Ruck & Roll (Pittonet VS De Koning VS Mirkov)

[Thryleon]

Pittonet is still underrated. His ruckwork is elite. He plays better as a ruck, rather than a backup KPP. Let him ruck and grind down his opponent.

TDK is great as a ruck in small bursts. Can jump over most and take a mark around the ground. If he was opposed to Pittonet though, he'd struggle as he'd get worn down by the aggressive style he plays. So we need to find TDK a backup spot. We have 2 coleman medalists in our forward half already, not much use for him there (and along with Jack) makes us too tall.

Mirkov (no 'a' in Mirkov) is in the mold of TDK, athletic and 'jumpy'....but has some extra height, although is lacking in body size. He could become a bit of a Mason Cox type for us who has height to match it with everyone, plus an ability to jump. If he can kick a goal, he could become better than TDK.

Jack Silvagni is a capable backup that adds grunt. He won't necessarily win you hitouts, but he is an improvement on the rest when the ball hits the ground. Most ruckwork these days goes to a 50-50, so jack might make it a 49-51 in our favour. Better in front of goal/up forward compared to the rest.

So what do we do?

As gifted as TDK is, he would give us a HUGE return via trade (or FA compo) that may benefit the team more than he does. And i say TEAM as in structure/balance.....not in what he is capable himself.

Think of it this way....
Pittonet as #1 ruck with Jack or Mirkov as backup is very similar (potentially slightly worse) than Pittonet with TDK as backup.
BUT
if we moved on TDK, we could get a first rounder back (if not more).
So...
Pittonet with Jack or Mirkov + 1st rounder is much better than Pittonet with TDK.

So while i love TDK and what he has to offer.....its not quite a good fit with the rest of our list/team.
If we didn't have Charlie, Harry or Jack (or even Mirkov)....he'd be much more important to our team balance.

At the moment pittonet is our only proven ruck.

TDK is a forward that can ruck rather than a ruckman that can go forward from what I saw of him.  Loves a mark more than a ruck contest.  He doesn't finish well enough as a forward.

Lemmy is the wild card.

Mirkov is unproven, and if tdk and pitto were both unavailable id be using young and jsos as my rucks based on what I've seen.

Jsos got found out a bit later last season.  Like Grigg these things might work once or twice but teams are going to plan better for it next year and if we roll jsos through as a ruck option im going to say that it will be less effective than it was in 2022.