Game lost at the selection table?

[Astute Observer]

This (the Ruck Division) seems to be an area which constantly goes un-noticed. Look at the Ruckman/men influence in th GF's over the last 3-5 years.......

 

[monty1104]

Get big Steve Alessio to the club (if he isnt there already). He will fix things quick-smart.

 

[Smokin]

This (the Ruck Division) seems to be an area which constantly goes un-noticed. Look at the Ruckman/men influence in th GF's over the last 3-5 years.......

yep, it's funny there are some out there who reckon Ruckmen are overrated and worthless (Grant Thomas school of thought), but I feel they are arguably the most important on the ground.

The stats do back it up you are correct, i started a thread here in the off season and went and found the ruck stats as far back as they went - only to 2000 but anyway. In every year, the team which won the flag were at worst in the top few for Ruck hitouts in the competition, if not the best.

 

[stander]

Well i guess you dont know as they have a few new guys putting together the training programs which icludes what rehab they are doing, diet, supliments and all that stuff.

Okay Ant robus- for the record, name these "few new guys" and I'll check their credentials.

 

[Astute Observer]

How many times does it have to be explained that the combination of injury, the short break and players not being ready match fitness wise forced us into a bit of a corner.
If the game had of been tommorow im pretty sure the make up of the side may well have been very different. Some of the Bendigo guys from Sunday would have come under consideration and Winderlich and NLM would have been ready.

Ant555 - Agree with being put into a corner. Our two fittest players at the club are Stanton and Bolton and given the rest andf Bolts form (albeit in the VFL) their prob was not much else in terms of choice. As I said in an earlier thread ML and Fletch were not expected to come up and Quinny would not play anyone with a 3 day break (even though it was the VFL)....

 

[Smyth94]

Yep, and it no way would Houli have made a difference, but if we are going to lose and put in a sub par performance, at least we would get something out of it.

We still need to bring midfielders through, and it may be hard this year for guys like Houli, Hislop, Lonergan etc to find many spots. But if we want someone like Houli to be next years Ryder (big improver), we need to give him experience when we can.

This week was a perfect time to do this, and Im still confused as to the thinking of using Bolton. We simply didnt need another tallish player, we needed another runner badly, and Houli ticked all the boxes as being ready to be called up.

Unless we are REALLY stuck in the talls area, I fail to see how Bolton should be anything but the absolute last resource. He is in no way a part of our future. We arent there yet, we are still developing. Hence why I am happy for Jetta to be persisted with throughout the year, not for the Jetta of today, but for the Jetta of tomorrow.

Bolton offers no tomorrow (nor much today).

Couldn't of put it better my self and was what I was trying to get at in my OP.

I'm quite sure Houli wouldn't of made a difference to the score but we would've gained something by exposing Houli to AFL football. What did we gain with Bolton? Nothing.

Lloyd carrying an injury? Why play him then? Make CJ the leading FF.

 

[DaSawx]

Lloyd carrying an injury? Why play him then? Make CJ the leading FF.

If he feels good enough to play, he's a potential matchwinner