(04-11-2016, 08:25 AM)ElwoodBlues1 link Wrote:MK cannot dominate weak opposing rucks.....Hampson, Griffiths, two forwards turned rucks in Sinclair and Tippett and now Nicholls vs GC......not exactly Sandilands, Goldstein quality is it?
In a lot of ways, this is the most damning aspect of Kreuzer this season. When he came back last year he did well against Gawn for 3 quarters - he really exposed Gawn's running with his. Nor was that his only decent effort. But this year he has struggled in the centre bounce, and his running ability has not been seen at all.
He did struggle against Hampson last year, but he was not long back playing at that point. Hampson really beat him in the air and killed him in the ruck.
Has he struggled to get used to our new style of game? Or has his mobility been compromised by his injuries? Whatever it is, he has not become either a Bull type ruckman or a Superman type, as he has neither the leap and athleticism, nor the strength.
(04-11-2016, 08:25 AM)ElwoodBlues1 link Wrote:Doesn't take any marks and his much vaunted skills below his knees are a thing of the past as he doesnt even try and win possession just tries to knock the ball on to other players...
The marking things is really worrying me. He is just not making us kick to him, nor is he holding the marks he gets to.
I'm less worried about his 'below the knees' stuff, but this has been one of his strengths and it just hasn't been there.
I don't mind him nocking the ball on constructively, but even that hasn't worked much.
I really want to see him get on his bike and make position, burning off his ruck opponent and get some cheap marks. Then his confidence might rise to the point where he starts taking some contested marks again.
(04-11-2016, 08:25 AM)ElwoodBlues1 link Wrote:Its embarrassing for the club to drop Kruezer being a No 1 pick and favourite son but it might have to happen...other clubs are experimenting more with mobile tall players who can also play other positions and we cannot afford to carry two ruckman only types who give nothing else but the odd tapout.
Try some different combos..Philips/ Gorringe.......Gorringe/Casboult etc etc...lets do something different....
We may have to. Phillips has a future, but he isn't there yet. He needs another 5 - 10 kg of muscle to go with his leap, and probably another preseason or 2 to get the ball going to our mids properly.
Gorringe I would like to see get a go, but there is something not quite right yet with him. Maybe we need to get a sport's psychologist to get into his head and work out if he really wants to make it.
I am more worried now about Kreuzer than I ever have been before. In his present form he is one of the AFL's least effective ruckmen. He had NO PRESENCE around the ground. None. Nicholls didn't have a lot, he didn't even run to dangerous areas often. But Kreuzer did not attack and run off him. Not once. No big tackles. No big shepherds. Nobody feared him. Even though he got more taps that Nicholls (quite easily) last weekend, we did not get much benefit from it. Nicholls used his extra height and reach to knock Kreuzer's arm and affect his ability to direct his taps. When Nicholls was getting a tap, he usually got his quite clearly and to advantage.
Not all of this is Kreuzer's fault: Murphy, Gibbs and Cripps were down somewhat and couldn't combine like they did at times last year. I can recall Murphy's handball being picked off 3 or 4 times in the centre square. Ablett and Hall were reading the taps and our mids much better than the reverse.
Our whole centre structure is not working as well as it did last year. We had issues in the midfield (as we got torn up a few times), but Laidley deserves kudos for making our centre square work as well as it did. The only real problem with it was we were very indirect from the middle and almost never found a forward.
Maybe we will improve in this area of time: we have changed the set up significantly. I hope so, as I was bitterly disappointed with what we were doing in there.
Until we get a dominant ruckman, we won't seriously challenge the real contenders.
. The kid will be smashed from pillar to post. He provides some protection and when we have close to no one else who does that hard work - any talk of dropping him is madness.
