Moose1414
Club Legend
- Apr 11, 2015
- 1,720
- 1,878
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Banned
- #8,026
Of course it is. I'd be extremely surprised if Gold Coast got anything more than that for Smith, for example.
It's way overs for a marginal ruckman. Look at Hampson, McIntosh, Trent West, Stefan Martin etc in recent years.
You're massively undervaluing the pick and overvaluing the need for a third-string ruckman. Look at the ruck pairs who've won premierships recently:
McEvoy/Hale
Bailey/Hale
Mumford/Pyke
Ottens/West
Jolly/Brown
Ottens/Blake
Campbell/Renouf
Would going into a GF with McInnes, McGovern, Derrickx or Hannath as the second ruck really be any worse than Trent West, Mark Blake or Brent Renouf? We've got far more pressing needs than overpaying for a ruck that would be our third string.
Sorry, didn't mean to say I think 17 can't get an average ruck. I meant a quality ruck. I agree plenty of sides play and also have success with crap ruck combinations, they go with what they've got and build the side around that. Our side is built to a large extent around ruck dominance. When we don't win the tap we can struggle. Its a weakness we should work on but I think if the sides built around Nic/Scott dominating in the square and one of them goes down then having a crap 3rd option to come in means our game plan falls apart to an extent. I'd like to be the one team in the league with 3 genuine options, which I think Will could possibly offer for 2 years or so while we're in that precious window. Because if the last 3 seasons are anything to go buy all 3 are going to be playing plenty of games. I don't subscribe to the theory Sinclairs replacement will languish in the WAFL all season while the other 2 sail through unscathed.