Ivan Maric

[TigerMasochist]

Many may disagree , however as long as Maric is fit ,IMHO he will beat the bottom half rucks, compete with the middle tear an be beaten by the top shelf Rucks, for me when his up against the Natanuis, Jacobs an Goldstiens our mids just have to be smarter and set up a bit more defensive to attempt to not allow the easy clearance

Dat sounds logical to me CC.
Only one way Ivvy can play effective footy is to be the rough barging competitive beast hovering on the edge. Won't win too many against the best, but he has to halve the contest n mongrel them off their advantage.
Drag the bastards down to his level n beat up on them with his experience.

 

[spook]

Dat sounds logical to me CC.
Only one way Ivvy can play effective footy is to be the rough barging competitive beast hovering on the edge. Won't win too many against the best, but he has to halve the contest n mongrel them off their advantage.
Drag the bastards down to his level n beat up on them with his experience.

Except he can't, and doesn't. CC nailed it, and that's the problem.

 

[Leysy Days]

Agree. Proven over a long period now that despite his obvious heart he cant compete against the best.

Is actually our weakest link come finals time.

 

[tigersnake]

This get talked about endlessly. Round and around. Bottom line is, you can't magic a Goldstein out of thin air, no matter how big your war chest is or how early your draft picks are. There are 3 or 4 dominant rucks in the comp, we ain't got one.

 

[Leysy Days]

Absolutely Snake. Those guys are very rare and pretty unrealistic to get.

However if you don’t have one you need a ruckman that can at least compete against them. Our first ruck doesn't.

And getting to that stage is not unrealistic.

 

[Sintiger]

It would be interesting to know what the club's plans are for life post Maric.

Our options would be hoping or expecting a young ruck to emerge like Soldo or Chol ..long shots, at least in the near future.

Hampson.

Combination of Vickery and Griffiths

Trade

 

[Baloo]

Hampson will surprise many this year.

 

[The Mole]

This get talked about endlessly. Round and around. Bottom line is, you can't magic a Goldstein out of thin air, no matter how big your war chest is or how early your draft picks are. There are 3 or 4 dominant rucks in the comp, we ain't got one.

Spot on Snake. I think Champion Data rank Marich as 4th or 5th best ruckman in the competition. Not so much for tap work but 1%ers, contested ball etc.

 

[Carter]

The problem isn't Maric in isolation.

The issue is lack of size and ferocity at his feet.

 

[The Mole]

The problem isn't Maric in isolation.

The issue is lack of size and ferocity at his feet.

That's what I think too Carts. One or two big midfielders short like Jackson and Tuck. Cotch and Miles just too small. They need help.

 

[The_General]

The problem isn't Maric in isolation.

The issue is lack of size and ferocity at his feet.

Spot on. If we can't have a top 3 ruck man, we need some smarts and physicality at ground level to neutralise the opposition. Not enough is done here.
I'm sure the Jacko retirement caught us by surprise, but the Tuck one shouldn't have. We really fiddled a bit while Rome burned in this position.

 

[Sintiger]

Spot on. If we can't have a top 3 ruck man, we need some smarts and physicality at ground level to neutralise the opposition. Not enough is done here.
I'm sure the Jacko retirement caught us by surprise, but the Tuck one shouldn't have. We really fiddled a bit while Rome burned in this position.

Isn't the recruitment of Moore and Townsend a reaction to this ?

 

[The_General]

Isn't the recruitment of Moore and Townsend a reaction to this ?

Exactly sin. A Reaction.

If we're gonna win the big one, we've got to do more than react!

 

[Tigers of Old]

Isn't the recruitment of Moore and Townsend a reaction to this ?

Convinced Townsend will help. Less so Moore.

 

[seven]

Hampson will surprise many this year.

lets hope so.

 

[toby64]

If he is our number one ruck come finals time history will repeat itself.

 

[leon]

Hampson will surprise many this year.

Pleased to see someone else still holding out hope and not just dissing him entirely as incorrigibly hopeless.

The (hopeful) reasoning goes along these lines: firstly, he dominates at VFL level, especially in knock-outs. OK, it's lower but all AFL teams need ruck depth, or there are top players on return from injury, young up-and-comers, so the competition there can be strong. If he can succeed there, really no reason why he can't at least compete at top level.

Secondly, he has played very well in some AFL games e.g. in home games against Freo and Sandi last two years. Many thought 2015 game his best ever, where he took about 9 marks as well as ruck really well. Again proof; if you can match up well against Sandi, well .... perhaps he struggles on the more mobile types. But many say Hampson is a very good athlete.

Thirdly, who knows exactly why both he and Maric were embarrassed by Jacobs in away game to Crows? They were thrashed, but possible explanation is that Hampson was played injured. Has had to have both ankles, I think, operated on post-season. And, of course, was dropped after that debacle. Plus Crows mids probably made rucks look even worse because they trashed our midfield too. When I look back at this game, our weaknesses were exposed for Scott and Norf to study and learn.

I just haven't written him off totally like many critics here have. Not sure they're wrong, it's my hopes. Soldo looks like he could eventually step up ... perhaps. With TV and Griff for back-up, hope that Maric and/or Hampo can be at least capable for 2016. As I posted last year, Hawks prove you have to have capable, competitive ruckman who can definitely go forward and be a threat, even if not absolute top grade.

Also believe some bigger-bodied mids such as Townsend and Moore can make a real difference. Our top mids - Cotch, Miles, Edwards etc - are like the old-style rovers in today's game competing against the likes of Mundy, Fyffe, Cripps, Bontempelli who are the size of KPPs.

 

[Sintiger]

The (hopeful) reasoning goes along these lines: firstly, he dominates at VFL level, especially in knock-outs.

That's it for me. That's all he does, dominate the knockouts.

Rucks these days have to do something around the ground. Hampson has so far shown that he is just a tap ruckman at all levels.

If you call that writing him off so be it. Until i see something different from him that's the way i will see him.

 

[Leysy Days]

Correct Sin.

He averaged 5.6 kicks, 5.2 handballs and tellingly just 2.6 marks per match at VFL level last year of which 0.8 per match were contested.

For a now 28 year old spending the vast majority of the time as first ruck it tells us exactly what he is.

What we've seen is what we'll get. i.e. someone good at hit outs but poor at everything else, especially catching a ball.

 

[leon]

Correct Sin.

He averaged 5.6 kicks, 5.2 handballs and tellingly just 2.6 marks per match at VFL level last year of which 0.8 per match were contested.

For a now 28 year old spending the vast majority of the time as first ruck it tells us exactly what he is.

What we've seen is what we'll get. i.e. someone good at hit outs but poor at everything else, especially catching a ball.

Yes, but without even bothering to check because I was there at the last Freo game at the G, he did actually manage to take 8 or 9 marks. Some contested, although Ivvy probably did more of the ruck contests.

I know what you need from a ruckman and it's not really new. Mike Green provided this back in our premiership teams in the 60s/early 70s and Balmy and others, Benny Gale when became No.1 ruck. Marks around the ground are vital. If H did this against Sandi, he can do it other games logically.

Hampson is an enigma; he's tantalising.

If he can do it occasionally, why not more consistently? At 28, still is in his prime for a big man. [Definitely put out by the club that he was carrying injuries]