Carlton's ruck coaching

[sosos]

It's been a long time since we've had a dominant ruckman, though there have been periods where the centre clearances have worked well as a whole.

It got me thinking if the coaching was an issue. Matthew Capuano must be well rated since he has survived the culling of a couple of senior coaches.

When he became ruck coach in 2009, I believe he coached our ruckmen to take a quick little glance at their opponent before they jumped.

After watching Kreuzer do it for years, I remember being astonished that Warnock had started doing it too. Warnock was huge and I had no idea how it could be to his advantage.

In my opinion, it can't be a good thing because it would surely make it hard to time your jump because you are not watching the movement of the ball from the umpire's hands, to the ground and then up into the air for the whole time. Essentially you would have to guess the trajectory from reading your opponents movement in that split second.

Kreuzer has done it for years and I guess as a smaller ruck, it might make a bit of sense.

I haven't seen Phillips do it yet and I hope he doesn't start.

I personally have no technical knowledge of the craft of rucking so its probable I am not making a good case but does anyone rate his ability as a ruck coach?

7 years is a long stretch as a specialist coach considering its not a dominant part of the ground for the club. Of course I acknowledge the talent of the players may be the issue.

 

[HARKER]

It's interesting, isn't it?

 

[Jabba73]

Reckon there may be a change just around the corner.

Was one area of the club that could be overlooked with all the busyness of the new coaching set up. Tipping it won't be overlooked in the end of season review.

 

[agro]

It's well overdue time for a new ruck coach, don't know how Capuano has held the job all this time, or who he has photos of.

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

Not sure you need a dominant ruck these days.
Sydney, Geelong and Bulldogs don't really have dominant rucks. Not sure you could say that Hawks do either.
North and Melbourne do, but it doesn't really make them a cut above anyone. Melbourne leads the league in hitouts and North are 4th, but both are floating around the fringes of the 8. Bulldogs are 3rd last and Cats are 11th. North have one of the best rucks in the league (easily top 5, maybe top 3) and Dogs barely even have a ruck, but they are 8th and 9th in the league respectively for clearances.

 

[HBF]

The mechanics of ruck work wouldn't have changed much over the years, and I don't know if the club want any more disruption within their coaching ranks. Pretty happy for him to stay on. Our focus over the off season really should be on improving our list.

 

[Jorge]

Not sure you need a dominant ruck these days.
Sydney, Geelong and Bulldogs don't really have dominant rucks. Not sure you could say that Hawks do either.
North and Melbourne do, but it doesn't really make them a cut above anyone. Melbourne leads the league in hitouts and North are 4th, but both are floating around the fringes of the 8. Bulldogs are 3rd last and Cats are 11th. North have one of the best rucks in the league (easily top 5, maybe top 3) and Dogs barely even have a ruck, but they are 8th and 9th in the league respectively for clearances.

In the modern game, you wouldn't expect to see any strong correlations between successful teams & 1 particular type of player.
Such correlations would exist with a strong defence, a deep midfield or a good spread of goal kickers.
When considering each position in isolation, I still think a superstar ruckman would be almost as important as any particular type of player.

That's just my opinion and because the game is so team focused it's very hard to back that up with cold hard facts. But look what happened to North when Goldstein's from dipped (admittedly the form dive had many more factors than just Goldy, but you see what i'm getting at).

Clearances aside, when Goldstein is in form he can dominate games and be as damaging as the midfielders.

 

[Blue Pulse]

To me a dominant ruck man is not about the number of HO's but more of what they can do around the ground. Defensive marks, linking marks and a presence which needs respect inside F50. As long as they are competitive in the ruck and can add something extra around the ground as this is where they become damaging.
Goldsteins drop in form has coincided with NM's poor form, where as you look at Warnock's hit outs which were good but around the ground he was in effectual.
Capuano has survived a lot of the culling so must be doing something right.

 

[Jimmae]

I've lost count of how many times I've pointed out both him and Barker, and this year they've combined to s**t on our entire stoppage setup.

The only time they're collectively successful is when they have our starting ruck combination and an overwhelming advantage or disadvantage. Give them a little grey area or some obfuscation by the opposition, and they can't respond.

 

[ShanDog]

A difference in reach of about 30cm (probably the max between any two AFL ruckman) can easily be negated with smart bodywork. Running and jumping at the ball with no consideration of what the opposition ruckman is doing is a quick way to lose plenty of taps.

It might look like two lumbering halfwits crunching in to each other for no reason, but winning a physical battle against another ruckman to access the ball is an art and science at the same time. You need to know what your opponent is doing, what the ball is doing and where your rovers are. Using your eyes is a pretty good way of finding that out.

 

[Azul]

Ruckwork is adequate.

It's having an impact away from the stoppages in terms of marks around the ground and kicking goals where Kreuzer and Phillips need to do more.

 

[Broadside]

Ruckwork is adequate.

It's having an impact away from the stoppages in terms of marks around the ground and kicking goals where Kreuzer and Phillips need to do more.

before we recruited him, I recall all the talk was Kreuzer had the tank of an elite midfielder. I know he's had his injuries and is slow but why isn't he burning off other rucks and getting heaps of the ball?

 

[T2B_]

before we recruited him, I recall all the talk was Kreuzer had the tank of an elite midfielder. I know he's had his injuries and is slow but why isn't he burning off other rucks and getting heaps of the ball?

Have seen him burn off other rucks in the past, in fact I think one game we won vs Norf I think he actually did just that to Goldstein, but I don't think he's ever really got a heap of the ball. Except for that ripper game he played vs Sydney years ago where he got about 24 touches and 2 goals.

Not sure what to make of it.

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

A difference in reach of about 30cm (probably the max between any two AFL ruckman) can easily be negated with smart bodywork. Running and jumping at the ball with no consideration of what the opposition ruckman is doing is a quick way to lose plenty of taps.

It might look like two lumbering halfwits crunching in to each other for no reason, but winning a physical battle against another ruckman to access the ball is an art and science at the same time. You need to know what your opponent is doing, what the ball is doing and where your rovers are. Using your eyes is a pretty good way of finding that out.

So what you're saying is we need a ruckman with eyes?!?

 

[ShanDog]

So what you're saying is we need a ruckman with eyes?!?

It was Hammers problem wasn't it?

 

[El Topo]

How about Barker's forward coaching. Not a coincidence that Hampson and Krooz both started marking above rather than in front of their line of sight under his tutelage.

 

[1981]

Gee when I first saw this I thought it said something else

 

[T2B_]

Gee when I first saw this I thought it said something else

That's in 2035 when we're sponsored by RedTube