Always Right Match Committee Round 18 v Sydney

[azabob]

What is your defintion? Tap and that is it?

I’d like my ruckman to be more like Ben Hudson or Toby Nankervis. They provide a physical presence who value one percenters, who block and make space for our midfielders.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Probably not but you can slot him in to JOD spot as the 3rd tall. Why can't we play Buss early but we can rush JOD into the team for an extended run? Gardner will get up, he's tough as nails, Buss can slot in JODs spot, it's a perfect time for his debut IMO.

Fair point. JOD has contributed nothing at senior level. Buss couldn't be any worse.

[bornadog]

I’d like my ruckman to be more like Ben Hudson or Toby Nankervis. They provide a physical presence who value one percenters, who block and make space for our midfielders.

Yes I like that too but I also want them to be handy around the ground with marking and not lumber around like the rucks of the past.

[jeemak]

Was Ben Hudson any good or was he just popular because Bob Murphy wrote about him and was a hard at it scrapper in a side that was perceived to not have enough of those types?

[JanLorMill]

Was Ben Hudson any good or was he just popular because Bob Murphy wrote about him and was a hard at it scrapper in a side that was perceived to not have enough of those types?

The easy answer is
Our ruck wasn’t the problem in 3 consecutive prelim finals campaigns he played, whereas in all our past finals losses since 2016 our rucks have been a big problem.

[jeemak]

The easy answer is
Our ruck wasn’t the problem in 3 consecutive prelim finals campaigns he played, whereas in all our past finals losses since 2016 our rucks have been a big problem.

A cursory look back at the stats from the preliminary finals of 08, 09 and 10 might show that in the former two our rucks seemed to have not performed that well.

But sure, if that's the easy answer for you, go for it.

[bornadog]

A cursory look back at the stats from the preliminary finals of 08, 09 and 10 might show that in the former two our rucks seemed to have not performed that well.

But sure, if that's the easy answer for you, go for it.

The third man up helped us in those days.

[macca]

The easy answer is
Our ruck wasn?t the problem in 3 consecutive prelim finals campaigns he played, whereas in all our past finals losses since 2016 our rucks have been a big problem.

Hudson , halved the contest and won stoppages for us , see Jarrod Witts as same type of player
Hudson was renowned for his stoppage work .
The great beard him popular, cult like

[Mofra]

Was Ben Hudson any good or was he just popular because Bob Murphy wrote about him and was a hard at it scrapper in a side that was perceived to not have enough of those types?

Hudson was brilliant at the post-ruck stuff, using his body to block, tackling, etc
His real forte was never ruckwork or marking as such, but his recovery from the tap was fantastic and did the non-stat stuff really well. He made our mids function better.

It was a different era though. Dean Cox was a freak in those days. Now most rucks are expected to contribute in possession chains and the 'never handball to a ruckman' rule is out the window.

[Mofra]

The third man up helped us in those days.

The third man up rule won us a flag. Scrapping it in 2017 really really hurt us

[azabob]

Hudson , halved the contest and won stoppages for us , see Jarrod Witts as same type of player
Hudson was renowned for his stoppage work .
The great beard him popular, cult like

Yep. Lucky he had Murphy on his side otherwise he never would've played 168 games.

[macca]

Hudson was brilliant at the post-ruck stuff, using his body to block, tackling, etc
His real forte was never ruckwork or marking as such, but his recovery from the tap was fantastic and did the non-stat stuff really well. He made our mids function better.

It was a different era though. Dean Cox was a freak in those days. Now most rucks are expected to contribute in possession chains and the 'never handball to a ruckman' rule is out the window.

From memory of the stoppages , I would see Hudson at the base of the pack . Sadly the way the stupid subjective prior opportunity rules would have killed players like Hudson

Thanks for recalling those moments Mofra

[Mofra]

Yep. Lucky he had Murphy on his side otherwise he never would've played 168 games.

If you're tall, and considered a good bloke, you get an extra 5 years of an AFL career regardless.

Hudson retired more than John Farnham. Tom Campbell, Daniel Gorringe. Somehow Tom Hickey improved after age 30 but was in the same category. John Ceglar is still on an AFL list.

[jeemak]

I liked Hudson and thought he had some great traits, but can also acknowledge he wasn't great at giving his players first use and was extremely limited in other areas of the game.

However, I feel when we look back at his style we only remember the really good traits and forget the less than average/ ordinary ones. Tim doesn't get that luxury, in fact, it probably goes the other way for him.

[bulldogtragic]

I liked Hudson and thought he had some great traits, but can also acknowledge he wasn't great at giving his players first use and was extremely limited in other areas of the game.

However, I feel when we look back at his style we only remember the really good traits and forget the less than average/ ordinary ones. Tim doesn't get that luxury, in fact, it probably goes the other way for him.

Whilst I’m a fan of Tim. I think when he’s asking for over $1,000,000 a season to stay, many people start to really focus on his attributes. Leaving aside the question of if he’s worth it, that necessarily brings sharp focus. We can also remember Huddo based on what we paid to get him and what we paid him, and we can also remember giving up high picks for the likes of Peter Street. Why, because of the trade price. If he was a delisted free agent or rookie we’d be straining our brain to recall if Luke Goetz was selected by us or another club.

Tim is a serious player. I’d like him to stay on a fair contract. There’s an argument to say he could be deployed differently and be more effective. But if he’s given the club the ultimatum to play only first ruck then we have to accept it. Or go in another direction.

But big dollar demands and alleged first ruck ultimatums (is the coach/club using him to maximum effect) are the kind of things that get people really focussed on you.