(10-27-2023, 02:58 AM)PaulP link Wrote:This is an article going back in time, to February of this year.
https://www.afl.com.au/news/878124/a-ruc...p-best-mix
The whole article is worth a read, even if it is old. The fact that team balance is important is a given, but there's fair bit that goes into it, and unfortunately much of the info is not available to us.
.........................The question on Carlton's lips internally as it seeks to decipher its perfect ruck mix for the season ahead is how tall is too tall? Can the Blues play with Pittonet, De Koning and Silvagni, along with key forwards Curnow and McKay, in the same team?...............................
"A lot of it depends on some of their physical characteristics and height is one of them. But speed comes into it, endurance comes into it, agility comes into it, then capacity comes into it," Voss said.
"The capacity for them to be able to play tall or small, they're all factors. One thing we do have on our side when it comes to the front-end is that there aren't many 204cm guys that move like Harry. It's the same with Charlie. The agility and movement and speed are on their side, despite what their height measurements say..............................
There is agility, and then there is agility for a big man.
We are not comparing our talls to other teams talls.....we know we stack up well.
We are comparing our talls, to the our own smalls....and the opposition smalls.
We saw it in the Lions game. Once the ball hit the deck, they swept the ball away and looked a million bucks and we didn't look like catching them. Thats what i'm conscious of trying to avoid.
One on one, i'll back our boys against anyone.
Its hard to make the point when talking in general terms, so try this for an exercise.
Put our forwards against our backs...proper matchups.
Weiters on Harry.
Kemp on Charlie
McGovern on Silvagni
How are we for agility now?
Our defenders would smash our forwards once the ball hits the deck. In fact, they smashed most of the AFL. We ended up finishing 4th for points against. But there was a standout 4 (50 points between them) and daylight to 5th.
Most other teams don't have a kemp/mcgovern duo to take on 3rd talls, but have a smaller more agile option....say Cincotta type.
How are we for agility then?
Look, we all saw it. Once we brought in more run and pressure, we turned our season around.
When it got to the Lions game, we picked a side more like we were playing when we were losing.
Our form was built on run and pressure and the taller you are, the less you can bring that....no matter how agile the big blokes are, they are not as agile as a smaller bloke.
Going back to the topic at hand....
That is why you don't have a ruck as a sub...and ideally, not a tall at all.
On occassions, Jack could be useful in that role, depending on who you have picked and how fit they are (or aren't) but thats an isolated case. You generally want run and pressure to be injected into the game.