Opinion Ruck set up. Playing 2 genuine rucks doesn’t work.

[Val Keating]

Playing Goldstein & Xerri in the same side does not work. They are both genuine rucks, not ruck forwards so playing both is like playing a man down.

Fine, the new gaffer thought it might work, but as those before him have found out it doesn’t.

Where do we go from here? Goldy or Xerri? Or both.

 

[Le Grille]

******* trade xerri if it doesn’t work, if we can’t play him in tandem with Goldy he won’t be ready when Goldy retires

 

[the flying ham]

The irony here is that playing comben would probably enhance the prospects of the resting ruck as a fwd. I'm sure 2 kpfs and 2 rucks could work, by playing X as number 1 we've already written off the year in terms of trying to win so why not try it. Now we actually have a genuine small forward up there it might work on a dry day under the roof. But more realistic is that one of X and goldy gets the ass for chom

 

[Colby Cheer Squad]

The irony here is that playing comben would probably enhance the prospects of the resting ruck as a fwd. I'm sure 2 kpfs and 2 rucks could work, by playing X as number 1 we've already written off the year in terms of trying to win so why not try it. Now we actually have a genuine small forward up there it might work on a dry day under the roof. But more realistic is that one of X and goldy gets the ass for chom

I don't dispute your point in theory but it would need more than Paul Curtis to make it work. If we keep selecting Zurhaar and Ziebell in the forward line along with a resting ruck, Larkey and Comben, then we have 5 marking targets and one crumber to apply pressure.

 

[The Nostradamus]

Xerri rucking by himself

Comben in for Goldy

Time to pump games into our future

 

[the flying ham]

Xerri rucking by himself

Comben in for Goldy

Time to pump games into our future

CCJ for X

 

[Kangaroos techno]

Goldstein out. Comben in.

Larkey can ruck i50 and walker can do d50 to help Xerri out when he's tired.

Goldy wants to play bruise free footy so he can prolong his career and collect another 3 years worth of payments. Not what we need from an experienced player. Someone slap Xerri around a bit and tell him to start throwing around his body some more.

 

[CBSlogger]

Agree 100%, not these two rucks anyway.

Perhaps an unpopular view and whilst I acknowledge Xerri's improvement this year, I can't see him ever being better than an honest, awkward battler near the bottom of the ruck talent pool in the comp.

Perhaps a little higher ceiling for CCJ but on available evidence he also looks limited; he's unlikley to magically transform into a skilled, quality alrounder ala Grundy / English / Gawn (Marshall?), nor is he a jumping, athletic type ala Jackson / Nic Nat / Draper / Stanley / De Koning/s, or monster ala Darcy or Witts. Best outcome for both looks to be similar to a Nankervis / Martin / Lycett workhorse type. Maybe.

Now as the Goldy trade horse bolted years ago is the bold move to play Xerri just enough to maintain trade currency and look to trade him end of season if he has some currency and still wants out?

We're pot committed to CCJ so he's not going anywhere. If Goldy isn't happy fighting it out, perhaps in the 2s, for the standalone spot in a 1-ruck setup so be it.

If we lose Xerri and / or Goldy at the end of the year we trade in another experienced journeyman ala Campbell as the extra coverage ruck to support 1-2 years of Edward's development, and aim for a 4th, quality young ruck in the draft. Ramsden mid season draft?

Feels a little at odds with what we've already invested in but I see sunk cost fallacy killing us long term on our current batch of rucks.

 

[Hopper10]

We must have the only ruck in the comp or possibly the history of the AFL who doesn’t touch the ball when bounced or tossed up. He is not in any way our future ruck, he may have BFNAAK but he’s a plodder and offers zilch. Tough call needs to be made on X, he had his chances to show something.

 

[Psicosis]

I’d like to see Goldstein & CCJ given a run of games. Goldy to do 60-70% of ruck. CCJ has far more forward craft then Xerri.

Guarantee we will be better.

The current setup isn’t working because Goldstein & Xerri are both genuine rucks, whilst CCJ has something different.

As I’ve said previously, with Edwards, Goldy & CCJ, I’m not concerned if we lose Xerri - it won’t be for donuts like last year.

 

[the flying ham]

I’d like to see Goldstein & CCJ given a run of games. Goldy to do 60-70% of ruck. CCJ has far more forward craft then Xerri.

Guarantee we will be better.

The current setup isn’t working because Goldstein & Xerri are both genuine rucks, whilst CCJ has something different.

As I’ve said previously, with Edwards, Goldy & CCJ, I’m not concerned if we lose Xerri - it won’t be for donuts like last year.

I think CCJ will be a much better player than X in the long run, and he is more competitive in the air. Cannot agree more with all points in this post

 

[Flawed Genius]

Goldstein out. Comben in.

Larkey can ruck i50 and walker can do d50 to help Xerri out when he's tired.

Goldy wants to play bruise free footy so he can prolong his career and collect another 3 years worth of payments. Not what we need from an experienced player. Someone slap Xerri around a bit and tell him to start throwing around his body some more.

It's like you're in my brain

 

[shimaburnsgrieg]

We must have the only ruck in the comp or possibly the history of the AFL who doesn’t touch the ball when bounced or tossed up. He is not in any way our future ruck, he may have BFNAAK but he’s a plodder and offers zilch. Tough call needs to be made on X, he had his chances to show something.

X just gets jumped over by any ruckman with half a leap at centre bounces - he was horrible against English and pretty bad against Stanley.

X is aggressive enough around the ground but just gets killed in the centre bounce situation.

So unless he magically develops a leap - or at least a technique to reduce the leap of his opponent - then there is no future for him as a number 1 ruckman.

 

[SMaturin]

Xerri to me looks like he has to be a Stefan Martin

8

Stefan Martin

Age

37

Ht

198cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.4

4star

K

8.4

3star

HB

8.0

5star

CL

4.0

5star

HO

23.5

5star

D

6.4

1star

K

4.2

2star

HB

2.2

2star

CL

2.6

4star

HO

18.4

5star

D

11.6

3star

K

6.0

3star

HB

5.6

4star

HO

1.0

4star

type at stoppages to get the most out of himself.

Which I’m not sure will be what we need or not. Or whether he’s capable of it either.

Eye test tells me he’s undersized to compete with the big boys in the centre and not mobile enough to match it with the prime movers around the ground.

The latter can potentially change. His strength seems to be his ability to provide follow up work at ground level but (again) I’m not sure whether that’s going to be enough for us.

If we’re confident in Goldy being around for another 2-3 years I wouldn’t mind a combination of Goldy and CCJ while Edwards physically develops.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Has the athletic prowess of a wine barrel.

 

[DocSholl]

Xerri offers nothing of AFL standard if he's not clunking marks.

 

[Passmore]

It's like you're in my brain

Kanga Tech will do that.

 

[Val Keating]

It’s a good test to see how ruthless Noble is willing to be.

In Goldy we’ve got a club champion at the end of his career but still comfortably the best ruckman at the club.

Then we have Xerri who I have no doubt assurances were made to for getting a game if his form warranted it when he had one foot out the door at the end of last year.

CCJ was recruited as Goldie’s replacement and he’s contracted so it’s no drama to let him play VFL.

The two ruck setup is hurting our run. Neither X or Goldy offer much outside of rucking.

A tough call needs to be made to either drop Xerri and lose him at the end of the year, or make Goldy play VFL and lose him at the end of the year.

Personally I think we should play Xerri in the VFL and keep Goldy on because we’ve got CCJ coming through. It’s harsh on Xerri because he’s been just as good as Goldy but a call must be made and someone isn’t going to be happy.

 

[Roosurgence]

It’s never worked.

I can’t even understand why we persisted based on what happened against Hawthorn.

If we are playing an unbalanced structure just to find spots for players, then we really do have a bloke in charge that has no idea.

 

[TheBigHorne]

If you want to play two rucks like Melbourne, Brisbane or St. Kilda, you gotta make sure that they can both be useful in other areas of the ground. Lloyd Meek is a competent ruckman but he doesn't play because he is behind Darcy in rucking spots and he is useless elsewhere. We have to adapt to the modern game.

 

[Kangaroos techno]

It's like you're in my brain

You might have to see someone about that. It can't be healthy.

 

[big_e]

It's like you're in my brain

That would explain the flaws but not the genius.

 

[Shinboner roo]

It's starting to feel a little brad scott 2.0. Unwilling to make the hard call on either goldy or x. Doesn't want to piss off a club stalwart or a out of contract big man who he has talked up all pre season

 

[Le Grille]

I still maintain that we should prioritise having a ruck for the post Goldy era but this isn’t working.

I just can’t see why they cant play together but it’s clear they cant. I do think Goldy should be more adaptable but he isn’t.

Give X a spell and see what works I guess , give him what he wants and let him know it’s expected that he performs

 

[Harris 10]

We are 6 rounds in and we sit bottom of the ladder with a % of 60, you need to at least try something different.