Should we draft Wayde Skipper ?

[CamTinley]

Going a long way back to use Brisbane under Leigh Matthews.

Collingwood won a premiership with one ruckman and Leigh Brown.

Exactly, that's why they won. If Jolly got injured they wouldn't have won. If St Kilda could have matched it with him in the ruck they outcome might have been different.

It just depends on how much importance you place on the ruck. If you listened to the broadcasts of the Brisbane Premierships when they didn't use the commentators but instead had the microphone inside Matthew's coaches box you got the idea that Matthews was only concerned about two things. Firstly what the ruckmen were doing and secondly what Akermanis was doing.

 

[saintkildaman]

Pointless really. You already have Sandi and you also have Griffin and Clarke. Plus the new interchange rule it would be stupid to have 3 ready-to-go back up ruckman.

 

[Leslie_Chow]

such a stupid stupid idea.


a) griffen will provide backup at best
b) we have zac clarke, who is developing and who we will need to give games to eventually.
c) you dont play with two genuine ruckman anymore, given these interchange rules
d) he really isnt that good

yeah lets just waste a pick on a ruckman, when our obvious weakness is in the midfield. I dont care how late the draft pick we would use is, its just stupidly stupid

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

The headline read:

Hawks axe Skipper

lolz cos everyone was automatically know they meant the player skipper, not their actual skipper

anyway, my answer is no

 

[theGav56]

Gppd pre-Grif question, now redundent.

 

[prattsta]

No. Griffin, Clarke, Bradley, MJ and Silvagni provide more than enough backup. Having backups for our backups for our backups is getting a bit over the top. Seriously, what are the chances of Sandilands, Griffin and Clarke all being injured at the same time?

Griffin will provide the 'break even' factor in the ruck should Sandilands go down that we lacked in 2010. Which is all we can hope for until - fingers crossed - Clarke is ready to step up. That's more than enough coverage.

Besides, it is impossible for us to replace Sandilands. There isn't a player in the league who could slot into our side if Sandilands went down and have the same impact. He's the most dominant ruckman in the competition. Easily.

 

[Dr Ralph Dagg]

Exactly, that's why they won. If Jolly got injured they wouldn't have won. If St Kilda could have matched it with him in the ruck they outcome might have been different.

The case is built on Skipper, a 4-5 year AFL player, beating our still developing ruckman in one game.

Now we have the biggest shellacking in a GF for a good few years down to the quality of one ruckman. The way Collingwood played (and Saints bottom 6-8 fell off the perch) meant you could have a telegraph pole play in the ruck for Collingwood.

Getting Skipper would make us very top heavy. Peterson might be worth a rookie spot, because as mentioned above the brothers might get his head right and he's enormously talented.

I would also consider Moss for a spot depending on what's on the table come draft time. He's an East Perth kid who was WA U18 captain. No one has said he can't play. An alternative if he doesn't get re-drafted is to let him have a year in the WAFL, see how he goes and then possibly re-draft using the GWS pre-draft pick system.

 

[Boppo]

Whenever crappy discards get delisted let's start a thread to sign em. Who is next to announce it's dead wood..and who is going to suggest they'd be great for Freo? Also, the Hansen thing..is this a pisstake? Really shitty WCE players shouldn't take up so much white space on our boards.

 

[Franco]

I would have actually preferred Skipper to Griffen. Alas, now that we have Griffen it has to be a no to Skipper. We don't need anymore rucks

 

[leungtl]

Also, the Hansen thing..is this a pisstake?

Are you serious?! Hansen will help win the flag next year and have an 80+ goal season!!!*

As for the thread question, no. But we could do worse than looking at Peterson... WA boy, good Indigenous culture at the club and proven ability to perform at the top level - would be a great pick up in the rookie draft if he falls that far.



*In the WAFL ;-)

 

[CamTinley]

The case is built on Skipper, a 4-5 year AFL player, beating our still developing ruckman in one game.

Now we have the biggest shellacking in a GF for a good few years down to the quality of one ruckman. The way Collingwood played (and Saints bottom 6-8 fell off the perch) meant you could have a telegraph pole play in the ruck for Collingwood.

Getting Skipper would make us very top heavy. Peterson might be worth a rookie spot, because as mentioned above the brothers might get his head right and he's enormously talented.

I would also consider Moss for a spot depending on what's on the table come draft time. He's an East Perth kid who was WA U18 captain. No one has said he can't play. An alternative if he doesn't get re-drafted is to let him have a year in the WAFL, see how he goes and then possibly re-draft using the GWS pre-draft pick system.

Fremantle's last four performances without Sandilands and with Clarke leading the ruck go like this

Round 15 2009
Fremantle 1.07 (16) defeated by Adelaide 19.16 (130)

Round 16 2009
Fremantle 7.05 (47) defeated by Brisbane 9.07 (61)

Round 20 2010
Fremantle 13.09 (87) defeated by Sydney 14.12 (96)

Round 21 2020
Fremantle 5.09 (39) defeated by Hawthorn 24.11 (155)

I think Clarke will be great but he's a few year away yet. Playing extra games will not matter that much, it's simply a physical development issue.

 

[Selggad]

Fremantle's last four performances without Sandilands and with Clarke leading the ruck go like this

Round 15 2009
Fremantle 1.07 (16) defeated by Adelaide 19.16 (130)

Round 16 2009
Fremantle 7.05 (47) defeated by Brisbane 9.07 (61)

Round 20 2010
Fremantle 13.09 (87) defeated by Sydney 14.12 (96)

Round 21 2020
Fremantle 5.09 (39) defeated by Hawthorn 24.11 (155)

I think Clarke will be great but he's a few year away yet. Playing extra games will not matter that much, it's simply a physical development issue.

Do you honestly think we would have won any of those games with Skipper in the side instead of Clarke?? I don't. Besides - we've got Griffin.

 

[Deep_Purple]

Getting Skipper now would be ridiculous.

 

[CamTinley]

Do you honestly think we would have won any of those games with Skipper in the side instead of Clarke?? I don't. Besides - we've got Griffin.

We would have been better with Skipper than Clarke, but it's not much use looking backwards. Skipper made Hawthorn competitive as soon as he came into the team. Hodge, Franklin & Mitchell were all playing well from Rounds 2-6 but Hawthorn still lost them all.

Griffin is fine, in fact I used to be his Science teacher. He is as good as Skipper but you just never want to be without a ruckman. It's a high risk occupation.

Going from 21 midfielders to 22 is marginal. Going from 3 to 4 ruckmen offers you a lot more insurance. If a ruckman goes down you don't want to reorganize every line.

 

[Docker Clint]

Did you miss the part where we traded for Griffin?

How many back up WAFL ruckmen do we need?

Six. Because we really need three and they'll need to stand on each others shoulders to make up for Sandi.

 

[Deep_Purple]

Clarke is potentially better than Skipper and Griffin, I would think we are planning next year and beyond to use him as a forward/ruckman (another pre-season and he will be further along). If we picked up Skipper we would have 2 ruckmen playing WAFL, as it is, we will have one. The only way we would really need Skipper is if Sandi, and Griffin and probably Clarke go down - Highly unlikely!

 

[hedgehog]

Don't forget this 15yo, 205cm beast we've got available in the 2012 draft.

 

[CamTinley]

Clarke is potentially better than Skipper and Griffin, I would think we are planning next year and beyond to use him as a forward/ruckman (another pre-season and he will be further along). If we picked up Skipper we would have 2 ruckmen playing WAFL, as it is, we will have one. The only way we would really need Skipper is if Sandi, and Griffin and probably Clarke go down - Highly unlikely!

It is highly unlikely BUT with the new rule changes for next year the idea of one ruckman going solo will increase the chances of injuries occurring.

 

[Taylor]

Word is that he was offered a senior position with another club, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear he is drafted very late by West Coast as a cover for Cox.
I heard they were looking to pick up an established backup anyway.

He could go and play for Ocean Ridge again if he can't get a game with West Coast.

 

[Leslie_Chow]

It is highly unlikely BUT with the new rule changes for next year the idea of one ruckman going solo will increase the chances of injuries occurring.

exactly where Johnson, Silvagni, Kepler will come into play. NOT Skipper. Our second ruckman needs to be mobile. Skipper is not. Sandi needs to play as much time in the ruck as possible.Thinking otherwise is stupid because he is more of an influence in the middle of the ground than anywhere else.

I think you've dug a hole that you cant get out of mate.

 

[BullDurham]

I reckon you should draft him.

Want Jason Laycock as well?

 

[CamTinley]

exactly where Johnson, Silvagni, Kepler will come into play. NOT Skipper. Our second ruckman needs to be mobile. Skipper is not. Sandi needs to play as much time in the ruck as possible.Thinking otherwise is stupid because he is more of an influence in the middle of the ground than anywhere else.

I think you've dug a hole that you cant get out of mate.

I'm not talking about a second ruckman ie, tandem ruckmen. If Sandi goes down you'll need another one (or probably two). Sandi will probably miss 2 or 3 games next season injured or not. We can't just pencil in losses whenever Sandi doesn't play.

 

[Clay Davis]

I'm not talking about a second ruckman ie, tandem ruckmen. If Sandi goes down you'll need another one (or probably two). Sandi will probably miss 2 or 3 games next season injured or not. We can't just pencil in losses whenever Sandi doesn't play.

So are you saying that Wayde Skipper is the equal of Sandilands?

 

[Nickos66]

So are you saying that Wayde Skipper is the equal of Sandilands?

That's putting words in his mouth, I interpret his post as him believing Skipper would be adequate cover in the absence of Sandi, moreso than other candidates on our list to step into the role.

I disagree anyway.

Griffin, Keplarrr or to a lesser extent Zachary would be better suited to step up in the absence of Sandi. I'm banking particularly on Griffin to be somewhat more of a role player than what is being talked up on these boards.

 

[Leslie_Chow]

I'm not talking about a second ruckman ie, tandem ruckmen. If Sandi goes down you'll need another one (or probably two). Sandi will probably miss 2 or 3 games next season injured or not. We can't just pencil in losses whenever Sandi doesn't play.

Where have you been this past month or so ??
Just letting you know we drafted a guy called Griffen. He's a ruckman, same sort of thing as Skipper, and will be backup if Sandi goes down. Are we now saying we need a backup if Griffen goes down?