Preview Round 18, 2023 : North v Hawthorn, 1:10pm Sunday 16th July, Marvel stadium

[Roger Rogerson]

That baby giraffe has one the biggest weapons in our side that we’re not yet taking full advantage of though.
That’s quite literally why Sam is playing him each and every week and asking him to do more around the ground.

I think this year is about development, not wins, so I am not sure that the rucks having issues to work through really hurts us enough to make us throw the plan away.

I think every game that our mids play with the two rucks is a game closer to us getting a good rhythm and understanding in the middle.

It's clear you're balls deep in the Sam camp re. our rucks taking us to the holy land. It's an outlier versus most other sides.

Sam has been asking him to do more around the ground for some time and there is very little improvement.

We should be playing one as 1st ruck at AFL and the same at VFL. What we did with Hale when we grabbed him was made him do the kms at VFL as no. 1 and then he never looked back when he ticked the box then was promoted.

Meek has shown more as an all rounder make Reeves bust his gut to take 6 grabs in a VFL game 3 weeks in a row.

 

[A Diakos]

Because he didnt want to come to us

now that the demons have sent him to play for Casey he may want to come to us

 

[Flukey!]

Our clearance stats are vastly improved this year. Surely that is an indicator of better ruck performance too?
I don't believe we are just sharking the opposition taps.

If we go back to one ruck, what impact will it have on clearances?

We are still a work in progress so I'm not surprised that we haven't got the formula perfect yet.

 

[Roby]

Our clearance stats are vastly improved this year. Surely that is an indicator of better ruck performance too?
I don't believe we are just sharking the opposition taps.

If we go back to one ruck, what impact will it have on clearances?

We are still a work in progress so I'm not surprised that we haven't got the formula perfect yet.

We actually won the total clearance count away from home with one ruckman last week.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

It's clear you're balls deep in the Sam camp re. our rucks taking us to the holy land. It's an outlier versus most other sides.

Sam has been asking him to do more around the ground for some time and there is very little improvement.

We should be playing one as 1st ruck at AFL and the same at VFL. What we did with Hale when we grabbed him was made him do the kms at VFL as no. 1 and then he never looked back when he ticked the box then was

Meek has shown more as an all rounder make Reeves bust his gut to take 6 grabs in a VFL game 3 weeks in a row.

Do that and you lose out on having someone who is the clear best tap ruckmen on the list, and what effect does that then have on our mids?

Yes, I’m balls deep on the rucks taking us forward, because Reeves in particular is already performing damn well in the key part of his role(stoppages) for such a green player, and if he can get some confidence in his bodywork and ability to impact around the ground the entire side will benefit.

 

[barbster]

Because he didnt want to come to us

I thought Grundy was meant to be smart. Who would go to a club that has one of the best ruckmen going around over a club who is crying out for a ruck??

 

[Bugs1977]

I watched Karl do the warm up before the Carlton game. He isn't right. He hasn't been himself for a few weeks. Shanking kicks. Somethings off.

There was a game 2-3 weeks ago where he got absolutely cleaned up. Pretty sure he was holding his ribs afterwards.

 

[HedgeFund]

Do that and you lose out on having someone who is the clear best tap ruckmen on the list, and what effect does that then have on our mids?

Yes, I’m balls deep on the rucks taking us forward, because Reeves in particular is already performing damn well in the key part of his role(stoppages) for such a green player, and if he can get some confidence in his bodywork and ability to impact around the ground the entire side will benefit.

Such a green player?

He’s played footy for 20 years.

He has been exceptionally tall and played ruck for the vast majority of that time.

His ruckwork involves 0.2% of game time at most. What he does in the other 99.8% isn’t up to scratch for a guy of his experience.

Averaging 2.9 kicks & 4.5 hbls and has kicked 1 goal all season on 72% time in ground.

That’s poor and frankly our mids can, and should, learn how to create clearances off a less dominant ruckman (maybe even the opposition ruck), in order for us to progress.

 

[HedgeFund]

I thought he was meant to be smart. Who would go to a club that has one of the best ruckmen going around over a club who is crying out for a ruck.

A guy who still wanted to play finals footy and marquee matches?

 

[barbster]

There was a game 2-3 weeks ago where he got absolutely cleaned up. Pretty sure he was holding his ribs afterwards.

Yes he seems to be a bit down on form

 

[barbster]

[/QUOTE]

Such a green player?

He’s played footy for 20 years.

He has been exceptionally tall and played ruck for the vast majority of that time.

His ruckwork involves 0.2% of game time at most. What he does in the other 99.8% isn’t up to scratch for a guy of his experience.

Averaging 2.9 kicks & 4.5 hbls and has kicked 1 goal all season on 72% time in ground.

That’s poor and frankly our mids can, and should, learn how to create clearances off a less dominant ruckman (maybe even the opposition ruck), in order for us to progress.

He has only been his current height for a couple of those years if that and needs to get used to his increased height and also fill out. That is why rucks generally take longer to hit their peak.

 

[barbster]

A guy who still wanted to play finals footy and marquee matches?

I suppose Casey is usually a strong team so they usually play finals.
Not sure what their marquee matches are?

 

[hawkguru]

World's worst drinking game: Every time Noodle takes a mark you have to drink.

How bout either Reeves or Meek to take a mark inside 50? Between the 2 they average 0.3 for the season

 

[KermitJagger]

Is Meek going to make such a big material difference in other ways that it offsets the advantage given to our mids by the service received from Ned? I don't think so.

There's been a lot been said about the turnaround of our midfield this year and I'd wager a lot of that is due to Ned having the 4th best hit out to advantage and hit out win % of full time rucks playing more than 10 games.

 

[daniel23]

We have lost 8 games by 50 plus , ned Reeves few hitouts he wins to advantage isn't helping us that much let's be real. He is a deadset liability around the ground, I'd much rather meek providing some sort of physical presence and winning less hitouts %. I like what Sam's doing with the team but doesn't mean everything he does is going to be the right move like a few posters on here think, 2 weeks ago he did start weddle on curnow . Right now Reeves isn't the answer, he's slow, literally can't impact any contest in the air or when the ball hits the ground, I hope he turns it around because he looked alot more mobile pre shoulder last season.

 

[KermitJagger]

We have lost 8 games by 50 plus , ned Reeves few hitouts he wins to advantage isn't helping us that much let's be real. He is a deadset liability around the ground, I'd much rather meek providing some sort of physical presence and winning less hitouts %. I like what Sam's doing with the team but doesn't mean everything he does is going to be the right move like a few posters on here think, 2 weeks ago he did start weddle on curnow . Right now Reeves isn't the answer, he's slow, literally can't impact any contest in the air or when the ball hits the ground, I hope he turns it around because he looked alot more mobile pre shoulder last season.

How is it Reeves' fault that we lose games heavily? The only game Reeves didn't play in is one of those games lost by 50 plus.

Losing games heavily with Reeves in the team doesn't mean that Reeves is one of the reasons we are losing those games heavily. Third worst team for inside 50 differential, third worst team for allowing an opposition mark I50, worst team for allowing opposition marks on the leads, third worst for opposition goals per I50, outright worst for pressure act differential around the ground by a MILE - Reeves performance materially contributes nothing to any of those indicators but they go much further to explain why we're losing heavily.

Let's look at where Reeves does contribute. We're 2nd best for centre clearance differential, 4th for hit out differential, 2nd for hit out to advantage differential. When things go right for us we can be absolutely dominant in the middle of the ground. If you remove Reeves from this equation then the reasons we lose heavily don't improve much if at all, but the areas where we do gain advantage in a game will drop off almost completely.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Such a green player?

He’s played footy for 20 years.

He has been exceptionally tall and played ruck for the vast majority of that time.

His ruckwork involves 0.2% of game time at most. What he does in the other 99.8% isn’t up to scratch for a guy of his experience.

Averaging 2.9 kicks & 4.5 hbls and has kicked 1 goal all season on 72% time in ground.

That’s poor and frankly our mids can, and should, learn how to create clearances off a less dominant ruckman (maybe even the opposition ruck), in order for us to progress.

He’s played football for 20 years? Wtf.

 

[KermitJagger]

It's clear you're balls deep in the Sam camp re. our rucks taking us to the holy land. It's an outlier versus most other sides.

Sam has been asking him to do more around the ground for some time and there is very little improvement.

We should be playing one as 1st ruck at AFL and the same at VFL. What we did with Hale when we grabbed him was made him do the kms at VFL as no. 1 and then he never looked back when he ticked the box then was promoted.

Meek has shown more as an all rounder make Reeves bust his gut to take 6 grabs in a VFL game 3 weeks in a row.

I don't think Meek has shown too much more as an all rounder has he?

2 more possessions a game, 1 more mark, 1 more tackle. They're pretty much on par everywhere else except for the hit out statistics where Reeves is clearly better.

 

[threesixpio]

He’s played football for 20 years? Wtf.

His under 3s highlights are amazing

 

[Ram-Man]

Evenly matched game in terms of experience ...

 

[TylerDurden]

Evenly matched game in terms of experience ...

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Skewed with the inclusions of Shiels and Howe somewhat.

 

[daniel23]

How is it Reeves' fault that we lose games heavily? The only game Reeves didn't play in is one of those games lost by 50 plus.

Losing games heavily with Reeves in the team doesn't mean that Reeves is one of the reasons we are losing those games heavily. Third worst team for inside 50 differential, third worst team for allowing an opposition mark I50, worst team for allowing opposition marks on the leads, third worst for opposition goals per I50, outright worst for pressure act differential around the ground by a MILE - Reeves performance materially contributes nothing to any of those indicators but they go much further to explain why we're losing heavily.

Let's look at where Reeves does contribute. We're 2nd best for centre clearance differential, 4th for hit out differential, 2nd for hit out to advantage differential. When things go right for us we can be absolutely dominant in the middle of the ground. If you remove Reeves from this equation then the reasons we lose heavily don't improve much if at all, but the areas where we do gain advantage in a game will drop off almost completely.

I've seen the all these hitout to advantages and differentials all before from his fans. Fact is around the ground he offers very little and last week was his worst performance against a much greener ruckman in Briggs. Meek hasn't been much better but when he has impacted games it has been of a higher quality then Reeves. Mitchell obviously favours Reeves right now but I'd like to see meek given a string of games as the solo ruck.

 

[Buckemenico]

Our centre clearances this year have been the best that I can recall, even during premiership years. A lot has to do with the hit-out expertise of Reeves.

 

[Sixpence]

His under 3s highlights are amazing

He really broke out once he reached 200cms!

 

[KermitJagger]

I've seen the all these hitout to advantages and differentials all before from his fans. Fact is around the ground he offers very little and last week was his worst performance against a much greener ruckman in Briggs. Meek hasn't been much better but when he has impacted games it has been of a higher quality then Reeves. Mitchell obviously favours Reeves right now but I'd like to see meek given a string of games as the solo ruck.

The same Kieran Briggs whom is the third highest rated player in the league across the games he's played? Sure. You can call him green all you want but Briggs has been very good since he's come in to their senior side and they've won 5/7 with him against some VERY solid ruck outfits in North, Melbourne and Freo, he didn't just have an out of the box game against us.

That said, I didn't think Reeves' game was bad at all - certainly not in the second half where he really helped to drag us back in by giving our mids such good service. Reeves contesting kept Briggs to his worst hit out to advantage rate for the season by a fair margin, with Reeves more than doubling his hit outs to advantage 5 - 12.

There were far more genuine reasons to be critical of Reeves earlier in the season, I feel. His game on the weekend was far from his worst and against in an extremely in-form opponent.