No, next week when we have the bye and are out of the news cycle would be the perfect time......
List Mgmt. 2025 List Management discussion
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dudeintheswamp
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Hopefully over the bye period they announce new contracts for Keeler, Wang and Windy! Perfect time after they all had good games, come on Saints, end this angsty speculation. 
CHBench
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And drum up some attendance for Thursday night against the Doggies
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botts
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People were saying battle was signed last year. Hope you are right though
StFly
Space to Rent
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Pou- mid.
Owens - mid/hybrid.
Sharman - third.
Max - KP
Keeler - KP
We really aren't in a surplus as Keeler is that ruck chop out once he gets size and a proper tank since IMO Heath never will have that tank. A TDK coming in would just allow that Dodson to spend time honing a craft instead of "in case of emergency, bring a kid in" for ruck without then relying on an undersized like Owens having bulk ruck work instead of pinch hitting.
From memory they threw up Gawn as a case in point, where running a second ruck had been a failure.
There's 18 first choice rucks in the AFL, where does De Koning sit? 5th? 6th? 7th?
If he's not in the top 3 or 4, and if there's a couple who are easily better, and you're calling him an "A Grader", then the word's lost all meaning.
SainterinSydney
Premiership Player
- Feb 10, 2023
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Adelaide - O'Brien
Brisbane - McInerney
Carlton - De Koning
Collingwood - Cameron
Essendon - Draper
Fremantle - Jackson
Geelong - Stanley
GWS - Briggs
GC - Witts
Hawthorn - Meek
Melbourne - Gawn
North Melbourne - Xerri
Port Adeladie - Sweet
Richmond - Nankervis
St Kilda - Marshall
Sydney - Grundy
Western Bulldogs - English
West Coast - Flynn
Top ten for me in order (2025 form)
Gawn
Witts
English
Xerri
Marshall
Jackson
De Koning
Meek
Briggs
O'Brien
phantom13
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TDK really depends what you value in a ruckman.
O'Mac and O'Brien are two of the better tap rucks. TDK and Xerri are two of the best around thr ground guys.
TDK is a decent tap ruckman and an elite around the ground ruckman. Youd argue that given our lack of good mids having an extra follower who can do some good centre square work is going to help alot.
Im still not sure hes worth 1.7m a year (espcially with where we are at) but youre mad if youre saying hes not A grade.
O'Mac and O'Brien are two of the better tap rucks. TDK and Xerri are two of the best around thr ground guys.
TDK is a decent tap ruckman and an elite around the ground ruckman. Youd argue that given our lack of good mids having an extra follower who can do some good centre square work is going to help alot.
Im still not sure hes worth 1.7m a year (espcially with where we are at) but youre mad if youre saying hes not A grade.
Again, what's the meaning of A Grade?
The consensus seems to be that De Koning isn't really in the conversation for best ruck in the AFL. He's generally ranked 6th or 7th.
So if he's got 17 main opponents and 5 or 6 are better players, then every third week he's getting beaten by a superior player (on average).
How could that be called "A Grade"?
So top 4 under 30YO.
And of those four, only two are Victorian and we've had a crack at both. Xerri and De Koning both the same type of ruckmen as Marshall (although Xerri is more hit-out oriented than De Koning).
The club keep telling us this is a priority through their actions.
phantom13
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How do you even really get beaten by an oppo ruckman anynmore though?
You see plenty of games where someone wins the hit outs comprehensively but gets beaten around the ground or has less impact.
Id argue TDKs best games this year have been the equal if not better than anyone elses.
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I feel like that’s not entirely true, Gawn and Jackson worked well. What didn’t work was Gawn and Grundy which was doomed to fail given their skill sets and grundys desire to ruck most of the game.
TDK and Marshall both have the ability to play as keys so I’d be happy to play both.
Diehard Saint
Brownlow Medallist
Underrated point.
We need a ruckman to grow with our young team and be there at our next premiership tilt.
By all accounts Dodson is promising, but he’s going to take a good few years still.
account ban if not true
Its been a while since its been tried , but Marshall wasn't a great Key Forward, and the point of what they were saying , is if you have a good or better key forward then you are better off using them, rather than a ruck who is OK ish as a forward.
Because its not worth it for just a single hand full of centre bounce attendances.
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TDK isn't worth $1.7M. Only the very best player in the league could be worth that sort of money, and he isn't.
But he's the only player that we can get in free agency that suits us. We need to bring in talent ouside of the draft system as well.
It's not just getting TDK, it's moving the needle on being a club that players are willing to join.
We'll never have a second and third free agent if we can't land our first.
Diehard Saint
Brownlow Medallist
Yes.
Because that’s the age demographic we’re going to need when we are hopefully contending.
Marshall is getting on a bit and is starting to get a few injuries. He’s carried us solo for years - the couple of Ryder years aside.
Jackson playing as a ruck forward kicked only 11 goals for Melbourne in a season.
[PLAYERCARD]Ben Brown[/PLAYERCARD] when fit was a better forward.
And Melbourne were pretty much a team struggling for tall forwards.
[PLAYERCARD]Ben Brown[/PLAYERCARD] when fit was a better forward.
And Melbourne were pretty much a team struggling for tall forwards.
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