Not a massive fan of the Grundy pick tbh. If Witts was injured/traded i'd be all over him but while they're both playing i'm not sure. Feels like an awkward starter that will continue to hurt you...assuming you plan on keeping him that is.
Also B Crouch is well ahead of M Crouch for SC imo. $70-80k difference from memory as well which you could use elsewhere.
Really not sold on De Goey Grundy and Aish, as you're hoping for HUGE improvements from all 3 players.
I'll be starting Grundy.
Witts shouldn't impact on Grundy too much I think. Grundy is the clear number 1 ruck at Pieland now. Witts is a better ruck than forward, but better forward than Grundy, so is more likely to spend time in the forward 50. Both have been working a lot on their major weakness, that being overhead marking and at 202 cms and 207 cms, should be pretty dangerous around goal, especially if Cloke get's the roaming CHF commission that he appears to have slimmed down for. If we go with just the one ruck plus a forward chop out, then Grundy will be first picked and will get help from Moore or White. If we go with 2 rucks, then the opposition ruck will have Witts (7 ft tall and 110 kilos) softening them up for when Grundy gets back.
My concern is bench time, considering that we have a few lumbering big men in Grundy, Witts and Brown, while Cloke and Reid have only decent pace for their size. We might find that Witts and Grundy just make us too slow when they are both on the field. I'm not just concerned for the SC scores but as a Pies fan because that scenario is one small step away from one of our promising young rucks being banished to the VFL so that the more mobile Jessie White gets to have another crack at it.
Don't get me wrong, I want White to succeed and all but geez I can't see a lot more upside in him, especially compared to our young talls.
Anyway, whatever.... it's prolly a convo for a different forum. Back to the topic
The Pies have a really nice opening draw as far as the ruck/midfield thing is concerned. We play the following teams up to the bye this year and I have included Grundy's scores against these teams from last year
Sydney, 89
Richmond,
89, 90
StK,
98
Melb,
105, 64
Essendon,
91, 57 (inj)
WCE, 86
Carlton,
119, 95
Cats,
87, 125
Doggies, 108
Port, 78
Melb
105, 64
The highlighted scores are all the scores from the first 10 rounds last year, prior to him sustaining a freak neck injury at training. To that point, he had 10 games for an average of 93 (98 in the six games against this year's opponents) but didn't look like quite the same player after coming back from a month's layoff, averaging only 88 from his last 9 games.
His career to date has given averages (over games) of 74.8 (6), 62.8 (15), 91.1 (19) which, whilst being very encouraging for a young ruck, also means he only needs to add another 10 or so ppg in his 4th year to be quite a useful R2. This is eminently do-able in my view - just needs 2 more hitouts to advantage per game or to hold one of those contested marks an kick it long. Again, had it not been for that neck injury, he would probably have played all 22 games last year, meaning he has the fitness and approval from the coach to go a full year. Furthermore, the coaches want him to play out full seasons as they want to be challenging again in the next couple of years and need game hardened ruckmen to do it. The scars of Charman and Keating (and Ottens in the 07 prelim) still haven't healed.
Pre-season wise, he's having a very solid pre-season.
Oh and also, his midfield looks to be getting pretty decent too. Remember a ruckman needs his mids to get first dibs in order to get the points and with Pendles, Treloar, Adams, Greenwood and even Crisp roving to him he's got some pretty useful first touch winners at his feet. Swan should still make it to a few contests too, especially to boundary throw ins in the forward line, where he can be hugely dangerous (as can Sidebottom and checkout Broomhead if he clicks). Hello goal assists
So yeah... I'm bullish on the lad. I'm hoping for a 10ppg improvement to 20+ games at 100 - 105.
