Deluca V Bryan

[TheKopEnd]

Who gets the first chance Deluca or Bryan. I believe Bryan should as he has a surer pair of hands, more reliable kick and Deluca looks a bit lost when he has to play down back , where Bryan seems more comfortable. Like to know your thoughts

 

[mediumsizered]

We should never forget that Deluca played all 22 games in 2004 and did quite well for a first year player (and we won 10 games that season). It was disappointing to see last season wrecked by the stress fracture injury. I think our forward line looks better with 'Archie' down there.

At the same time I am a big wrap for Chrissie Bryan. What he achieved last season surprised most at the club. I would love to see him given a go as well, but I would suggest with McLaren's arrival, it is going to be hard to fit them all in. A fully fit Deluca would probably get the nod ahead of Bryan, given his ability to play as a KP forward.

 

[deluxeman]

Frankly, I don't see either as being permanent solutions to our ruck problems especially if guys like Batson and Aisake step up.

I believe Bryan is the better ruckman and the player that I'd rather have in the team especially if he can be moulded into a defender with his booming kick.

Deluca was best suited to playing forward in 2004 when he had a good year but since then guys like Waite and Fisher have stepped up and then you also have Setanta and Kennedy as other tall forward options, all of which I would rather see play than Deluca.

I believe that if our young KPPs get games next year such as Hartlett and Ohalphin step up then both of them could well be spending a lot of time with the Bullants unless there are injuries to French or McLaren.

 

[Snoozer]

If Deluca has put on 15kg's of beef over the last season and a half he might be alright.... otherwise he looks like a 2nds player. Bryan is a back pocket, playing on an opposing tall forward... not big enough for ruck. Could easily find himself in the magoos barring injury to other blokes.

 

[Thats_Gold]

u mean hack vs dud......................... and yes we know henneman is a hack

 

[Mr.Kennedy]

We should never forget that Deluca played all 22 games in 2004 and did quite well for a first year player (and we won 10 games that season). It was disappointing to see last season wrecked by the stress fracture injury. I think our forward line looks better with 'Archie' down there.

At the same time I am a big wrap for Chrissie Bryan. What he achieved last season surprised most at the club. I would love to see him given a go as well, but I would suggest with McLaren's arrival, it is going to be hard to fit them all in. A fully fit Deluca would probably get the nod ahead of Bryan, given his ability to play as a KP forward.

I hope we see both of them at the same time a lot.It cant happen every week (horses for courses) but I hope to see it often as De Luca can be damaging up front and Bryan can play all over the ground.Both are very strong marks and Bryan has that rare talent of the 60 metre kick.Both are very hard to mark up on.I dont rate their ruck work highly but I dont think we need them to ruck as long as French is fit.Im not too sure what it is everyone else sees in McLaren because Ive been watching him on Fox Footy and im sorry but all I see is a short ruckman who always gets to the ball second,mistimes his leaps and gets outwrestled.The effort the club put in to getting him,players were even ringing him up to make him feel welcome seemed a bit much to me.I realise ruckman dont mature until very late but I feel we could have used the pick for a diffrent type of player.He also doesnt do much around the ground.

 

[Kooley]

neither impress much.

 

[Funkalicous]

Bryan needs to increase his fitness, and more importantly, his physical strength. ATM, he gets pushed out of rucking contests a bit too easy. He has got plenty of talent though.

I won't even bother with Deluca. He needs to improve just about every aspect of his game to get my attention.

 

[OZBomb]

I would put good money on Deluca being floated at the next trade meeting. Too many potential ruckman at the moment. Would rather build up Aisake and Batson and see if you could get anything of good value for Deluca. Bryan has more stand out attributes and more potential I think. Having said that, those that don't improve this year will be gone or be on notice.

 

[HBF]

Definitely favour Bryan at the moment. With the addition of McLaren, it would appear the 2 rucking positions have been sewen up. That said, not sure if there is a position for either Bryan or DeLuca.

 

[WTTF]

Definitely favour Bryan at the moment. With the addition of McLaren, it would appear the 2 rucking positions have been sewen up. That said, not sure if there is a position for either Bryan or DeLuca.

Agree with this.

I don't think we'd can afford the luxury of playing French, McLaren and one of DeLuca or Bryan. Especially with the likes of Hartlett and Kennedy hopefully ready to play some games.

Bryan is a solid back up Ruckman, who has hopefully added some strength and bulk to his frame to assist in those ruck duels where he was outpointed too much last season. His ability to win the ball around the ground is good and his kicking is abviously a huge asset.

For mine, DeLuca is more a forward than a Ruckman. As a Forward he tends to play from behind far too much for my liking. A bloke his size should ALWAYS be in front position. He also gets his hands on the ball a fair bit in marking contests, but just doesn't hold his marks well enough to demand a spot down there week in week out.

Bryan and DeLuca should be good back up players for 2006, as long as McLaren performs the support role for French well.

 

[HBF]

^^^^ - Further to that, IMO, DeLuca gets pushed off the ball to easily in the forward 50 for a big man. He really needs to get into the gym and add some weight to his frame. I think his future lies as a forward cum ruckman, although i think 2006 could be a crunch year for him.

 

[Funkalicous]

Well if you look at the Brisbane squad over the last 5 years, they had Charman, McLaren, McDonald and Keating. So there should be room on our list for 4 ruckman ATM. Maybe next year we can bump up Asaike, and probably drop Deluca.

 

[SurreyBlue]

It's an interesting discussion this.
What about Setanta? Is he pushing for a spot and if so, who does he replace or more importantly where does he play?
IMHO we have Fisher, Waite, Whitnall, Fevola as the key forwards or "specialists" forwards. If we add a Betts and resting midfielder like Koutoufides/Scotland on the half forward line, then where does a Bryin, DeLuca or Setanta fit into the picture. To me they might only get a gig if an injury occurs or we move Whitnall back (hope this doesn't happen). Did some-one say depth. Now if they could only play.

Here's my team and maybe you can understand my logic:
Carrazzo Livingston Saddington
Teague Thornton Lappin
Walker Bentick Houlihan
Scotland Whitnall Waite
Fisher Fevola Betts
French Koutoufides Stevens
McClaren Simpson Murphy Davies

 

[Funkalicous]

You hit the nail on the head, Surrey. It's all about depth. Unfortunately, but fortunately, not every good player can fit in the best 22 (unless you're a backmen). That's good though, as teams with deep squads are usually the ones making the finals consistantly.

We're still a long off being a 'deep' team though.

 

[HBF]

It's an interesting discussion this.
What about Setanta? Is he pushing for a spot and if so, who does he replace or more importantly where does he play?
IMHO we have Fisher, Waite, Whitnall, Fevola as the key forwards or "specialists" forwards. If we add a Betts and resting midfielder like Koutoufides/Scotland on the half forward line, then where does a Bryin, DeLuca or Setanta fit into the picture. To me they might only get a gig if an injury occurs or we move Whitnall back (hope this doesn't happen). Did some-one say depth. Now if they could only play.

Here's my team and maybe you can understand my logic:
Carrazzo Livingston Saddington
Teague Thornton Lappin
Walker Bentick Houlihan
Scotland Whitnall Waite
Fisher Fevola Betts
French Koutoufides Stevens
McClaren Simpson Murphy Davies

Nice post Surrey. One thing that has really hurt us in past seasons has been our lack of depth, which we are slowly but surely building. One thing though, swap Houlihan onto the bench and Simpson onto the wing.!!