Player Watch Welcome to Hawthorn, Ned Reeves. Extends to 2026!

[cs61]

I think we are hoping Reeves turns into a competitive ruck that can at times dominate the taps and often break even. Eventually take a few more marks as well when we have better key position support. For that his last few games are promising. He just needs a buddy to work with.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Let’s revisit this at the mid season break. I think we will have a bigger sample size to judge his progress.

No, let’s not.

You’re already stinking up this thread.

 

[Bugs1977]

To be honest I think people are really overcomplicating this ruck discussion.
Would be pretty much the lowest priority concern on my list for our side currently .

Reeves is coming on as expected at this stage.

Also considering this time last year we were forced to throw Nash + Kozzie in as a ruckman I think that is definitely not our first area of concern. At this stage our ruck combo isn’t setting the world on fire but like last season things could definitely be worse

 

[tommyk72]

No, let’s not.

You’re already stinking up this thread.

Agree with the stinking up the thread. But I also agree with Simon that this is something we can revisit in six weeks.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

Right now I’d say my analysis of Reeves is that he reminds me of former NBA centre Manute Bol.

Bol was an exceptional shot blocker (AFL comparison Tap outs) but couldn’t score or rebound to save himself (disposals and marks).

Because of this Manute had an ultimately disappointing career and fizzled out after a while.

I watched Reeves on the weekend and of course he dominated the hit outs (he is 210cm after all) and he did take some nice marks (not many but they were nice) but he still looked to me to be very slow and unagile.

Essentially he doesn’t look like an athlete in the way he moves and currently the AFL is filled with big, athletic rucks.

That’s the question we need answering. Will he ever be able to compete around the ground enough to be more than just an AFL equivalent of Manute Bol.

Let’s revisit this at the mid season break. I think we will have a bigger sample size to judge his progress.

Reeves took 4 contested marks and in the 2nd half had his arms chopped often, if he get's them called he gets frees, and they stop he takes marks, and he's a purely dominant tap ruck, he wins it and serves it on a platter.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Agree with the stinking up the thread. But I also agree with Simon that this is something we can revisit in six weeks.

Nothing changes in 6 weeks.

 

[Brishawk]

Sandilands was actually quite mobile for a man who was even taller than Reeves.

He was agile and mobile enough to be averaging 17 disposals and 4 marks a game in his peak years. And of course absolutely dominating the hit outs due to his sheer size.

That’s the query, will Reeves ever develop an athletic profile that lets him do the same?

At the same age, Sandi averaged 12 disposals. He also played in an era of much slower pace so his slow speed wasn’t been exposed so much by athletes like gawn. Reeves is short of that but he came to the club a project and has continued to improve with his time at the club. We don’t need him to have the greatest career of all ruckman, he just needs to be a viable ruckman in a premiership team.

 

[Brishawk]

Nothing changes in 6 weeks.

In six weeks, Ned will have played 28 games instead of 22.

 

[fairdinks]

To be honest I think people are really overcomplicating this ruck discussion.
Would be pretty much the lowest priority concern on my list for our side currently .

Reeves is coming on as expected at this stage.

I agree HoS,
I am a little disappointed with how our rucks have performed so far, but it is very early days and perhaps I was unrealistically optimistic TBH.
Reeves showed great progress against GWS and should have been awarded a number of arm chopping frees after 1/2 time when GWS changed their tactic.
They are providing a contest at the stoppages which is good, just need to be involved more around the ground.
Whilst i say this, I am happy with the future potential of all our rucks. Young blokes developing and could be 10 year vets by the time they finish.

 

[Sixpence]

In six weeks, Ned will have played 28 games instead of 22.

And only 2 short ...

 

[tommyk72]

Nothing changes in 6 weeks.

That's BS, and I feel you either being deliberately or negligently obtuse. Six weeks ago a lot of people were a lot more optimistic about both our season and our ruck combo. Six weeks back people thought Seamus would be up top in terms of delistings. Six weeks ago many people were thinking Worpel would be gone at the end of the year. Six weeks ago most thought the saints would be in our half of the ladder. Need me to go on? A LOT can change in six weeks.

In six weeks Reeves will (hopefully) have had a clear run of 10+ games post shoulder surgery, and a more clear form line. We'll also know what the club will be doing with the Reeves/Meek combo, which is not working particularly well. They may also decide to rotate Lynch in for Meek for four to six matches, and then have a Meek/Lynch combo. I think it's a really interesting space to be watching.

Personally, I think Reeves will make it and has shown the hallmarks of being one of Hawthorn's best rucks in the last 20 years. But he's not there yet, so keeping a close, week-by-week eye on it, makes complete sense.

 

[tommyk72]

Hell, in another thread you've just posted the following tweet:

SM: (on the rucks) We had a pretty honest conversation with the rucks last week and Ned Reeves stood up and had an outstanding game.

A lot can change in even a week.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Hell, in another thread you've just posted the following tweet:

SM: (on the rucks) We had a pretty honest conversation with the rucks last week and Ned Reeves stood up and had an outstanding game.

A lot can change in even a week.

I found that comment by Sam to be very telling.

It indicates that contrary to popular opinion he had been disappointed in (both) our rucks performances up until last week. It's relatively strong language for a coach to use regarding player(s) performances (also a subtle swipe at Meek by only praising Reeves response).

Ned has now had one good game and four bad /average ones.

To me the next six weeks will be very telling to see where Ned (and Lynch/Meek) are.

They are going to be coming up against the likes of O'Brien, Gawn, Grundy, English, Marshall and Darcy.

If they are improving at the rate we need they should at the very least be competitive (I don't expect them the win these battles). But if we are still getting smashed in the ruck on a weekly basis by the end of that stretch if games then that's setting off alarm bells for me.

Like I said let's revisit this in 6 weeks. I will refrain from posting on any of our rucks until that date.

 

[tommyk72]

To be fair, I don’t think they’ve been smashed in the ruck. They haven’t been effective around the ground, and they haven’t dominated against relatively week opposition.

I’m hoping they step up to the challenge in the coming weeks.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

That's BS, and I feel you either being deliberately or negligently obtuse. Six weeks ago a lot of people were a lot more optimistic about both our season and our ruck combo. Six weeks back people thought Seamus would be up top in terms of delistings. Six weeks ago many people were thinking Worpel would be gone at the end of the year. Six weeks ago most thought the saints would be in our half of the ladder. Need me to go on? A LOT can change in six weeks.

In six weeks Reeves will (hopefully) have had a clear run of 10+ games post shoulder surgery, and a more clear form line. We'll also know what the club will be doing with the Reeves/Meek combo, which is not working particularly well. They may also decide to rotate Lynch in for Meek for four to six matches, and then have a Meek/Lynch combo. I think it's a really interesting space to be watching.

Personally, I think Reeves will make it and has shown the hallmarks of being one of Hawthorn's best rucks in the last 20 years. But he's not there yet, so keeping a close, week-by-week eye on it, makes complete sense.

You don’t seem to understand.

Ned Reeves is the exact same player in six weeks times as he is now. He may have played better games, he may have played worse games, but he will not be the finished product, and the club(and many posters here) will still think he’s part of the future, as his contract extension has shown.

 

[badgrill]

I found that comment by Sam to be very telling.

It indicates that contrary to popular opinion he had been disappointed in (both) our rucks performances up until last week. It's relatively strong language for a coach to use regarding player(s) performances (also a subtle swipe at Meek by only praising Reeves response).

Ned has now had one good game and four bad /average ones.

To me the next six weeks will be very telling to see where Ned (and Lynch/Meek) are.

They are going to be coming up against the likes of O'Brien, Gawn, Grundy, English, Marshall and Darcy.

If they are improving at the rate we need they should at the very least be competitive (I don't expect them the win these battles). But if we are still getting smashed in the ruck on a weekly basis by the end of that stretch if games then that's setting off alarm bells for me.

Like I said let's revisit this in 6 weeks. I will refrain from posting on any of our rucks until that date.

 

[KermitJagger]

To be fair, I don’t think they’ve been smashed in the ruck. They haven’t been effective around the ground, and they haven’t dominated against relatively week opposition.

I’m hoping they step up to the challenge in the coming weeks.

Of rucks that have played more than 3 games this season, Goldstein is the 4th highest rated, Flynn is the 5th and Draper is the 8th. The only team we've played with a weak ruck division is Sydney.

What bothers me about this whole ongoing ruck saga is that every comparison is weighted in a way that makes Reeves look bad. When Goldstein plays well against us, it's all about how old Goldstein is and how that reflects on our rucks, not how well Goldstein is still performing despite his age. When Reeves plays well, he's judged against one of the best games in a season from arguably the best ruck of all time in Gawn instead of just appreciating Reeves' improvement. When he takes the most contested marks in the game in a half, posters bring up that he petered off in the second half.

No one is acting like Reeves has been a star, pretty much everyone will admit he's got plenty of room to improve his fitness and work around the ground. I speak as a Reeves supporter myself, I have appreciated having a ruck who gets first hands on the ball and what that has been able to do for our midfield. He's in the team predominantly as a centre bounce ruck and he is doing that to a high level. We're playing 2 rucks for a reason and he's holding up his end of the bargain.

 

[KermitJagger]

The comedy of the last few pages is that they were sparked by a poster coming up with and arguing against some fantasy where as yet unnamed people were comparing Reeves' performance to Gawn. The same poster who then decided to use one of the best games Gawn has played in the last few seasons as a point of comparison - all to disprove an argument that no one made.

 

[Roddy]

Tall blokes take a long time. Super-tall blokes can take a super-long time. The big Noodle’s going to be just fine.

 

[hawkman]

In six weeks, Ned will have played 28 games instead of 22.

So you are saying we should probably revisit in 8 weeks then

 

[H00t]

You don’t seem to understand.

Ned Reeves is the exact same player in six weeks times as he is now. He may have played better games, he may have played worse games, but he will not be the finished product, and the club(and many posters here) will still think he’s part of the future, as his contract extension has shown.

I don’t think he will be the finished product for a couple of years at least.

But for mine I still want him to be competing on the field for now as he develops same with our other young players.

His hit outs are coming along but up to last week his around the ground work wasn’t close to good enough even taking into account he’s still developing.

I hope he can build on lasts weeks performance for the rest of year and use his height and show some aggression around the ground.

 

[Alite]

Another darn good game from Reeves, this time against the in-form Tim English.

A mammoth 43 hitouts for Reeves vs 30 for English.…… a PB for Reeves.
15 possies for Reeves, 11 for English .………………………….. a PB for Reeves
3 marks for Reeves, 5 for English
6 tackles for Reeves, 5 for English.……………………………….. a PB for Reeves
10 contested possessions to 5
4 intercept passions to 2
3 clearances to 2
4 turnover to 2
108 SuperCoach points for Reeves, 90 for English………… Reeves’ 2nd best score only topped by his game 2 weeks ago.

If he keeps stringing games like this together then he could legitimately be considered one of the top 10 rucks in the game. If he keeps improving at his current rate then… watch out AFL!

 

[MillerHawk]

Another darn good game from Reeves, this time against the in-form Tim English.

A mammoth 43 hitouts for Reeves vs 30 for English.…… a PB for Reeves.
15 possies for Reeves, 11 for English .………………………….. a PB for Reeves
3 marks for Reeves, 5 for English
6 tackles for Reeves, 5 for English.……………………………….. a PB for Reeves
3 clearances for Reeves, 2 for English
108 SuperCoach points for Reeves, 90 for English………… Reeves’ 2nd best score only topped by his game 2 weeks ago.

If he keeps stringing games like this together then he could legitimately be considered one of the top 10 rucks in the game. If he keeps improving at his current rate then… watch out AFL!

One of his best, if not best, game for us. That mark in defence was a ripper too.

 

[tommyk72]

Exceptional game by Ned. I would say our best on. Was a big part of our early dominance, made even more impressive by how well English has been playing.

 

[Dewwwww]

A few posters on here will be pretty quiet after Ned’s performance today.

He is one of our top 5 most important players on the list. We havnt had a ruckman be able to be this influential in the centre square since Paul Salmon.

Yes he has some weaknesses which he needs to work on. But he is tracking along very nicely!