Rusling when....?

[Sloth]

When can we expect to see Rus in the senior side? We need him now more than ever.

 

[Blur]

Who knows? When we see him playing in defence for the last 2 weeks, you know something isn't right.

 

[Snag Breac]

Praying that he'll soon emerge from his chrysalis of plaster, tape and bandages into the forward we so badly need.

 

[pongo_3931]

I would think he's a long way away tbh. I think our love of training every man and his dog to be a back will hurt his progression and I feel it shows that we don't rate him. It seems to be Malthouses favourite way to relegate a player (I'm thinking of players who were trained as one thing then moved up back, a la Marty, Reid and Brown). I know brown is coach, but it wreaks of Malty.

I see Chris Dawes as a more likely VFL player to trial up forward. He has one big f off body, could go FF and take a contested grab (yes there's some development there) and could free anthony up to play the leading forward role.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

When can we expect to see Rus in the senior side? We need him now more than ever.

Do you realise that his opponent, a non-AFL listed VFL player, kicked 7 goals on Rusling on the weekend.

 

[HFF]

We are ****ing Rus up!

Gavin Brown's comments on the cfc website suggest Rus will still be playing down back and will "adjust" down there.

He may as well just retire now.

 

[3066]

Do you realise that his opponent, a non-AFL listed VFL player, kicked 7 goals on Rusling on the weekend.

Which begs the question why is he playing in the Backline let alone FB? Despite the numbers kicked on him .... and I'm surprised it was 7 in the end, Rusling did some nice things. I was out the game and his pace is still outstanding. Read the ball well at times outmarking everyone in the forward line .... problem is, he should be doing this as a FORWARD player. Still doesn't make sense? Make him earn his fitness in the possie he is picked for when in the seniors.

 

[hawks_time]

Do you realise that his opponent, a non-AFL listed VFL player, kicked 7 goals on Rusling on the weekend.

To be fair, Mitch Thorp once kicked 7 on Tom Harley in the VFL (when he was coming back from injury) a couple of years back.

 

[Smoky]

Rusling should be played down back... we have so many forwards who can take a strong mark on a lead and covert goals...

4 goals 17 points

 

[anshell]

I hope he's back sooner rather than later.We can't win a premiership with our current forward set up,something has to change.

 

[Visions]

If he plays in the backline then never.

If he plays up forward then as soon as they can. Cant hurt.

 

[Sloth]

Do you realise that his opponent, a non-AFL listed VFL player, kicked 7 goals on Rusling on the weekend.

I meant we need him in the in the forward line...

 

[didaka]

If Sean's body is fit and healthy and he was played forward, he would go past both Anthony and Dawes at lightning speed. Much like the way he plays.

Put him forward please.

 

[The Average Tourist]

Hey Russ got thumped on Saturday but he has now played 4 games this year. That is great

He took one nice mark but seems to have no idea down back but he has played 4 games. Which is about one or two more than last year.

Lets leave him down back for a couple more weeks then put him on a wing a couple of weeks later and when he has played ten games in a row then lets see about a half forward flank.

About July when he has played 15 games then we can see if he can still be the leading forward.

What he is doing at the moment is better than last year and the year before

 

[The Royal Sampler]

When can we expect to see Rus in the senior side?

In all sincerity; never.

I think the coaching staff are serious about redefining him as a defender, and I also think he'll run out of time/opportunity to impress enough in that position to return to seniors in it.

 

[Zahki]

From the VFL report:

2. Sean Rusling (7k, 3h, 3m, 4t): Played fullback. Had several goals kicked on him but they were not all his fault. Played on Matthew Little who was their best player with seven goals. Rusling has probably played a handful of games as a defender so he is going to continue and adjust to playing down there.

Looks like he's earmarked for the backline permanently. Game over, man, game over.

 

[richiebreno]

It doesn't look good at all. This move to the backline looks permanent I think. It doesn't make sense for him to go there for fitness, as he would be getting just a much work if he were in the forward line. The only time you put them in defence for fitness over the forward line is if you play in a team that gets pumped by 100 points every week. I can't understand the move. He doesn't have the height/size to take on the big FF/CHF's of the AFL and would provide little more in defence than a Goldsack I would say.

Sure we lack key position backs at the moment but I think we have enough 188-193cm medium defenders in Maxwell, Harry and Goldsack, who are all playing well (well Goldsack was when he was in the team).

 

[Who Ate All The Pies]

The only thing that I can think of is that playing him down back may allow him to initiate body contact rather than have opponents trying to hit him. This may lessen the chances of having the front on contact which brought him down last time, when he is in the position of play maker. I don't know, but I am hoping it is not a permanent move, the seems to leak goals. But either way I can't imagine us seeing him before the second half of the season.

 

[richiebreno]

The only thing that I can think of is that playing him down back may allow him to initiate body contact rather than have opponents trying to hit him. This may lessen the chances of having the front on contact which brought him down last time, when he is in the position of play maker.

I thought this at first but it doesn't really make sense. If his shoulder isn't right he shouldn't be playing at all and if it is right, it doesn't matter where on the field you play him as any position could potentially create a situation where he would get a big knock.

If he is only in the backline for fitness/protection and is looked at as a forward still I feel he may get a game mid/late 2010. If he is persisted with in defence I fear he has played his last game in the AFL.

 

[Lockyer24]

Time to take a risk I reckon.

We are 2-1 but theres is some worrying signs we are the same old team with the same weaknesses. These 4 talls are the key. If we can get one or two to fire, our team changes complexion dramatically.

1. Chris Dawes - play him in the seniors at CHF (Trav FF) - give him a run for a couple of months and see what he can offer. We have nothing to lose in this part of the ground. From memory we haven;t lost many when he is in the side?

2. Nathan Brown - play him CHF in the reserves. He has been woeful at full back and is getting bags kicked on him by VFL chumps. Let him have a month or so of running around up there. If he fails, nothing lost. If he plays well, then he will compete with Dawes for a seniors gig.

3. Jack Anthony - If Presti goes down we are stuffed. His forward line career is on hold as he has lost the ability to win contested ball and find space to lead. He has had a taste, try him at full back again ala U18s.

4. Sean Rusling - FF in the reserves, with the chance to come in if Dawes fails. He's had a run around for a few weeks now, he has a weapon, time to see if he still has it.

Ben Reid stays at CHB in the reserves. To be honest though, he is my biggest worry. He is not bad, but he is not looking anything like a high draft pick either. We need to see he is very good in some sort of way - high possie backman? great spoiler? great at cutting off defensive plays with marks over the front?

 

[soreplums]

A newspaper article on the weekend said that he won't be considered this month for selection. Still getting some run in his legs

 

[alfiiee]

Quite a sad story this one.. Has shown fantastic potential as a Forward and shown nothing as a FB. He is not getting any younger and his time is definitely running out. Won't establish himself as a FB this year and will then probably be delisted.

Dear Mr. Mguire, Mick, Gavin, CFC,
Please play Rusling forward for a month straight in the two's, if nothing comes of it at least we tried. However, myself and the majority of pies fans think it will..

peace

 

[buzzbuzz]

Time to take a risk I reckon.

We are 2-1 but theres is some worrying signs we are the same old team with the same weaknesses. These 4 talls are the key. If we can get one or two to fire, our team changes complexion dramatically.

1. Chris Dawes - play him in the seniors at CHF (Trav FF) - give him a run for a couple of months and see what he can offer. We have nothing to lose in this part of the ground. From memory we haven;t lost many when he is in the side?

2. Nathan Brown - play him CHF in the reserves. He has been woeful at full back and is getting bags kicked on him by VFL chumps. Let him have a month or so of running around up there. If he fails, nothing lost. If he plays well, then he will compete with Dawes for a seniors gig.​

3. Jack Anthony - If Presti goes down we are stuffed. His forward line career is on hold as he has lost the ability to win contested ball and find space to lead. He has had a taste, try him at full back again ala U18s.

4. Sean Rusling - FF in the reserves, with the chance to come in if Dawes fails. He's had a run around for a few weeks now, he has a weapon, time to see if he still has it.​

Ben Reid stays at CHB in the reserves. To be honest though, he is my biggest worry. He is not bad, but he is not looking anything like a high draft pick either. We need to see he is very good in some sort of way - high possie backman? great spoiler? great at cutting off defensive plays with marks over the front?

Firstly, a forward line featuring Jack, Trav, Dawes, Medhurst, Didak and Davis would be pretty good. Absolutely no reason to give up on Jack Anthony at this stage. He was dropped, but we missed his accurate kicking against the Saints.

Ben Reid proved himself capable of collecting 20+ disposals, playing tight one-on-one defense and marking opposition passes for twenty-odd games in the VFL last year. He's played a total of one AFL game in defense and played well in a team that was getting smacked all over the park.

It's ridiculous that Rus is being played in the backline. Really really really disappointing from the coaching staff.

 

[Bloben]

This thread is making me quite angry TBH.

I can't understand why a bloke who has shown so much potential to be a great forward would come back from injury to start to be groomed into a defender.

We have Presti who is in his twilight however there is Nathan Brown, Ben Reid, Leigh Brown, Maxwell, Harry, and Goldsack off the top of my head who are all taller than Rusling and can all play defense.

At the other end we have Cloke, Jack and Dawes.

On top of this it is plain as day that our greatest weakness right now is our forward line. We don't have the fire power if our smalls are not firing. To take such a gifted forward and try and change him now makes no sense.

 

[Zahki]

The line "He's going to have to continue to adjust to playing down there" seems pretty definitive to me. Sad, but what can you do? It doesn't make any sense at all.