Minson and Roughead will be a good combination in years to come. Look forward to seeing Roughead grow into his body and the improvement that comes with time. Good selection Dogs.
Minson and Roughead will be a good combination in years to come. Look forward to seeing Roughead grow into his body and the improvement that comes with time. Good selection Dogs.
Roughead's goal kicking action looks great, well balanced, square to the target, with a strong strike on the ball and very natural. the misssed one was just nerves.
I posed the question last year if Roughead is going to be a player whose better suited to a forward - ruck role, like Tippett. The response wasn't overwhelming then, and almost everyone said that Cordy would play that forward - ruck role, with Roughead predominately in the ruck.
Based on last night's game, I think my argument certainly has some strong merits to it.
Thought it was great debut from Roughead. We do give young new players so much more leniency and rightly so.
If Minson played the same game as Roughead played last night, I'm sure we would have all been super critical of him.
The difference is Will has played 96 games to Roughy's one.
I cant recall too many times where Will has plucked a one hander in the forward line. The guy did not look overrawed at all. Was confident enough to go for his marks rather than leaving it to his more experienced teammates.
I liked the mark in the last quarter where Murphy turned on his right just about to kick the ball deep in the forward line. There were no options, he spotted Roughy on the 50 metre line and kicked long to him, Roughy took the mark from behind and handballed to Griffen, goal!
Big difference for me was that Roughead didn't look like a liability up forward.
With Hudson being so one dimensional, our 2nd ruck has to spend most of their TOG outside of the ruck. I have found it odd that so many fans see the 2nd ruck spot in our side virtually purely about ruck ability. To me it is clearly at least a combination of ruck related and forward ability. While I think Will might have Roughead covered in the ruck at the moment, Roughead more than makes up the difference up forward. Roughie actually adds some value up forward, whereas Will just offers another spot on the bench for a runner to rest.
If it were a battle for the 1st ruck position, I would have Will in front but relative to the role needed, I think there should be little doubt that Roughead gets the nod in the short term future at least. Best 22 to run out on the ground > best 22.
I totally agree with all that mate. I was just trying that at the moment, that Minson is a (slightly) superior AFL ready pure ruckman. As you say, the contested ball situation is the one thing in Will's favour.
The point I have been trying to get across for awhile is that our 2nd ruck position is affected by Hudson not being able to play elsewhere. It places a fair bit of importance in our 2nd ruck being able to offer value somewhere other than the ruck and Roughead is clearly ahead of Will there IMO.
Great first game.
We will now have a bit of competion for the 2nd Ruck spot which can't be bad!
Very impressive debut for the reasons covered above.
Got his hands to a few of the centre bounces but the hit-outs were sharked by Adelaide. You'd think that it's just a matter of time before he develops a better understanding with our mids.
Also it was probably mainly first-game nerves, but he needs to show more awareness when dishing the ball off by hand. He gave a great feed to Griffen for the goal, but at other times sold a few team-mates into trouble by just dishing it off without assessing where the opposition were.
Still he did better than I expected and gave us an extra dimension that we haven't had since Darcy.
Although it broke our hearts it did not break our will
I was very happy with his performance last night - 3 very good marks taken, and two of those (wing and one-hander in the forwardline) I wouldn't have thought Minson would have taken.
His approach on the ball as a forward was very good too - what luxury allowing Hall to rest on the bench at times!
There were 4-5 occasions he got lost after a turnover and Adelaide ran around him on transition - I wouldn't expect him to make those mistakes with a couple more seasons under his belt, and on the whole his positioning around the ground was good too.
It will be interesting to see how his tapwork develops once he has spent longer with our midfielders - he seems a natural, just needs to develop that understanding with the group that only comes with experience.
Probably needs to work on his boundary throw ins a bit too - but on the whole he was very good, especially with his willingness to impose his frame on the contest.
I don't expect him to stand up physically to the remaining 16 rounds + finals, but if we can rest Hudson & Minson along the way he'll be providing value ot the side even if he isn't playing at times.
Western Bulldogs: 2016 Premiers
A fantastic first up game with all the attention and all.
I must say that at the interclub game I thought he had killed Huddo in the centre but around the ground his light frame was just pushed aside. If he can get 5 to 6 games this year that should keep him keen and let him know what the expectations are from his body and football game.
He has two very good rucks to learn from and I think he can take the best from both he will be better than Kruzer.
BB.
Looking forward - Naughton, Darcy and JUH. It will be the envy of everyone.