- Joined
- Jul 6, 2005
- Posts
- 1,735
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- bendigo, victoria
- AFL Club
- Adelaide
- Other Teams
- adelaide
- Banned
- #1
French's load eases
25 December 2005 Sunday Herald Sun
Jackie Epstein
A ONE-man ruck show for three years, Barnaby French finally has a support cast.
The addition of Dylan McLaren via the pre-season draft has suddenly made the Blues' big man stocks look healthy.
Chris Bryan, Ian Prendergast and Adrian Deluca are also part of the ruck division, along with rookie Daniel Batson.
"There's a good rotation of big men now whereas we were struggling for a couple of years to have too many guys over six foot four on the field," French said.
"Dylan's come in and he's got a lot of enthusiasm and they're going to give him every chance. Chris Bryan did well last year and we've got four or five now who can hold down that position. It's pretty important to have a back-up ruckman in case one or two go down. So we've got more depth this year for sure."
French said the Blues ruckmen were reaping the benefit of having former Footscray and North Melbourne great Gary Dempsey at their disposal.
"It's the first time I've had a ruck coach since I've been here," French said.
"He's got a lot of good ideas and for a 57-year-old he still holds his own and does a bit of competitive work with us. He's got good experience and a good bloke to have around."
French, 30, had a troubled start to the pre-season with a minor flare-up of the serious back injury he sustained in Round 9, 2004.
He has been voted again into the leadership group of seven, along with Anthony Koutoufides, Matthew Lappin, David Teague, Cory McGrath, Nick Stevens and Prendergast.
He expects Koutoufides to remain as captain and anticipates exciting things from him on the field.
"He's been terrific," French said. "He is looking red hot at the moment. His physical appearance is second to none. I reckon he's looking the best that he's looked since I've been at the club so I'm really excited thinking about him playing this year."
Young players who have impressed so far include Jordan Russell and Justin Davies.
"Physically you can see that (Jordan's) put on a bit of weight and his training has been outstanding," French said. "Justin Davies has been training the house down. He's someone we really need up and firing."
After his wedding on Friday at Naracoorte, South Australia, French will return to training optimistic about improvement for the season ahead.
He believes he has a big part to play, but is happy to share the load.
"I'm happy for a young ruckman to come up and stick their hand up and really start playing well," he said.
"It's just going to bode well for the club. I've been here three years and we haven't really had much success so I'm all for team building."
25 December 2005 Sunday Herald Sun
Jackie Epstein
A ONE-man ruck show for three years, Barnaby French finally has a support cast.
The addition of Dylan McLaren via the pre-season draft has suddenly made the Blues' big man stocks look healthy.
Chris Bryan, Ian Prendergast and Adrian Deluca are also part of the ruck division, along with rookie Daniel Batson.
"There's a good rotation of big men now whereas we were struggling for a couple of years to have too many guys over six foot four on the field," French said.
"Dylan's come in and he's got a lot of enthusiasm and they're going to give him every chance. Chris Bryan did well last year and we've got four or five now who can hold down that position. It's pretty important to have a back-up ruckman in case one or two go down. So we've got more depth this year for sure."
French said the Blues ruckmen were reaping the benefit of having former Footscray and North Melbourne great Gary Dempsey at their disposal.
"It's the first time I've had a ruck coach since I've been here," French said.
"He's got a lot of good ideas and for a 57-year-old he still holds his own and does a bit of competitive work with us. He's got good experience and a good bloke to have around."
French, 30, had a troubled start to the pre-season with a minor flare-up of the serious back injury he sustained in Round 9, 2004.
He has been voted again into the leadership group of seven, along with Anthony Koutoufides, Matthew Lappin, David Teague, Cory McGrath, Nick Stevens and Prendergast.
He expects Koutoufides to remain as captain and anticipates exciting things from him on the field.
"He's been terrific," French said. "He is looking red hot at the moment. His physical appearance is second to none. I reckon he's looking the best that he's looked since I've been at the club so I'm really excited thinking about him playing this year."
Young players who have impressed so far include Jordan Russell and Justin Davies.
"Physically you can see that (Jordan's) put on a bit of weight and his training has been outstanding," French said. "Justin Davies has been training the house down. He's someone we really need up and firing."
After his wedding on Friday at Naracoorte, South Australia, French will return to training optimistic about improvement for the season ahead.
He believes he has a big part to play, but is happy to share the load.
"I'm happy for a young ruckman to come up and stick their hand up and really start playing well," he said.
"It's just going to bode well for the club. I've been here three years and we haven't really had much success so I'm all for team building."
![C4[2]Yo`DooR](https://www.bigfootycontent.com/avatars/m/21/21849.jpg?1742370429){kind=avatar}
