The Three Ruckmen

[The_President]

Hickey, Longer, Holmes.

Not sure what order you have them in, not even sure what order the club have them in.
But they all offer something very unique.

Hickey is the most skillful out of them all with the potential to do the most damage around the ground and become more than just a one dimensional ruckman

Longer is an old school sort of ruckman, a bit more bash and crash than Hickey, can get around the ground and crash a pack, but ideally you don't want him kicking the ball

Holmes is easily the most athletic and probably the best ruckman in terms of not only winning the hitout, but winning it AND directing it to a team mate, something St.Kilda has long struggled with.

It a weird, upside down world I'd love to see Holmes get a run of 10-15 games as the number 1 ruckman without fear of being dropped because I think he'd develop into the best pure ruckman out of the lot & give the mids first crack at the ball. - Imagine getting clean take away's from the centre and actually finding a target inside 50.

Hickey's game round one was super. But last season he showed that he is TERRIBLE when he plays as a leading forward who floats through the ruck. As a ruckman pushing into the 50 in play, he can be very damaging, but as a leading forward he is dismal (no offence Tom)

Who s your preferred choice as first ruck?

[saintbrat]

Pierce is up and coming......

[Goose is king]

Hopefully Hickey has arrived. If not it looks like another position where we have competition for spots and nobody is really good enough.

[kosifantutti]

I'm not sure that Hickey was TERRIBLE as a forward. I watched a couple of replays over the summer. The dogs game he was instrumental in getting us back in the game. Longer in the same game was out marked by Cordy about 5 times.


He was also very good in the Cats game. Great hands and good at ground level.

[kosifantutti]

And in terms of who is my preferred ruck option. Hickey first, daylight second.

[SydneySainter]

Hickey is a ruck in the Michael Gardiner mould, whereas Longer is more like a Steven King type.

Holmes good be anything if learns more footy smarts.

For now, Hickey is by far our best option.

[elizabethr]

Hickey alone at this point
We need run,run and more run.

[Enrico_Misso]

Hickey is our best option.
Longer is the back up (though Bruce can help out as well).
Pierce is the wild card - he is tall and athletic but still needs to bulk up.
Holmes was the longshot "feelgood project". He won't make it. He could be a great tap ruckman but is horribly exposed and has little to offer around the ground.

Interesting to see two old boys rucking at the G on Monday - Macca and Rhys.
We seem to have had a surplus of ruckman in recent years.

If Pierce can come through I can see us trading either him or Longer for a second round pick.

[White Winmar]

Pierce will be second to Hickey by the end of the year. IMHO, of course.

[samuraisaint]

Hickey should be our first ruckman - he could be, given time, another Everitt. Longer to be our back up - but he is important too because his body can stand up to the rigours of bash and crash of ruckwork.

[Bluthy]

After the weekend Hickey has to play as the main ruck surely. It will be interesting to see how the 90 rotations go with impacting teams ruck model. The ones that win flags have had the two big rucks - the big guys don't get any smaller in those huge intense games. But maybe a piecemeal ruck support is a possibility under the new cap. It would be a risk going into a grannie though - if our ruck went down you have to pull someone out of their possie to do it - imagine needing to use Bruce and losing him forward. Need to see how Pierce and Holmes develop if they will be viable. And Hickey has been a bit injury prone whereas Longer has been a workhorse. Lots of water to go under the bridge but its great to have options.

[SuperDuper]

Did Longer play on the weekend?

How is his fitness?

[samoht]

Hickey is clearly our best around the ground ruckman - it's not only the possessions he gets, he can chase down opponents, apply pressure.
The hitouts were mostly neither here nor there - which is the norm (Lobbe and Hickey were at it all day, but it was Gilbert who probably got the best and maybe the only one real hitout to advantage - to a team mate definitely in clear space - it was the one that stood out for me, anyway).