With all due respect to his "potential", Hampson has shown nothing to warrant him claiming the first ruck position. It is questionable as to whether he has shown enough to claim second ruck.
I agree he has the potential to be an awesome player, but if anything I would say that he is currently not living up to potential at the moment. However, I understand that big players do take more time to develop
I agree he has the potential to be an awesome player, but if anything I would say that he is currently not living up to potential at the moment. However, I understand that big players do take more time to develop
34 hit outs against Melbourne last year and 36 against Port. He also did a power of work in 2009, carrying the ruck load for over 10 straight weeks and performing admirably.
Hampson is criminally underrated in his attack on the football at ground level also (as is Warnock). He is by no means out of the contest when the ball hits the deck and competes fiercely at the stoppages. I am a huge Hampson fan and see him as an essential part of the best 22, even if that means playing all three ruckmen in order to facilitate it (I would sub the least influential of the three off at 3/4 time and bring on an extra mid, depending on the status of the game).
Hampson's potential as a forward is seriously off the scale. He is the definition of a defender's nightmare: extremely quick on the lead, ridiculously athletic and 201cm, with his height allowing him to draw free kicks when the backmen panic. He has shown excellent application at training and has really improved both his marking and his set shots. He is by no means a finished product and I realise that players tagged as having 'potential' often remain unfulfilled talents for their entire careers, but I am extremely confident that Hampson will make it. He will be a serious weapon for us in the coming years, primarily as a full-forward who will provide an excellent chop-out for Warnock and Kreuzer in the ruck.
We are seriously blessed in the ruck at the moment (think Ackland, Cloke, McLaren, Mott, Smith and whichever other failed big men I'm forgetting).
Warnock is an incredible tap ruckman - a real artist - and will also prove dangerous resting forward (his effort in the Elim final v Sydney is indicative of what he's capable of). Warnock has also proven himself to be a big game player, seemingly performing at his best when the most is on the line. This is clearly a wonderful quality to have in a footballer.
Kreuzer is an absolute animal. He is truly courageous and probably one of the best competitors to ever pull on the navy blue. He is not, however, a highly skilled tap ruckman and I am certain that he will never make it as a permanent forward, he simply doesn't read the play well enough and looks totally lost when stationed down there. Kreuzer is an outstanding athlete and as such must be allowed to bulldoze his way around the ground smashing packs.
My plan would be for Warnock to spend the most time on the pine out of the three of them, though he would be called upon to ruck during the clutch moments of the game and for all centre bounces. Kreuzer doing the bulk of the grunt work around the ground, so as to keep the less athletically-gifted Warnock fresh, and Hampson playing full forward with an occasional run in the ruck. I'm pretty confident that this system could work, and would prove incredibly difficult for opposition sides to combat...

