Ruckman

[Stevens is Grouse]

We are obviously in desperate need of a ruckman capable of breaking games open...No offence to French but at best he is a honest work horse. Adrian De Luca goes alrite but he is more suited up forward. Prendergast can pinch hit but is no true ruckman.
Do we use pick 9 or 25 on a young gun ruckman and wait 4-6 years before they are capable of holding down the ruck on their own or use a later pick on someone from the VFL (another De Luca), pick up a recycled ruckman or take a gamble on a young ruckman from from the TAC?
Or shouldn't we bother selecting a ruckman in the national draft and go for a recycled player in the PSD or maybe rookie list a kid?
It looks a good chance that we will snag Aisake O'hAilpin so maybe we can groom him into this position.
If it was up to me I'd pick up someone from the VFL with a later pick if there was anyone good available, take one in the PSD and rookie one and Aisake aswell. Although if we got Ivan Maric at pick 25 I'd be very happy with that as I think he has a lot of potential.

 

[big_sav]

use pick 9 on a ruckman

pick 25 on a midfielder

PSD on cain ackland as a backup ruckman for french and by the time french has finished use the ruckman we picked up at 9 (if he comes good)

later picks on a vfl player who may cut it at afl level

 

[blue boy]

use pick 9 on a ruckman

pick 25 on a midfielder

PSD on cain ackland as a backup ruckman for french and by the time french has finished use the ruckman we picked up at 9 (if he comes good)

later picks on a vfl player who may cut it at afl level

pick 9 on a ruckman
pick 25 on a backman
pick 41- luke blackwell
pick 66 on a midfielder
pick 69 on a centre half forward
and pick 70 on mark porter

and we should go for jason blake trent nobel or clark keating in the PSD.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

 

[Swishhh10]

I think we should be developing De Luca into our main ruckman. He has the size, agility and mobility, probably needs to work on his aerobic capacity. We've been expecting him to walk straight in and play the hardest position on the ground. Yet I don't feel that he'll ever find the footy enough to be a genuine match-winning forward. We need to find a Jonathan Brown type who strikes fear into the opposition (but gets reported a bit less). Maybe Ryan Willits or someone like that would be better use of our No 9 pick than a ruckman. He would probably go alright with Lance playing beside him. We do need another longer-term ruck prospect but I wouldn't use either of our first two picks unless the player was rated much higher by our recruiting staff than the pick at our disposal.

 

[BlueBoy83]

I think we should be developing De Luca into our main ruckman. He has the size, agility and mobility, probably needs to work on his aerobic capacity. We've been expecting him to walk straight in and play the hardest position on the ground. Yet I don't feel that he'll ever find the footy enough to be a genuine match-winning forward. We need to find a Jonathan Brown type who strikes fear into the opposition (but gets reported a bit less). Maybe Ryan Willits or someone like that would be better use of our No 9 pick than a ruckman. He would probably go alright with Lance playing beside him. We do need another longer-term ruck prospect but I wouldn't use either of our first two picks unless the player was rated much higher by our recruiting staff than the pick at our disposal.

willits wouldnt be able to hold down chf next year i wouldnt think ...

i agree with blu boy

pick 9: ruckman - prolly meeson. but if angus monfries is around id go for him.
pick 25: backman - quick fb would be nice
pick 66: eddie betts? could be the next aaron davey, but pretty small.
pick 69: not sure
pick 70: not sure

we need a long term option in ruck after barnaby retires ... so why not get the best available ruckman at 9 (wood>meeson>deluca>maric) ... and then the best available kpp at 25 (whether that be at chf, fb etc) ... then the best available after that.

in psd i dont want ackland, lazy piece of ********, if lamb hasn't given up footy id go for him, otherwise porter for back up ruckman.

 

[scholltzy]

willits wouldnt be able to hold down chf next year i wouldnt think ...

i agree with blu boy

pick 9: ruckman - prolly meeson. but if angus monfries is around id go for him.
pick 25: backman - quick fb would be nice
pick 66: eddie betts? could be the next aaron davey, but pretty small.
pick 69: not sure
pick 70: not sure

we need a long term option in ruck after barnaby retires ... so why not get the best available ruckman at 9 (wood>meeson>deluca>maric) ... and then the best available kpp at 25 (whether that be at chf, fb etc) ... then the best available after that.

in psd i dont want ackland, lazy piece of ********, if lamb hasn't given up footy id go for him, otherwise porter for back up ruckman.

agreed.
meesen at 9
they reckon egan will go at 25 even though we'd like a fb

 

[italian_styles]

pick 9 on a ruckman
pick 25 on a backman
pick 41- luke blackwell
pick 66 on a midfielder
pick 69 on a centre half forward
and pick 70 on mark porter

and we should go for jason blake trent nobel or clark keating in the PSD.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

i like it.
but i would swap pick 9 and pick 25 around if it was possible, because if we get porter, we have the ruck covered, but we need a big defender more. But i dont think there would be many top ruckman left by pick 25.

 

[gadj1976]

i like it.
but i would swap pick 9 and pick 25 around if it was possible, because if we get porter, we have the ruck covered, but we need a big defender more. But i dont think there would be many top ruckman left by pick 25.

we need a young ruckman we can develop and a Porter type who can fill the vacancy straight away. I think 9 is too high for a ruckman, cos let's face it, they're a raffle! I think pick 25 would suffice and 9 on a good onballer. Plus Porter of course.

Your point i_s is that there are really only one or two good ruckman in every draft anyway, but spotting them early is really difficult. The only good one to come out recently would be Fraser (arguably) that was taken high. The rest of them are fair to muddling. So taking a ruckman at 9 is a huge gamble.

 

[Thrawn]

Pick 9 should be used for a potential gun CHB/FB who has plenty of bulk and height. If there aren't any good young playhers even in those positions that early in the draft, then a ruckman or a small defender. Even a tough nut midfielder.

 

[stevo#24]

yeh

 

[BlueBoy83]

Pick 9 should be used for a potential gun CHB/FB who has plenty of bulk and height. If there aren't any good young playhers even in those positions that early in the draft, then a ruckman or a small defender. Even a tough nut midfielder.

Im a big rap for ryan willits and hope we use pick 9 on him ... ppl have bagged him about his similarities to ben holland but thats total crap ... he's a much more physical player than ben holland could ever be, also has great leadership material, good pace, sets a good example to teamates, great long kick, disciplined in defense etc, turning circle i dont think is as bad as ppl were saying and he's a big bodies kpp that pagan would love to add to our side. I think we should take him at 9, well im hoping we do!!!!

Seeing as we are looking at asaike (200cm?), already have setanta (198cm) and deluca (200+) as young ruckmen with possibly porter coming via psd ... we should either pick up maric at 25 if he's still there or go for next best option ... or rookie draft a couple of potential ruckmen ... ppl like cox, sandilands etc were products of the rookie draft ... i think its more important to get some physical size in kpp strenght into our team ... i think willits would be perfect.

He was rated very highly initially, i think top 5 by some ppl ... i feel we need somebody like this in our side ... maybe a fb prospect or a chf???

What do ppl think???

Here's some info from www.footydraft.com

Ryan Willits
Details:
Club: St Marys/Northern
DOB: 23 January 1987 Hgt: 196cm Wgt: 96kg
Position: Centre Half Back/Full Forward
Natural Foot: Right
Honours:
Victoria Metro 2004
National Draft Camp 2004

TAC Stats:
2003: 3 games, 5 goals, 8.7 PPG
2004: 16 games, 21 goals, 14.1 PPG

Strengths: Willits is a powerfully built key position player who has spent time at centre-half back, centre-half forward and full forward this year. He is a very strong kid who can take some fantastic pack marks and rip a defence to shreds.

He has surprising pace for a kid of his size and loves the physical side of the game. He is also very confident and is a real leader by example on the football field. He is a long kick and is disciplined in defence. Not afraid to use his opposite foot either.

Weaknesses: Ryan may not have the scope for improvement of some of the other talls in the draft pool, and his set shot kicking is a real mixed bag, as he tends to blaze away. His physicality can result in giving away a lot of free kicks and his lateral mobility is not as good as his straight line speed.

Footydraft.com comment: Been plenty of hype but I get the feeling he may have been slightly overrated. Has a few things in his game that need to be fixed.

 

[Funkalicous]

Hope we use pick 9 on a big player also. Our midfield's good enough for next year.

 

[SurreyBlue]

I've been changing my mind like the wind but have finally decided on these as my picks;

National Draft:
Pick9 R.Willits....like the sound of him.
Pick25 C.Egan....seems to be a freaky midfielder.
Pick67 M.Egan......Fullback from VFL that can play from day 1.
Pick70 A.Pattison or S.Gooley......KP that we can groom

Preaseason Draft:
Pick6 M.Porter

Rookie Draft:
Pick 6 D.Spriggs
Pick22 C.Gooley or S.Gooley (if not drafted in National)
Pick 38 raw ruckman or C.Gooley (if brother taken in previous pick)
Pick 54 Aisaka O'aHailpin.

Surrey would be sleeping beautifully.

 

[Kooley]

Pick67 M.Egan......Fullback from VFL that can play from day 1.
QUOTE]

Agree totally on this one Surrey. Hopefully he is still around that late in the draft. If he doesn't get taken which would be a surprise - like Davey last year- is Egan still eligble to be rookie listed? He wouldn't be that old would he?

 

[BulldogMike]

Porter could do the job for Carlton next season.

 

[viccles]

pick up Porter...I have NO idea why Roos got rid of him sure he wasnt the best player but he was reasonable

 

[parrot]

I think we should be developing De Luca into our main ruckman. He has the size, agility and mobility, probably needs to work on his aerobic capacity. We've been expecting him to walk straight in and play the hardest position on the ground. Yet I don't feel that he'll ever find the footy enough to be a genuine match-winning forward. We need to find a Jonathan Brown type who strikes fear into the opposition (but gets reported a bit less). Maybe Ryan Willits or someone like that would be better use of our No 9 pick than a ruckman. He would probably go alright with Lance playing beside him. We do need another longer-term ruck prospect but I wouldn't use either of our first two picks unless the player was rated much higher by our recruiting staff than the pick at our disposal.

Deluca's efforts in the ruck were pretty impressive at the end of the year. Even French held his own. While our ruck division is certainly not brilliant it's probably a fair bit better than StKilda's or Essendon's for example.

I'd prefer to see us to use our top picks on talented, fast midfielder types. Having them learn from Kouta, Campo and Stevens will accelerate their development. What we don't need is another Josh Fraser! We actually have quite a few young talls who will be good as they develop some strength. It's going to interesting to see where they'll play Setanta. Seems to be a natural forward, although with his size he'll have a role in the ruck. Aisake is probably a year or 2 away if he applies himself.

 

[Funkalicous]

. What we don't need is another Josh Fraser!.

How many Josh Frasers do we have?

Anyway, I'm all for getting a ruckman, or maybe Willits

 

[parrot]

How many Josh Frasers do we have?

None thank God. Lets keep it that way.