Look, Hrovat for Lobbe makes sense.
Lobbe's salary is an issue but maybe Port can help with that.
Think lobbes salary is being blown out of proportion. Was rumoured to be 400k for four years and a lot of us port supporters didn't like it specifically the length, but in 2017 that will be stuff all to be paying a first ruck. In fact it would probably be almost the lowest paid starting ruck in the league.
However, if you are paying him 400k+ to play seconds, like port would after discovering that lobbe and Ryder don't work as a tandem , then that is far too much to pay for a back up ruck on a list.
So it depends on his form and the teams situation. If he is at port and we play Ryder as first ruck the 400k for lobbe to play reserves is murder, but if re gains even just a smidgen of form and plays as a first ruck for someone like a Richmond or dogs than 400k for two more seasons he is contracted for then that is perfect and not overpaying salary wise at all.
In all seriousness what is Lobbe's story? How mobile is he? Who would you compare him? Prior to his injury wasn't he dropped?
Just can't see him playing with Ryder back and Trengove's development.
As a ruck lobbe won a shitload of hitouts, but our complaint was that while he won a lot of hitouts he didn't really hit a lot of them to clear advantage. Not that even the elite rucks hit all their rucks clearly to advantage, most will just be hit down, but every once in a while a top ruck will get hold of a tap clearly to a mid, and lobbe just didn't do that enough.
Has a great tank and can get around the ground but has cement mitts. Horrible hands and most marks don't stick.
At his best he was an absolute wrecking ball in the middle. Used to bowl players down in the middle and was one of the best tackling and clearance rucks in the league at the time, not too mention how his big body helped clear the way for our mids to win the ball.
Then it all went pear shaped. He stopped being that wrecking ball in the middle. He looked to have lost a bit of that jump in the centre square. Funny thing is I reckon his mitts have gotten a little better but nowhere near good enough to make up for what he lost.
Still far better than a handful of the rucks getting around nowadays to be honest. We need to just move him on if we get a even remotely reasonable pick. Even depth rucks get picks around 30-40, so I would hope we can still get that but it depends on the other rucks available for the teams searching for one.