Position 2021: Ruck Discussion

Which ruck setup are you planning on starting with?

  • Gawn/Grundy/Flynn

    Votes: 82 47.4%
  • Gawn/Grundy/Meek

    Votes: 5 2.9%
  • Gawn/Grundy/Hunter

    Votes: 8 4.6%
  • Gawn/Flynn/Meek

    Votes: 25 14.5%
  • Gawn/Flynn/Hunter

    Votes: 11 6.4%
  • Gawn/Meek/Hunter

    Votes: 2 1.2%
  • Grundy/Flynn/Meek

    Votes: 14 8.1%
  • Grundy/Flynn/Hunter

    Votes: 9 5.2%
  • Grundy/Meek/Hunter

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 17 9.8%

  • Total voters
    173
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Collingwood
Personally I think it is going to depend on how you structure the rest of your side.

If you go 5 premium deep in defence (and then are you confident in picking the right 5 from about 12 options ?)

Lloyd interupted preseason , Whitfield out so do you save 2 spots for them ?

You are not getting 5 x $ 600 k + mids in your starting team so probably need 2 of Cripps , Rowell & Taranto price types to start all who may or not need to be upgraded.

Campbell at M6 , Bruhn (?) at M7 , Powell at M8......yes cheaper alternatives may be named.

Danger + Fantasia/Ziebell/Daniher/Impey + many rookie priced players have been mentioned eg Cahill , Warner , Fullarton , Bergman , Jones , Rowe , Scott etc etc

Compelling arguments to start Gawn due to his draw and historical averages as a C option.

Does history repeat ? Do the new game rules affect ruck scores significantly ?

Does Jackson demand more ruck time ?

Does Treloar hurt Grundy's HTA and clearances ?

The Cameron effect on Grundy ?

If Flynn is fit (practice match today or tomorrow) he is arguably GWS 1st ruck.

Does he outscore a similar priced rookie D, M or F onfield significantly enough ?

Then can you replace Gawn/Grundy with a alternative scoring option eg Neale , Steele , Oliver , Macrae for example.

Hunter will play Round 1 , if we know Marshall & Ryder will miss 6-8 rounds he then becomes a no brainer to start (in my opinion).

Meek could share ruck duties with Darcy (if fit) if they play Darcy forward as Lobb replacement or Cox or Logue going forward are also options.

Fyfe was probably playing more forward before Lobb was injured in any case.

Gawn + Grundy could expose you at D4-6

Gawn/Grundy + rookie R2 could strengthen those positions.

All about your overall structures.

Been pages and pages of comments/ideas/thoughts on the rookie rucks.

So just a matter of seeing which option actually makes your overall team structure better.

I think other lines could offer more value - im moneyballing.

I see only upside in my extra picks, that i dont want to miss the ride
 
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Collingwood
Agree with this. I was close to committing to it when Hunter seemed like he might get a No.1 role for 5+ weeks but no interest now it seems one or both of Ryder and Marshall could be back between R2-4.
yeah treacy and fullarton could be better as can move them into fwd line but i think meek hunter good enough to earn some love if they play 3 i might trade in at 2
 
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Collingwood
If you could get 6-8 guaranteed rounds out of all of Flynn , Hunter & Meek I think it would be easier to start them all.

The other option would be if Marshall was due back Round 3 then look at him as your initial upgrade and start Flynn , Meek / FR.

Again no firm details on his likely return.

If Flynn is named Round 1 it is then his place to lose.

Gawn's C potential is huge though based on stats previously provided just a matter if you are confident in any of Neale , Steele , Oliver , Macrae matching those numbers early I guess.

Going to be a interesting few days before Friday night that's for sure.
With less stoppages i think the backs will score the rucks lower than ever
 
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West Coast
Just putting this out here

If any of 2 of Meek/Hunter/Flynn score 80+ 2x and end up with a huge negative breakevens (one way or the other) in say R1-2, will those with Gawndy have to decide to downgrade to bank cash generation?

Points is one thing but isn’t the priority near the beginning of the season to try bank as much $ with rookies as possible? I’m personally going to go with the Gawn + 2 rook lineup because the first 1-2 price rises are always the steepest

You could easily see Hunter/Meek/Flynn reach 300k by R6, and for those running Gawndy, will the extra points scored o***et the value gained? For me it’s a no-brainer - playing rookies at basement price with reasonable job security should be a considered a priority early on
 
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Collingwood
Just putting this out here

If any of 2 of Meek/Hunter/Flynn score 80+ 2x and end up with a huge negative breakevens (one way or the other) in say R1-2, will those with Gawndy have to decide to downgrade to bank cash generation?

Points is one thing but isn’t the priority near the beginning of the season to try bank as much $ with rookies as possible? I’m personally going to go with the Gawn + 2 rook lineup because the first 1-2 price rises are always the steepest

You could easily see Hunter/Meek/Flynn reach 300k by R6, and for those running Gawndy, will the extra points scored o***et the value gained? For me it’s a no-brainer - playing rookies at basement price with reasonable job security should be a considered a priority early on
Gawndy owners most likely will have a Meek/Hunter/Flynn as R3, so that's one covered.
After Rd2, if the other Meek/Hunter/Flynn is on a very high bubble and highly likely to generate a lot of cash, with good job security, then yeah, I would be tempted to do a trade.
 
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St Kilda
Just putting this out here

If any of 2 of Meek/Hunter/Flynn score 80+ 2x and end up with a huge negative breakevens (one way or the other) in say R1-2, will those with Gawndy have to decide to downgrade to bank cash generation?

Points is one thing but isn’t the priority near the beginning of the season to try bank as much $ with rookies as possible? I’m personally going to go with the Gawn + 2 rook lineup because the first 1-2 price rises are always the steepest

You could easily see Hunter/Meek/Flynn reach 300k by R6, and for those running Gawndy, will the extra points scored o***et the value gained? For me it’s a no-brainer - playing rookies at basement price with reasonable job security should be a considered a priority early on
Yep, particularly if meek was playing with Darcy and scoring 80+ and it sounded like they planned to continue that way. I would consider it. Depends how the two premos have been going as well obviously.
 
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Adelaide
Just putting this out here

If any of 2 of Meek/Hunter/Flynn score 80+ 2x and end up with a huge negative breakevens (one way or the other) in say R1-2, will those with Gawndy have to decide to downgrade to bank cash generation?

Points is one thing but isn’t the priority near the beginning of the season to try bank as much $ with rookies as possible? I’m personally going to go with the Gawn + 2 rook lineup because the first 1-2 price rises are always the steepest

You could easily see Hunter/Meek/Flynn reach 300k by R6, and for those running Gawndy, will the extra points scored o***et the value gained? For me it’s a no-brainer - playing rookies at basement price with reasonable job security should be a considered a priority early on
Would you typically downgrade a premium to a rookie you missed averaging 80? Not ruling it out but it’s not a typical move and there is usually a rookie we miss averaging 80.
Averaging 95 or more is a different story.
 
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St Kilda
Would you typically downgrade a premium to a rookie you missed averaging 80? Not ruling it out but it’s not a typical move and there is usually a rookie we miss averaging 80.
Averaging 95 or more is a different story.
Depends on the rookies on other lines but I have done this kind of move a few times before. Getting the best-scoring rookies on field is always a high priority for my correction trades. More complicating factors with this scenario though, obviously.
 
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Richmond
Would you typically downgrade a premium to a rookie you missed averaging 80? Not ruling it out but it’s not a typical move and there is usually a rookie we miss averaging 80.
Averaging 95 or more is a different story.
I downgraded McEvoy > ROB 2 years ago, round 5 I think, with a bit of cash ITB it allowed me to start upgrading 2-3 rounds earlier than most. It led to a very fast rise up the rankings.
 
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I downgraded McEvoy > ROB 2 years ago, round 5 I think, with a bit of cash ITB it allowed me to start upgrading 2-3 rounds earlier than most. It led to a very fast rise up the rankings.
Depends on the rookies on other lines but I have done this kind of move a few times before. Getting the best-scoring rookies on field is always a high priority for my correction trades. More complicating factors with this scenario though, obviously.
It’s the scoring ppg bar I am questioning moreso than the concept of the premium cash out. The comment I quoted was that a 80 rookie was good enough to cull a premium for. Yes I guess if the premium was injured or seriously underperforming.

But otherwise I usually would hold fire unless the rookie is pushing up over 90.

Draper last year had a 122 but the rest around 74 and below. Would you trade out Gawn for that? ROB first 4 scores were 80-90. That’s more in the range.
 
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It’s the scoring ppg bar I am questioning moreso than the concept of the premium cash out. The comment I quoted was that a 80 rookie was good enough to cull a premium for. Yes I guess if the premium was injured or seriously underperforming.

But otherwise I usually would hold fire unless the rookie is pushing up over 90.

Draper last year had a 122 but the rest around 74 and below. Would you trade out Gawn for that? ROB first 4 scores were 80-90. That’s more in the range.
In a vaccuum probably not enough but there are so many moving parts it's hard to tell. The proposition was that two out of the Flynn/Meek/Hunter were scoring 80+. So the correction would be to bring the 80+ on field and add what would look like a $300k earning cash cow. If that coincided with an underperforming rookie elsewhere (say you were relying on Highmore on field but he got dropped, or scored a couple of 40s) then that would probably be enough for me unless both Gawn and Grundy were looking unstoppable.
 
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Sydney
It’s the scoring ppg bar I am questioning moreso than the concept of the premium cash out. The comment I quoted was that a 80 rookie was good enough to cull a premium for. Yes I guess if the premium was injured or seriously underperforming.

But otherwise I usually would hold fire unless the rookie is pushing up over 90.

Draper last year had a 122 but the rest around 74 and below. Would you trade out Gawn for that? ROB first 4 scores were 80-90. That’s more in the range.
I think the rookie averaging 80 is kind of the constant to work around and all the other factors make the decision.

Gawn and Grundy starting slow or with a tanking score in round 2, would make the trade easy.

Several other rookies already out of the side and cash looking awfully thin would also make it a pretty easy choice unless Gawn/Grundy were far outproducing their starting points.

Anything else and it's line ball at 80. I personally put the value of a trade at around 100k, so at 80 you'd be making ~200k profit on the trade which is probably worth it but there is certainly risks that that profit doesn't happen (dropped, injured, not actually being an 80) so I can understand not doing it.
 
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In a vaccuum probably not enough but there are so many moving parts it's hard to tell. The proposition was that two out of the Flynn/Meek/Hunter were scoring 80+. So the correction would be to bring the 80+ on field and add what would look like a $300k earning cash cow. If that coincided with an underperforming rookie elsewhere (say you were relying on Highmore on field but he got dropped, or scored a couple of 40s) then that would probably be enough for me unless both Gawn and Grundy were looking unstoppable.
Based on the last 3 years of Gawndy it’s a lot to give up just to get another 20-30 points on a rookie swap. A rookie swap you could make in another position in one trade in theory.
We know either Gawn or Grundy can start slow but then drop a huge score and there ends up being no really big price drop.
As you say, lots of moving parts involved.
One thing that would really stick under the fingernails would be you make the big downgrade and the rookie ruck gets dropped the week after. Max then rubs salt into the wound that round and drops a lazy 160.
In a roundabout way I’m saying across these multiple posts i think it would have to look irresistible to me rather than just wanting 80 in one rookie spot instead of 50. I would need there to be no other solution to my 50ppg rookie.
 
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What are the scores that experts here are realistically (not hopefully) expecting out of Flynn, Meek and Hunter?
 
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St Kilda
Based on the last 3 years of Gawndy it’s a lot to give up just to get another 20-30 points on a rookie swap. A rookie swap you could make in another position in one trade in theory.
We know either Gawn or Grundy can start slow but then drop a huge score and there ends up being no really big price drop.
As you say, lots of moving parts involved.
One thing that would really stick under the fingernails would be you make the big downgrade and the rookie ruck gets dropped the week after. Max then rubs salt into the wound that round and drops a lazy 160.
In a roundabout way I’m saying across these multiple posts i think it would have to look irresistible to me rather than just wanting 80 in one rookie spot instead of 50. Like I would need there to be no other solution to my 50ppg rookie.
Yep, it would be a real buttclencher for sure.

The main thing keeping me on Gawn is the fear he will monster the early draw, so if he didn't do that against Meek and Hunter first up it would have me jittery. Obviously that would be a major factor one way or the other.

But 20-30 points of advantage with your on-field rookie is nothing to be sneezed at, particularly if it's on top of 200k extra cash gen. If Gawn was doing anything other than being the dominant captaincy option, and there were premos on other lines that were outperforming and you wanted to jump on, you're already close to enough to warrant the trades IMO.
 
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What are the scores that experts here are realistically (not hopefully) expecting out of Flynn, Meek and Hunter?
I reckon the Draper example is decent. I would have Flynn at 70-80. If Meek was playing solo would give him similar. But assuming he shares with Darcy before long (if he plays at all) I would bump it down to 60ish. That plus JS issues plus Gawn FOMO plus good enough looking rookies on other lines is enough to keep me on Gawn/Grundy for now.
 
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