Position 2023: Ruck Discussion

wogitalia

wogitalia

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#721
Well I'm down to 4.5 at least...

Gawn, Witts, Darcy, Marshall and English (pretty sure no).

I think I'm leaning towards Gawn, if he gets DPP then he achieves the goal of getting a look at the others, if he doesn't then Grundy probably got injured again and he'll be the top ruck anyway. The risk is obviously that he drops to a ~100 range and isn't actually a keeper at either position which is genuine and possible but gee he's looked good in the preseason.

Witts is simply the one off factor, I still think he's got the least genuine question marks on him and the most likely to back up last year's starting point.

Darcy has the Jackson question and I still have no answer but it's very weird to see him trying in the preseason, perhaps the club spending so much money and draft capital to get his replacement in when he's only 24 gave him the rocket he's needed.

Marshall has some serious durability problems and I still fear their forward option issues but he's got serious upside and is underpriced on his own best nevermind any hypothetical further highs, he's also a fairly defensive pick at this point. Rucks are the worst place to take on super popular options because if you're wrong, it's maximum exposure to that error.

English I don't think I'll go, he's the .5 where I haven't fully ruled him out but I probably should. Durability is worse than the rest, he's less proven and really it's just a punt that if he stays healthy he can score really well.

I mean, this is progress at least.
 
Russty_

Russty_

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#722
wogitalia said:
Well I'm down to 4.5 at least...

Gawn, Witts, Darcy, Marshall and English (pretty sure no).

I think I'm leaning towards Gawn, if he gets DPP then he achieves the goal of getting a look at the others, if he doesn't then Grundy probably got injured again and he'll be the top ruck anyway. The risk is obviously that he drops to a ~100 range and isn't actually a keeper at either position which is genuine and possible but gee he's looked good in the preseason.

Witts is simply the one off factor, I still think he's got the least genuine question marks on him and the most likely to back up last year's starting point.

Darcy has the Jackson question and I still have no answer but it's very weird to see him trying in the preseason, perhaps the club spending so much money and draft capital to get his replacement in when he's only 24 gave him the rocket he's needed.

Marshall has some serious durability problems and I still fear their forward option issues but he's got serious upside and is underpriced on his own best nevermind any hypothetical further highs, he's also a fairly defensive pick at this point. Rucks are the worst place to take on super popular options because if you're wrong, it's maximum exposure to that error.

English I don't think I'll go, he's the .5 where I haven't fully ruled him out but I probably should. Durability is worse than the rest, he's less proven and really it's just a punt that if he stays healthy he can score really well.

I mean, this is progress at least.
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I think the Dees game today might've been a bit of a statement in regards to the ruck pecking order, Gawn saying 'I'm the boss' and the new guy is basically my underling, who will get a chance to shine when I decide to take a rest every now and then.
Otherwise, just be content with your paycheck and reduced workload after your last club and coming back from injury and all.
Gawn is such a complete player now, he can do it all, all over the ground ,for the whole 4 quarters, and that's a really good thing for a Ruck.
Gawn and Marshall for me, it was Witts and Marshall but Witts doesn't go the extra yard to be great like Gawn does.....and Marshall just excels at being the main Ruck, anyone else hanging around just impedes his scoring.
 
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Blue Bloods

Blue Bloods

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TBG said:
Thoughts on Witts being in the mix with the 3 rucks mentioned with him scoring 103 today with only 65% game time? I currently have Witts and Marshall for a couple of reasons. Taking Darcy and Marshall makes the first bye round difficult as they both miss round 12. Also, Witts and Marshall are pretty much full time ruck with no one likely to take much ruck time off them where as Gawn/Grundy and Darcy/Jackson may impact on each others scoring? I must admit I'd like to take Gawn as I think he will end up a R/F so saves trying to get him in later? On pre-season form it's pick 2 out of Gawn/Witts/Darcy/Marshall and hope for the best.
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Don’t think both Darcy and Marshall having the same bye is a problem as it is best 18 so doesn’t really matter which line, actually it is a plus as round 12 bye only has 4 teams out.
 
manyproblems

manyproblems

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TBG said:
Thoughts on Witts being in the mix with the 3 rucks mentioned with him scoring 103 today with only 65% game time? I currently have Witts and Marshall for a couple of reasons. Taking Darcy and Marshall makes the first bye round difficult as they both miss round 12. Also, Witts and Marshall are pretty much full time ruck with no one likely to take much ruck time off them where as Gawn/Grundy and Darcy/Jackson may impact on each others scoring? I must admit I'd like to take Gawn as I think he will end up a R/F so saves trying to get him in later? On pre-season form it's pick 2 out of Gawn/Witts/Darcy/Marshall and hope for the best.
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This is a really hard one to pick but I'm leaning Witts. I've ruled out English, 2 soft tissue issues in a month good riddance. Gawn I'm just going to wait for DPP for, 50% CBAs and even less ruck share means I can't justify paying 620k for that. Marshall is locked, 115 without Ryder/Campbell last year and now has had a full preseason. Not worth anti podding, especially after his performance this weekend. So its Darcy vs Witts.

Will probably spend a bit of time figuring Witts vs Darcy, mostly trying to find any PR on how much ruck time Jackson will take. Both have looked really good in preseason, Darcy probably better but Witts has the durability and more ruck time. He doesnt share his bye with Marshall either, GC bye is the best one to have.
 
NT.Thunder

NT.Thunder

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freowho said:
I can see Gawn and Grundy being managed/rested. Great spot for the Dees to be in.
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Yeah this was a worry for me, especially with the sub rule in. A little niggle in a game that is squared away and off one comes. Maybe the game is so far gone the points are already banked but it does make you think. If Gawn is a FWD later in the season it possibly doesn’t hurt as much as we’d likely have more FWD coverage than RUC coverage. Definitely one to think about But Gawn looked good.
 
NDD

NDD

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Blue Bloods said:
33 pages of ruck chat (to be fair only read the last 10) and I’m still no clearer on which ruck, including R3.

Ruck for only three positions always seems hard.

Between Marshall, English, Darcy and now a little of Gawn thrown in. Donut or Rat for R3
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BigRuss

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#733
Ben's Beasts said:
$1,200 in the bank at present with Gawn and Cincotta 😬
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You must be very bullish on Gawn to be willing to somewhat hamstring yourself like that. Where does the confidence in him this year come from?

From where I’m sitting he looks to be an easy wait and see where best case he treads water as the main man and maintains his average. Worst case he sits forward 1/3 of the time and the masses get to have a look if he’s a viable pick for a forward spot.

For what it’s worth I think he sits either side of 115 again probably gives you what you pay for in either circumstance.

Edit: Should probably add that I think he loses some value as he’s probably not a reliable C choice anymore too which pushes in the wait and see direction a bit.
 
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Ben's Beasts

Ben's Beasts

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#734
BigRuss said:
You must be very bullish on Gawn to be willing to somewhat hamstring yourself like that. Where does the confidence in him this year come from?

From where I’m sitting he looks to be an easy wait and see where best case he treads water as the main man and maintains his average. Worst case he sits forward 1/3 of the time and the masses get to have a look if he’s a viable pick for a forward spot.

For what it’s worth I think he sits either side of 115 again probably gives you what you pay for in either circumstance.

Edit: Should probably add that I think he loses some value as he’s probably not a reliable C choice anymore too which pushes in the wait and see direction a bit.
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Firstly, he’s my boy which probably adds an extra 5% of confidence on the pick.

I’ve really liked what I’ve seen this pre-season and although he has the 50/50 ruck split, he’s getting points all over the ground. I think there’s a reasonably high chance he’s the number 1 ruck by average again this season.

Also, I’m not as bullish as others that he will gain RUC/FWD status so I don’t want to hold off on picking him just because he might gain fwd status.
 
PC

PC

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Ben's Beasts said:
Firstly, he’s my boy which probably adds an extra 5% of confidence on the pick.

I’ve really liked what I’ve seen this pre-season and although he has the 50/50 ruck split, he’s getting points all over the ground. I think there’s a reasonably high chance he’s the number 1 ruck by average again this season.

Also, I’m not as bullish as others that he will gain RUC/FWD status so I don’t want to hold off on picking him just because he might gain fwd status.
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Rename needed - 'Ben's Beard Beast' :sneaky:
 
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