Position 2026 Rucks

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Definitely! Could well see a 10% drop in ruck contests.

There won't be that much of a drop imo.

It's more how many a specific player can physically get too. The fitter types might benefit. Or teams might just split the role up a bit, like Geelong do?

 

[Floating Doughnut]

There won't be that much of a drop imo.

It's more how many a specific player can physically get too. The fitter types might benefit. Or teams might just split the role up a bit, like Geelong do?

I can see scenario’s where after a ruck contest a ruckman cops a tackle or hit and is getting to his feet.
But the ball has been moved down ground with two quick kicks and then is dead again in a tackle.
If the ump balls it up quickly as they have been directed, is it a big mid like a Jackson or a Bont that gets an advantage ?
Jackson is really interesting me whether Darcy rucks or not.

 

[MacStradbroke]

Shocking for flexibility but I find myself again wanting to start a ruck in flex. If I could fit all of Gawn, Xerri, Jackson and English into my starting team I reckon I’d do it!

I have visions of umpires in the past waiting for Xerri to get to contests where as English runs around covering the ground with ease.

Lots to ponder

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Shocking for flexibility but I find myself again wanting to start a ruck in flex. If I could fit all of Gawn, Xerri, Jackson and English into my starting team I reckon I’d do it!

I have visions of umpires in the past waiting for Xerri to get to contests where English runs around covering the ground with ease.

Lots to ponder

I wonder if teams just section the field depending on their players. WB for example does Darcy just do all the rucking in the forward 1/3 of the field and English the rest? Does that allow rucks to do more intercepting?

Marshall has been training in defence, might be a similiar thing?

I can see scenario’s where after a ruck contest a ruckman cops a tackle or hit and is getting to his feet.
But the ball has been moved down ground with two quick kicks and then is dead again in a tackle.
If the ump balls it up quickly as they have been directed, is it a big mid like a Jackson or a Bont that gets an advantage ?
Jackson is really interesting me whether Darcy rucks or not.

Yes exactly. How much leeway will the umps give? Most of these new rules get relaxed after a while too. Is this a big thing for a month then they start giving the rucks a little more time?

 

[MacStradbroke]

I wonder if teams just section the field depending on their players. WB for example does Darcy just do all the rucking in the forward 1/3 of the field and English the rest? Does that allow rucks to do more intercepting?

Marshall has been training in defence, might be a similiar thing?

Cats have been doing this for years (mainly due to having Blicavs/Hawkins and no top shelf ruck), so yes can definitely see this happening. Bont, Green, Cripps, etc, the big boys might get a little scoring spike with the new rules if they’re lucky too.

 

[Here2tellyouwhy]

Biggest change to scoring this year will be Rucks.

Problem is with early byes the proven Gawn Xerri combo just makes so much sense. Even with a slip in scoring from the new rule changes they will score the same overall as the rucks with two byes and you save a trade on them.
Set and forget.

BUT we also have a lot of cheap options this year. Bryan, Draper, Visintini, Darcy, alternatives like Jackson, TDK.
then theres Pitto and ROB who are just shit and maybe not number 1 ruck anymore, whats the cheap alternatives, Reidy rookie priced and plays the first few games @90+ so juicy as a rookie spot R3/F7

Rucks are the hardest one to crack this year yet its the easiest choice in years.

Gawn/Xerri or chaos.

 

[Foxman98]

Biggest change to scoring this year will be Rucks.

Problem is with early byes the proven Gawn Xerri combo just makes so much sense. Even with a slip in scoring from the new rule changes they will score the same overall as the rucks with two byes and you save a trade on them.
Set and forget.

BUT we also have a lot of cheap options this year. Bryan, Draper, Visintini, Darcy, alternatives like Jackson, TDK.
then theres Pitto and ROB who are just shit and maybe not number 1 ruck anymore, whats the cheap alternatives, Reidy rookie priced and plays the first few games @90+ so juicy as a rookie spot R3/F7

Rucks are the hardest one to crack this year yet its the easiest choice in years.

Gawn/Xerri or chaos.

Rucks are the easiest line of the year,

Grundy/DCam/English/Marshall + TDK/Witts/Meek all have the early bye making it near on impossible for them to make up the ground on Gawn/Xerri unless they have a serious injury or form falls off a cliff (unlikely for the latter)

Jackson is the "what if?" but given they are playing him as a mid/forward over ruck makes me worry about his ability to score, A lot of his scoring is being the "extra mid" vs an actual ruckman not sure he gets the same level of scoring as a genuine mid

Draper will be splitting duties early whilst building his match fitness back up

Reidy will be lucky to average more then 65

 

[TempletonTheRat]

Rucks are the easiest line of the year,

Grundy/DCam/English/Marshall + TDK/Witts/Meek all have the early bye making it near on impossible for them to make up the ground on Gawn/Xerri unless they have a serious injury or form falls off a cliff (unlikely for the latter)

Jackson is the "what if?" but given they are playing him as a mid/forward over ruck makes me worry about his ability to score, A lot of his scoring is being the "extra mid" vs an actual ruckman not sure he gets the same level of scoring as a genuine mid

Draper will be splitting duties early whilst building his match fitness back up

Reidy will be lucky to average more then 65

If Jackson had fwd status it would be an easy pick, we might get that rd6.
I'll take 65 from Reidy but not getting my hopes up

 

[A Bit Dusty]

Rucks are the easiest line of the year,

Grundy/DCam/English/Marshall + TDK/Witts/Meek all have the early bye making it near on impossible for them to make up the ground on Gawn/Xerri unless they have a serious injury or form falls off a cliff (unlikely for the latter)

Jackson is the "what if?" but given they are playing him as a mid/forward over ruck makes me worry about his ability to score, A lot of his scoring is being the "extra mid" vs an actual ruckman not sure he gets the same level of scoring as a genuine mid

Draper will be splitting duties early whilst building his match fitness back up

Reidy will be lucky to average more then 65

65 Average can almost make $150k in the first 5 games. I would take that from my F8

 

[Pathetic Pittman]

65 Average can almost make $150k in the first 5 games. I would take that from my F8


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Thanks for reminding me about his late sub 2-pointer cameo last year

 

[4tune8]

There won't be that much of a drop imo.

It's more how many a specific player can physically get too. The fitter types might benefit. Or teams might just split the role up a bit, like Geelong do?

Yeah, I didn't word that correctly.

What I meant was that a ruck like Xerri could end up at 10% (or more) less ruck contests because he can't physically get to all of them. Add that to the CBA rule where he can't just hold off and out muscle an opponent, plus less boundary throw ins (not much less, but there's some loss) means a substantial loss of points.

We won't really know how much it'll affect ruck scoring and how much it will affect ruck types, but we can take an educated guess.

Take an average of 100 ruck contests/game, roughly 20 of those would be CBA's (give or take). Someone like Xerri scored well with HTA's, tackles and subsequent stoppages. Now that he can't hold off an opponent and that opponent can leap and execute a HTA that results in a clearance then Xerri's score is substantially reduced from CBA's. If CBA's made up 20% of his scoring then there's a possibility that his scoring is halved from that source, so a 10% reduction in output.

There'll be roughly 3-4 less boundary throw ins and also less follow up stoppages as a result, let's say 5 in total which equals a 5% reduction in scoring.

The quick ball up rule will have an effect and it could add up to quite a large reduction in output depending on how teams structure up. Maybe a Fwd/Ruck (Def/Ruck) looks after 1/3rd of the ground, Geelong could run with SDK, Blicavs and Neale looking after a 3rd each, the Tigers could go the same way with Balta, Nank and Sims. Teams could easily use a tall mid as a psuedo ruck (some do already) A conservative guess would see a 10% reduction where a big bloke just can't physically get to the contest, the effect could easily be more.

Those 3 assumptions add up to a 25% drop in output, obviously that's a guess, but it's not an outrageous one depending on which rucks are looked at. Some of those big, lumbering types might sit a kick behind the ball and make up for a loss of points through intercepts, but even a 15% drop for someone like Xerri is a 20PPG loss and a drop of $100k in price.

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Thing is though, these changes will effect all rucks, not just the big boys.

English for example is a better runner than Xerri, but he still won't get to as many ball ups as last year.

So if they are all going to drop 10% do we still want the ones that score the most? Personally I'll back in the better players to find a way to impact.

 

[jdstorm]

Biggest change to scoring this year will be Rucks.

Problem is with early byes the proven Gawn Xerri combo just makes so much sense. Even with a slip in scoring from the new rule changes they will score the same overall as the rucks with two byes and you save a trade on them.
Set and forget.

BUT we also have a lot of cheap options this year. Bryan, Draper, Visintini, Darcy, alternatives like Jackson, TDK.
then theres Pitto and ROB who are just shit and maybe not number 1 ruck anymore, whats the cheap alternatives, Reidy rookie priced and plays the first few games @90+ so juicy as a rookie spot R3/F7

Rucks are the hardest one to crack this year yet its the easiest choice in years.

Gawn/Xerri or chaos.

This it’s
Gawn/Xerri or Draper/Dufftyler if you want to wait and see.

 

[4tune8]

Thing is though, these changes will effect all rucks, not just the big boys.

English for example is a better runner than Xerri, but he still won't get to as many ball ups as last year.

So if they are all going to drop 10% do we still want the ones that score the most? Personally I'll back in the better players to find a way to impact.

Yeah, the changes will affect all rucks, but those with a leap won't be affected as much and may even benefit. A TDK for example won't lose much, if anything, at CBA's and result in just a 5% drop in output.

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Yeah, the changes will affect all rucks, but those with a leap won't be affected as much and may even benefit. A TDK for example won't lose much, if anything, at CBA's and result in just a 5% drop in output.

Tdk is a non selection though, sharing with Marshall

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Rucks can still wrestle around the ground too, it's only the CBA's where they have to jump.

 

[4tune8]

Tdk is a non selection though, sharing with Marshall

Just an example of a ruck that won't be disadvantaged as much as a Xerri/Shrek/Witts/Nank/ROB/Briggs type at CBA's. Having Roma stationed in defence is indicative of how teams might work around the rules.

 

[4tune8]

Rucks can still wrestle around the ground too, it's only the CBA's where they have to jump.

Yes, but there will be less throw ins and less follow up stoppages because of the last disposal rule.

And those big fellas just won't be able to get to the same amount of ruck contests that they used to when the umps throw the ball up immediately at a stoppage.

Combine the 3 things and it's pretty obvious that there's going to be a reset on what the rucks will score.

 

[A Bit Dusty]

We probably won't learn much from the pre season matches either because most of the serious big ruckmen will be going at half rat power anyway just blowing a few cobwebs out.

 

[Here2tellyouwhy]

This it’s
Gawn/Xerri or Draper/Dufftyler if you want to wait and see.

Draper/Dufftyler

 

[Here2tellyouwhy]

We probably won't learn much from the pre season matches either because most of the serious big ruckmen will be going at half rat power anyway just blowing a few cobwebs out.

That means you go with the cheap new number one rucks as they have a new role and growth in price/scoring where as the premo rucks can only go down on what you pay for them at open.

 

[jdstorm]

Draper/Dufftyler

View attachment 2516440

Not sure how to take this .gif so let’s explain the logic

1. Most current rucks are overpriced due to new rules. That’s true of all the second tier ones.

1b if you don’t believe that then set and Forget Gawn/Xerri

2. Draper has some value in his price to to injury and move to Brisbane. Only needs to average 95 over the course of the season to be F6. Provides cover

3. Duff Tyler. Should get game time early as a forward. Did a good job there in the VFL. Early byes allow for 4x best 18 rounds to mitigate any low scores that a key forward might have.

At that point guys will have dropped and or Nick Bryan will be back as a stepping stone

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I think the quicker ball ups may be more impactful.

Yeah i agree my concern with xerri (and rucks of his type) isn't the no of stoppages being less but the speed of the game between the arcs and between stoppages being a lot faster. If this happens and guys like xerri are gassed he will struggle to score well as he relies on his physical second efforts and tackles etc. It's why it's hard to pick the best rucks this year without knowing their endurance gps numbers (which the clubs dont release). Obviously there's a couple like blicavs and your marshall types that we know excel for endurance but predicting the rest is hard.

 

[Foxman98]

65 Average can almost make $150k in the first 5 games. I would take that from my F8


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I'm saying for people who want him at R2

He will make some cash hopefully but he isn't a starting option

 

[Macka1203]

all this discourse about xerri’s scoring clearly haven’t watched the last few years where he taps it down the opponents throat, tackles them and usually gets +18 for it