The rise.... and RISE of Marc Pittonet

[crashlander]

After last nite's debacle, I'm well & truly back on this subject (amongst others).

TDK is just a very dumb footballer, does all of the hard work on the goal-line to touch the ball before going through only to punch it straight back into play to a Crows player who kicks the simple goal. Why didn't he do the team orientated & disciplined thing and just get a touch on it and force it through for a point so we can reset from the kick-in ??

You can argue about having or not having ability but the big difference is between the ears and sadly, Tom is not going to get any better than what we are seeing now. 

Put the contract extension off till the end of the season and then take him to the trade table and extract maximum value whilst we can.

As Brother Elwood pointed out, you don't need to pick up serviceable ruckmen with first rounders so there is bound to another good replacement somewhere in the mix.

Tom's biggest problem is that he never rucks to his strengths, always to his weaknesses. He has a very good leap, but you rarely see it. Opposition rucks know they can out-bustle him, so that's the way they play. Tom needs to make the contests on his terms, rather than allowing the opposition to determine how the ruck duels will be fought. if he doesn't, then he'll never be the ruckman we need to take us to the premiership.

[LordLucifer]

Tom's biggest problem is that he never rucks to his strengths, always to his weaknesses. He has a very good leap, but you rarely see it. Opposition rucks know they can out-bustle him, so that's the way they play. Tom needs to make the contests on his terms, rather than allowing the opposition to determine how the ruck duels will be fought. if he doesn't, then he'll never be the ruckman we need to take us to the premiership.

And you have near perfectly summed up why I say he is a "dumb" footballer.

If he can't work that out for himself then he has no place on our list.

[ElwoodBlues1]

I'm not paying big money for TDK if he can't compete with the likes of O'Brien and needs Pittonet to hold his hand vs the push and shove merchants.
O'Brien is an ok ruckman but isn't one of the top shelf variety and that's concerning...

[crashlander]

What bothers me is that we're pushing Mirkov, who is huge but also has a tremendous leap, the same way. We need to get our rucks playing to their strengths rather than the opposite. If the lap is irrelevant, then we need a real bull who is stronger than anyone else. If it is the weapon it could be, we need to set up in a way to use it to our advantage.
Personally, I think having a big leap is a great plus, but it is not damned good if it isn't used. NicNat used to jump over guys who tried to wrestle. The idea is still there.

[crashlander]

I'm not paying big money for TDK if he can't compete with the likes of O'Brien and needs Pittonet to hold his hand vs the push and shove merchants.
O'Brien is an ok ruckman but isn't one of the top shelf variety and that's concerning...

Marc is the bash and crash ruckman, but he isn't the strongest bull out there and he isn't in the same sort of form he was to start last year. He'll be better next season, as his knee recovery becomes a part of history. But that still leaves us with now. What do we do with Pittonet not there?
I'd be tempted to play Mirkov next week, even though he probably isn't ready. He has that extra height and might just be able to use it. We couldn't be any worse, that is for certain, as Jack is not the solution to our ruck issues.

[PaulP]

De Koning is among the very least of our problems. There’s a reason smart clubs are sniffing around.

[LordLucifer]

I'm not paying big money for TDK if he can't compete with the likes of O'Brien and needs Pittonet to hold his hand vs the push and shove merchants.
O'Brien is an ok ruckman but isn't one of the top shelf variety and that's concerning...

Well said Brother Elwood and 100% on the money.

[LP]

I'm not paying big money for TDK if he can't compete with the likes of O'Brien and needs Pittonet to hold his hand vs the push and shove merchants.
O'Brien is an ok ruckman but isn't one of the top shelf variety and that's concerning...

TDK is still a ruck child, he needs another 2 or 3 years, he knows that and his manager knows that.

Last night pretty much everyone in our squad looked lightweight, is The Weapon on the job at Crowland, how on earth do blokes get so much heavier and yet remain so much faster? Even old man Walker was running circles around Weiters and Young!

[LP]

Marc is the bash and crash ruckman, but he isn't the strongest bull out there and he isn't in the same sort of form he was to start last year. He'll be better next season, as his knee recovery becomes a part of history. But that still leaves us with now. What do we do with Pittonet not there?
I'd be tempted to play Mirkov next week, even though he probably isn't ready. He has that extra height and might just be able to use it. We couldn't be any worse, that is for certain, as Jack is not the solution to our ruck issues.

Pitto might not have helped last night, like Cripps he can be a liability if the ball can't be locked in.

They bullied TDK last, but TDK is a mighty oak compared to Mirkov!

[PaulP]

TDK is still a ruck child, he needs another 2 or 3 years, he knows that and his manager knows that.

Last night pretty much everyone in our squad looked lightweight, is The Weapon on the job at Crowland, how on earth do blokes get so much heavier and yet remain so much faster?...............

Darren Burgess.