Operation get Stefan Martin.

[bulldogtragic]

I guess at least it was some progress in getting we wanted a ruck. English played his career best footy alongside him and as much as we don't think Sweet is rated by Bevo, he has progressed.

Stef coming in has been good I think. Just not having another ruck is the killer.

That’s my hope too. Acknowledging we had a ruck problem was the first step to try to address it. That first 7 weeks hopefully salisfied that we need to invest more heavily. That’s the hope anyway.

[soupman]

Great proof of concept that we are better with an actual ruck. Now we can make an informed purchase at this years trade market.

[ratsmac]

Great proof of concept that we are better with an actual ruck. Now we can make an informed purchase at this years trade market.

Our form with an actual number 1 ruckman should be good incentive for a good ruckman who wouldn't mind the chance at winning a flag or 2.
Wouldn't it be nice to lure Nic Nat away from wet toast with the prospect of winning a flag now that they look to be heading south on the ladder. Imagine Bont with Nic Nat service every week!

[jeemak]

Our form with an actual number 1 ruckman should be good incentive for a good ruckman who wouldn't mind the chance at winning a flag or 2.
Wouldn't it be nice to lure Nic Nat away from wet toast with the prospect of winning a flag now that they look to be heading south on the ladder. Imagine Bont with Nic Nat service every week!

Our issue is we don't pay enough to land big names (unless like Collingwood have done, we pay a portion of salary), rather, it seems we pay enough to keep the ones we have together. And that's not me just guessing, Power and Bains have said that's our strategy.

I actually like it as a strategy if we pick and choose the right players to come into the team based on needs. A massive deal for a ruck like Nic Nat or Grundy would be a real surprise to me as much as I'd like it to happen in theory.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Hard to see Nic Nat ever leaving too, but can you imagine for a second that it happened? I think I'd need some meds to calm me down.

[1eyedog]

We don't need a top-liner a Nank would be fine. Big, strong, tough, can play hurt, does hurt others. Some intimidation in the middle would help out heaps. Even Mummy has played twice as many games as Martin and GWS have other ruckmen.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

We don't need a top-liner a Nank would be fine. Big, strong, tough, can play hurt, does hurt others. Some intimidation in the middle would help out heaps. Even Mummy has played twice as many games as Martin and GWS have other ruckmen.

Agreed - the fantasy of Nic Nat in a Bulldogs jumper is nice to dream about though.

We've been talking a lot about uncontracted rucks. Scrap that. Who's contracted that we should be talking to besides Gawn/Grundy/Nic Nat?

Nank I'd love but he does seem embedded to Richmond. What others are out there? Can we throw big $$ at O'Brien? How about Witts from GC, even though he's coming off a knee? What would it take to get Marshall from St Kilda?

I want us to be very aggressive. If we have to trade a quality mid (i.e. Smith), it is what it is.

[1eyedog]

Agreed - the fantasy of Nic Nat in a Bulldogs jumper is nice to dream about though.

We've been talking a lot about uncontracted rucks. Scrap that. Who's contracted that we should be talking to besides Gawn/Grundy/Nic Nat?

Nank I'd love but he does seem embedded to Richmond. What others are out there? Can we throw big $$ at O'Brien? How about Witts from GC, even though he's coming off a knee? What would it take to get Marshall from St Kilda?

I want us to be very aggressive. If we have to trade a quality mid (i.e. Smith), it is what it is.

Yeah our issues aren't solved by the fringe ruckmen that seem to be available. We need to be creative and make a big dollar multi-year commitment.

[Ghost Dog]

We don't need a top-liner a Nank would be fine. Big, strong, tough, can play hurt, does hurt others. Some intimidation in the middle would help out heaps. Even Mummy has played twice as many games as Martin and GWS have other ruckmen.

sadly, this is exactly what we wanted out of Martin.

[soupman]

We need at a minimum a ruck who:
-isn't a liability around the ground
-Is able to hold his own in the ruck so that the opposition don't get an advantage from that matchup.

It would be nice to have a matchwinner in there, but considering we have plonked our cash down on matchwinners in our midfield then we just need someone who can do their job.

Couple that with us not having the trade capital to go for one of the 6 genuinely good rucks, means that all we need is someone solid.

A few names that seem ball park to me and should be cheap are:
-Kieran Strachan. Big country lad from Bendigo. Played 3 games. Undertsudy to O'Brien who is locked in as the Crows ruck for basically forever. Seemed to cover the ground well. He is an ex rookie that should cost nothing, maybe the Lipinski pick at most.
-Rhys Stanley. Mobile and "athletic". Not an outstanding ruck but I believe is better at holing his own than our bunch, and I think a bit like Hickey could benefit from a fresh start where he the focus is on what he can do again. Would be free.
-Ben McEvoy. Old so maybe in danger of dying on field like Martin, but solid as hell, good ruckman who can push into defence. Not as atheltic as Stanley but a much better player and good in the air. Should be free.
-Jon Ceglar. Been a solid battler for ages. Can clunk a mark and isn't terrible around the ground although doesn't move very athletically. I think he holds his own in the ruck. Would be free.
-Matthew Flynn. Big boy that played a number of games this year. Can find the ball ok, although I don't think he is overly impressive with it. Decent in the hitout stakes, and is possibly surplus at GWS who have preferred Mumford to him at times and is competing with Briggs and Preuss should he ever return. Would basically be the most expensive of the rucks listed above, but again wouldn't cost much imo. Maybe a future second at most (which is really pick 30+)
-Peter Ladhams. Has been brought up a lot here. Not sure he is actually the hitout ruck we need, projects a bit like English in that he is a ruck forward who's worst feature is probably his hitouts. Better at that than Tim though, good link up player around the ground and can perform forward. Free agent.
-Max Lynch. I've honestly never seen him play but his limited numbers seem decent enough. Unsure what he is like in the other aspects of his game. Can't imagine he'd cost much.

There are a few other names that could be brought up like Chol, Williams, Goldstein, Coleman-Jones, Hayes but I don't know a heap about most of them.

[The Pie Man]

Hard to see Nic Nat ever leaving too, but can you imagine for a second that it happened? I think I'd need some meds to calm me down.

Bevo probably wouldn’t play him based on his TOG record

[Sedat]

Yeah our issues aren't solved by the fringe ruckmen that seem to be available. We need to be creative and make a big dollar multi-year commitment.

Hickey was the very definition of an available fringe ruckman 12 months ago - the 'right' fringe ruckman can make a big difference. Agree that the bog standard fringe ruckman is not what we need.

[Rocco Jones]

Hickey was the very definition of an available fringe ruckman 12 months ago - the 'right' fringe ruckman can make a big difference. Agree that the bog standard fringe ruckman is not what we need.

I think we are so bare that we should go with 2 options. Need a back up anyway if one works out. English I believe can at that AFL elite forward/2nd ruck level (not many that are much good at it so 'elite' maybe a stretch). We have Darcy coming through he can play that role too. I actually feel we have that 2nd role really set up well. Just that we tend to go it in our 1 spot.

[bulldogtragic]

I think we are so bare that we should go with 2 options. Need a back up anyway if one works out. English I believe can at that AFL elite forward/2nd ruck level (not many that are much good at it so 'elite' maybe a stretch). We have Darcy coming through he can play that role too. I actually feel we have that 2nd role really set up well. Just that we tend to go it in our 1 spot.

Has to be be two for mine. One injury to the ruck and Bruce (Out for 12 months) and we are looking average with Young trying his guts out to his credit. Put Tim in the forward group for next year, Darcy will spend the year at VFL, and one new Ruck and Sweet is one injury away from repeating this ‘experiment’ again next year with no proven AFL Rucks ready to play. I doubt we try to get two rucks though. But we really do need to.

[Rocco Jones]

I see comments about 'solving' our problem with a NicNat or Gawn type. That isn't just solved, it's taking our glaring weakness into a massive strength. Also, it's very improbable. Don't get me wrong, I want a NicNat or Gawn and will lose my proverbial if we get an elite ruck. What I would be content with though, is progress and improvement in that department.