Explain the three Ruckman?

[BigMart]

Exactly what position Hickey is playing?

Just a lamp post for a rebounding defence.... This is hilarious

[jonesy]

We want pick 3

[SaintSimmo]

We want pick 3

Wish i could believe that

[Old Mate]

Tanking?

[LTN16]

Stanley = Spud

Hickey not playing much better!

[noob]

Reminds me of Bulldogs forward setup last year.. Useless.

[spert]

Stanley will be in the VFL next week, and maybe Watters can go there too and learn a bit about coaching

[whiskers3614]

Talls are poor
Small forwards disgusting
defenders non existent
How are we so close?

[BigMart]

Lenny, Armitage, Montagna and Da playing Well

[Freebird]

we have no structure...how easy is it to run the ball out of our forward line
Having Milne and DL does not help not to mention Dennis (surely not a 1st round DP) Hickey.

[Wayne42]

we have no structure...how easy is it to run the ball out of our forward line
Having Milne and DL does not help not to mention Dennis (surely not a 1st round DP) Hickey.

I thought Hickey was a Tom, Dennis is down the Lane

[WinnersOnly]

And not one of them with an ounce of aggression ! Soft....

[Old Mate]

Watters vs Neeld?

[savatage]

Struggling to make sense of it myself.

[Little Dozer]

TDL is straight up useless. Stanley has ability but has no confidence and is far too timid. I don't mind that Hickey is playing, you need to get games into the young rucks.

[BigMart]

TDL hasn't been that bad, a few F50 tackles and some F50 possessions....

How many F50 tackles and Possesions for the two soft talls.... Why do we have two Ruckmen inside F50 taking up space for Roo to work in??

Bizarre coaching

[Con Gorozidis]

We dont need 3 rucks in the 22.
There seems to be some disease/delusion that hes beset Saints fans and Coaches that Stanley is not a ruckman. Newsflash - hes a ruckman!
We cant persist with 3 ruckman in the 22.
Pick 2 and trade 1.

[BigMart]

Pick 1 ruckmen.... Like most NORMAL coaches

Can't have two in the 22.... It fails constantly..... Unless the Ruckman is useful forward..

[Devilhead]

We dont need 3 rucks in the 22.
There seems to be some disease/delusion that hes beset Saints fans and Coaches that Stanley is not a ruckman. Newsflash - hes a ruckman!
We cant persist with 3 ruckman in the 22.
Pick 2 and trade 1.

What if one goes down????

What if two go down???

[saintspremiers]

Given that Tommy Lee has shown something forward and Stanley is clearly not a defenders A-hole, Stanley must be dropped this week.

But who comes in?
Ideally Gearbox if fit, if not maybe the wildman Shenton if he plays well today for Sandy?

[Devilhead]

Pick 1 ruckmen.... Like most NORMAL coaches

Can't have two in the 22.... It fails constantly..... Unless the Ruckman is useful forward..

Lets have a look at the ruckman playing for each team (latest games)

Adelaide – Jacobs (0 goals) & Jenkins (0 goals) – from last weeks game
Brisbane – Leuenberger (0 goals)
Carlton – Kreuzer (0 goals) & Rowe (0 goals)
Collingwood – Hudson (0 goals) & Witts (0 goals)
Essendon – Ryder (0 goals) & Bellchambers (1 goal)
Fremantle – Sandilands (0 goals) & Clarke (0 goals)
Geelong – Simpson (0 goals) & Blicavs (0 goals) – from last weeks game
Gold Coast – Nicholls (0 goals)
GWS – Brogan (0 goals) & Giles (4 goals)
Hawthorn – Hale (0 goals) & Bailey (0 goals)
Melbourne – Gawn (0 goals)
North Melbourne – Goldstein (0 goals)
Port Adelaide – Lobbe (1 goal)
Richmond – Maric (0 goals) & Vickery (0 goals) – from last weeks game
St Kilda – McEvoy (3 goals) & Hickey (0 goals)
Sydney – Mumford (1 goal) & Pyke (3 goal) – from last weeks game
West Coast – Naitanui (0 goals) & Cox (0 goals) – from last weeks game
Western Bulldogs – Minson (0 goals)

So only 6 teams (third of the comp) only had one ruckman in their team (in their last match) - Brisbane (11th), Gold Coast (14th), Melbourne (17th), North (12th), Port (8th) & Bulldogs (15th) - only one of those teams are in the 8 (barely)

So the NORMAL Coaches are - Voss, McKenna, Craig, B Scott, Hinkley & McCartney

True that most of the TOP 8 teams play 2 ruckman which at least one can play forward and kick goals ie: Bellchambers, Vickery, Hale, Pyke

The way I see it is that at least we have the right structure in place going forward - McEvoy (24 yo) and Hickey (21 yo) are both yearlings in terms of ruckman - both of them have plenty of time to grow into that goal kicking ruckman role - McEvoy kicked 3 today - his best haul I think

As for Stanley - he is currently not being picked in the team to play as a ruckman - plenty of players running about around the 200cm mark who are playing as key forwards and backs - Tippett, Keefe, Dixon, M Clarke, Hawkins, J White, Gumbleton, O'Hailpin, D Stewart, R Thompson, Fletcher, P Davis, Hansen, Trengove, Fitzpatrick ..... some good, some not so good that said some developed and some still developing ..... yes Stanley is struggling at the moment but I am glad we are giving it go and finding out whether he measures up ..... remember Stanley is only 22 yo - again plenty of time to grow into the role and learn - waaaaaay to early to be written off as a key forward or back - if we dismiss him now there is every chance it could come back and bite us big time if he does start to improve like a 200cm player will do when given suitable time to develop his physical game and still maturing body

[Cairnsman]

Pick 1 ruckmen.... Like most NORMAL coaches

Can't have two in the 22.... It fails constantly..... Unless the Ruckman is useful forward..

Lets have a look at the ruckman playing for each team (latest games)

Adelaide – Jacobs (0 goals) & Jenkins (0 goals) – from last weeks game
Brisbane – Leuenberger (0 goals)
Carlton – Kreuzer (0 goals) & Rowe (0 goals)
Collingwood – Hudson (0 goals) & Witts (0 goals)
Essendon – Ryder (0 goals) & Bellchambers (1 goal)
Fremantle – Sandilands (0 goals) & Clarke (0 goals)
Geelong – Simpson (0 goals) & Blicavs (0 goals) – from last weeks game
Gold Coast – Nicholls (0 goals)
GWS – Brogan (0 goals) & Giles (4 goals)
Hawthorn – Hale (0 goals) & Bailey (0 goals)
Melbourne – Gawn (0 goals)
North Melbourne – Goldstein (0 goals)
Port Adelaide – Lobbe (1 goal)
Richmond – Maric (0 goals) & Vickery (0 goals) – from last weeks game
St Kilda – McEvoy (3 goals) & Hickey (0 goals)
Sydney – Mumford (1 goal) & Pyke (3 goal) – from last weeks game
West Coast – Naitanui (0 goals) & Cox (0 goals) – from last weeks game
Western Bulldogs – Minson (0 goals)

So only 6 teams (third of the comp) only had one ruckman in their team (in their last match) - Brisbane (11th), Gold Coast (14th), Melbourne (17th), North (12th), Port (8th) & Bulldogs (15th) - only one of those teams are in the 8 (barely)

So the NORMAL Coaches are - Voss, McKenna, Craig, B Scott, Hinkley & McCartney

True that most of the TOP 8 teams play 2 ruckman which at least one can play forward and kick goals ie: Bellchambers, Vickery, Hale, Pyke

The way I see it is that at least we have the right structure in place going forward - McEvoy (24 yo) and Hickey (21 yo) are both yearlings in terms of ruckman - both of them have plenty of time to grow into that goal kicking ruckman role - McEvoy kicked 3 today - his best haul I think

As for Stanley - he is currently not being picked in the team to play as a ruckman - plenty of players running about around the 200cm mark who are playing as key forwards and backs - Tippett, Keefe, Dixon, M Clarke, Hawkins, J White, Gumbleton, O'Hailpin, D Stewart, R Thompson, Fletcher, P Davis, Hansen, Trengove, Fitzpatrick ..... some good, some not so good that said some developed and some still developing ..... yes Stanley is struggling at the moment but I am glad we are giving it go and finding out whether he measures up ..... remember Stanley is only 22 yo - again plenty of time to grow into the role and learn - waaaaaay to early to be written off as a key forward or back - if we dismiss him now there is every chance it could come back and bite us big time if he does start to improve like a 200cm player will do when given suitable time to develop his physical game and still maturing body

Devilhead the thing you have to remember is that in Tasmania they still have the drop kick but I digress. I think the reason that most teams are playing more than one ruckman is because to win a flag outside of Tasmania, which is also referred to as intelligence, and/or modern AFL, you have to have 2 ruckman in top flight available during a finals campaign. You need at least one big mature bodied ruckman fighting it out in the final quarter of a GF to be a chance and so that is why all teams like to develop more than one ruckman just in case one gets injured. You only have to go back through the GF replays of the past decade to get some insight to the value of it. Kid stuff really.

[MC Gusto]

Hickey was great in the second half. His tap work was really promising

[rodgerfox]

We need to be playing some blokes regardless of our structure.

It's not (or at least it shouldn't be) about putting the best team on the park each week - it needs to be about setting up the best team for 2-3 years time.


So I have no problem with selection.

I also have no issue, aside from the obvious frustration at watching the Saints get belted - with the inconsistency.

It's what happens with young kids, teams who haven't played many games together, teams that are undermanned and teams learning a game plan.

It's what happens, and what I expect to keep happening for at least another year or so.

[BigMart]

Nicky was great in the second half ..... Come on?

Cairnsman, are you having a go at me, or all Tasmanians?..... Why don't you stick to the script and argue the point instead of resorting to childish rants, capital letters and name calling.... I accept I am Tasmanian, and am proud of it... And the continual wanker call, is that uncommon practice?

Devil head
Your analysis is fine, except you are intimating that if someone did not kick a goal this week, they are not a forward threat? Not every forward hits the score sheet every week, particularly if the rotate through the middle

Jenkins plays KF
Rowe is a Key Fwd and Kruzer can play KF
Ryder can play KF
Sandilands of course is a goal Square threat, Clarke is mobile
Hale is very dangerous forward, he is a VG mark and excellent kick for goal
Vickery is more a CHF than a Ruckman
Pyke has been effective fwd this year
Of course Natinui and Cox are just stars and are very dangerous regardless

So your point is an argument, but it can be looked at deeper than just this weeks analysis for rebuttal.....