Toast Tom ruggles first appearance

[geelong_crazy26]

in what turned out to be a very sour day with thurlows knee, I thought I would bring up somewhat of a positive from the day I saw emerge out of the backend.

The first AFL level appearance of Tom ruggles was quite a good performance, gathered 15 disposals and looked quite capable and solid in the back half, looked ready to take the game on and attack when need be and get himself into good positions. If there is a spot open come round one for a small defender, I think ruggles should be ahead of bews in the pecking order and come very close to deserving a spot.

Very good off season catch And we'll done on his first appearance.

Thoughts on the kid and his prospects?

 

[Daniel McL]

 

[Cattery]

in what turned out to be a very sour day with thurlows knee, I thought I would bring up somewhat of a positive from the day I saw emerge out of the backend.

The first AFL level appearance of Tom ruggles was quite a good performance, gathered 15 disposals and looked quite capable and solid in the back half, looked ready to take the game on and attack when need be and get himself into good positions. If there is a spot open come round one for a small defender, I think ruggles should be ahead of bews in the pecking order and come very close to deserving a spot.

Very good off season catch And we'll done on his first appearance.

Thoughts on the kid and his prospects?

Absolutely there is I'd say, whether it will be him is impossible to say after one game against VFL quality opposition, despite that though he looked very composed, and fifteen disposals at eighty seven percent efficiency was a good return in his first game.

 

[Turbocat]

Early days ... took a nice mark , need to see him when we are playing tougher opposition. Try him out V Freo

 

[Sttew]

in what turned out to be a very sour day with thurlows knee, I thought I would bring up somewhat of a positive from the day I saw emerge out of the backend.

The first AFL level appearance of Tom ruggles was quite a good performance, gathered 15 disposals and looked quite capable and solid in the back half, looked ready to take the game on and attack when need be and get himself into good positions. If there is a spot open come round one for a small defender, I think ruggles should be ahead of bews in the pecking order and come very close to deserving a spot.

Very good off season catch And we'll done on his first appearance.

Thoughts on the kid and his prospects?

Looked very poised

 

[Sel2hawk]

Very impressive there is a spot there for a lock down small defender. But we will put Guthrie back there hopefully and Mack will come back in.

 

[nananana catman]

Was a good VFL player last year and that was the quality of the opposition today. Hopefully he'll get a game in the West and we can see how he performs under more pressure.

 

[JUBJUB]

 

[Stucky]

Looked pretty good from what l saw against average opposition. Didnt see him in a one on one contest so defensively not sure. Did kick the ball nicely.

 

[Biggy_Boy]

Was a good VFL player last year and that was the quality of the opposition today. Hopefully he'll get a game in the West and we can see how he performs under more pressure.

Exactly. A good VFL player does well against VFL-grade opposition. Let's see how he goes against Freo.

 

[Cronin]

Play him on a Walters or Ballantyne; if he plays well, could get a job on one of the Hawthorn small forwards

 

[David the Cat]

Certainly deserves another run against higher quality opposition on that performance.

Lets see how he goes.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

So are we allowed to have a toast thread for Ruggles or is that forbidden?

Agree with DtC, need to see how he goes against better opposition....

 

[Biggy_Boy]

So are we allowed to have a toast thread for Ruggles or is that forbidden?

Agree with DtC, need to see how he goes against better opposition....

You can do whatever you want.

As to whether a player deserves a toast thread after one preseason game, you probably answered that yourself.

 

[DanA]

Looks well built and seems to have good foot skills. I'd kinda of written off the draftees as projects given where they were taken but Ruggles and Menegola look like good pickups we can make use of this year. I think both could be better than we've had on the fringes recently (Stringer, T.Hunt, Simpkin etc).

 

[THE CAT WRANGLER]

He's better than Bews

Wins his own ball,disposal is neat and he is quick and goes in hard

 

[Cattery]

So are we allowed to have a toast thread for Ruggles or is that forbidden?

Absolutely not, maybe when he hits two hundred games as a stalwart of our defence we can consider saying something positive about him, even then I'm not sure it wouldn't still draw the usual negative responses.

 

[catempire]

Absolutely not, maybe when he hits two hundred games as a stalwart of our defence we can consider saying something positive about him, even then I'm not sure it wouldn't still draw the usual negative responses.

Then he gets the "yeah, but he's been surrounded by stars all his career" like a current 200-gamer we know.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

You can do whatever you want.

As to whether a player deserves a toast thread after one preseason game, you probably answered that yourself.

Absolutely not, maybe when he hits two hundred games as a stalwart of our defence we can consider saying something positive about him, even then I'm not sure it wouldn't still draw the usual negative responses.

I was being mischievous on purpose.

Probably is too soon but he plays like he did on the weekend more often and this thread will serve a purpose.

 

[catempire]

 

[Boxhead_31]

Liked his ability to judge the ball, was a few occasions where he made sure he got to the correct spots to gather the ball off of the contest and looked clean gathering the ball, all be it that the opposition was of the lowest grade there is would be worth trying him again this week and if he plays well again would be the leading contender for one of the small defender positions.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Like Willo and Mr.G, I am claiming Ruggles as my boy.

 

[catempire]

Like Willo and Mr.G, I am claiming Ruggles as my boy.

With it comes great responsibility. Change your sig to reflect it, for starters.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

I'm not sure if what I'm about to say will in the future be vindicated or not BUT I just think Ruggles knows how to play the game.
To me his judgement in extremely good, his use of the ball looks solid and he seems to have heaps of time when he does get the ball, in that sense similar to Thurlow.
I think if we bring him in as more of a running type back and not put too much pressure on him from a defensive standpoint I reckon he could well prove himself AFL worthy by the end of the year.
There's just something about him I like.

 

[vinum coupe]

You can only beat who you play. And so far he's done that.
I really liked how his first thought appeared to be to find a target up the ground.
Not just dish it off to higher credentialed players.