(09-06-2023, 12:26 AM)Lods date Wrote:Hoyne is a one-ruck guy but he's changed his mind as to which ruckman offers more.If Negrepontis is using Hoyne as his source I'd suggest he needs to find a more stable source!
I seriously doubt well consider centre square rucking Harry in finals except if all our other ruck options go down, F50 is a different matter and Harry and Cripps have done well in F50 boundary line stoppages.
Rnd 24 was a good a test as you can create and in the centre Harry was pretty much a fail, in rucking terms Harry has;
"All the gear and no idea!"
Given how much they flip I can't take the likes of Hoyne, Negrepontis and others seriously, they wax and wane almost based on a quarter by quarter basis.
They take a stance that is very reminiscent of the early noughties when Grant Thomas wasted St Kilda's good list fortunes by trying to assert you don't need rucks, spent most of his 6 years trying to ruck Koschitzke after Everett left. I recall they had Hayes, De Santo, Riewoldt, Ball, Harvey, Gehrig, Black and others and burnt their chances by trying to ruck a solo B-grader against the likes of Lade and Brogan in a final with Brogan being among the BoG. Port did to the Aints what we should do the others using Pitto and TDK. Thomas never learned, he kept repeating the same mistake, rucked Ackland against Jolly and Ball a year later for the same result, and another year later lost to the Dees who had Jamar and White with White among the BoG!
Finals are high pressure affairs that a very rarely blow outs, most games are in the balance late, and while legs get weary the talls do not get any shorter!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"