The Great Ruck Debate.

[kruddler]

Just to show the snapshot of the ladder and relative performances and thinking at the time, what better way than to use PaulP from the in game thread.

In the Hawks post match, Voss said both De Koning and Pittonet are a chance to be available for this game, but he seemed a little equivocal. One or preferably both will be essential IMO. Jack Silvagni was good this week, but I don't believe that level of output is sustainable. Freo are a little hit and miss, but certainly a step up from the Hawks. I'd expect the betting odds to be pretty close. A very 50/50 game for mine

.....

Yes. The bye is recent enough for him to still be fresh. But Darcy and Jackson are a whole other level, and close to the best ruck combination going around, and if neither De Koning nor Pittonet play, Silvagni will be spent by half time IMO. Darcy in particular will crash and bash with glee.

...and that was when we thought we'd have 1 or both pittonet and TDK available.

Funny how later in the thread Paul had this to say...

The ruck discrepancy is significant enough to wonder whether there's anything to be gained by even contesting them. I'd be tempted to contest a small number and for Silvagni and Young to be deployed somewhere more useful. Hopefully our mids have trained wearing purple

And when mbb said we shouldn't even bother contesting the ruck....

I can see the appeal of that type of thinking. Work on the basis that they will end up with the ball first. Make the Freo mids the hunted, lots of close checking and body work, once they have the ball, then try to force the turnover. Easier said than done of course, but so is everything

Which is everything I've been saying.
Your backup ruck just needs to be a body that can help once the ball hits the deck.
If the ruck cannot find a teammate with a hitout then he is a glorified tree. Doesn't matter if the ball hits him on the way down, he ain't helping once it's on the ground. That's were you get the ball back.

So I ask again...why do we need 2 rucks?