Tim English and the ruck dilemma

[doggies ftw]

Thoughts? Eh it was an improvement at the least, his ruck work was a bit better and seemed to get better as the game went on. What has happened to his marking though? Just cannot hold onto a contested mark at this point and if he’s not doing that he really offers us nothing.

Once again we were shown how important a ruckman who competes and follows up at ground level is when Naughty went through there - he really showed something special as a chop out option for us to swing. I’m sorry but it’s just clear as day how much it’s effecting us not having a ruckman who can compete, and clearly we’re just lucky to usually have Bont to paper over the cracks.

we’re being slaughtered out of the middle, at least we know we have some levers to pull now in Naughty and Darcy but the flow on effect is that we lose that firepower down forward which we just don’t have right now

[Bornadog]

We won centre clearances 14 to 7

[JanLorMill]

The 2 dropped marks inside 50 in the 3q were inexcusable. He was alone and pressure came from small players.
Naughton had a couple of poor moments himself

[doggies ftw]

The 2 dropped marks inside 50 in the 3q were inexcusable. He was alone and pressure came from small players.
Naughton had a couple of poor moments himself

So many behind the ball too, kept getting in the right spots but just can’t hold them right now which is frustrating because he needs to be doing that to add value.

yes definitely one of the poorer games I’ve seen from Naughty in a while, kept trying at least and it’s a bit of an anomlity for him to drop so many easy marks.

Having a think about it - in the short term (without Marra or another ruck on the list) I think the solution here may be Croft. Croft into this side right now, as raw as he is, gives Bevo 4 flexible talls to heavily rotate as needed. This means we can go to Darcy/Naughty (use them as required ie if Naughty is dominating fwd Darcy to the ruck & vice versa) more often, lessening our reliance on English in the ruck and utilising his strengths more around the ground.

whilst also having the extra tall down forward which we clearly lack. Between the 4 of them I think we can cover always having a somewhat competitive ruck and tall forward on the ground, we can swing Croft/English behind the ball to help out etc. Bevo will love that flexibility and I think that constant rotation will keep everyone fresh - I think he’ll be in next week to be honest. Let’s hope he has a big game tonight to push his case

[Grantysghost]

Thoughts? Eh it was an improvement at the least, his ruck work was a bit better and seemed to get better as the game went on. What has happened to his marking though? Just cannot hold onto a contested mark at this point and if he’s not doing that he really offers us nothing.

Once again we were shown how important a ruckman who competes and follows up at ground level is when Naughty went through there - he really showed something special as a chop out option for us to swing. I’m sorry but it’s just clear as day how much it’s effecting us not having a ruckman who can compete, and clearly we’re just lucky to usually have Bont to paper over the cracks.

we’re being slaughtered out of the middle, at least we know we have some levers to pull now in Naughty and Darcy but the flow on effect is that we lose that firepower down forward which we just don’t have right now

Thought he was ok doggies in the ruck. Around the ground he worked hard but doesn't seem to be covering the ground as well as I've seen in the past
I wonder if he's still carrying that injury.
Dropping those marks was unforgiveable.

[azabob]

FWIW Jeff White was very complementary about our ruck set and showed a number of examples. He also showed a couple of plays where we set up a "defensive triangle"

[Bornadog]

Thought he was ok doggies in the ruck. Around the ground he worked hard but doesn't seem to be covering the ground as well as I've seen in the past
I wonder if he's still carrying that injury.
Dropping those marks was unforgiveable.

Naughton dropped marks, Lobb dropped marks, Freijah dropped marks. Easy to pick on the negatives and not talk about the positives

[azabob]

Naughton dropped marks, Lobb dropped marks, Freijah dropped marks. Easy to pick on the negatives and not talk about the positives

To be fair this thread is about English.

[Avoid the rush]

Still feel he is slowly improving and getting back to his best, which to be fair might not have been as good as we first thought. Croft is a real darkhorse. Well bred and can stay. Hope he can carry weight, as he needs a bit more, then I think we may have ourselves a cup winner.

[Grantysghost]

Naughton dropped marks, Lobb dropped marks, Freijah dropped marks. Easy to pick on the negatives and not talk about the positives

I'm a Tim supporter as you know BAD, however I'm not going to ignore when he doesn't perform.

Everyone drops marks of course.

I think he's coming along nicely this season.

[chef]

For all Tims shortcomings at least he shows up and is happy to wear our jumper.

[doggies ftw]

Naughton dropped marks, Lobb dropped marks, Freijah dropped marks. Easy to pick on the negatives and not talk about the positives

Naughton was best on ground 1 week ago, Lobb was close to our best on ground this week and Freijah is a midfielder who was also fantastic. That’s the difference here. English is probably a top 10 paid player on our list and hasn’t played a good game in 2 years

[Before I Die]

So this week he beats his direct opponent, including more marks, and he is attacked for spilling a couple of marks. But I guess that if a thread is started explicitly for the purpose of attacking our ruckman, that’s what the posts will be all about.
My last comment in this thread, I won’t open it again.

[JanLorMill]

How dare we give a negative opinion on one of our own players

[doggies ftw]

How dare we give an opinion on one of our own players

The expectations for one of our highest paid players is just so low on this site, really weird. I get people want him to do well, I like the guy but he’s a bottom 5 ruckman at this stage of his career on top 5-10 ruckman money.

[mighty_west]

i think some of the pressure has to also go on our midfielders when we are being beaten in the clearances, i for one don't think Tim is a natural Ruckman but he is what we have, other mids find a way to read the opposition ruckman to try and get first use of the ball, why aren't our mids doing the same when things aren't going our way? Timmy has been our number one ruck for a long time now and will be for a long time, we know the hit out isn't his strength yet the mids at times seem to just let the contest play itself out rather than really imposing themselves when things get away from us, to only blame Tim is a simplistic way of looking at things imo and is often the easy blame.