Opposition discussion | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Opposition discussion

More on GCS. First the looming ruck crisis. (Crisis is always good.)

Witts is 31 and a tap ruck. A very good one. There is nobody else.

Moyle is not yet 22yo. So he's not a mature stock. Much as we might think he's soft or useless he can improve sharply as he matures. Witts certainly did. To win a spot he'll have to get involved in ground game. Getting in the way, tackling.

Dogwick likes a blank slate. Moyle is not quite one of them.

Ethan Read is a blank slate. And we know that Dogwick believes that playing VFL damns players to VFL level forever. So he'll play Read as soon as he can. All Read has to do is comply and he'll play AFL.

He won't start in the ruck so he plays forward.

So four players are vying for at most three places. Jed Walter, Ben King, Jack Atrosius and Ethan Read. You'd think Walter is a certain starter.

Ben King is nothing like Max King. Ben is agile and clever. Not macho. But he can learn to get in the way (block). It seems natural to me that King works close to Walter most of the time.

Jack Atrosius is not the blocking type. He's much flankier than that. OTOH it makes sense for Hardwick to move him back. He has no tall backs to speak of much as Ballard may improve, particularly with a talent boost around him. But on the other Atrosius can spread a defence by working wider and deeper. But then there's no room for Read. And Read can catch so forward makes sense.

The situation is like the Footscray one where the side has a huge supply of tall forwards. In the end you have to trade or move em back. Jesse Hogan would've starred at CHB but he wouldn't play there. Melbourne traded him for May. It worked out well for them. Hardwick and Loose Luke will have to make some changes.

NB if Read's no good there is no high class problem.
 
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Loose Luke has a high class problem. It looks to me that Luke himself is the other kind but time will tell.

It's Croft. Among others.

It's not one that you can paint by numbers. It will require imagination.

To basics - why does Tom J Lynch play forward? Because he can. Tom J Lynch would easily be the best CHB or ruck in the game. He is a footballer. Anybody who can play dominant tall forward does. And gets a million plus. If you can play forward you do. And you get the big bucks.

Loose Luke loves rucks. Who could blame him? Tom Boyd won him a premiership with 60 minutes of ruck dominance.

Tim English can play #1 forward. He gets more air from a step than anybody I've ever seen. He can take position hold position. And he can catch. And he will outmark tall backs too not just ruckduds. And he converts.

In ruck he gets a lot of SI but also a lot of cheap Lachie Neale junk receiving kick ins. *If it translates into SI it must be good.* Yes but it's unsustainable. Good coaches will punish them for it and do. Is English topping Supercoach in losses? Players who do that regularly are the problem. Is it Brodie Grundy revisited?

Unlike Grundy, English can and will play tall. ATM I'd say he's badly coached but to be fair Bevo may be just grooming him for more ball use and there could be a breakout next year. Where he works forward of centre. But hang on - is there room?

Sam Darcy is many years behind English and perhaps on the same path. English was more competitive at the same age if that is an indicator. Darcy is 20yo now. He's demanding a place for the purposes of development but not on form as at 2023. (It's a bit like the Witts/Read thing but less pressing.) Darcy could be three years off. Seven off peak form. As a ruck. But he could be adequate as a forward very soon. Then ya gotta play him.

JUH aint going nowhere. He plays forward. Aaron Naughton kicked 40 odd this season and is on an eight-year deal. (IKR?)

And so we return to Jordan Croft. He's shown that he can play forward as a junior. But there's no room there at senior Footscray. Looks like he'll have to play back. If so he'll miss out on development as a forward - the big bucks.

The squeeze is on. The Blairs of the world are all over it. You gotta be looking to poach a bulldog forward.

If Riley Sanders goes on they have a much improved midfield. Maybe the Scraggers come on quickly and success binds them. For now though it seems obvious that they have too many tall forwards. Might they parlay one into a premium draft choice for another midfielder?
 
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IanG said:
Bailey Smith has apparently ruptured his ACL at training.
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Holy hell, it is the cruelest of games. Been a tough 12 months for Bailey.
He was out of the Doggies for sure next year, this will make it tricky.
 
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IanG said:
Bailey Smith has apparently ruptured his ACL at training.
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Hate hearing these stories..... I must admit when I see headlines of ......"AFL star has massive injury", there's a sense of relief when it's not one of ours. Then I feel great sadness for the player.

You have to wonder what sort of training he was doing with Daicos in the US or is it just rotten bad luck?
 
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Lethlean leaving the Aints immediately.... hmmmmm. Apparently he and Lyon did not get on.
 
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IanG said:
Lethlean leaving the Aints immediately.... hmmmmm. Apparently he and Lyon did not get on.
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Ross the Boss is not just a throwaway line!
Saints mK1- Freo- Saints mK2.
The new 'cuddly Ross' was a complete fabrication IMO.
 
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Fullerton with a bad hammy at Melbourne, will be out a while.

One Max Gawn injury away from the window shutting altogether and Dees missing finals.
 
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Hearing the crackdown on the fend off will be brutal, if the off-hand touches shoulders, it will be paid. Real focus early on. A high fend that hits the face will be an automatic report.

And another thing, the neutral AFL doctor looking at instances of concussion during games will be ruthless. All clubs in match simulation have had neutral doctors interpreting the new standards. Say a player goes down for longer than 30 seconds, off for 20 minutes for a check. A player goes down with a below-the-waist contact (leg injury or gets when in the "orchestra stalls") and stays down but gets back up, off for a 20-minute concussion check. Any player who goes down and stays on the ground will be looked at very closely. Clubs are so confused, they are telling players unless they are seriously injured and can't get up, get up and recover on their feet. This will be a major issue early on, mark my words.

This will be the year we see the game dramatically change before us. These examples are from people within two separate AFL clubs, not Richmond.
 
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Scoop said:
Hearing the crackdown on the fend off will be brutal, if the off-hand touches shoulders, it will be paid. Real focus early on. A high fend that hits the face will be an automatic report.

And another thing, the neutral AFL doctor looking at instances of concussion during games will be ruthless. All clubs in match simulation have had neutral doctors interpreting the new standards. Say a player goes down for longer than 30 seconds, off for 20 minutes for a check. A player goes down with a below-the-waist contact (left injury or gets when in the "orchestra stalls") and stays down but gets back up, off for a 20-minute concussion check. Any player who goes down and stays on the ground will be looked at very closely. Clubs are so confused, they are telling players unless they are seriously injured and can't get up, get up and recover on their feet. This will be a major issue early on, mark my words.

This will be the year we see the game dramatically change before us. These examples are from people within two separate AFL clubs, not Richmond.
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I wonder who’ll be penalised the most for fend offs…..
 
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