Rusling or Anthony

[larrikan]

Rusling was our Tarrant replacement...shows signs of brilliance but crippled by injuries. Anthony was recruited as a backman and forced forward when Rusling went down again.

Now, assuming Rusling comes back as good as he was and injury free...where does that leave Anthony? Now I know there are fencesitters who will have them both in the side but they don't seem to balance well in a full strength team especially with Fraser now dropping in deep.

Who would you pick? and if you say both then tell me which alternate forward you leave out.

 

[Gambit78]

At the risk of being stoned to death...i don't rate Rusling all that much. i don't think he's all that good a kick, and whilst he might be fast in a straight line, his agility and side to side movements is more akin to Craig Kelly. i'll take Anthony and Dawes before I take Rusling. In fact, Rusling would better serve developing his defensive skills and finding a slot in the backline.

 

[smiddaz123]

Anthony, and very easily.

 

[Zahki]

Anthony, he's shown a lot of promise, hopefully he can keep improving. Rusling on the other hand has shown some promise but is apparently made of glass. If Rusling is fit and can stay that way then give him his chance, but it's too early to let him take JA's spot just yet, he's got to earn it. Personally I don't think he'll be able to anyway.

 

[Pie eyed]

Anthony gets the gong from me.
He out performed Rusling an a per game basis despite having less obvious talent or pace. Rusling has had injury poblems but then so has Jack, having recovered from a career threatening neck injury to produce an excellent year in a tough position.

The onus is clearly on Rusling to take the spot off Jack if you are going to limit the side to only one of the 2.
Personally, and at the risk of falling into the fence-sitter category, I see plenty of scope for both to play in the right circumstance.

 

[TradeDraft]

What about Dawsome?

 

[shawthing09]

What about Dawsome?

Really Dave? You have to ask.

This topic has been thrown up a fair bit the main points of view are

Anthony has the runs on the board is a much more dangerous field kick, fair better in a contested situation and hence is a more all round foward to build your fowardline around as opposed to the one trick lead, mark, shoot Rusling.

Rusling his pace gives him a dangerous weapon that will enable him to beat defenders as opposed to a more Anthony who lacks that weapon.

and last but not least, both can co-exist in the same fowardline with Anthony pushing higher up the ground and Rusling leading out the goal square.

I personally side with the first group. Anthony has developed into a very complete foward and has defensive and contested capabalities which Rusling does not. Which means even if Rusling was kicking more goals personally it wouldn't match up to what Anthony offers structurally to the team as Anthony not only kicks goals but creates them for others.

 

[Michael_knoth]

Ones a guy who kicked 50+goals in his first afl season. The other ones just a lot of potential. Silly question

 

[Nickelass]

To become a complete forward (as suggested that he is already), he needs to improve against the better teams. Jack struggled against good teams kicking only 14 of his 50 goals in 12 games against top 8 teams. With 6 of those goals against Adelaide.

Jacks' strength isn't getting the ball, and its not creating options for team mates. He averages around 6 kicks a game and had only 9 goal assists in 24 games last year.
The best thing about Jack is his kicking for goal, so he only has to get it a half dozen times a game to get a few goals.

I think he's becoming a good player but needs to work on his strength in one-on-one contests which will not only get him more shots at goal, it will help him to stop giving away pushing and holding free kicks in marking duels.

On Rusling - People bang on about his lack of agility and skills below his knees. I'd go out on a limb and say he is the fastest leading forward in the comp. If you are going at that speed, its pretty damned hard to stop and turn around, or gather a ball that has hit the deck. Besides that’s not what we want him to do. He will burn off just about any defender, so we just need to hit him on the ****.

Anthony and Rus CAN and WILL play in the same forward line so there is no reason to continue comparing them like this. I hardly think it is fence sitting, the "lack of forward line balance" argument is flimsy at best.

Our forward line was our weakest area last year, Rusling will only help it.

 

[Michael_knoth]

Still not comforatable with with going so tall in the fed line. Rus Jack Fraser and Cooke... Don't think it would work to well to be honest

 

[Old Spice]

To become a complete forward (as suggested that he is already), he needs to improve against the better teams. Jack struggled against good teams kicking only 14 of his 50 goals in 12 games against top 8 teams. With 6 of those goals against Adelaide.

Jacks' strength isn't getting the ball, and its not creating options for team mates. He averages around 6 kicks a game and had only 9 goal assists in 24 games last year.
The best thing about Jack is his kicking for goal, so he only has to get it a half dozen times a game to get a few goals.

I think he's becoming a good player but needs to work on his strength in one-on-one contests which will not only get him more shots at goal, it will help him to stop giving away pushing and holding free kicks in marking duels.

On Rusling - People bang on about his lack of agility and skills below his knees. I'd go out on a limb and say he is the fastest leading forward in the comp. If you are going at that speed, its pretty damned hard to stop and turn around, or gather a ball that has hit the deck. Besides that’s not what we want him to do. He will burn off just about any defender, so we just need to hit him on the ****.

Anthony and Rus CAN and WILL play in the same forward line so there is no reason to continue comparing them like this. I hardly think it is fence sitting, the "lack of forward line balance" argument is flimsy at best.

Our forward line was our weakest area last year, Rusling will only help it.

Game, set, match.

 

[loki04]

To become a complete forward (as suggested that he is already), he needs to improve against the better teams. Jack struggled against good teams kicking only 14 of his 50 goals in 12 games against top 8 teams. With 6 of those goals against Adelaide.

Jacks' strength isn't getting the ball, and its not creating options for team mates. He averages around 6 kicks a game and had only 9 goal assists in 24 games last year.
The best thing about Jack is his kicking for goal, so he only has to get it a half dozen times a game to get a few goals.

I think he's becoming a good player but needs to work on his strength in one-on-one contests which will not only get him more shots at goal, it will help him to stop giving away pushing and holding free kicks in marking duels.

On Rusling - People bang on about his lack of agility and skills below his knees. I'd go out on a limb and say he is the fastest leading forward in the comp. If you are going at that speed, its pretty damned hard to stop and turn around, or gather a ball that has hit the deck. Besides that’s not what we want him to do. He will burn off just about any defender, so we just need to hit him on the ****.

Anthony and Rus CAN and WILL play in the same forward line so there is no reason to continue comparing them like this. I hardly think it is fence sitting, the "lack of forward line balance" argument is flimsy at best.

Our forward line was our weakest area last year, Rusling will only help it.

This ^^.

 

[loki04]

Still not comforatable with with going so tall in the fed line. Rus Jack Fraser and Cooke... Don't think it would work to well to be honest

Drop Fraser or only play 2 rucks ie Jolly/Wood or Jolly/Fraser.

 

[Optimax]

Play both

Trav, Anthony and Rus as forwards surronded by smalls.

two rucks (likely jolly and fraser)

And it will work fine, balanced line up if i ever saw one

 

[Michael_knoth]

Fraser may only ruck 30% of a game but everyone expects him to be played mainly in the forward pocket. 4 players all over 190cms in the forward 50... Don't like even the thought of it

 

[Optimax]

Fraser may only ruck 30% of a game but everyone expects him to be played mainly in the forward pocket. 4 players all over 190cms in the forward 50... Don't like even the thought of it

he may only ruck 30% but he will only be used deep forward for a similar amount and will be floating around for the rest of the time

 

[Michael_knoth]

Yeah I know... I personally think he'll be used hf flank so he can still assist the midfield but I stand by my thoughts though. 4 190cm+ guys in the forward I don't think will work. I think rus will only get his shot if Anthony is injured. For 3 years I've bought into the hype of the rus and I just can't get my hopes up anymore!!!

 

[shawthing09]

Rusling maybe hard to stop one on one but the games that have people rating him so highly have been games where the foward 50 has been vacated he needs A LOT of room to be effective and I don't see teams giving him that space if he is playing as a key target.

Anthony is good body on body in a contest, His performances against the top sides were sub par but playing as the number one foward and against some pretty good defenders I'd dare say that's excusable. Anthony has shown he can handle playing as a number one foward which is something Rusling is yet to do. When I was mentioning making oppertunities for other players in regards to Anthony it was in his ability to contest and scrap and get a ball to ground when the ball in is poor.

 

[knightwheelrqr]

Rusling should play next to Anthony and probably just go on the long type leads Chris Tarrant used to which should leave the forwardline pretty open for JA + Medhurst.

So I wouldn't worry about them not being able to coexist.

 

[Old Spice]

Anthony also relied on getting his marks on the lead, but often you'd find a better defend right on his tail. It's not as though he outbodies opposition defenders, so I really don't see a massive difference - the supposed 'versatility' of Jack V the 'one-trick' of Rusling.

Jacks advantages are his kicking accuracy, Rusling his fast leads and sticky hands. His kicking is also good. Rus can take contested grabs.

 

[Histrionics]

Play both

Trav, Anthony and Rus as forwards surronded by smalls.

two rucks (likely jolly and fraser)

And it will work fine, balanced line up if i ever saw one

This.

A forward line of something like this.

HF: Rus Cloke Thomas/Didak

F: Medders Anthony Davis

Fraser or Jolly will rotate through there to rest.

 

[donnie5]

Rusling maybe hard to stop one on one but the games that have people rating him so highly have been games where the foward 50 has been vacated he needs A LOT of room to be effective and I don't see teams giving him that space if he is playing as a key target.

Well considering that his best performances were against sydney in round 21 and EF 2007 i think what you just said is a load of crap.

 

[Sloth]

Rus & Jack will make an awesome double team, it will be hard for the opposition to cover them both

 

[Quicky]

I think it will be difficult for them to play in the same side. It's just hard to invision a structure that will function well for both of them. And its all due to Ruslings one dimensional game style - as was mentioned early he needs space to be effective. I think though this point is a little overstated by people at times simply because he has missed out on so much development/games so he havn't seen whether he has improved any of his weaknesses. Hopefully his defensive game (hence his VFL role) and his ability with balls below knee height have improved during his hiatus.

Personally I think for them to fit in the same side I think one of two things need to occur. First option would have Anthony move up the ground to CHF with Rusling provided room at FF. Something like this:

------Didak-----Anthony-----Cloke-----
----Medhurst----Rusling------Dick------

I can't see this working that well. It takes Anthony our best key forward out of his preferred position, it also means Cloke would likely play on a HFF, and I also think it would be too easy for the opposition to drop numbers in front of Rusling at FF - negating his effectiveness.

The second option would have Rusling used in a pocket. It would look something like this:

-----Didak------Cloke-----Medhurst----
-----Dick------Anthony----Rusling------

This allows Cloke to stay at CHF and Anthony at FF. The problem being it may get too crowded with Anthony and Rusling deep. Certainly Medhurst would need to move to the HFF as he is another player that needs a certain amount of room to be effective. I think the argument against this would be that Anthony and Rusling would get in each others way - and that certainly might happen.

But I think if it was implemented properly we would use Rusling as a decoy forward running his opponent out of the forward line. This gives Rus's opponent two choices. Either he stays back and helps out Anthonys opponent, leaving Rus free around the CHF, HFF or wide pocket area where he could prove dangerous; Or he sticks with Rusling and Anthony gets more space and less opponents to contest with. They could even mix it up occasionally using Anthony as a decoy forward and making it less predictable to the opposition.

For this to work however Rusling would really need to work on the defensive side of his game and learn not to be the main target. It would also require a lot of cohesion and communication between Anthony and Rus to work well - they'd have to be smart about it. One down fall of this also is that Medders goal output would likely be reduced in the process. Rus would also need to learn to work in less space and add other elements to his game (crumbing maybe /defensive pressure) before it could realistically be considered.

 

[loki04]

For this to work however Rusling would really need to work on the defensive side of his game and learn not to be the main target. It would also require a lot of cohesion and communication between Anthony and Rus to work well - they'd have to be smart about it. One down fall of this also is that Medders goal output would likely be reduced in the process. Rus would also need to learn to work in less space and add other elements to his game (crumbing maybe /defensive pressure) before it could realistically be considered.

I would swap that around Rusling is the more natural FF and JA more suited to 3rd tall ie dummy leads and 2nd option to Rusling.


1 thing they both need is fast ball movement, because they are both lead, mark, goal forwards.