Elite Ruckman vs Elite Midfielder

[The Spaniel]

Squida has got it, good post

 

[juss]

Collingwood's a good example of an elite midfield

Swan/Pendlebury/Ball/Thomas vs Jolly/Brown lol

Geelong too

Bartel/Ling/Corey/Selwood vs Ottens/West/Vardy

then you have St Kilda

Hayes/Dal Santo/Montagna/Goddard vs McEvoy/Kozi

and Hawthorn

Mitchell/Hodge/Sewell/Lewis vs Bailey/Hale

Last super dominant team (grand finalist) with an elite ruckman was West Coast but even they had Judd + Cousins + Kerr...

Out of those four, clearly the best has been Geelong. And it's no suprise that of those four they have the best ruck (Ottens). Coincidence? Not sure. But definetely food for thought.

 

[TRAWP]

Elite Midfielder everyday, elite ruckman may beat an good ruckman but an elite midfielder will read the tap and nullify it anyway.

But KPF > All.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Define an elite ruckman?

Gary Dempsey, Simon Madden, Peter Moore, Dean Cox type or perhaps a Sandilands? What does an elite ruckman do that others don't?

Dempsey would kill you in the ruck contests and then take 20 marks a game at Center Half Back. Simon Madden killed you all over the ground and kicked a lot of goals and moved well although perhaps not as well as Moore and Cox. Peter Moore was a beautiful athlete and very good footballer. Dean Cox is a very good tap ruckman and a tall hard running link up midfielder.

Sandilands dominates in the ruck and is getting better everywhere else but really with his size should never drop a mark and should have a Madden like impact on the scoreboard. At his age, is his improvement too little, too late?

I'd take Ablett over any current ruckman. He's a proven goal kicker too among everything else he brings to the game.

 

[the distributer]

Define an elite ruckman?

Gary Dempsey, Simon Madden, Peter Moore, Dean Cox type or perhaps a Sandilands? What does an elite ruckman do that others don't?

Dempsey would kill you in the ruck contests and then take 20 marks a game at Center Half Back. Simon Madden killed you all over the ground and kicked a lot of goals and moved well although perhaps not as well as Moore and Cox. Peter Moore was a beautiful athlete and very good footballer. Dean Cox is a very good tap ruckman and a tall hard running link up midfielder.

Sandilands dominates in the ruck and is getting better everywhere else but really with his size should never drop a mark and should have a Madden like impact on the scoreboard. At his age, is his improvement too little, too late?

I'd take Ablett over any current ruckman. He's a proven goal kicker too among everything else he brings to the game.

What ever works at the time, i would like to see my ruckman taking a contested mark or 2 per game, i would also like to see him average 1 goal per game, i would also like him to dominate the hitouts to advantage, and, i want a pony for my birthday, an elite ruckman is an elite ruckman, they're all different.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

There are so many divergent factors in making a decision on this one.

We can assume initially, that the team has neither and elite ruck, or an elite midfielder, so the poll makes sense. However, then we have other factors that need to be considered (what style does the team play? really shit forward line, or backline? what is the spread of mid range players? etc etc etc).

I cant decide. To do well you need both. An elite mid cant dominate clearances consistently without an elite/good ruck. An elite ruck wont have as many hit outs to advantage when he is surrounded by shit.

 

[Slattery_20]

An elite ruck does alot more to improve your over all midfield than one elite midfielder. I would take one of Cox or Sandilands over Judd.

Sandilands hasn't really helped your lot get anywhere in 5 years at his peak.
Barlow & Mundy come in, Freo go 9-4 to start, Barlow's leg breaks, 3-5 to finish the year.
Hmm.

 

[eth-dog]

Why have one when you can have both in Dean Cox?

 

[DivideandMultiply]

Sandilands hasn't really helped your lot get anywhere in 5 years at his peak.
Barlow & Mundy come in, Freo go 9-4 to start, Barlow's leg breaks, 3-5 to finish the year.
Hmm.

Disagree.

Firstly you mention 2 mids, not 1.

Secondly in 2010, when they lost Barlow Freo slipped but were still playing good-great football. When Sandilands was injured their gameplan largely fell apart.

Many media commentators and most Freo fans I know rated Sandilands as the single most important player to a teams success in 2010.

Much like the Cox/NN duo at WC, an elite ruck setup goes a long way to allowing a team to dictate play at a stoppage against most opposition (not all see superstar midfields like Geelong or Collingwood).

Still for me it is difficult. A team needs at least 1 gun mid to even be competitive. Yet an elite ruck can tip the scales and make a team with a solid midfield, into a serious contender (see Freo 1st part of 10 and WC 2011).

 

[Top_4_Tiger]

Elite rucks are harder to find... but elite mids have more impact.

Just because elite rucks are rarer does not mean they are better!