Ruck strategy?

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Jan 11, 2003
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Yeah I think people are overthinking it. Sinclair is number one ruck, Towers will take over the role as permanent second ruck - which is good, as it gives him an actual role - and Aliir gets to pinch hit from time to time.

The problems begin to emerge if Sinks gets injured...but meh, we deal with that problem if it happens.

I don't understand how Sinclair is our number 1 ruck. You've seen him ruck, yeah? I don't have his hitout stats handy, but from what I can remember they were unflattering to say the least.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd actually prefer Reid in the ruck than either Sinclair or Aliir. I think we're better structurally with Sinclair in the forward line and Aliir as an attacking defender. Naismith out certainly hurts our depth though.
 
Jul 20, 2001
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I think Naismith, from a purely rucking point of view, is now being underrated.
This article highlights our improvement from Tippett / Sinclair during the second half of 2016:
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...y/news-story/efa1b14cf298a49e7defc1d45382a052

In 2017 he didn’t have a preseason and obviously had issues during the year with injury.

Now we are obviously without him for the season, which can only be a negative from a stoppage perspective.

For the replacements I cannot see anyone other than Sinclair or Cameron as number one ruck. Based on that I think you’d have to go with Sinclair.
Sinclair is not the greatest ruck but he will give a contest always. He is the best of the three around the ground also (from exposed form re Cameron). I was highly critical of him early on as he didn’t leave the ground when he rucked, however he has improved a lot in this area.

I would be absolutely gobsmacked if anyone else got the primary ruck role. The likes of Aliir, Towers and Reid can be able backups but I find it hard to believe the coaching staff will go with any of these players in the primary role. Of these I can see Aliir and Towers used and I don’t expect to see Reid in the ruck at all.

Our midfield under any of these scenarios should be setup to expect to lose the ruck contest. Hell Derickx was a similar player to Sinclair really and we had a good period with him rucking and setting up defensively at stoppages.


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Jul 20, 2001
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Now we're getting desperate. He's missed many weeks of pre-season, so even if he does come back he would be weeks away from playing at AFL level.


We have been put in a difficult position but still think we need to move on from Tippett.

Don’t think this would be a great move!
 
We have been put in a difficult position but still think we need to move on from Tippett.

Don’t think this would be a great move!

If he retired for injury reasons, I doubt he'd be willing to risk whatever damage he's trying to avoid.
 
If it costs us nothing and he is brought in for standby injury cover I can't see why people would be opposed. What if Sinclair goes down and Darcy doesn't come on as hoped. Need to be able to at least compete whilst we have the greatest forward in the game at the moment. If it means he trains and plays Neafl for a year (if he wanted to of course) then what's the big deal about asking him the question.
 
Sep 8, 2008
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I don't understand how Sinclair is our number 1 ruck. You've seen him ruck, yeah? I don't have his hitout stats handy, but from what I can remember they were unflattering to say the least.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd actually prefer Reid in the ruck than either Sinclair or Aliir. I think we're better structurally with Sinclair in the forward line and Aliir as an attacking defender. Naismith out certainly hurts our depth though.
Well I mean in the sense that he's been hired as a ruckman/forward, so he may as well do his job. At the moment Cameron's quite green, Amartay the same (though I look forward to seeing him in a year or two, once he's grown, his showreel is pretty impressive) so really it's Sinclair then the pinch hitters, of which Towers is the most senior.

Reid's too scrawny to ruck I reckon. He'd just get pushed off the contest too easily IMO.

Aliir could be the bolter...
 

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Sep 8, 2008
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We have been put in a difficult position but still think we need to move on from Tippett.

Don’t think this would be a great move!
He's probably eaten 1000 Balfours pies since retirement and looks like this:

744925-jarman.jpg
 
Was our best ruckman anyway. Get him in.

He was, when fit. He is not fit and there is no reason to bring him back. Is it better to have another Ruckman on the list who won't play a game through injury, or to just not have that player?

I'd prefer our coaching team to formulate a plan for who we have. Sinclair/Cameron/Aliir/Towers/Reid........ Our coaching team need to earn their $$$ now.
 

DST

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May 1, 2003
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8 to 10 games from Tippett as a back-up plan from round 10 is a very viable option.

He has had a reasonable rest off the ankles, give him 3 months to build the fitness base and realistically who wouldn't want to give it one last shot at a premiership playing only the last 1/3 of the season.

I think it's a real possibility that he pulls on the boots, at least as a back-up plan.
 

DST

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I wouldn’t rule it out just to see Punts lose his s**t! But is it warranted? No, move on, play smaller and play faster!

It would only be as a back-up if the unthinkable happened and either/both Sinclair and Cameron went down.

But if he is going to be the insurance policy the decision would need to be made in the next 2 to 3 weeks to give him time to build that fitness base which would need to be 8 to 10 weeks.

Even if it was to play him forward for the last 8 weeks of the year if Reid had to ruck.
 

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