Well Ruck Me.

[Vred]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

I'd rather take a speculative pick in the draft, Cox would make me displeased to say the very least.

Surely we aren't that desperate.

Unless Power pulls a power move and gets a contracted ruck to nominate us I have no idea who the *!*!*!*! he is landing this off season

[Axe Man]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Unless Power pulls a power move and gets a contracted ruck to nominate us I have no idea who the *!*!*!*! he is landing this off season

Sandilands to come out of retirement? It was reported that Geelong had sounded him out at some stage (he does fit their age profile).

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Unless Power pulls a power move and gets a contracted ruck to nominate us I have no idea who the *!*!*!*! he is landing this off season

I share the disappointment but we cannot force players to nominate us.

If anything it just highlights that we've let this go on far too long. It's been at least 4 years of many people raising concern about our ruck situation. The fact that we're now desperate is nobody elses fault but our own.

It would be interesting to know why we aren't interested in somebody like Lynch.

[Vred]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Sandilands to come out of retirement? It was reported that Geelong had sounded him out at some stage (he does fit their age profile).

i saw a joke about this earlier in the trade week... it’s almost tempting tbh

[Vred]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

I share the disappointment but we cannot force players to nominate us.

If anything it just highlights that we've let this go on far too long. It's been at least 4 years of many people raising concern about our ruck situation. The fact that we're now desperate is nobody elses fault but our own.

It would be interesting to know why we aren't interested in somebody like Lynch.

yeah it’s just frustrating, how can a team who’s positioned so well except one role not attract someone to fill that role? We’re not the GCS, like shit.

no idea what Ceglar is thinking going to the retirement village that is the Cats.

[Grantysghost]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

yeah it’s just frustrating, how can a team who’s positioned so well except one role not attract someone to fill that role? We’re not the GCS, like shit.

no idea what Ceglar is thinking going to the retirement village that is the Cats.

I think we just don't pay overs and have a clear plan about what we think players are worth and stick to it.

Might be as simple as one v two year deal or something and I trust power as he sets his parameters and sticks to them.
We aren't missing out on Nic Nat here.

[jeemak]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Sam Power was appointed list manager in December 2017, meaning this is his fourth full go at trade/ draft periods.

How much of the blame would rest with him if after four years he hasn't been able to land someone at least competent and reliable?

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Sam Power was appointed list manager in December 2017, meaning this is his fourth full go at trade/ draft periods.

How much of the blame would rest with him if after four years he hasn't been able to land someone at least competent and reliable?

Good question but probably difficult to give a correct answer.

My thinking is that the list management and coaching team would deliberate on what we need and who we need. It would then be Sam's job to go out and convince player X to come to us and negotiate a deal. Bevo/players would also play a role in the persuasion part.

I'm not sure who we have 'missed out' on in terms of a ruck. It seems only last year we decided we needed some cover and were happy to go and get Martin, and now we're 'in the market' without publicly committing to any one particular target.

I actually think the blame would rest more with our coaching team as they are likely the ones who would 'sign off' on going for a particular style of player (and in some cases a specific player). I'm not convinced we've made this a priority until now.

[Scraggers]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Sam Power was appointed list manager in December 2017, meaning this is his fourth full go at trade/ draft periods.

How much of the blame would rest with him if after four years he hasn't been able to land someone at least competent and reliable?

You don't think he has done a good job so far? I'm not 100% on how it works but surely he is given a mandate by the footy department and he goes to work from there?? He's not going to go out and get 4 midfielders for us ... we don't need four mids; he's getting what he's been told we need ... best available, no dickheads would be the mantra.

[Bornadog]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Easy to say we don't rate rucks and why we didn't do this or that.

These are the rucks we had in the past 5 years

2017
Roughead
Boyd
Campbell
English

2018
Trengove
Boyd
English
Roughead

2019
English
Trengove
Boyd - retired early in year
Sweet

2020
English
Trengove
Sweet

2021
English
Martin
Sweet
Young (not recognised ruck)

Comments

* Boyd retirement threw plans out
* English didn't come along as much as we would have liked
* Trengove lost form
* 2020 was the worst year for drafting, as we didn't have enough picks to bring in another ruck after trading for Keath and Bruce.
* In 5 years we brought in Trengove, Sweet, Martin

I tend to agree with MJP who once said we should draft a young developing ruck every year on the rookie list.

[jeemak]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

You don't think he has done a good job so far? I'm not 100% on how it works but surely he is given a mandate by the footy department and he goes to work from there?? He's not going to go out and get 4 midfielders for us ... we don't need four mids; he's getting what he's been told we need ... best available, no dickheads would be the mantra.

I think he's done a really good job, but like most, probably has some areas upon which he can improve. But it's hard to tell what those might be.

Not once have I heard Bevo say he doesn't rate rucks, in fact he's repeatedly stated the opposite or as similar to the opposite as you can get, but for some reason he seems to carry the can for there not being anyone decent or who he deems playable on the list. As soon as we got someone he thought was playable, for whatever reason, he has played him (Martin).

My view is there needs to be some tension between the list manager's priorities and the coach's priorities, because coach's can't be trusted to always think beyond their immediate futures/ self-interest and this distorts decision making when it comes to list management. If we don't have that tension or if the balance is out of whack it needs to be addressed immediately.

I'd be really surprised if anyone at the club didn't think it was a priority to land a playable ruck these past years, GG's assessment of why we haven't gotten one probably stacks up but you never know.

[jeemak]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Good question but probably difficult to give a correct answer.

My thinking is that the list management and coaching team would deliberate on what we need and who we need. It would then be Sam's job to go out and convince player X to come to us and negotiate a deal. Bevo/players would also play a role in the persuasion part.

I'm not sure who we have 'missed out' on in terms of a ruck. It seems only last year we decided we needed some cover and were happy to go and get Martin, and now we're 'in the market' without publicly committing to any one particular target.

I actually think the blame would rest more with our coaching team as they are likely the ones who would 'sign off' on going for a particular style of player (and in some cases a specific player). I'm not convinced we've made this a priority until now.

Perhaps we haven't. Or perhaps we have difficulty in defining the type of ruck we want or need. Perhaps what we want or need doesn't exist at the price we're willing to pay.

There's a lot of factors I guess, and I think it's a bit narrow when people just single out a coach for not getting it done (not saying this is what you're doing, as I agree with a lot of your statements) when there's a list manager actually in charge of getting it done who hasn't managed to for three going on four years.

[hujsh]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Is it possible we have a mature ruck from the state leagues in mind?

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

My understanding is there’s a Trade Committee that signs off on trades, to cover a rogue list manager. Something like Sam, Bevo, Granty and a board member.

I suspect it’s this committee where the hold up on rucks is. We’ve traded for KPF, KPD, mids, defenders and forwards. Nearly nothing on the ruck. Anyone on that committee could advocate to not look at rucks as trades. If they were persuasive that the list spot is wasted as the MC won’t select them, then that seems logical that Sam isn’t breaking his neck to sign a ruck as a trade.

That said, our 2022 First Rounder (with the points now) could be traded for a good ruckman. Interesting whether we look to plug the hole with a good ruck, or tinker around the edges. Or be overlooked by rucks who saw a brother ruck in Sweet sit in the stands while Young rucked. Maybe they don’t want that to happen to them next year while Gardner rucks while they sit it out. Who knows, but I live in hope we saw Jackson kill us and acknowledged the response is trading for a good ruckman.

[Mofra]

Re: Well Ruck Me.

Is it possible we have a mature ruck from the state leagues in mind?

Most of them have been mined at the mid-season draft, and the good ones were tied to clubs already.

I'm no convinced Stef Martin's body holds up. I'm, not convinced Tim English is a first ruck option for 25 rounds. I'm not convinced Sweet is ready for week in, week out duties at senior AFL level yet.

I really think we need someone to add to our ruck stocks. Ideally, a mature option and a kid on the cusp of making it