Round 13 - Footscray Bulldogs v Richmond • Sunday 22 June 2025 • 11:35 AM

[GVGjr]

Smiths problem is also that he doesn't take enough marks

[Mitcha]

Have seen most vfl games this season bar the last two. He has definitely shown improvement and was always going to be a slow burn but very much doubt he gets anywhere near the AFL side this season if at all. He is undersized thus gives away a ridiculous amount of free kicks and would simply get monstered at the higher level. Unfortunately he also has very little aerial impact around the ground.

[Smads57]

Is Lachie Smith priming himself for a debut in 2026? He gives away a lot of frees (but gets lots of frees too) in the ruck and isn't the most versatile ruckman... but he gets a good amount of the football and seems to have massively improved his ruck craft. He would have to be in the handful of best ruckman in the VFL right now (4th for total hitouts, has the 4th highest scoreboard impact out of the top 10 hitout ruckman), another preseason and surely he can work on his forward craft a bit more and get a shot in the team? What do you guys think?

I agree he is improving progressively over this season in the VFL. As someone suggested he is more in the Mumford/Hudson type mould than English. He is a ruckman first and foremost.

[NAUGHTY100]

From the little I've seen of him he seems to be morphing into a Mumford style ruck. Not the tallest, not the most impactful around the ground, but a big body that can hustle to the ball and his ruckcraft seems pretty solid. Though I wouldn't say he has that ground level impact Mumford or Hudson had so he's still lacking an extra element to his game.

That said I've only seen little bits of the VFL matches so would be interested to hear other thoughts.

I still cant get over the fact that his 203 cm , dunno what it is but he just dosnt look that tall and for sure he would get monstered by the senior ruckman going around right now .
I also agree that he dosnt take enough marks around the ground if any , he looks undersized and i think its the main reason why he gives away so many frees trying to jump against guys much bigger then him .
He has time on his side and maybe the marking touch will come as he gets more experiance and learns how to postion his body in one on one marking contests .

[Bornadog]

I still cant get over the fact that his 203 cm , dunno what it is but he just dosnt look that tall and for sure he would get monstered by the senior ruckman going around right now .
I also agree that he dosnt take enough marks around the ground if any , he looks undersized and i think its the main reason why he gives away so many frees trying to jump against guys much bigger then him .
He has time on his side and maybe the marking touch will come as he gets more experiance and learns how to postion his body in one on one marking contests .

He is 19 years old - His peak is still 6 years away

[josie]

He is 19 years old - His peak is still 6 years away

I hope I’m wrong. Agree he has improved however I’m not confident he’ll make it.

[comrade]

I agree he is improving progressively over this season in the VFL. As someone suggested he is more in the Mumford/Hudson type mould than English. He is a ruckman first and foremost.

I’m a big fan of Huddo style rucks. He’s probably in my favourite handful of Dogs players over the past 20 years. I don’t see the comparison with Smith at this point beyond being undersized. Huddo (and Mumford) were ANIMALS in the contest. Not sure Smith has shown that yet.