Clarke vs Maric vs Both

[Vader]

Clarke's reported achilles injury may well make this thread redundant before it even begins, but here goes....

Popular opinion, though by no means universally so, has it that Biglands' position is currently safe - largely by virtue of his ability to go forward as a tall marking option. Ignoring John Meesen, who is probably not quite ready for AFL footy just yet, we have three ruck options - Clarke/Biglands, Maric/Biglands, Clarke/Maric/Biglands (Biglands playing as a key forward).

Matthew Clarke
"Doc" has been around the block 239 times to date. He is one of the competition's best "tap ruckmen", but has almost nothing to offer once the ball hits the ground.

Ivan Maric
"The Cossack" has only done one previous trip around the block. He's young and enthusiastic. He may not be as good a tap ruckman as Clarke, but he is more athletic and a better "natural footballer" than Doc. What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts.

Every report I have read this year on Maric went something like this: "Dominating the rucks at SANFL level, little more he can learn while playing at this level." That's the sort of report card you want on a player before you elevate him to the senior level. The only way Maric can develop further is by playing him at the highest level, against the best ruckmen in the land.

Three Ruckmen
To me, this is fraught with danger, for two reasons.

Firstly, Biglands has never looked like kicking a big bag of goals when he has moved forward. He is more than capable of "pinch hitting" up forward occasionally, but he does not appear to have the marking/leading skills to survive as a regulr key forward.

Secondly, having three players of ruck height can leave the side unbalanced as it means they have to play one less midfielder. That means less run, in an age when the game is getting faster and faster. Not wise.

Conclusion
Had Hudson not been injured, Clarke probably would have retired at the end of 2005. Instead, he was retained in order to "buy" time to allow Maric & Meesen time to mature sufficiently so that they were ready for AFL footy.

So, has the time finally arrived to replace Clarke with Maric?

Nobody says that Maric is as good a "tap ruckman" as Clarke - if you believe Robert Walls then Clarke is in a class of his own in that regard. The real question then is this: will Adelaide gain more with Maric's better performance around the ground than they will lose due to his lesser ruck performance?

Is Maric ready? As ready as any player can be, coming out of the SANFL.

IMHO, the reported injury to Clarke is probably a smokescreen. It is probably Adelaide's way of gently easing him out of the side, replacing him with Maric, without having to say that he has been "dropped". I would not be at all surprised if Maric gets to play the majority of the remaining games this season.

 

[afc9798]

Clarke's reported achilles injury may well make this thread redundant before it even begins, but here goes....

Popular opinion, though by no means universally so, has it that Biglands' position is currently safe - largely by virtue of his ability to go forward as a tall marking option. Ignoring John Meesen, who is probably not quite ready for AFL footy just yet, we have three ruck options - Clarke/Biglands, Maric/Biglands, Clarke/Maric/Biglands (Biglands playing as a key forward).

Matthew Clarke
"Doc" has been around the block 239 times to date. He is one of the competition's best "tap ruckmen", but has almost nothing to offer once the ball hits the ground.

Ivan Maric
"The Cossack" has only done one previous trip around the block. He's young and enthusiastic. He may not be as good a tap ruckman as Clarke, but he is more athletic and a better "natural footballer" than Doc. What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts.

Every report I have read this year on Maric went something like this: "Dominating the rucks at SANFL level, little more he can learn while playing at this level." That's the sort of report card you want on a player before you elevate him to the senior level. The only way Maric can develop further is by playing him at the highest level, against the best ruckmen in the land.

Three Ruckmen
To me, this is fraught with danger, for two reasons.

Firstly, Biglands has never looked like kicking a big bag of goals when he has moved forward. He is more than capable of "pinch hitting" up forward occasionally, but he does not appear to have the marking/leading skills to survive as a regulr key forward.

Secondly, having three players of ruck height can leave the side unbalanced as it means they have to play one less midfielder. That means less run, in an age when the game is getting faster and faster. Not wise.

Conclusion
Had Hudson not been injured, Clarke probably would have retired at the end of 2005. Instead, he was retained in order to "buy" time to allow Maric & Meesen time to mature sufficiently so that they were ready for AFL footy.

So, has the time finally arrived to replace Clarke with Maric?

Nobody says that Maric is as good a "tap ruckman" as Clarke - if you believe Robert Walls then Clarke is in a class of his own in that regard. The real question then is this: will Adelaide gain more with Maric's better performance around the ground than they will lose due to his lesser ruck performance?

Is Maric ready? As ready as any player can be, coming out of the SANFL.

IMHO, the reported injury to Clarke is probably a smokescreen. It is probably Adelaide's way of gently easing him out of the side, replacing him with Maric, without having to say that he has been "dropped". I would not be at all surprised if Maric gets to play the majority of the remaining games this season.

Can tell you for a fact that the Doc's injury is no smokescreen and he has been unable to train at all as a result. This would seemingly open the door for Maric and give him some quality time on the ball against Essendon, which benefits the club and Maric. His performance this week will give an indication (if selected) of his ability against quality opposition in Hille, who is also a very mobile ruckman that pushes forward. Hille will have significant height and weight on Ivan, so the test will be in his application to the task. He may also face off against Bradley and Fletcher in some forward work, trying to give advantage to the likes of Bode and possibly Vince or Porplyzia if Burton or Roo don't come up.

Maric is a great prospect, I just worry that too much is expected of him at this stage.