physical development normally being a key part of draftee ruckman being taken high.if your argument was they had better tools, more skill, better hands, whatever, then I’d agree, but young rucks are never physically ready, so recruiters project what they think they will grow into. Guys like English are not physically developed, and are not necessarily any more physically ready that rookies in my opinion.

Why is it that so many posters seem to think that playing in the ruck makes you more likely to get injured?
Ruckman push and shove and lean against each other at every contest, and so it is tiring. But they don’t get injured doing it. In fact, because they don’t run as fast and in bursts, I suspect they are less susceptible to hamstring and calf injuries.
And so , IMO it’s rubbish to say we need to ā€œprotectā€ Wright by not playing him in the ruck.

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I suspect at least some of it stems from the PCL’s/etc we used to see a fair bit of when rucks used to just jump at each other with their knees.

Doesn’t really happen all that much these days though.

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That’s true… did the AFL act on that few years back when rucks were leading with their knee into the oppo ruck ribcage? Eerily Lethal said on ā€œOn the Couchā€ just the other night he’d like to see rucks running and leaping into the ball ups and CBAs etc. again. Easy for him to say that I suppose but I admit its unfortunately a part of the game sort of disappearing.

Old Don McKenzie as an undersized ruck back in the day had a great leap on him, and often beat the likes of big John Nicholls because of it.

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They put the centre circle in years ago and got rid of third man up more recently.

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Yes,the centre circle was to reduce PCL injuries in rucks, for when their knees clashed in to each other. And it has been an effective change.

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Guys like English were far more athletically developed. You just decided to ignore that I wrote that part? It’s not just size in the ruck contest they need to be ready for, the ability for them to run out the game is far far more important and relevant to their level of readiness for the seniors.

I also didn’t say they were physically ā€œreadyā€, so I would agree with you there, but they are more often closer.

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Don McKenzie was not undersized back in the day. IIRC he was 6’4", while Nicholls was 6’2". McKenzie was the same size as Ditterich who debuted in the ruck at a ridiculously young age, l want to say 17 but can’t be sure. Big Carl was a high jumper in high school and had a prodigious leap early on.

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I think Carl was 2ā€ taller though agree Ditterich had an even better leap. I checked afl tables and think you’ll find Macca at 6’2ā€ CJ, just a tad shorter than big Nick. He also conceded plenty of height to Polly Farmer, Len Thomson and Gabelich, Crowe, Percy Jones, Schultz and the like.

But McKenzie was a true Bomber warrior and would carry our ruck solo week after week. Pretty well until Moss arrived in '73.

Anyway, I’m waffling. Just looking forward to seeing Vigo debut v soon.

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No way Don McKenzie was 6’4ā€.
Brian Sampson was 6’4ā€ and he was considered a tall ruckman back in the day.

McKenzie was more 6’1 or maybe 6’2ā€

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At the time he was reported as 6’1". And when I have written about him before I called him the last of the 6’1" ruckmen.

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