Rowan Marshall #1 ranked player in AFL since rnd 11

[The Linton Street Flash]

Yes, the game has changed, there is now less emphasis on winning the hit outs and more about mobility and impact around the ground. That doesn't suit Billy,
whose strength is in the actual ruck battles, but I still place value on him. Would have been handy when the opposition has a couple of big rucks, ie Brisbane.

However, it does seem his card is marked. Does anyone know his status? Also Pierce? Both still having concussion symptoms?

Marshall is ideal for the modern ruckman (or ruck rover), but imo will never give us a clear, consistent advantage in the hitouts. May not matter.

Except of course last weekend when he gave us a clear and consistent advantage in the hitouts.

That’s assuming hitout numbers - (33 to 20) are some kind of marker for hitouts?

[takeaway]

Yes, the game has changed, there is now less emphasis on winning the hit outs and more about mobility and impact around the ground. That doesn't suit Billy,
whose strength is in the actual ruck battles, but I still place value on him. Would have been handy when the opposition has a couple of big rucks, ie Brisbane.

However, it does seem his card is marked. Does anyone know his status? Also Pierce? Both still having concussion symptoms?

Marshall is ideal for the modern ruckman (or ruck rover), but imo will never give us a clear, consistent advantage in the hitouts. May not matter.

Except of course last weekend when he gave us a clear and consistent advantage in the hitouts.

That’s assuming hitout numbers - (33 to 20) are some kind of marker for hitouts?

Hit outs were 34 to 27. True, we had more hit outs, but most were not to advantage, which is what I am saying - not a clear and consistent advantage. That is what I believe Marshall needs to work on, and he is certainly improving.
Saints are the second worst team in the comp for hit outs, and that does not indicate whether the hit outs were effective.

Still as stated, it seems that winning the hit outs is secondary nowadays, as long as it doesn't go down the throat of the opposition, which does occur too often for me with ruckmen vs Marshall. He is one of the best around the ground though.

[Shaggy]

Stupid q because we would never know. But, I have a very strong feeling that Marshall would have dominated at Sandy and would have been in the seniors pretty quickly. Even if Longer and Pearce were fit.

White was best on ground several times and we have injuries to the main group of defenders that Cho played in the backline, and yet White didn't get a look in.

I love this line from you in your previous post about Marshall being thrust into the No 1 ruck role ; " In a twist of fate"....hahahaha

Richo has been great for this group and there could be more strange twists of fate and he could develop a dozen All Australians and we could win multiple premierships under him...LOL

The reality is that Lewis Pierce couldn't get a look in ahead of Hickey and Longer for 5 years
When all 4 were fit, Hickey and Longer were the clear preferences regardless of form
Longer was selected to play several times ahead of Marshall and Pierce last year when he was hampered by injury
Pierce and Marshall only got games as rucks when Hickey and Longer were injured
At the start of this season, Pierce was no1 choice
Every bit of data we have suggests that if fit Longer would have been selected first... given Richo's preference for a tap winner and selecting an Acres/Bruce to win possession around the ground, it's very hard to rationally deduce that given Marshall's strength is not his tap work, that he would get a game ahead of Longer if the opportunity wasn't provided for him to end the debate which he did. But I guess we'll never know

One thing that is for certain state of our rucks currently speak for themselves... end of the season we have to completely re-jig our stocks with the view of building around Marshall (not Longer). IMO Billy should be out and we should get a ready made back up like a Goldstein to both help teach Marshall and be ready to play in case of injury. We pbly need a new rookie/project ruck to replace Pierce who simply looks like he won't make it... and we pbly need a developing key position ruck (eg. forward/defender ruck) to add a degree of flexibility.

The op title says it all: "Rowan Marshall #1 ranked player in AFL since rnd 11" ... ruck is the best it has been for many years.

Lewis Pierce, who has been written off by some, is the only player other than Grundy to beat Marshall in the ruck this year. Unfortunately he has been injured since.

Both Marshall and Pierce had overtaken Hickey by the end of last year IMO.

I think Longer is also better than Hickey but it doesn't matter - he is backup. Our ruck stocks are so much better than before.

Moving Hickey on was a game changer as far as our rucks go.

Pierce attributes his dramatic improvement last year to being the No. 1 ruckman at Frankston rather than playing a compromised role as a ruck/key forward behind either Billy Longer or Tom Hickey at Sandy. Same could be said for Marshall this year in the seniors.

According to a Marshall interview he was told pre-season to baulk up because this year he would be spending alot more time in the ruck. His days as a support ruck were over. Marshall needs support but the player needs to play another position on the ground because we want Marshall rucking 75% of the match. I think it will be Carlisle when he gets fit and in the future King when he is ready. Hickey was lucky last year because he had Marshall as his support.

The big question mark about our ruck stocks is whether Pierce will recover. It is a genuine concern he has been out for 4 months with concussion.

Just to clarify, what do you mean Pierce beat Marshall? Do you mean in the lead up to selection to rd1?

It's a shame we haven't seen more of Pierce over the last 5 years. I was encouraged by how he finished last year off and it's a shame injury has derailed his 2019... didn't start super flash though. I'll watch with interest if he stays on the list. My hope is that he does but he's never really looked to be in favor IMO. One game over 3-4 years and then a stint after almost every other ruck went down.
Personally I would pull the trigger on Longer... especially if we get a guy like Goldstein as back up.

You are correct on Marshall, best ruck we've had in years and like you I agree that he needs a degree of help as we've discussed. The proposal you're suggesting of it being a KPP pinch hitting is a good one but not one that we could accommodate this year. Quite literally with Pierce going down, Billy was the only other option we had. Marshall has performed very well but he has had a few games where he's been worn down and climbed all over, Melbourne one comes to mind... I'd liked to have protected him from that but it doesn't appear to have had any ill impact on him.

The intraclub on 23 February, 2019.

Pierce dominated Marshall in the first half. In the 2nd half Marshall came back. To quote saints.com.au “Ruckman Lewis Pierce was equally impressive, and had the better of opponents Rowan Marshall and Sam Alabakis for majority of proceedings”.

The next week Pierce was knocked out in the JLT1.

He missed JLT2 due to concussion.

He played round 1.

I would forget his game Round 1. In hindsight he should not have played and has been out with concussion ever since.

I would have delisted Pierce based on his Sandy form to 2017. In 5 years he was only named in the best 8 times. But last year at Frankston Pierce really came good winning their B&f and named in their best 9 out of 13 matches. He then dominated Bellchambers when we played Essendon.

Adam Skrobalak must get some credit for the dramatic development of both Marshall and Pierce and his appointment as full time ruck coach this year has surely helped.

We need our own equivalent of a Roughead to support Marshall - a quality KPP who can double up as ruck. We have one in King when he is ready. It makes no sense to me to have a genuine ruck in support who sits on the bench for 75% of the match whilst Marshall is rucking.

IMO Billy matched O'brien in his only game which in hindsight has proved to be good form for a back-up. Assuming Pierce and Billy recover from their concussions our ruck stocks are in really good shape IMO.

[saintsRrising]

Assuming Pierce and Billy recover from their concussions our ruck stocks are in really good shape IMO.

Being out with concussion for so long I would suspect is not a good sign for the ability to play in future.