Roast Zac Clarke

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I know I'll get lambasted for this, but I didn't mind his game as a wingman when Harves put him out there.
 
malpaso said:
Well if we followed the Hawks model they actually play the following:
1. Ruck / Ruck = McEvoy
2. Ruck / Forward = Hale/Ceglar
3. Forward / Ruck = Roughead*

* Played more forward in recent years but the option is there.

We have:
1. Ruck / Ruck = Sandilands
2. Ruck / Forward = Clarke
3. ????
Click to expand...
Forward/Ruck = Taberner
 
malpaso said:
Well if we followed the Hawks model they actually play the following:
1. Ruck / Ruck = McEvoy
2. Ruck / Forward = Hale/Ceglar
3. Forward / Ruck = Roughead*

* Played more forward in recent years but the option is there.

We have:
1. Ruck / Ruck = Sandilands
2. Ruck / Forward = Clarke
3. ????
Click to expand...
Forward/Ruck = Taberner
 

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He isn't worse than most teams second ruck. What frustrates is that he has the ability to really impact a game. We have seen glimpses of it but his consistency has been down. Main thing is Sandi is still fit and healthy a couple weeks out from the finals. Wouldn't have thought tweaking the rotations and systems for Sandi would be a good idea at this stage unless forced.
 
Clarke could potentially play a variety of other roles, his athleticism allows for that. I think he should be used in ruck sparingly, who can forget his hard running and kicks for goal from outside the 50 in late 2011- early 2012.
 
I don't know why they didn't trial him down back for a few games this year. He could be a very good loose man in defence with his height, speed and leap. Mark Blicavs has looked very good at times playing that role.
 
I did say something about him playing the Dusty Fletcher role in defence a while back. He could be a decent lock down tall defender. He has a great vertical leap, good fists and good closing speed. I could see him playing this role against teams like Sydney who can really stretch us for tall defenders.
 

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I thought he got better the longer the hawks game went, which i believe is symptomatic of his strengths. His running capacity is second to none and because of that combined with sandis downright tap dominance and size the opposition ruckman is worked over. Mcevoy in my opinion was buggered and hale wasnt much better by the third quarter. Tabener as a backup is a stop gap and a dangerous one as well could stunt the development of a key forward who shows something, we all remember attempts to play Tom Hawkins as a ruck forward. Natural forwards should play as forwards.
 
off topic, but was anyone else disappointed with Griff's effort?

I know he played in *that* game, but I've always rated him pretty high. Taps, mobile, decent foot skills, etc.
 
E Shed said:
He doesn't read the game well enough.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure he can handle it E Shed. Blicavs hadn't really played Footy before and he does it to good affect. Our backline structures take a lot of the guesswork out of it.
 
My 2c is that Clarke seems to play best around the ground (versus ruck where he is very good) when he can run onto the ball. He is not a great mark in contested situations unless he gets a run at it. With Griff not setting the world on fire he is still our best option for leading up the wings in rotation with Pav and Tabs at present assuming we stick with three talls (my hope). He is very good running towards goal if he can get out the back at speed but it rarely happens and sometimes his decision making as a linkman needs to improve (like his kick to a 2 on 1 versus going shorter against the Hawks).

As a forward he just doesn't (yet) do some of the basic things consistently enough like play in front, protect the drop of the ball with your body, anticipate the kick etc.

Sometime next year he could be under pressure from Apeness as second ruck more than Taberner. Hannath also maybe if he can get quicker off the mark.
 
yakka man said:
I'm pretty sure he can handle it E Shed. Blicavs hadn't really played Footy before and he does it to good affect. Our backline structures take a lot of the guesswork out of it.
Click to expand...
I don't know, it seems to me that the thing that separates the very best players from the rest is that ability to makes sense of a whole bunch of variable in your head and calculate where the ball is going to be more often than the rest.
Guys like MJ are supernatural at looking downfield and knowing when to leave their man or roll off to go 3rd man up, which side the play is going to come down.
It would actually be one of my criticisms of Clarke that he doesn't read the game that well resulting in him not putting on as much pressure as he could with his endurance as well as some of his poor kicking decisions.
It seems to be the hardest part of the game to teach to those that didn't grow up with it. Imagine if Naitanui had a clue about where to be and run.
Its so many little things that add up to the ability to read the game.
 
E Shed said:
I don't know, it seems to me that the thing that separates the very best players from the rest is that ability to makes sense of a whole bunch of variable in your head and calculate where the ball is going to be more often than the rest.
Guys like MJ are supernatural at looking downfield and knowing when to leave their man or roll off to go 3rd man up, which side the play is going to come down.
It would actually be one of my criticisms of Clarke that he doesn't read the game that well resulting in him not putting on as much pressure as he could with his endurance as well as some of his poor kicking decisions.
It seems to be the hardest part of the game to teach to those that didn't grow up with it. Imagine if Naitanui had a clue about where to be and run.
Its so many little things that add up to the ability to read the game.
Click to expand...

While I agree on some points I still think you're making it sound more complicated than it is. I'm sure he could get the hang of it with a bit of guidance, if he can't than there's something wrong.
 
I thought he did pretty well v the Hawks. Probably up there with the best he's done this season. Sure he hasn't been up to his standard from last year as #1 ruck, but I think he's our best option. If we drop him, and his replacement in Tabs or Hannath or Griff has a bad game we're going to be relying on Sandi to win the taps all over the ground. Fyfe's usually our 3rd man up, and with him out that's just too many roles to cover if Clarke's replacement doesn't work. But like I said I don't think he played bad enough on the weekend to warrrant being dropped. And he's playing better than that other ruckman across the road that also didn't have a preseason.
 
Wow, tough crowd. Zacs going all right I reckon.
 
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