I actually agree - if you're picking Flynn at R2, the issue is there's not a lot of decent DPP coverage. I wouldn't say McEvoy is a great pick for backup, especially playing mainly as a defender, he was just the first DPP ruck I thought of. Having a look since - there's not many options at all once you get past Marshall. Williams/Treacy combo might be an option if they are named. Not sold on Thilthorpe.
Position 2021: Ruck Discussion
- Thread starter THCLT
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If last year taught us anything its to start the two of the best ruckman of all time. He's not just a strong captain choice, he's the first captain choice. If we're basing the pick on point efficiency against price then yes, he's not the greatest pick. However you are then leaving yourself vulnerable to any ruck shenanigans if mummy gets a game with Flynn, and also leaving it to timing mostly out of your control to get R2 to Gawn. You might go 7 games without Gawn, you might go half a season, or it may take 3-4 trades to get there. Gawn's early fixture looks like a stroll in the park for him, with the first 3 clubs missing ruckman (No Darcy, Marshall or Preuss). No Grundy/NN til after his bye.
Oh no doubt, hence why despite what I've said he's remained in my side the whole way but he'd go in a heartbeat if I thought Flynn was a 75+ and safe rookie to start because even Gawn's not that good 
Love Gawn, for me the single biggest reason I start him is to avoid the moving parts on his upgrade. Sure it's easy to budget the 3 trades to get to him, easy to map out the path and the cows but you just can't plan for the curve-balls that SC throws at you and you can quickly get utterly derailed from chasing him. It's why I hate the "get him for 100k cheaper" mentality, I mean you might, historically over the past three years it hasn't even been possible, but even if he does drop 100k, you still need the perfect storm of it happening at the right time, you having no injuries/suspensions/issues to deal with and the trades and ripened cash cows to get there all coming together at that right time, that's a tough scenario at the best of times.
Ultimately though every position you can generate more points than the cost is points closer to winning it all and as good as Gawn is, that applies to his spot in my draft teams as well and I'm one of the few who thinks he's going to score ~135 this season.
I do hope Flynn makes an exceptional R3 and presents the conundrum of whether I should trade out Gawn to start him as those are the kind of problems that I'm all too happy to embrace
Love Gawn, for me the single biggest reason I start him is to avoid the moving parts on his upgrade. Sure it's easy to budget the 3 trades to get to him, easy to map out the path and the cows but you just can't plan for the curve-balls that SC throws at you and you can quickly get utterly derailed from chasing him. It's why I hate the "get him for 100k cheaper" mentality, I mean you might, historically over the past three years it hasn't even been possible, but even if he does drop 100k, you still need the perfect storm of it happening at the right time, you having no injuries/suspensions/issues to deal with and the trades and ripened cash cows to get there all coming together at that right time, that's a tough scenario at the best of times.
Ultimately though every position you can generate more points than the cost is points closer to winning it all and as good as Gawn is, that applies to his spot in my draft teams as well and I'm one of the few who thinks he's going to score ~135 this season.
I do hope Flynn makes an exceptional R3 and presents the conundrum of whether I should trade out Gawn to start him as those are the kind of problems that I'm all too happy to embrace
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100% this! Annoys me as well this mentality. Its a common phrase on some SC podcasts that do the rounds, "He's not one to start, Player XYZ is always $50K/$75K/$100K cheaper come Round 6". That's all well and good, but the amount of things you need to go right across those first six weeks to be able to execute something remotely like a deliberate plan to get Player XYZ is absolutely ludicrous. Particularly when we can barely have our trade plans remain the same day to day these days, only need to have a look at the injury damage to relevant players across the last week, and that's only one aspect, not even mentioning needing rookies to hold their spot, make cash of some form, make significant enough cash and be fattened enough to trade at the exact right time.
That's trying to play perfect SuperCoach, and it's not often we ever get to experience that.
That's trying to play perfect SuperCoach, and it's not often we ever get to experience that.
ST KILDA has committed to handing a list spot to ex-Adelaide listed ruckman Paul Hunter as it takes stock on its talls following Rowan Marshall's foot injury.
Hunter was impressive in the Saints' intraclub on Thursday playing for the 'A' side with Marshall and other ruckmen Paddy Ryder and Shaun McKernan sidelined.
It was a performance that sealed Hunter's future at the club, the Saints deciding on Friday to extend the 200cm big man's two-week train-on stint
into a permanent stay for 2021.
Hunter was impressive in the Saints' intraclub on Thursday playing for the 'A' side with Marshall and other ruckmen Paddy Ryder and Shaun McKernan sidelined.
It was a performance that sealed Hunter's future at the club, the Saints deciding on Friday to extend the 200cm big man's two-week train-on stint
into a permanent stay for 2021.
Oh no doubt, hence why despite what I've said he's remained in my side the whole way but he'd go in a heartbeat if I thought Flynn was a 75+ and safe rookie to start because even Gawn's not that good
Love Gawn, for me the single biggest reason I start him is to avoid the moving parts on his upgrade. Sure it's easy to budget the 3 trades to get to him, easy to map out the path and the cows but you just can't plan for the curve-balls that SC throws at you and you can quickly get utterly derailed from chasing him. It's why I hate the "get him for 100k cheaper" mentality, I mean you might, historically over the past three years it hasn't even been possible, but even if he does drop 100k, you still need the perfect storm of it happening at the right time, you having no injuries/suspensions/issues to deal with and the trades and ripened cash cows to get there all coming together at that right time, that's a tough scenario at the best of times.
Ultimately though every position you can generate more points than the cost is points closer to winning it all and as good as Gawn is, that applies to his spot in my draft teams as well and I'm one of the few who thinks he's going to score ~135 this season.
I do hope Flynn makes an exceptional R3 and presents the conundrum of whether I should trade out Gawn to start him as those are the kind of problems that I'm all too happy to embrace
Love Gawn, for me the single biggest reason I start him is to avoid the moving parts on his upgrade. Sure it's easy to budget the 3 trades to get to him, easy to map out the path and the cows but you just can't plan for the curve-balls that SC throws at you and you can quickly get utterly derailed from chasing him. It's why I hate the "get him for 100k cheaper" mentality, I mean you might, historically over the past three years it hasn't even been possible, but even if he does drop 100k, you still need the perfect storm of it happening at the right time, you having no injuries/suspensions/issues to deal with and the trades and ripened cash cows to get there all coming together at that right time, that's a tough scenario at the best of times.
Ultimately though every position you can generate more points than the cost is points closer to winning it all and as good as Gawn is, that applies to his spot in my draft teams as well and I'm one of the few who thinks he's going to score ~135 this season.
I do hope Flynn makes an exceptional R3 and presents the conundrum of whether I should trade out Gawn to start him as those are the kind of problems that I'm all too happy to embrace
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I'm no brain foot surgeon obviously, but from the news about Marshall being totally off his feet for the next 3-4 weeks with a stress reaction I'd guess that there is no chance of him being named for round 1, as he would only have two weeks to progress though what would have to be a careful running program to get his loads up and he'd still likely be underdone at the end of it.
If we see Marshall much before Easter I'll be a little surprised, as stress issues in the feet for a 200cm player who is vital to your teams fortunes aren't something I'd suspect any club medical team would want to take a chance on.
Once again take this with a grain of salt as I'm no surgeon.
If we see Marshall much before Easter I'll be a little surprised, as stress issues in the feet for a 200cm player who is vital to your teams fortunes aren't something I'd suspect any club medical team would want to take a chance on.
Once again take this with a grain of salt as I'm no surgeon.
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Simpson has been pretty vocal this pre-season about Allen being played purely as a forward. Whilst fine backing up Nic Nat in the shorter reduced mins game of last year... Allen is not the best option to carry the extra ruck work with games back at normal lengths.
I echo Shannon's thought in that Williams is the number two ruck now, with Vardy to play as second ruck if Williams unavailable. By trading Hickey we've thrown everything behind Williams as our future ruck, and with Nic Nat closer to the end of his career, Williams needs games to be ready for the transition.
We've also experimented with young defender Harry Edwards as a back-up ruck. He's had another growth spurt over the summer and is now 200cm and the same height as NIc Nat. He rucked as a junior and has been doing some ruck work at training. The Eagles like the look of having a McEvoy type that can play as a Defender then switch into the ruck as needed. Not having to play an extra tall forward who sits on the pine a fair bit whilst Nic Nat is rucking.
I echo Shannon's thought in that Williams is the number two ruck now, with Vardy to play as second ruck if Williams unavailable. By trading Hickey we've thrown everything behind Williams as our future ruck, and with Nic Nat closer to the end of his career, Williams needs games to be ready for the transition.
We've also experimented with young defender Harry Edwards as a back-up ruck. He's had another growth spurt over the summer and is now 200cm and the same height as NIc Nat. He rucked as a junior and has been doing some ruck work at training. The Eagles like the look of having a McEvoy type that can play as a Defender then switch into the ruck as needed. Not having to play an extra tall forward who sits on the pine a fair bit whilst Nic Nat is rucking.
My biggest problem with Flynn at R2 is youre picking a bloke that hasnt played footy in 18 months and never played as a solo ruck (even in the NEAFL they always had one of Briggs/Simpson chopping him out, is he now going to be able to do it as a lone man for 3 months whilst also making a significant step up in standard? Does a guy like Finlayson/Himmelberg spend significant time in the Ruck to help him out and hurt his ceiling? Does he get a spell once a month to make sure he can get through the time period required? Lot of question marks for a guy you'd need to score well for at least 2 months straight and dont have Marshall as a bail out if it all turned to ****.
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https://www.afl.com.au/news/552375/-fragile-old-mummy-ready-to-hand-ruck-baton-to-next-gen-giants
More on the GWS ruck situation.
More on the GWS ruck situation.