If Majak Daw can pull it together then so can Smack.
Interesting to compare his year with the year of Josh Jenkins.
Smack is kicking his butt in Frees Against.
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Straight swap for Wallis
When he gets his hands on the ball his ruckwork is ridiculously good.
Itās just a shame that heās too short and it rarely happens.
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With most players you take the good with the bad, in Smacks case the sublime with the insipid. There is no inbetween.
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While heās been useful this year, how many games would SMack seriously have played had we had Stringer, a fit Daniher and an in-form Stewart available? Any more than any other year? I mean, really?
Other than one game, heās been serviceable and is the living embodiment of a depth player (as has been the pattern over his entire career).
As with Hartley, Iād be content to keep him as a ābreak glass in case of emergencyā back-up type, but if anyone offered us a 2nd-rounder (or better) for either of them we should sign immediately and head for the exit, giggling quietly under our breath on the way out.
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Assuming Looney retires who are our backup rucks if Smack goes.
Draper? Is he remotely ready.
If Smack goes weād need to bring in some kind of back up. Bellcho doesnāt exactly have a reliable body.
I actually think McNernan is improving. Heās reducing the number of ruck frees against and there are less brain fades and some really good contested grabs. Heāll be cherry ripe by GF day and ready to tear the '17 AA capt a newāun. Rance will be busy taking acting lessons from Steven Seagal and the French world cup football/diving team to prepare for the smackdown.
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No.
But by the end of next year, at current rate of progress, maybe.
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He ruckwork is passable by AFL level, itās his kicking and his follow up work that he needs to work on, a good preseason can address those areas. I think he should get a few games next year if Belly needs a rest or gets a short term injury, but you wouldnāt want to be reliant on someone as raw as him going into finals
I know for a fact we had spoken with Pruess from Nth, however with Bellch signing 2 years I donāt see how he would be better off here as opposed to North behind Goldstein.
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His ruck work is ok, and progressing well, his athletecism is excellent, his kicking is reasonable, but his positioning, understanding of the game, his reading of the play etc is a fair way off. Canāt correct that in an off season. Heās going to be a pretty handy player I think, but I wouldnāt be wanting to play him at AFL level next year if I could avoid it.
Personally Iād try and get Loony to go around again.
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I canāt see Leuey going on. And itāll be difficult trying to convince another 2nd string ruckman to come to us to play behind Bellcho with Draper clearly our future choice. So unless there are any good ruckman around 22-24, who are well behind the pecking order in their current team and would back themselves to displace Bellch or stay ahead of Draper, then I can see our ruck situation next year being somewhat worrisome.
Maybe a state league guy is our best bet. Ideally who ever we get would be able to play key forward but those types donāt exactly grow on trees. If Werribeeās Josh Porter was 2 inches taller heād be a good option, Zac Clarke is apparently good in the WAFL too or we could try and unpoach Tom Campell from the Dogs.
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Agreed.
We arenāt going to be able to entice any decent rucks who are 2nd in line of their own teams first ruck.
We just need to provide cover to Belly until Draper is ready. Looney &a Smack are it, and Smack realistically IMO is now best 22 fwd for us anyway.
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We donāt need to be that nice, to our existing ruckman.
If an incoming ruckman doesnāt back themselves to be better than Draper we probably donāt want them.
As for Bellcho he is 29. The time will come sooner rather than later were he is the backup.
When Richmond brought in Nankervis his form warranted that Maric became the backup it might not have been anticipated that would happen so quickly.
If thereās a genuine option on the market like Pruess it would solve a big list management hole. Pinning everything on Draper succeeding Bellcho is risky. Sounds like heās doing everything asked of him. But doesnāt mean heāll get there.
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I donāt think thatās true.
Nankervis was being given first ruck spot and Maric was only rookied IIRC for 2017 season.
Nank was also 3rd in line at Swans. Preuss is next in line and 2yrs on contract I think.
Weād need to pick off someone whose back in pecking order but also happy to be Bellyās #2. Maybe a possibility if returning to Victoria to be closer to home etc.
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Youāve also got to factor in the cost of acquiring someone like Preuss, North wonāt gift wrap him, especially for us. I wouldnāt want to fork out all that much for a backup. Considering how Draper is rated internally and Bellcho being in best form I doubt the club would want to give up either of our first 2 pick in this years draft.
But since Norf seem to be enamored by Alex Morgan maybe we can package up McNeice with our 3rd for Preuss 
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Yeah might not be this year but sometime in the next couple I suspect we will trade in a mature ruck.
Dependent on Drapers improvement.
Surely Smack is almost the perfect back up ruck in an age of carrying only one genuine ruck into a game.
Very curious to see how we go when we have this forward line:
FF: Walla Stringer Fanta
HF: Smack JD Smith
with Bags, coming in when Smith, Stringer, Walla and Fanta in the midfield (ie: most of the time). With TBC also waltzing in to full forward when Smack in the ruck.
If our midfield is functioning okay and these guys are kicking okay, then we will be going a lot better than okay.
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I agree, having Smack instead of Stewart just looks more balanced, allows everyone to play their natural game as well. And youāre right as long as SMack doesnāt give away too many free kicks he is the perfect backup. I wouldnāt be surprised if the AFL addresses the rucking infringements when they change all the other rules, itās a farce when neither ruckman know who the freekick is for.
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