How do our current Rucks stack up vs other teams?

[Sir Skid]

I'm really interested in what everyone thinks about our ruck capability vs other teams now that we have recruited Hickey into the mix.

Obviously we have McEvoy, Hickey, Kosi, Stanley, and some kids who aren't ready yet.

IMO We have a lumbering type in McEvoy who is a great mark.
Then the athletic Hickey who has a great leap and mark.
Kosi (has been a great player but can't jump over a jam tin and has clearly lost agility) good pack mark.
Stanley is another along the Hickey line, athletic but faster on the burst. Will probably spend a lot of time in other areas of the ground.

Thoughts?

 

[Squizz]

Thought Blake's work around the ground was quite good on the weekend. Some influential touches and 2 clearances, 5 tackles and 3 inside 50s.

Handy backup.

Think we've got genuine depth though now, not reliance on backups (I couldn't believe Watters identified it as a deficiency when he got to the club, but didn't address it in his first draft).

Although it would be nice if Rhys could string a season of footy together.

And I think Hickey is another 12 months away i.e. the difference between being serviceable and damaging.

McEvoy looks much more powerful this season. Hopefully it will translate in his performances. He's also almost taken alot of marks each game. At some stage he's going to start clunking all of them.

 

[hayes]

If nothing else at least we have depth now. You could probably throw Blake onto that list as well for this year but barring catastrophic injuries he shouldn't be needed there.

In terms of quality I think we're still a bit behind the best teams, but our guys are only young and have plenty of improvement left in them. If Macca improves his ruck work which is the only thing holding him back then that will obviously improve us and if Hickey lives up to his potential then we're right up there. We really don't have any idea about Pierce yet.

In terms of the future I've always had my doubts about whether Macca would be able to be competitive enough in the ruck to ever be the clear #1 so I thought eventually we'd see an athletic Hickey/Stanley combo with Hickey being the #1 and Stanley as the forward/ruck but with Stanley now playing back who knows what will happen there.

Overall I think we're looking pretty good.

 

[goodie23]

St Kilda: McEvoy, Hickey, Stanley (?), Koschitzke, Pierce, Lever (?), Blake (part-timer). Decent depth, our top three are all less than 24 and have shown promise, generally ruckman don't peak until 25-27. I rate Stanley quite highly as a ruckman but it looks like he'll be used down back in the short term and of course there's questions over his durability.

Superior (6):
Carltank: Kreuzer, Hampson, Warnock, Rowe (part-timer). Pretty much any of their top three would be our number one ruck.
Filth: Jolly, Hudson (rookie), Grundy, Gault. Jolly and Hudson are both very skilled but in decline. Should Grundy fail, they're in trouble.
Fremantle: Sandilands, Griffin, Clarke, Hannath, Moller (rookie), Bradley (part-timer): Sandy's the best, Griffin and Clarke have both shown themselves capable. Curious as to why they picked up a 21 year old SANFL ruckman in the pre-season draft last year, maybe they're less confident than I am.
North: Goldstein, Currie, Daw, Wallace (?), Petrie (part-timer?). Currie could well be a bargain pick-up, Daw has huge potential, Goldstein is very very handy.
Sydney: Mumford, Pyke, Tippett (?), Naismith. They're a little thin, but they're Sydney.
Wet Toast: Cox, Natanui, Lycett, Sinclair (rookie). They're the best. It's an absolute crime they got Gaff, Darling and Lycett in the same draft.

Roughly equal (5):
Adelaide: Jacobs, Graham, Osborn (rookie), Dowdell (rookie), Jenkins (part-timer), McKernan (part-timer). Jacobs is excellent, but their stocks fall off a cliff after that.
Brisbane: Leuenberger, Longer, Martin (?), Michael (rookie). The Berger's fantastic, but he only played four games last year and is currently nursing an Achilles. Longer's a great prospect, but still young.
Essendon: Hille, Ryder, Bellchambers. Their stocks are thin, but good. We have the potential to be better, I can see Hickey surpassing Ryder and Big Ben has Bellchambers covered. Last year or year before Hille would've put them ahead.
Hawthorn: Bailey, Hale, Roughead (?), Lowden, Ceglar, Grimley. Too many fitness issues to rate their stocks ahead of ours. They're as deep and possibly better, but they have this many full-time rucks for a reason.
Melbourne: Jamar, Spencer, Gawn, Fitzpatrick, Clark (?). If they used Clark as a full-time ruck, I'd put them ahead. Jamar has come a long way but pushing 30.

Inferior (6):
Footscray: Minson, Cordy, Campbell, Roughead (part-timer). We're one or two years ahead, Minson's good but still under-sized, be interesting to see if he benefits from the new space at throw-ins rule. If Cordy kicks on they could catch us, possibly overtake.
Geelong: Simpson, West, McIntosh, Vardy, Blivcavs, Bathie. If any of the first four could stay fit, they'd be superior
Gold Coast: Smith, Gorringe, Nicholls, Hall (rookie). They will overtake us, but right now their stocks are too raw.
Port: Lobbe, Renouf, Redden. They're Port.
Richmond: Maric, Derickx, Stephenson (rookie), McBean (part-timer), Vickery (?). Not a slight against Maric, but losing him would kill their season.
Western Sydney: Giles, Brogan, Philips, Downie, O'hAilpin (part-timer). Giles is a good battler, but Brogan's more coach than player by now. They must be ruing not taking Longer, expect them to raid for a ruck soon.

 

[Squizz]

Not sure Warnock would be our #1, but some bloody interesting analysis there.

 

[Sir Skid]

St Kilda: McEvoy, Hickey, Stanley (?), Koschitzke, Pierce, Lever (?), Blake (part-timer). Decent depth, our top three are all less than 24 and have shown promise, generally ruckman don't peak until 25-27. I rate Stanley quite highly as a ruckman but it looks like he'll be used down back in the short term and of course there's questions over his durability.

Superior (6):
Carltank: Kreuzer, Hampson, Warnock, Rowe (part-timer). Pretty much any of their top three would be our number one ruck.
Filth: Jolly, Hudson (rookie), Grundy, Gault. Jolly and Hudson are both very skilled but in decline. Should Grundy fail, they're in trouble.
Fremantle: Sandilands, Griffin, Clarke, Hannath, Moller (rookie), Bradley (part-timer): Sandy's the best, Griffin and Clarke have both shown themselves capable. Curious as to why they picked up a 21 year old SANFL ruckman in the pre-season draft last year, maybe they're less confident than I am.
North: Goldstein, Currie, Daw, Wallace (?), Petrie (part-timer?). Currie could well be a bargain pick-up, Daw has huge potential, Goldstein is very very handy.
Sydney: Mumford, Pyke, Tippett (?), Naismith. They're a little thin, but they're Sydney.
Wet Toast: Cox, Natanui, Lycett, Sinclair (rookie). They're the best. It's an absolute crime they got Gaff, Darling and Lycett in the same draft.

Roughly equal (5):
Adelaide: Jacobs, Graham, Osborn (rookie), Dowdell (rookie), Jenkins (part-timer), McKernan (part-timer). Jacobs is excellent, but their stocks fall off a cliff after that.
Brisbane: Leuenberger, Longer, Martin (?), Michael (rookie). The Berger's fantastic, but he only played four games last year and is currently nursing an Achilles. Longer's a great prospect, but still young.
Essendon: Hille, Ryder, Bellchambers. Their stocks are thin, but good. We have the potential to be better, I can see Hickey surpassing Ryder and Big Ben has Bellchambers covered. Last year or year before Hille would've put them ahead.
Hawthorn: Bailey, Hale, Roughead (?), Lowden, Ceglar, Grimley. Too many fitness issues to rate their stocks ahead of ours. They're as deep and possibly better, but they have this many full-time rucks for a reason.
Melbourne: Jamar, Spencer, Gawn, Fitzpatrick, Clark (?). If they used Clark as a full-time ruck, I'd put them ahead. Jamar has come a long way but pushing 30.

Inferior (6):
Footscray: Minson, Cordy, Campbell, Roughead (part-timer). We're one or two years ahead, Minson's good but still under-sized, be interesting to see if he benefits from the new space at throw-ins rule. If Cordy kicks on they could catch us, possibly overtake.
Geelong: Simpson, West, McIntosh, Vardy, Blivcavs, Bathie. If any of the first four could stay fit, they'd be superior
Gold Coast: Smith, Gorringe, Nicholls, Hall (rookie). They will overtake us, but right now their stocks are too raw.
Port: Lobbe, Renouf, Redden. They're Port.
Richmond: Maric, Derickx, Stephenson (rookie), McBean (part-timer), Vickery (?). Not a slight against Maric, but losing him would kill their season.
Western Sydney: Giles, Brogan, Philips, Downie, O'hAilpin (part-timer). Giles is a good battler, but Brogan's more coach than player by now. They must be ruing not taking Longer, expect them to raid for a ruck soon.

Yes, I did overlook the Blake. Unintentional but I don't see him having to fill the need as much this year if at all.
Good writeup Goodie23!
So which group do we fit into?

 

[stkildathunda]

Dont forget Pies have Witts, who whilst might not be ready step up for 22 games he is IMO better backup then Kosi/Blake offer us.

 

[goodie23]

C'mon, missing one name isn't too bad an effort

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Dont forget Pies have Witts, who whilst might not be ready step up for 22 games he is IMO better backup then Kosi/Blake offer us.

McEvoy averaged 11 hitouts per game in 2010, 22 hitouts in 2011, 25 in 2012.
West Coast had the most hitouts, and were 6th for center clearances.
Fremantle were 16th for center clearances.
Crows were 3rd for hitouts, and 6th for center clearances.
Bulldogs were 4th but below the Saints for clearances.

Its sort of scarey that the difference to the top and bottom teams is an average of only 4 center clearances per game.