Our Ruck Division

[milkVealer]

Interested to hear other peoples opinions about our ruck division as we have been getting slaughtered at clearances and i think it all starts with our ruckman.

Heres my thoughts:

Jamar's competiveness in ruck duels has dropped off considerably in last 12 months particularly this season. its quite remarkable how quickly he has regressed. I think he has actually been going alright around the ground took some nice grabs on the weekend.

Gawn looks a fair way off, he acutally looks lighter now than he did before his knee, you would think he wouldve spent a fair bit of that recovery time in the gym bulking up, he just appears to skinny.

I thought spencer ended last season showing some promise but hasn't taken the next step this year from what i have seen if anything gone backwards.


Where does that leave us going forward, are we looking to trade for a established ruckman or draft one early?

I personally believe in the theory of trading for ruckman rather than drafting with a high pick as their is usually a greater diffference between potential ability and realised ability compared to other positions.

possible trade options i think we should be looking at

Mumford: like Jamar has gone backwards recently, but has an age edge over Jamar, struggling to see how Pyke Mumford Tippett Reid can fit on to the SCG and Pyke is ahead of Mumford right now, not sure what his contract status is but i reckon if he got back near his best he would be worth going after.

Warnock: really good tap ruckman who struggles to get in carltons best 22.

what do other dees think?

can gawn/spencer nail down the role in the future? if not who should we target?

 

[Tulip]

People expect too much from Jamar. He doesn't have too many intelligent players to work with, and his H/O's aren't always accurate, but compared to Spencer/Gawn he's fantastic.

Gorringe could be a target, though with Striker745 having done his knee he will probably assume the mantle of 1st ruck.

 

[fushy]

We only need to trade for one thing, midfeilders

 

[rhaz]

As fushy said... there is no point getting another ruckman if their taps are just gonna be taken by the opposition midfield.

I'd be more than happy if we took a ruck with a rookie pick, or very late in the national draft depending on how many delistings etc we have.

 

[syl]

Jamar won 70% of hit outs last weekend, hit to advantage. No good mids under it!

 

[milkVealer]

Jamar won 70% of hit outs last weekend, hit to advantage. No good mids under it!

against big Orren

 

[fushy]

against big Orren

The tigers won with a subpar ruckman, why?


They have a good midfeild.

 

[Blackas87]

Not sure how Jamar has lost his competitiveness in the ruck when he is averaging a career best 33.36 hitouts a game and this is with giving up ruck time to Gawn, also 3rd highest average in the league. Need to get the players under him

 

[CowboyFromHell]

Not sure how Jamar has lost his competitiveness in the ruck when he is averaging a career best 33.36 hitouts a game and this is with giving up ruck time to Gawn, also 3rd highest average in the league. Need to get the players under him

Agree with this and the sentiment that Jamar has actually been good this season. Just watching him this weekend showed how valuable he still is to our side.

With another 2 season under his belt Gawn should bulk up a bit and get fitter which will help him stay in contests longer and have more impact, which will be around the time Jamar calls it quits I'd say. I wouldn't mind another developing ruckman on the list as Spencer is rubbish and Fitzy is more a KPP these days.

 

[CTHORANGE]

I don't think Jamar's been bad, I think he's been pretty good in most of the games he has played, he won a lot of good taps this week. Like most have said so far, we don't have enough good midfielders to take advantage.

 

[PureFooty]

Regardless of hitouts, Jamar isn't playing as well as 2010, that year he was taking contested marks, getting in and under, having an impact around the ground. I think injuries hurt him especially at his age, but I definately expect him to have a bigger impact in the 2nd half of the year.

 

[maxmustard]

Jamar is still a very good tap ruckman, I agree its the midfield he's working with. His output around the ground has diminished a bit I think, he used to go forward and be dangerous. Who knows though that might be Neeld asking him to play differently than Bailey.

 

[Animosity]

Still spewin we missed out on jack hannath

 

[Tulip]

Still spewin we missed out on jack hannath

Don't be spewin. He's not actually that young, and he probably won't be a superstar.

 

[Captain Jack]

Don't be spewin. He's not actually that young, and he probably won't be a superstar.

It's the child-who-missed-out-on-the-toy syndrome... someone else gets him and suddenly we all want him. MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMM, IT'S NOT FAIR, I WANTED IT FIRST!!!

 

[Crafted]

Still spewin we missed out on jack hannath

The only thing he is good for is supercoach. That's about it

 

[Devastating Boris]

Rucking has changed. You are better off being 195cm with a leap than 211cm and 110kg. I love Spencer's heart and even though he knows he won't get there he chases his Ring off but I think one of these rucks has to go. Keep Jamar, keep gawn and Fitz is now playing well. What about trading for cox

 

[Dee31]

Mark Jamar has been modestly serviceable this year. That's it, absolutely nothing more. At present (and I don't see it changing), he's a second-tier ruck who might get more hit-outs than his opponent but doesn't create as much play for his team, hits the ball to nowhere in particular so our mids have nothing to run to, doesn't impact the scoreboard and doesn't impose himself on the game. Comparing him to Spencer is unfair because I just don't believer Spencer it up to AFL standard. End of the day, he's the best we've got but he is not as good as we need.

People have mentioned Warnock at Carlton but I'd also be looking at Hampson and West (from Geelong). If Angus Graham is delisted by the Crows Id also be looking at getting him to the club. None of those blokes are world-beaters but I believe they all offer as much or more than Jamar with a lot more up-side and, in the case of someone like Hampson, flexibility.

 

[d33my]

I've always wondered, what if you just didn't play a ruckman and had an extra rover instead? Ruckmen can't take the ball straight out of the air these days because of the HTB rule. With an extra player you'd be able to cover opposition midfielders. Still a chance their ruck could get it out to one of their midfielders, but this happens when you're playing with a ruckman anyway.

Obviously this would never work, but it's the kind of scheme I like to cook up on BigFooty so that I'm prepared when the Dees give me a call and ask me to be coach.

 

[CowboyFromHell]

I've always wondered, what if you just didn't play a ruckman and had an extra rover instead. Ruckmen can't take the ball straight out of the air these days because of the HTB rule. With an extra player you'd be able to cover opposition midfielders. Still a chance their ruck could get it out to one of their midfielders, but this happens when you're playing with a ruckman anyway.

Obviously this would never work, but it's the kind of scheme I like to cook up on BigFooty so that I'm prepared when the Dees give me a call and ask me to be coach.

Would the extra rover go up in the ruck or just be an extra man? It's a good scheme... until the other ruckman just belts the shit out of the ball 30-40 metres into their forward line each time there was a centre bounce!

 

[Tulip]

People have mentioned Warnock at Carlton but I'd also be looking at Hampson and West (from Geelong). If Angus Graham is delisted by the Crows Id also be looking at getting him to the club. None of those blokes are world-beaters but I believe they all offer as much or more than Jamar with a lot more up-side and, in the case of someone like Hampson, flexibility.

Just another indication of how much we take Jamar for granted.

He's ineffectual because we have a VFL midfield.

Meanwhile, the above are not AFL standard players. West only looks it because of the midfield he's tapping it to.

 

[Theseventhhamster]

Jamar would look a lot better with good mids and a competent midfield coach.

 

[Cannon82]

Jamar has been decent this year, but he's nearly 30, relatively short for a ruck and not that mobile. He's a big unit so you'd think with the injuries he's had his shelf life is going to be pretty limited. Spencer would comfortably be the worst starting ruck in the league and Gawn isn't ready yet and hasn't strung a full season together yet, so we definitely need a ready replacement. Better off trading than drafting for rucks.

Warnock is a realistic target. Carlton have a bit of depth there and you'd think he'd be keen to get a regular game at his age. Can't see the Swans letting Mummy go - he might not have been great so far this year but he's got plenty of time to fix that, and they're not likely to panic flog him off at the end of the year if he continues to battle. Haven't seen much of him but Currie at North might be worth a look as well.

So trade in a decent ruckman, try and snag a quality midfielder free agent or trade, load up on midfielders at the draft. Hopefully in 2 or 3 years we've got the makings of a winning team.

 

[Topkent]

Some of jamars tap work was sublime on the weekend there were a cpl deft flicks straight down the throat of the joneses and magners .. Around the ground he has dropped off big time from his all aus year but until we get quality mids no point getting in another ruck

 

[milkVealer]

Well it seems most of you have seen something in Jamar this year that I have missed.

I will pose another question.

Can Gawn or Spencer lock down the number one spot post Jamar or do we need to trade or use a high draft pick to find his replacement?