What I'm saying is despite insipid ruckwork we were able to take back 5 goal deficit and get 3 goals ahead. I don't know how you can pin the whole thing on ruckwork when we had the ascendancy for basically a half of footy
Le Chevalier Corlett LeDeux, to be precise
He has been in Vic for what 5 years now should be plenty of time to adjust more likely his body just isn't suitable for AFl
Maybe the warmer weather would help but my comment was mainly about him needing time to adjust to Vic weather being colder which he has had plenty so more time wont fix that if it is the problem
Barnaby disagrees.
If we had a ruck, blicavs on darling and no injuries we would of won by 6-10 goals. With injuries we should of won by 2-6 goals. But we lost cos we didnt play our best ruckman (or second best for that matter) and didnt play our full back at full back and then had injuries.
We did play Nakia cockatoo in that match, the player this thread is about. To get back on topic - he was electric that match and had he been fit there's a reasonable shot we win despite the awful ruckwork
It's tough to know. The cats medical team are great and as an industry we're becoming pretty sophisticated at conditioning the hammy. I just see a lot of missing perspective at the same time. You'd like to think they're hammering Cockatoo on the boring details, but many dont yet, only because it's not standard practice yet.
Just as a side note, from my perspective the Hawks did an amazing job with his Hammies but more so from a buffering perspective, not a cure. They really strengthened his back, hips, hammies, calves etc which made them more robust, but his base postures were horrible. To me, those hammies could have come back at some point if he kept playing.
Article from the AFL site...just great news!!
EXCITEMENT around Geelong's Nakia Cockatoo has been put on hold as the livewire forward continues to manage his troublesome hamstrings that will rule him out of round one.
Cockatoo, who enters 2020 on a one-year contract, remains at least a month away from playing matches at any level after yet another frustrating pre-season.
The 23-year-old had impressed on the training track up until January, even prompting superstar Cat Patrick Dangerfield to label him a potential point of "difference" for Geelong this season.
However, he has been backed off his loads in recent weeks after complaining of the same hamstring soreness that restricted him to just 40 minutes of VFL football for the entire 2019 campaign.
"The body's going OK at the moment, it's just trying to get my hammy strength back up to 100 per cent," Cockatoo said on Sunday.
"Hopefully, I’m back fully training soon and playing some footy.
"I'm making sure I'm doing everything right in the gym and making sure I'm up-and-running for training sessions.
"I want to make sure everything is all right before I do go 100 per cent.
I think it's just back to full training for three or four weeks, and then maybe even a VFL game, hopefully.
Cockatoo hasn't been seen at AFL level since round three, 2018, a season in which he twice suffered damage to his PCL.
The former No.10 draft pick has also battled a series of soft tissue setbacks across his 34-game career – including three hamstring injuries in 2017 before he was recalled for a preliminary final.
Chris Scott is an unabashed fan of Cockatoo, while his teammates are desperate for his bullocking presence to return.
"He's going to be one of the biggest differences that we have this year," Dangerfield told SEN in January.
"The challenge for him is he's been too powerful for his own good early and he's starting to get that balance of when to push yourself incredibly hard and burst through three tackles versus just holding the tackler up.
"It has taken him a while to adjust to that and understand, but I think he's slowly getting there now."
Jack Steven (calf) is still working back to full fitness, while Joel Selwood (hamstring), Jake Kolodjashnij (hip) and Mitch Duncan (hip) remain on modified duties.
