Remove this Banner Ad

What happens if Barnes goes down?

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dan26

Dan26

Premium Platinum
EPL Tipping Winner Veteran 10k Posts
Jan 23, 2000
25,734
21,668
Werribee
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
post count: 38,986
OK, now I'm one of the few that is a fan of Alessio. I think he is very clever and skillful player and a huge threat in the forard line, when the best defenders are already matched up on Lloyd and Hird.

But I don't like him as a ruckman.
So, if Barnes were to go down, what would we do? Would we use Alessio. Or would we put our faith in a rookie (Hille) who has yet to play one senior game?
 
dan i agree, alessio is a great asset, he is tall and hard to match up on, especially when u already have lloyd, lucas, hird etc in the forward line

as for a backup to barnes, hille has to be the best option
he is young, fit and im guessing we will see him in the ansett cup
the talk is he has the ability so why not throw him in there

i think with the strength of the team we can still be very successful without a dominant ruckman anyway
 
I agree with you walshy, I think we have shown that even when we are slaughtered in the ruck, we can still win games by roving to the opposition ruckman. Even if we get beaten in the middle, we can attack from the half back line. Having said that, some of our best football last year was the tapwork of Barnes to the small brigade. A lot of quick goals that way.

Unfortunately I don't entirely agree with your comments on Alessio. I know the bloke has a lot of talent, but I don't think he holds enough marks. He is hard to match up on, but for his size he doesn't do enough damage. If he has another season like last year then I think he will struggle to hold his position. If Hille isn't ready he may be replaced by Robran who I thought performed admirably when given the chance last year and I thought was unlucky to miss out on a gournsey in the finals.
 
this issue was kinda discussed in the "where can we improve in 2001" thread, but I think really it comes down to us developing a good youngster for the future and doing it asap. If it means Barnes playing less time on the field then so be it. I think we can still win alot of games without a dominant ruckman with the team at its current strength, so why not use the opportunity to blood a youngster that can hopefully see us into the next decade ???

cheers
A.
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

Agree that Hille looks an option. But I've got a novel slant on this - given our obvious salary cap constrainst what is the value of really developing someone brilliant (ie: Jeff White-like) in that position when you can selectively pick up bargain basement players like Barnes who, given the team around him, is more than up to the job.

This is not having a go a Barnes who I really respect and was mighty pleased for and with last year, I'm just saying we can't have million dollar players everywhere or we'll not get under the cap...

Thoughts?
 
Agreed Dutchman, but I think Barnes was a one off. He is easily the best value ruckman going around, or was last year anyway. I don't know if he has renegoitiated or not but I would assume he started with a one year contract and would expect him to have received a decent payrise this year if that was the case.

I agree that we don't need a superstar ruckman and infact we really can't afford one, but we need someone who can hold their own. Hille and Robran I think can perform that role this year.

Walshy - We did only lose one game last year, but we also had a great run with injuries. Barnes played almost every game. If he goes down then I think we at least need a contingency plan, and I think we probably have it.

I was just interested to know if anyone has seen much of Hille. I watched a few VFL games last year and was very impressed with him, especially with his strong marking across half back. But i haven't seen much of his tap ruckwork. Is he likely to be someone who can match it in the centre square or more of a big man who can dominate around the ground?
 
td i have seen a fair bit of hille
and he does look the goods

he is very athletic and like barnes will probably win his battle around the ground rather than in the centre square

oh and eastaugh thanks for your rivoting contribution to this topic
 
I've previously posted that i think Robran is an option. I thought he played well in his few appearances last year. Never seen Hille, but i'm told he goes alright.

where's wally?
 

Remove this Banner Ad

eek.gif
just saw this topic for the first time.

Was wondering who he was going down..... nah better leave it alone
smile.gif
but boy what i could say if i werent such a nice guy.....

Cheers
beerchug.gif


ps, Hilles going to be a player and Jons okay for a fill in. Worst case, you can always ruck Alessio.

Cheers again.

------------------
Im a descendant from a long line of orphans.
 
It's good to see people sticking up for Stevie, he has given us great service over the years, it is also good to hear Hille is coming along nicely. Last year even when we didn't win the tap outs, our players still managed to take the ball away from the majority of centre bounces, so as long as they continue to do that we don't really need a no.1 ruckman, although it would be an added bonus.

------------------
mantis
 
We still have Hille, Robran and Alessio. Alessio may not be the best but he's there. I think Hille and Robran aren't rated too highly as we never see them play ruck at this level, so given the chance, I think they would be great backups.

------------------
Essendon, the most powerful and best run club in the league.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top