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Rumour Mark Blake?

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I thought he was alright for his first game coming back into the side. It's obvious at centre bounces that Hawk is out of his depth, he can't time his leaps and so, ends up not leaping at all or making a cursory effort. He is better at ball-ups or boundary throw ins where he can his strength to better effect. He will never be anything more than a backup ruck and that is all we can hope for from him in that regard. He may have the vertical leap, we've seen it in marking contests, but he doesn't have rucking instinct. Blake's taps were clearly more effective. I suppose it is a great thing that we have all these options though.
 
Sorry but they were both shocking at timing their leaps at the centre bounce. It staggers me how bad just about all ruckmen are at it.

A club needs to hire Dennis Rodman to teach these guys how to time a jump.

It seems they start their run based on the other ruckman, not on the ball. So if the other guy has mis read it, it turns to a cluster cuss.
 
Copernicus said:
He may have the vertical leap, we've seen it in marking contests, but he doesn't have rucking instinct.
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Size, strength, leap - these things can't be taught and Hawk has them!
Timing, technique - these can be taught, and if someone isn't down there at KP teaching Hawk these things then there is a major failing in our football department.
 
Great ruck work by Blake on the weekend. And some decent efforts around the ground

But against stiffer opposition such as Jolly, I think his tap work is neutralised and his efforts around the ground come much more into focus
 

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OldStyle2007 said:
Great ruck work by Blake on the weekend. And some decent efforts around the ground

But against stiffer opposition such as Jolly, I think his tap work is neutralised and his efforts around the ground come much more into focus
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Possibly, BUT this season we've played Pies 2x, and first time Blake played quite well, had the better of Jolly, we won. Last game, no Blake, Jolly was good, we lost.
 
Furious_G said:
Sorry but they were both shocking at timing their leaps at the centre bounce. It staggers me how bad just about all ruckmen are at it.

A club needs to hire Dennis Rodman to teach these guys how to time a jump.

It seems they start their run based on the other ruckman, not on the ball. So if the other guy has mis read it, it turns to a cluster cuss.
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Pretty good comment.
 
Did anyone notice the hit Blakey put on Waite in last weeks game, he stayed down a while as well.
Hope that was a sign of things to come.
 
Furious_G said:
Sorry but they were both shocking at timing their leaps at the centre bounce. It staggers me how bad just about all ruckmen are at it.

A club needs to hire Dennis Rodman to teach these guys how to time a jump.

It seems they start their run based on the other ruckman, not on the ball. So if the other guy has mis read it, it turns to a cluster cuss.
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As the smaller ruckman there is no way you can just purely jump at the ball and not time your jump based on your opponents approach or you will get killed by the bigger ruckman

That's Hawkin's excuse
 
OldStyle2007 said:
As the smaller ruckman there is no way you can just purely jump at the ball and not time your jump based on your opponents approach or you will get killed by the bigger ruckman

That's Hawkin's excuse
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Rodman's rebound stats speak otherwise. At his peak he was bringing down an average of 50% more boards than the guy in second place! And he's only 6'6" going up against a lot taller guys. If anything, timing levels the playing field for the shorter guys.

If the ball bounces, and I'm confident the other ruckman is going to be on his downward drop before the ball is on it's downward drop, then wouldn't I be better off running a bit later and jumping while he's just about to land on his feet?
 
Furious_G said:
Rodman's rebound stats speak otherwise. At his peak he was bringing down an average of 50% more boards than the guy in second place! And he's only 6'6" going up against a lot taller guys. If anything, timing levels the playing field for the shorter guys.

If the ball bounces, and I'm confident the other ruckman is going to be on his downward drop before the ball is on it's downward drop, then wouldn't I be better off running a bit later and jumping while he's just about to land on his feet?
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Isn't there a difference though?
In basketball, when going for a rebound, it's generally up/down movement only.
In AFL rucking, it's up/down as well as across. So it's not just about timing for the ball coming down.

I see Hawkins try to time his jump a lot, but because the other ruckman is running 'in' as well as jumping up, it means that their momentum carries them across the centre line. The result is that Hawkins then can't jump up properly because he has a 190-200cm guy cutting in under his jumping area.
If they did a ball up like in basketball where the two centremen are right together, then Hawkins could do this. But with them running in as well, it complicates things.
 

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Furious_G said:
Rodman's rebound stats speak otherwise. At his peak he was bringing down an average of 50% more boards than the guy in second place! And he's only 6'6" going up against a lot taller guys. If anything, timing levels the playing field for the shorter guys.

If the ball bounces, and I'm confident the other ruckman is going to be on his downward drop before the ball is on it's downward drop, then wouldn't I be better off running a bit later and jumping while he's just about to land on his feet?
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Rodman used to lock arms and legs with his opponent, then he would use his speed and agility to get where he thought the ball would go first. He would study shooters (video) and note where there misses used to go. To the left, right, bounce high, flat...whatever. That was more important than his leap.

I wonder if we have ruck coaches who study umps bounces, etc. To the left, high bounce etc. A bit of video study sure would help.
 
Turbocat said:
Unless we can get someone around 25/26 mark who can come in and immediately become #1 ruck , I don't want them. Vardy and Simpson look to have potential. Go with the what we know , rather than other peoples offcuts.
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Vardy has put on 9 kg this year and will be something . I work with his former physio who could not believe Geelong nabbed him so late in the draft. Blake, Simpson, Vardy-we'll be fine, +/- Hawkins, laughing.
 

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VEEDUBS said:
Vardy has put on 9 kg this year and will be something . I work with his former physio who could not believe Geelong nabbed him so late in the draft. Blake, Simpson, Vardy-we'll be fine, +/- Hawkins, laughing.
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Vardy will be a different proposition next year, a full year at Geelong a second pre-season, he'll have a chance if good enough.
I'd say CHF/FF or a FP. Trouble is they like the small fwd setup at Geelong, so could be hard to convince selectors.

Mitch Brown is the other for next year, 3rd year at the club, I think? will also need opportunity in a key role.
Also, we need to find another strong bodied midfielder, of the young variety, maybe Mitch Duncan can step up, he's a good size and good overhead.
Menzel is the new spark up forward, seems to be a Johnson clone, there shall be a few changes next year.
 
meto said:
Vardy will be a different proposition next year, a full year at Geelong a second pre-season, he'll have a chance if good enough.
I'd say CHF/FF or a FP. Trouble is they like the small fwd setup at Geelong, so could be hard to convince selectors.

Mitch Brown is the other for next year, 3rd year at the club, I think? will also need opportunity in a key role.
Also, we need to find another strong bodied midfielder, of the young variety, maybe Mitch Duncan can step up, he's a good size and good overhead.
Menzel is the new spark up forward, seems to be a Johnson clone, there shall be a few changes next year.
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Your not first I've heard say that but Im not sure I see the exact comparison. Goal Kicker yes but different. Sj is more like a Daicos ,freakish where as I see Menzel more a Jarman/Didak type , more of a weapon by foot , perhaps not as mercurial but still deadly. If he can end up as good as SJ he will be a hell of a player.

When Mich Brown plays more than a handful of games in a row , perhaps even a few in the A's I'll get excited.
 
meto said:
Also, we need to find another strong bodied midfielder, of the young variety, maybe Mitch Duncan can step up, he's a good size and good overhead.
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Mitch Duncan looks more like an outside player to me. Looks to be more a forward flanker/wing player.
I cannot see him under packs like Selwood, Ablett, Bartel and co, but I could see him snagging quite a few goals from the flanks.
 
The rabbi said:
Mitch Duncan looks more like an outside player to me. Looks to be more a forward flanker/wing player.
I cannot see him under packs like Selwood, Ablett, Bartel and co, but I could see him snagging quite a few goals from the flanks.
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True, yeah you're right! we still need to find one, like that ripper dockers guy that got injured, ahhh I forget, you know the one.

Anyway, Duncan's got courage alright, but his athletic ability makes him better outside I suppose.
 
The forecast is showers so expect plenty of stoppages this Friday night.

Blake has become a real liability lately because he is just giving away far too many free-kicks from ruck infringements. His lack of physical pressure in pack situations is also a real concern.

His 15 (ff) : 36 (fa) ratio is horrendous and easily the worst in the league. This is from someone who only lays 0.7 tackles per game! Again, the worst in the league.

Compare this to Mumford who lays 4.7 tackles per game and breaks even in free-kick ratio and it's not hard to work out why Blake was demoted to the seconds for an extended period.

I've seen no improvement in his recent games but with Pods out, Blake will most likely play this week.

Hopefully Ottens improved fitness base reduces Blake's game time to less than 40% so his inadequacies are not too exposed.

Don't see him playing again in 2010 unless Ottens/Hawkins cop an injury.
 
Interesting to see the provisional AA squad.

The 2010 Four'N Twenty All-Australian squad
Carlton: Chris Judd
Collingwood: Alan Didak, Darren Jolly, Harry O'Brien, Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan
Essendon: Dustin Fletcher, Jobe Watson
Fremantle: David Mundy, Matthew Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands
Geelong Cats: Gary Ablett, Corey Enright, Paul Chapman, Steve Johnson, James Kelly, Harry Taylor, Joel Selwood
Hawthorn: Luke Hodge, Lance Franklin
Melbourne: James Frawley, Brad Green, Mark Jamar
North Melbourne: Brent Harvey, Brady Rawlings, Andrew Swallow
Richmond: Brett Deledio, Jack Riewoldt
St Kilda: Nick Dal Santo, Brendon Goddard, Lenny Hayes, Leigh Montagna
Sydney Swans: Adam Goodes, Nick Malceski, Shane Mumford
West Coast: Mark LeCras
Western Bulldogs: Matthew Boyd, Adam Cooney, Barry Hall, Brian Lake

Can't see Blake's name there anywhere maybe now the Blake sympathisers will admit we made a mistake in keeping Mark over Shane.

Before I get beaten down by the "but we didn't have coin to pay him" argument consider both where out of contract if we either traded Mark out (ala King 07) or delisted him the money we used to sign Mark up could have gone onto the offer we put before Shane, that coupled with the fact that he would have been our clear choice as number 2 ruckman would have been enough to retain the Mummy and our ruck problems would be a thing of the past.
Mummy learns from Otto while Simpson and Vardy develop until one of them can back up Mummy when Otto retired it would have been nice bugga!!
 

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