Vdubs
Hall of Famer
Agree.
But Zac played an incredible first half v Hawks, and unfortunately if the rest of his season is to be compared to that, many will be disappointed.
He will offer us plenty this year if he is not overused.
Toast Zac Smith - 100 games this week
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But Zac played an incredible first half v Hawks, and unfortunately if the rest of his season is to be compared to that, many will be disappointed.
He will offer us plenty this year if he is not overused.
He got votes because he kicked three goals in the first half, two of which came from good forward pressure from him.
But if we're talking how effective he's been as a ruckman (i.e. winning hit-outs), he's bee poor. Stanley has been the better performer in the first two games. In fact, in this respect, Smith has been the worst permanent ruckman in the AFL over the first two rounds.
As per Champion Data:
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Vdubs
Hall of Famer
No worries.
Rd 2 only.
Football matches and players are too heavily scrutinised.
From the first bounce to the start of the next match- getting way over the top, Foxtel, radio, newspapers, BF experts...
Whether Smith is the next Ottens or the next HMc...
He has shown some quality, let's be patient.
I could not care if Stanley is our nominal #1 ruck, and big Zac is #2. As long as they are fit and contribute and create a bit of fear in the opposition.
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At the game in Canberra on Sunday I didn't notice Zac around the ground much unfortunately.
But in the centre bounces he seemed to jump quite well most of the time the problem was either missing the ball with his hands (too busy worrying about Mummy I feel) or only getting a slight touch on it which didn't go to our player anyway. So the actual leap is fine, it's just the timing of it for mine.
Also a big issue is around the ground he will usually have the height advantage on people or be able to leap above them, yet he can't mark it that well. Has fumbled already quite a few times over NAB & Round 2 (probably once or twice in Rnd1 I can't remember).
So at training want him to have a big focus on the timing of his leap at the centre bounce & making sure he gets a good touch on it down to one of our midfielders, plus working on his marking
It will take some time so just keep playing him as the No.1 ruck as much as possible he will improve.
If he can survive this week vs Stefan Martin then I feel like Rounds 4 & 5 could be big confidence builders for him:
- Round 4 vs Leuenberger, will be better than him around the ground + his leap will be way too much for Leuenhamburger.
- Round 5 vs Lobbe, again his leap will be too good for Lobbe & if Smith can push forward than he could kick 2-3+ on Lobbe.
But in the centre bounces he seemed to jump quite well most of the time the problem was either missing the ball with his hands (too busy worrying about Mummy I feel) or only getting a slight touch on it which didn't go to our player anyway. So the actual leap is fine, it's just the timing of it for mine.
Also a big issue is around the ground he will usually have the height advantage on people or be able to leap above them, yet he can't mark it that well. Has fumbled already quite a few times over NAB & Round 2 (probably once or twice in Rnd1 I can't remember).
So at training want him to have a big focus on the timing of his leap at the centre bounce & making sure he gets a good touch on it down to one of our midfielders, plus working on his marking
It will take some time so just keep playing him as the No.1 ruck as much as possible he will improve.
If he can survive this week vs Stefan Martin then I feel like Rounds 4 & 5 could be big confidence builders for him:
- Round 4 vs Leuenberger, will be better than him around the ground + his leap will be way too much for Leuenhamburger.
- Round 5 vs Lobbe, again his leap will be too good for Lobbe & if Smith can push forward than he could kick 2-3+ on Lobbe.
dazbroncos
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ZS has some work to do this week.
Mummy, like Goldy and 211, is one of the best in the gig. Im not surprised he got beaten.
This week, Martin is no slouch either but this has been the knock on ZS. Not hard enough.
I hope that this week he can get back to good 1/2 of footy. He's never going to be the type that dominates a whole game - but i'd happily take a solid 1/2 to build on.
Id say that the combo of him and Stanley is working well. ZS needs to just get a goal a week and Id be happy with that. Let him build his confidence.
Last week I saw a lot of CB hit outs where the GWS mids sharked stuff too - Our mids were not helping his cause. Not excusing his performance - but one does lead into the other.
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Mummy, like Goldy and 211, is one of the best in the gig. Im not surprised he got beaten.
This week, Martin is no slouch either but this has been the knock on ZS. Not hard enough.
I hope that this week he can get back to good 1/2 of footy. He's never going to be the type that dominates a whole game - but i'd happily take a solid 1/2 to build on.
Id say that the combo of him and Stanley is working well. ZS needs to just get a goal a week and Id be happy with that. Let him build his confidence.
Last week I saw a lot of CB hit outs where the GWS mids sharked stuff too - Our mids were not helping his cause. Not excusing his performance - but one does lead into the other.
Go Catters
He was scared of Mumford and it destroyed our clearance work. Needs to go way harder this week and show some grunt.
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After his big first half against the hawks he spent little of the rest of that game in the square and it seemed he must have picked up an injury of some kind. Obviously not enough to keep him out of the game against gws but it could've had an impact on his game.
He needs to be given time to settle into the team he's shown glimpses of what he can be as a Geelong player lets let him keep growing into his role and hope he stays injury free.
Stanley is massive in terms of muscle he should have taken it up to Mumford gws bullied Geelong out of the ball and there was little to no fight from Geelong players the opposite of the hawks game.
The only thing holding back Smith and Stanley from being a very good consistence ruck combination for Geelong is injury. They won't always dominate but they will at least give us more of a contest than we've been able to have in the past.
He needs to be given time to settle into the team he's shown glimpses of what he can be as a Geelong player lets let him keep growing into his role and hope he stays injury free.
Stanley is massive in terms of muscle he should have taken it up to Mumford gws bullied Geelong out of the ball and there was little to no fight from Geelong players the opposite of the hawks game.
The only thing holding back Smith and Stanley from being a very good consistence ruck combination for Geelong is injury. They won't always dominate but they will at least give us more of a contest than we've been able to have in the past.
Smith has rucked very little since half time of the hawks game. You have to think there may of been a minor injury.
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He didn't ruck any more than a half in any of the practice matches even before Rd 1. He's not fully match-fit yet, and may not be until next season.
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No, because most of them were, as I already said, in a much, much lower grade and intensity of football, not even equivalent to our 2nds. He almost certainly won't be match-fit enough to ruck a whole game until next season, if then. It's exactly the same vicious circle that entangled Simpson and McIntosh.
"Zac Smith and Rhys Stanley look set to continue sharing the ruck duties. Smith has struggled in ruck contests however, recording a winning percentage of just 26% which is the lowest of any permanent ruckman in the AFL to feature in both games."
Interesting to see this stat today - it seems Stanley might be the better #1 ruck option, which is how I think the club sees it anyway. The stat is made even worse considering he was up against a second rate Hawthorn ruck outfit in Rd 1.
Source - Champion Data's 'Fantasy Freako'
Interesting to see this stat today - it seems Stanley might be the better #1 ruck option, which is how I think the club sees it anyway. The stat is made even worse considering he was up against a second rate Hawthorn ruck outfit in Rd 1.
Source - Champion Data's 'Fantasy Freako'
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I never said he didn't play well in the Hawthorn game. He played well as ruck-forward in the first half, but he didn't ruck well for more than a half, and has not done in any of his 5 games with us.
The 2nd half of your post is just silly. All I was saying, was that if you're physically tired, it affects your mental capacity and your will to do things you want to do, such as jumping properly in the ruck contests for more than half a game.
Vdubs
Hall of Famer
Agree. Just being very defensive for ZS. I want him to be the ruck man we have craved, and he shows intermittent potential.
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Oh yes, I'm not suggesting that we abandon the 3-man combo (and the combo is always more important than the individual), I was really just on the side of those who are tending to temper expectations a bit.
Jeez, this guys gone from Polly Farmer to Mark Blake in less than a week.. 
Vdubs
Hall of Famer
Mark Blake had no trouble winning hitouts.Jeez, this guys gone from Polly Farmer to Mark Blake in less than a week..
The level of "malignment" was my point.
Vdubs
Hall of Famer
I got your point.
But we won't start another BBB debate.
Both rucks seem to be jumping too early
Vdubs
Hall of Famer
AGREEBoth rucks seem to be jumping too early
Too rusty and keen.
dazbroncos
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Want to see ZS against Martin this week. And agree that their timing was off last week. Stanley was getting very high and whiffed a bunch. Smith not as much but still airied a few.
Martin is not quite the package that Mummy the destroyer can be, but he's no hack either. Not sure who BL play as the #2 (west?)and how Martin's tank runs. Maybe at home, with a full week to recover and no travel they can prepare better and have a better game. Hopefully they can get him around the ground and push forward with better success this week.
And no, travel and 6 day breaks are not excuses - at least they should not be.
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Martin is not quite the package that Mummy the destroyer can be, but he's no hack either. Not sure who BL play as the #2 (west?)and how Martin's tank runs. Maybe at home, with a full week to recover and no travel they can prepare better and have a better game. Hopefully they can get him around the ground and push forward with better success this week.
And no, travel and 6 day breaks are not excuses - at least they should not be.
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I think Martin's got a massive tank because they don't really have a No.2 ruck, looking at their team the next one I can think of is Walker (funny that eh!).
We need to beat Martin in the Hitouts because I feel he will beat us around the ground, he can rack up 20-30 touches around the ground so we need to try & beat him in Hitouts + try to get our two ruckman kick a few goals on him
West hasn't played at all this year, and he isn't named for this game. I don't know if he has injury issues at the moment or just isn't getting games.
Brisbane don't seem to have a clear second ruckman. Looking at the stats, Martin is pretty much the only guy they have who wins hitouts. 2 rounds is a small sample size, but Martin leads their HO numbers with 49. Their next best is Josh Walker with a massive 3 taps. Martin is a really good ruckman, though, so he'll definitely present a challenge for Stanley and Smith, but given he is their only option there, hopefully we can work him over a bit.
dazbroncos
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I have Martin, at least in my head, a level below Mummy, 211 and Goldy, but still better than Smith and Stanley.
I think as a combo, with Blitz as a 3rd man up option, we take advantage of their lack of a clear #2 and outwork him effort wise.
At least that should be the plan. Push forward or back hard against where he is at and if its forward, present as another tall with Merrett on Hawkins and their #2 defender on Kersten ( if he plays).
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catempire
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West is playing NEAFL. They are choosing not to play him.
