leon said:
Point 2 - So if HOs mean so little, why do we still have the 200cm+ giants in the game. Why won't PA persevere with Trengove, your hero, as first ruck now that Ryder and Lobbe are back? Having obtained the lowest HO numbers of any club in 2016, along with a drop out of flag contention even more dramatic than ours', would have nothing to do with it? I could add many more points but it's just useless trying to communicate with someone so dogmatic.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-ruckmen-overrated-players-or-overrated-position-20140501-zr2f7.html
Leigh Matthews, a man of detached reason about the game, recently observed that Sandilands was the most overrated player. It wasn't as personal an upbraiding as it sounds; it was a measured assessment of not just the player but the position.
"They [Dockers] lose the clearances every week," Matthews said recently on 3AW. "Hitouts are useless, it's only what they contribute to the clearance, running the ball away from the pack.
....
Mark Thompson, in response to Matthews' recent comments on Sandilands, said he broadly agreed with the four-time premiership coach.
"I've never placed a great emphasis on ruckmen either," Thompson said. "But when you haven't got one and you're playing two young kids against someone like Sandilands it does make a difference."
One club's ruck coach said it was difficult to assess the value of ruckmen because people tried to distil their game to statistics that were inadequate and misleading, because the intangibles of a good ruck were unquantifiable.
"What value do you put on a big bloke having presence? What value do you put on a bloke who knocks midfielders over, blocks and puts the wind up them? None of those are stats.
"The ruck stats are basically bulls--t anyway. Hitouts are the most useless statistic ever. You can only look at hitouts to advantage and even then you have to look at clearances and scores from stoppages. You can be putting it down your midfield's throat but if they fumble, get tackled or don't clear it then that is not your fault.
"We never used hitout figures, they are a complete waste of time, they are nonsense. Hitting the ball first means nothing if your team doesn't clear it.
