Bulldog’s had us in the ruck and midfield. They are related. A ruck deficiency is a big part of a clearance deficiency but overall our midfield was not hard, fast or skilled enough. Our 2002/3 midfield could get clearances from a breakeven ruck strategy. Buckley, Burns and Licuria are no longer the players they were or playing the roles they played. We need to win the ruck to have a decent chance these days and we rarely do that. It isn’t just about numbers it is about quality and that applies to taps and clearances.
Dogs kicked 10 goals from marks and they barely have a bloke taller than Buckley in the side. We kicked 7 from marks. It’s not a massive difference but decisive IMO. It is a stat that should have been our way and had to be our way for us to win. They took marks up forward because their midfield cut us to pieces and delivered the ball.
The Dogs final was far from an isolated failure. Against Melbourne, St. Kilda and Freo, who all finished above us we were similarly beaten and looked ordinary. Our bright spots came against Sydney who we can match up on possibly because we don’t have the midfield stars they concentrate on stopping and a weakened Eagles. When we lose it always looks the same.
The ruck and midfield is where our problems lie. All the theorising in the world about who might develop into what doesn’t change the facts. We have a poor ruck and midfield and that is the difference between where we have been, where we are and where we will be in the short term compared to winning flags. We haven’t won more than rarely in the ruck this century. We haven’t had dash in the guts since the stars of 1990 faded. Willow would be an exception but that is some time ago and we let him go with barely a whimper.
We need a ruckman to allow Fraser to be a relief ruck and a roving tall forward come extra midfielder. We need 2 quick, skilled midfielders and a grunt in and under worker that has reasonable pace and good skills. Everything else we might need is secondary. Without the ruck and mids we just can’t win anything.
The PSD doesn’t hold much hope for us unless we can identify a ruckman. Other than that we'd be hoping for a punt on a midfield development project to pay off in 2 years. Our hit rate has been non existent in that regard.
Dogs kicked 10 goals from marks and they barely have a bloke taller than Buckley in the side. We kicked 7 from marks. It’s not a massive difference but decisive IMO. It is a stat that should have been our way and had to be our way for us to win. They took marks up forward because their midfield cut us to pieces and delivered the ball.
The Dogs final was far from an isolated failure. Against Melbourne, St. Kilda and Freo, who all finished above us we were similarly beaten and looked ordinary. Our bright spots came against Sydney who we can match up on possibly because we don’t have the midfield stars they concentrate on stopping and a weakened Eagles. When we lose it always looks the same.
The ruck and midfield is where our problems lie. All the theorising in the world about who might develop into what doesn’t change the facts. We have a poor ruck and midfield and that is the difference between where we have been, where we are and where we will be in the short term compared to winning flags. We haven’t won more than rarely in the ruck this century. We haven’t had dash in the guts since the stars of 1990 faded. Willow would be an exception but that is some time ago and we let him go with barely a whimper.
We need a ruckman to allow Fraser to be a relief ruck and a roving tall forward come extra midfielder. We need 2 quick, skilled midfielders and a grunt in and under worker that has reasonable pace and good skills. Everything else we might need is secondary. Without the ruck and mids we just can’t win anything.
The PSD doesn’t hold much hope for us unless we can identify a ruckman. Other than that we'd be hoping for a punt on a midfield development project to pay off in 2 years. Our hit rate has been non existent in that regard.
