Would rather go into next season With Tommy, Draper and Smack as the ruck options then seeing Loony go round again.
Loony is cooked as an AFL player. Would be a great get for the VFL side but that’s about it
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Don’t want to have to move your FF into the ruck though
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true, but he has shown at time he thrives in there in small bursts
Lovett-Murray?
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But if that guy was even further back than Draper in development?
LAV2.0 looks to have more agility and IIRC his highlights vid to get drafted showed pretty competent goal kicking.
Naturally you’d expect he’d be getting his development there first as Looney has to be played in ruck to ensure viable 2nd ruck option if needed and Draper looks a ruck only type.
No doubt LAV2.0 still getting ruck craft coaching at training though.
Dont go down that route S_K
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You would certainly hope so.
I’ve got him penciled in as Hooker’s replacement at FB in 3-5 years time, should replace Hartley’s role in the VFL as of next year. A modern FB if ever I’ve seen one.
I hear you @S_K , it is a real dilemma with our ruck development.
It is not unheard of for 3 ruckmen to get injured in one season, so having TBC, Leuenie, Smack and Draper in the wings is desirable to stop us getting caught out like we were when we tried to play NatRat as a ruckman in a final against Adelaide in 2009 and got done by 96 points.
Boot’s point is relevant and means he has to be developed as a footballer in match play, which isn’t terrible. If Leuenie retires at the end of the season on the basis that Draper is close enough to be ready as a back up in combination with Smack, then young Lav can be a back up to Draper in the VFL with Smack either in the AFL or VFL primarily as a forward with bursts in the ruck.
It is not perfect, but is an inevitable conundrum if you have 5 or more players in the squad, who can seriously play as ruckmen. In reality you either have to be an elite ruckman with endurance who can play there ~90% of the game or you need to be able to hold your own in another position and be a back up, it is very hard having 2 developing ruckmen in the VFL as well as a fairly pure ruck veteran, and a ruck forward all trying to play in the same game. Not to mention fitting in Stewart, Francis, Hartley and Zerk as up to 8 players over 6’ 4" in the VFL side.
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The plan for LAV2.0 would be for him to build an AFL ready rig before he plays ruck. This year is the ideal year for him to learn something about forward craft. Also Luke himself said he would like to play tall forward like JoeD as well as ruck, so given he broke some ribs I’m not surprised they are taking it slowly with him.
Next season he can switch with Draper ruck/forward 20/80 if he has the body for it. Smack is a forward not a ruckman.
To say this is a misleading oversimplification.
While I agree that you can get away with not playing Smack as a ruckman in the VFL, it would be wasteful not to use him as one against the undersized excuses for 2nd ruckmen a lot of sides are playing in the AFL.
If you let Smack loose on undersize second rucks, this ensures Smack stays involved in the game and plays to all his strengths. Playing as a second ruck I think brings out the best in Smack as a forward, because it encourages him to try everything and be more dominant.
Smack isn’t so much a forward as a forward/ruck.
In kind of the sense that Ryder is a ruck/forward - he needs to play as a ruck to stay switched on enough to be a part time, but never a full time forward.
But I might be underselling Smack as a forward, he can function as a forward more readily than Ryder, which is just as well, because he is not in the same ballpark as Ryder as a ruck.
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In McKernan
Out Daniher
and suddenly Essendon’s form turns around.
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I’ve been very critical of Smack, but he’s playing really well at the moment and been vital to us. Right now I’d be comfortable with a 2019 ruck division of Belly, Smack and Draper. Lav developing, Joe as emergency depth.
It will be interesting how many years Smack gets offered. He probably hasn’t been on great coin, I imagine he needs to nail this contract.
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2018 season…
–Smack (peanuts) ----- vs ---- Jenkins (big $)
Will be thoroughly deserving of a solid contract and good on him after battling away for so long!
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McKernan to me is now best 22, even with a full list to choose from.
Fantasia - Daniher - Tippa
Stringer - McKernan - Green/ Baguley/ etc
It has a beautiful balance of fast smalls, lead up marking and contested marking…with the added bonus of McKernan as a 2nd ruck to give TBell a chop out.
I think it has been the ideal setup on paper for a couple years now ever since McKernan started to have some games where he killed it in the ruck. A lot of blitz had him pencilled in to their team when Smack first made it onto the senior list. But the problem back then was that he couldn’t influence a game as a forward, it was all just potential. Fast forward to now and all of a sudden he’s become a fairly consistent goal kicker who can also wrestle in a contest and bring the ball to ground. I really like Stewart but his lack of contested marking is an issue.
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Absolutely! He’s been doing it in bursts, but those bursts have been quite damaging and at critical junctures. He’s really been getting the team up and about imo. I thought he was pretty good in the first half against the Suns, when he didn’t have many mates - he was really working his arss off and was one of the few shining lights. Needs to be a little more selfish though! If he starts backing himself he could be much better.
Who would have thought at the start of the year that McNernan would have been one of our most important players?
Funny game this football.
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Who would have thought our 2017 league-leading primary strength (without McKernan) would be blooody awful in 2018?
If it wasn’t we’d be top four right now.
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