Needs to reinstall some faith into the magpie army. Has been given opportunities like there is no tomorrow. Your time to show what your made of tonight son.
Rusling's Time To Shine
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Would be very harsh to expect to much of him to be honest. I'd be happy if he just frees up space via his leading so Rocca gets some one on ones. Hasn't played many afl games and returning after his chronic shoulder injuries and IMO is not as special as some of us think he is. Wait for mid next year before giving up or turning him into the "great white hope"
Bloben
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I'm genuinely excited about tonight... I really am confident that we are going to turn this slump around and make a statement out of Melbourne and that Rusling will play a big part in that!
Rocca always demands respect from the opposition, even when not at his best. This season there has been a lot of talk about Cloke who has had a fantastic season so far. Mark Riley will have his hands full trying to contain those two and Rusling may sneak under the radar!
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He'll kick a bag of 6 or more.
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Your have reiterated my point. I wasn't suggesting he was the great white hope, I was saying that the club seems to pump him up. This injury crap is absolute frogshit. The club sess they will play players who have form in the 2's. So if we can beleive that Rusling should be in ripe condition for this match. Lets move excuses to the back seat, because there is no place for them at this time of the season. Like it or not it's do or die now for 2007.
Tank36
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Don't expect too much. I suspect Rusling has 3 games to show his
bag of tricks or be shown the door
Reminds me of Lee Walker....Heaps of potential , loads of injuries
Fair point but the kid is still in single figure games and has the upsides in his pace and kicking that he could take poor defences apart good defences will block his space at which point he personally is a about as useful as a wet paper bag but it would create space for rocca and or cloke 1 on 1 deeper in the foward line.
Bloben
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Towards the end of last season Rusling came in and initally excelled however was found out when defenders blocked his space. I agree with you that he would be useless if the lone focal point in our forward line.... however... next to Rocca/Dawes and Cloke, opposition defenders will not have the resources to play one man on him and others blocking his space. I think that as a complement to other forwards he could be extremely important, most likely to get the fastest defender too which would allow Cloke to outpace his man
They are my thoughts exactly with a good foward line and on thin defences he potentially could tear games apart. Potentially a great complementary part of the foward line. I think for that reason he will get next year at least to proove his worth.
That said as a player on his own he just doesn't have enough strings to his bow and is far to one dimensional. But so long as he is creating space for Rocca and Cloke and potentiall Dawes and Reid too then that is o.k We have a wealth of youngsters with exceptional contested marking ability for there Age Reid Trav Cloke and Dawes so if Rusling can open up space for them to get a more even contest it would be great
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I am very pleased the boy is back. Good on him for all the pain and hard work its taken.
Very very inexperienced kid, and laking fitness it will be a huge ask for him to even contribute. He has some freakish pace on him, and attacks the ball well enough but has a gentle streak and seems unwilling to run through opponents, a most unfortunate trait in a leading forward.
If his hands, aggression and fitness have all improved he may be the great white hope. Here's hoping.
Very very inexperienced kid, and laking fitness it will be a huge ask for him to even contribute. He has some freakish pace on him, and attacks the ball well enough but has a gentle streak and seems unwilling to run through opponents, a most unfortunate trait in a leading forward.
If his hands, aggression and fitness have all improved he may be the great white hope. Here's hoping.
I am very pleased the boy is back. Good on him for all the pain and hard work its taken.
Very very inexperienced kid, and laking fitness it will be a huge ask for him to even contribute. He has some freakish pace on him, and attacks the ball well enough but has a gentle streak and seems unwilling to run through opponents, a most unfortunate trait in a leading forward.
If his hands, aggression and fitness have all improved he may be the great white hope. Here's hoping.
His not great overhead by any stretch of the imagination and is undersized, Lighter then bucks and is Ryan o'Keefes height. Good contested marking requires either great hands or a big frame or both. He has none. Couldn't really crash the pack with his height and build nor does he have sticky hands. As bloben said very good to complement our stronger fowards
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If Carrol plays on Russling, it could be the making of him as a forward.
MiguelRodriguez
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Tonight is a beautiful example of a list with depth and potential.
Rus has Trav and Anthony infront of him setting a benchmark, while Dawes and Reid are right behind him keeping the pressure on. He has a standard to aim for, and two blokes willing to pinch his spot if he can't cut the mustard.
We have seen it with Lonie as a running half back/mid: H Shaw and Johnno set a standard, while Cookie Wellingham or Stanley (...) wait to step in if Lonie doesn't meet that standard. In this case Lonie OUT Cookie IN.
Depth is beautiful. I hope it pushes Rus to a bag of 6.
Rus has Trav and Anthony infront of him setting a benchmark, while Dawes and Reid are right behind him keeping the pressure on. He has a standard to aim for, and two blokes willing to pinch his spot if he can't cut the mustard.
We have seen it with Lonie as a running half back/mid: H Shaw and Johnno set a standard, while Cookie Wellingham or Stanley (...) wait to step in if Lonie doesn't meet that standard. In this case Lonie OUT Cookie IN.
Depth is beautiful. I hope it pushes Rus to a bag of 6.
Tough ask for Rusling to come in now and burn. I’d love to see it but I doubt it. Next year he will be right under the pump though. He will have plenty of competition.
Dawes Reid CLoke and Rusling could all play in the same foward line Trav is a center half foward. So is Dawes for that matter but one of them will be asked to play deep. Reid is much more mobile motor type foward with a great set of hands. Rusling is a small leading foward. Hawthorn Play Boyle Roughhead Franklin in the same foward line with Williams i see our set up being similar with Rusling being our williams type foward dawes deep cloke at Center half foward and Reid on a flank with a licence to drop back deep
Bloben
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In future years if all these players progress to what we are hoping they become, we could develop some form of rotating forward line.
How good is it when we have cloke running to half back to create a marking option however he can't kick it to himself from there! Reid and Cloke are both mobile enough to roam anywhere around the ground and rusling would be unstoppable sprinting along the wings.
Unfortunatly he does not have that mobility or turning circle very much a straight lines player. No good on the turn or off the deck. So Rusling will stay leading foward i think. What you said about Reid and Cloke is true to have those 2 as get out of jail options up the ground and then being able to kick to the other one is great. We really have a lot of contested marking power for their ages which is invaluable imo. Daws is/was a center half foward. So if Trav and Ried where getting to tired Dawes could push up to CHF and Reid/Cloke rest at FF
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I have only seen Rusling at AFL level and therefore can't comment too much on his turning circle, mobility, below knee level skills etc. I would imagine that anyone running at such pace would find it hard to turn however!!
I like this idea about rotating them around the ground though with Dawes...
Lets hope that they all continue to develop!
Geeze I'm finding it hard to get any work done today!
MiguelRodriguez
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For as long as we keep with the M Malthouse model of 'everyone can play anywhere' none of these blokes will be pigeonholed as CHFs, FF's, HFF's. I agree that on a given day all four may be able to play in one team, in one forward 'structure'.
My point here is that Rusling has a performance standard to reach, and pressure on him to make sure he reaches it.
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IMHO the fact there are 3 relatively tall forwards in Pies set up shows they are worried about getting good delivery into the forward line from the centres. Does this show a little bit of desperation in that they may be hoping to bomb it in a bit more and try and exploit a height disadvantage? Last game Melbourne midfield played all over Magpies and gave their forwards a real chance, at least shows they are trying something to create a chance for a win, Ruslings speed won't hurt either if someone starts running off Rocca as has happened a couple of times this year, they can at least rotate the forwards a bit and if the ruck really starts to get hammered Rocca may have to earn his keep a bit further from home. That will be scary if required.
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I wouldn't say that Rusling is a great contested mark so if the plan was to simply bomb it into the forward line I would say we would be better suited to play Dick as a forward crumber if Rocca or Cloke fail to take the mark.
I hate how most on here have already branded him a one-trick pony... the kid has played about half a dozen senior games and has had a terrible run with injuries and he may have plenty more yet to show...
Who says he won't become a good contested mark? Who says he can't get better with the ball on the ground. Give him a few games and a bit of confidence and who knows? Players have been known to improve
Who says he won't become a good contested mark? Who says he can't get better with the ball on the ground. Give him a few games and a bit of confidence and who knows? Players have been known to improve
Injuries have been shoulder related nothing to do with his turning or his mobility. His contested mrking may improve doesn't have the size or frame to crash packs and if he added to much muscle it could take away from his pace which is his real asset. Overhead marking could improve as he gets confidence in his shoulders heres hoping. That said it's very hard to find players who go from average overhead marks to top notch. Which is what he'd need to be to add that to his assets due to his size. So effectively if he goes from average to good it just gives him another asset on the lead
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I think how he plays tonight and in other games has a lot to do with the midfielders, if the play stop start around the boundry he will always struggle, as defenders will bloke his limited space he can lead too IMO. But if he mids get it in quick and down the corridoor he could prove handy as spare players first instinct is to double team Rocca.
How he plays has a lot to do with where he plays too, i think the closer he plays to goal the easier it is to block space, so if he starts say 20 out from the goal square then his leads will take him out to say 40-60 and the spare players will fall back to rocca as they dont wnat one on one contest with Rocca close to goal, this is not ideal as he wont be having as many shots from there but as i said its harder to block space out there especially if we play the corridoor as he has more option to where to lead.
Can anyone inform me where and how he has been played in his too games back in the Willy 1's and 2's?
Not expecting him to win us the game just hope he plays alright gives us an extra target and maybe sneaks in 2-3 for us.
How he plays has a lot to do with where he plays too, i think the closer he plays to goal the easier it is to block space, so if he starts say 20 out from the goal square then his leads will take him out to say 40-60 and the spare players will fall back to rocca as they dont wnat one on one contest with Rocca close to goal, this is not ideal as he wont be having as many shots from there but as i said its harder to block space out there especially if we play the corridoor as he has more option to where to lead.
Can anyone inform me where and how he has been played in his too games back in the Willy 1's and 2's?
Not expecting him to win us the game just hope he plays alright gives us an extra target and maybe sneaks in 2-3 for us.
I would like to think it may work something like the Hawks 3 x tall set up last week, isn't just about the contested mark, but also about having an extra mobile 'tallish' forward who can get the ball in the air if required and if he doesn't can still get it to Diadk and co, who are as dangerous as they come at ground level, I'm interested to see how it goes. Especially given that Trav is really mobile when he needs to be, I'm hoping that if the mids do their jobs this causes real angst for the Melbourne backs.
