Remove this Banner Ad

Ruckmen

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

B

bionicsasquach

Team Captain
Veteran
Joined
Sep 9, 2003
Posts
552
Reaction score
1
Location
Traralgon
AFL Club
Richmond
I heard you blokes had a few good young ruckmen coming through, Seaby, Dawson and Beeck right? either way, Coxy and Gardiner are still young, so what are you going to do with them? who is better, or earmarked to take a senior spot?

Edit: sorry just learnt Dawson is actually a hawk, still interested to see what you know bout him though
 
Mark Seaby is the most highly touted of our ruckmen who are untried at AFL level.
He finished 4th in the Sandover Medal in '03 and played in West Perth's premiership side - his biggest test is to prove he brings more to the table than Dean Cox - Seaby seems more versatile than Dean (who is more of an old style ruckman in my book) but of course the step between WAFL and AFL is a large one.

Beeck played some good footy for East Perth last year but would be back in the queue behind Seaby.

Also capable of playing ruck are Paul Johnson, Andrew McDougall and Travis Gaspar (at a pinch) and rookie lister Michael Embley.

Our ruck stocks are pretty good and all are quite young.
Gardiner is amoung the best in the league and Cox is a competent 2nd rucking option.
If a new player was going to come into the side as a ruckman it would probably be at the expense of Dean Cox (or of course when Michael Gardiner gets injured), so Cox (who is only 23 in August) will be looking to take his game to the next level and offer more around the ground. He has played some great games but needs to continue to do so.

Personally, I think Mark Seaby will get a run with the Eagles in '04, perhaps a bit later in the year though. Looks a great youngster in the WAFL, so hopefully he can transfer that over to the big time.
 
i agree with Juju. Seaby looks very promising indeed. Beeck is more insurance...and i heard he has been earmarked more for a KPP.

will be interesting because we may have 2 outstanding rucks in the AFL with Seaby and Beeck continuing to play match winning footy in the WAFL (like last yr) but not being able to get a game. cox will have constant pressure to hold his place IMO.
 
Seaby is the most promising one outside the 22 atm, i reckon. He's very very classy at WAFL level- extremely mobile, agile and athletic- at the risk of getting all excited, his style of play is very similar to Gardiner. Very athletic, decent leap, and covers a huge amount of ground.

In terms of what will happen over the next year or so, a lot depend on Cox. He'll be going into his 4th year, which is often a ruckman's breakthrough year (Gardiner certainly started to come good about then).If he improves dramatically as a ruckman this year, it gives us the very nice and cushy option of playing Gardiner more as a forward- give him a half at full forward, where as a lazy 199cm bloke with a huge jump and absolutely godly marking ability, he would give a lot of defenders huge problems, and then move him onto the ball as a 'strike' ruckman for a quarter or so, where hopefully he'd go up against an already tired ruckman, and produce his best tapwork to blow the game apart. If nothing else, if Cox comes good then it will give Gardiner's knees a much lighter workload over the season, which will probably extend his career in the long run.

Failing that, the truth is that the backup ruck is available to any of the young'uns who can prove their value as a forward option as well- if Seaby or Johno can play a couple of quarters up forward and kick a few goals and Cox is unable to do likewise, it makes his position in the side rather precarious.
Given that the other key forward, McDougall, does some pretty decent ruckwork, I think we're almost 'wasting' an interchange spot if we have a back-up ruckman who just sits on the bench or hides in the forward pocket until he gets his chance. I think our ideal team structure is Gardiner, plus two guys at FF/CHF who can also ruck well if necessary.

4 or 5 years down the track,. a 30 year old Gardiner will be a full time forward, and a Cox/Seaby or Seaby/Johnson or whatever combo will be our ruck duo.

Beeck is actually a bit different. He seems a lot quicker and agile than all the other ruck options- so much so, that i wonder if eventually he might find himself playing at CHB or something.
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

Cox is an excellent ruckman wins alot of hit outs, only problem is they are not effective. Gardiner can tap them to our players with ease and precision, this is what Cox cannot do right now. Hopefully he can master the skill this season, also our players have to understand how he plays. This will come with more ruck experience.
 
I think Seaby is a very promising ruckmen for the future, but from most reports he didnt have a good game at all and it seems Coxy towelled him in the scratch match on Friday. He would obviously have to impress there first if he is to get a shot at the big-time.
 
Originally posted by DanielKerr4
I think Seaby is a very promising ruckmen for the future, but from most reports he didnt have a good game at all and it seems Coxy towelled him in the scratch match on Friday. He would obviously have to impress there first if he is to get a shot at the big-time.
Click to expand...

Yeah but it was just an intraclub, and to his credit, Cox played very well and looked very dangerous.

The club will probably be more concerned with Seaby's form in the WAFL this year, as he was unlikely to crack a place in the team at the start of the year anyway.

If Seaby can play as well as he did last year, his chance will come.
 
Originally posted by masai
Even though the season hasn't started yet, you may already have some bargaining chips up your sleeve.

Trade an excess ruckman at seasons end, Cox?.
Click to expand...

Its been talked about a lot. Whether or not Big Dean is expendable depends a lot on how he goes this year- if he's going to become an elite AFL ruckman, then his 4th year would probably be around the time you'd expect a ruckman to make it happen- and if Cox does come good really well, then there is no point in trading him, because if he becomes capable of handling first ruck, it frees us up one superstar kpp in Gardiner anyway. Personally, I think that's of more value than any trade we would get for Cox.

If he hasn't reached that level, and Seaby comes on faster than expected, questions are always going to be asked. It really depends on whose on the table.

One thing the scratch match did really make clear though, is the massive difference 2-3 years of hard work at AFL level makes to someones' frame. Seaby might supposedly have more raw talent, but Cox is a long, long way ahead of him in terms of strength, hardness, and ruck ability. Seaby would need to mature physically and mentally a lot this year to be a decent backup ruck by season's end.
 
I for one like Cox and believe he's a player that has come on in leaps and bounds, and will comtinue to do so. Things that impressed me last year was his size.. go back a couple of seasons he was very skinny, but now looks very solid, a little bit like a Primus type build. In fact i wouldn't mind seeing him thrown up forward a little more this year to see what he can do with that hight and build. He's got a sound technique when it comes to set shots (heaps better than Gardies) and hes shown a couple of signs of brilliance at kicking goals on the run from tight angles. (Recall the goal he slotted against the Hawks at Subi during our Friday night game, 17 possesions and 33 hit outs).

Would rather not see him gone, but would have to be something very special in return if he was.
 
Originally posted by Eagles4Eva
Would rather not see him gone, but would have to be something very special in return if he was.
Click to expand...

I overheard someone talking about Steven Armstrong the other day and was wondering what we would give up, if anything, to have him in Eagles colours. I personally don't see where he would fit into our side but then again he is obviously a good footballer. I am not advocating a swap for Cox but given our needs would you want him in our team next year for our first draft choice?
 
Originally posted by West Coast Stre
I overheard someone talking about Steven Armstrong the other day and was wondering what we would give up, if anything, to have him in Eagles colours. I personally don't see where he would fit into our side but then again he is obviously a good footballer. I am not advocating a swap for Cox but given our needs would you want him in our team next year for our first draft choice?
Click to expand...

I like Armstrong a lot as player, but I'd probably pass unless he was in the bargain basement. Maybe our first rounder if its a late one (thanks to us finishing in the top 4 ;))

We have an overabundance of midsized, goal kicking midfielders, and are pretty strong on the flanks. Good as he is, Armstrong would struggle to get past Judd, Embley, Jones and Chick.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

I personally don't see where he would fit into our side
Click to expand...

You answered it for me. There is no questioning that our midfield already oozes class, plus the added bonus that it has age on its side. Nuf said.
 
Originally posted by Mead
I like Armstrong a lot as player, but I'd probably pass unless he was in the bargain basement. Maybe our first rounder if its a late one (thanks to us finishing in the top 4 ;))

We have an overabundance of midsized, goal kicking midfielders, and are pretty strong on the flanks. Good as he is, Armstrong would struggle to get past Judd, Embley, Jones and Chick.
Click to expand...


What makes you think he would want to play for the Eagles in any event? they have already dudded him once!
 
Originally posted by mick ryan
What makes you think he would want to play for the Eagles in any event? they have already dudded him once!
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't he want to play for a club who will be playing finals football for the forseeable future compared to one who doesn't have a forseeable future.
 
Originally posted by mick ryan
What makes you think he would want to play for the Eagles in any event? they have already dudded him once!
Click to expand...

Same reason Nathan Brown went to Richmond.... he has a mate there.. Steven Armstrong is mates with Ben Cousins... so why wouldnt he want to come back and play for the club he supported and the state his family live in.
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Originally posted by mick ryan
By telling him and his Father that they would draft him and didn't!
Click to expand...

And he was taken by Melbourne the pick before West Coast were about to get him. Can't help bad luck can you.
 
On what I saw on Friday night I would say that Cox is almost untradeable. He really did look strong, mobile and affective. I had to look twice as he was going for the loose ball. A man of his size shouldnt be that mobile. He could very well develop into a Primus type.

GO EAGLES
 
There are no promises in footy ...went to school with Peter Quill and the year he was drafted was the only year that a number of teams hadnt promised to pick him up.

The main thing with Armstrong is that Melb dont really seem to rate him in their best 22. Has a good footy brain and I'd have him.
 
Originally posted by Danny_Green
And he was taken by Melbourne the pick before West Coast were about to get him. Can't help bad luck can you.
Click to expand...



Wrong, they told him they would take him with their third pick which was before Melbourne and they didn't. Fact.
 
coxy

Originally posted by ONE EYE
On what I saw on Friday night I would say that Cox is almost untradeable. He really did look strong, mobile and affective. I had to look twice as he was going for the loose ball. A man of his size shouldnt be that mobile. He could very well develop into a Primus type.

GO EAGLES
Click to expand...

Agree completely. (plus he is an East Perth boy)
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top Bottom