How does bringing in Bellchambers help that whatsoever?
Agree. We probably need Bellchambers and Stewart in.
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He canāt ruck a whole game on 3/4 of a ground against a normal ruckman.
Belly and Looney can.
Iām cool with Belly, but more upside to Langford than Stewart for mine. Langers could have had 2-3 goals in each of his outings but he fluffed a few. Iām comfortable heāll get better and isnāt really a liability at present
Belly? Ruck a full game?
One of the more laughable things Iāve heard
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It doesnāt. Joe will always provide ruck back up. Thatās part of life for a 6ā 8āā mobile guy.
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Yes, some people dont seem to have moved on from the mid-2000s when teams still fielded 2 guys who did nothing but ruck
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He gets monstered against the elite rucks. Goldstein, Martin, Gawn will all destroy him but I like the fact he did not give up the other night. He continued to contest even though it was obvious Martin was far superior. Some of this has to do with his height obviously.
Two years ago he was in great form and got beaten by the number one ruck in the comp on a great night in embarrassing fashion (Goldy). Dropping him was a mistake as he was clearly out-manned and had run out of answers on the night. His beating there was nothing to do with form or lack of effort IMV.
Against rucks of his standard or even a bit better standards he competes fine and when turned on can destroy the opposition around the ground. If he only he was 10cm taller I guessā¦
Clearly we need Leueys tap work but unfortunately he is useless round the ground. Its a gap in our list.
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It was kind of sad watching Smack in that 3rd quarter. Martin was in full party trick mode and Smack literally shrugged his shoulders a few times after another Martin piece of magic. He was unstoppable, and Iām not sure any ruckman in the league could have done much to quell his run. But someone like Lueie surely could have negated it a bit better than Smack. If his answer is to shrug his shoulders, heās basically given up.
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As long as we take a recognised, full sized ruckman to Adelaide, Iām okay with that. Still have nightmares of Lovett-Murray in the ruck
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exactly. his body language was shocking in that 3rd quarter and to be honest I thought he was lucky not to give away another 2-3 free kicks, so sloppy was he getting in the ball ups. He got murdered and itās impossible to see how heāll keep his place. This isnāt the first time itās happened after allā¦
I really think weāll be too tall in the forward half.
Is Luey fit? Iād probably be bringing him in ahead of Bellchambers.
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Yes. Crow said heād be available this week
I think Mckernan should keep his spot in the ruck for this week since he played good against the hawks and is way more mobile than luenburger and bell. You couldnāt see them kick that goal form 50 meters that he did against the hawks. Also he was playing against one of the best ruckman in the league so you canāt be too harsh on him.
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McKernan leading the stats table: well, the frees against one. 9, two clear of the chasers. Also tied for clanger winner.
(Side stats: top four goal kickers all have just 1 point each. Zerrett is leading kicks and Fantasy points. We appear to be spreading the load: Hurley is 65th for time on ground, the only one of ours in the top 83.)
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I think he stays as a back up ruck/forward this week.
Also Iāve noticed teams putting KPP in the centre bounce as midfielders. Hawthorn did it against us with Roughie and Melbourne did it yesterday at the start of the game with Hogan. Not sure why they do this but maybe we should give it a go.
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I reckon itās down to Langford or mckernan making way for luey this week. They are the two obvious ones, because you can argue that Langford could be dropped and mckernan play that third leading tall/backup ruck. There is actually a pretty good arguement for that setup. I think mckernan will be making way though
But I think Langford offers a bit more because he can float through the middle and forward line. I hope Langford plays as that leading mid sized forward. Structurally, I think we look even better when we do that (itās a shame lav is injured) and this is why I hope Francis picks up some form very soon because id love to see him cement that spot
He was not inconsistent; he just got beaten by a better player.
Stefan Martin is very under-rated by many here. He is playing his best footy now at 30 years of age and over 100 games. Smack is 26 and has played 50 games, a bit smaller and lighter, and has not played as much in the ruck.
Smack had the better of McEvoy, who is much bigger and more experienced, but not as mobile. Daniher did better in ruck contests vs Martin.
Smack deserves a few more games even if Loony and TBell are ready, though he is not potentially a best 22 player.
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Smack should of had about 50 free kicks against him, he was constantly pulling the jumper and pushing down on Martinās shoulders.
His Ruck work is terrible, his ability at ground level is better than both Bellco and Luey, However id still rather NOT give away free kicks.
IMO this should be his last game regardless of form, we have 2 ruck of decent money that when fit should be in the side.
All I can say is thanks for the depth Smack.
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