Rd 4: Pre Game Pressure: Carlton vs. Western Bulldogs

[crashlander]

I'm not sure what I'm missing when watching Kreuzer this season.  I'm certainly not seeing the broken down has been other folk are complaining about.

I don't know that I have seen a broken down has been. But what I have seen is a guy struggling to find form with an intermediate style of rucking. He isn't beating the guys who depend on strength and aggression, nor is he beating the guys who leap.

First of all, I think Kreuzer is spending too much time as a forward.  That's not his caper and we need his second and third efforts around the ground.

Kreuzer has been playing forward for 2 reasons.
The first is that we haven't got a lot of drive when he has been in the middle. We have had a little more with Phillips, but not a lot more.
The second is that our forward line has been desperate for someone other than Casboult to kick the ball towards. Kreuzer CAN take a strong mark he took a few last year and we certainly took more than a few a couple of years back. Unfortunately he has struggled and hasn't been able to hold a mark as a forward, which, I agree, is not his best position. He does better to be a shock forward for short time periods, because he actually can lead. That we can't kick to his advantage is another of our issues, but that is for another time.

Secondly, if you look at the hitouts won by each side's two ruckmen (or ruckmen/forwards), we're not far off the pace and are in a group of 8 teams that are averaging 38 to 41 hitouts in the three games.

The actual tap out numbers can be misleading. There are tap outs and there are tap outs. Look at Nic Nat and most of his taps are very clean and well directed to his midfielders. Cox, although he used his strength more than just his leap, also got quite clean taps. Sandilands does not always get as much value for his taps as they are not always clean, nor as well directed. But he has improved in this area over the last couple of years.
Kreuzer is getting his hands to the ball more than his opponents this year, but they have not been clean. The way he has been rucking he has had his opponents interfering with his taps. That was very clear when playing against the taller and higher jumping Nicholls last weekend and against Hampson during Round 1. Hampson used his extra height and reach to hit the hand or arm and change the direction or strength of the tap. The result was the ball going wide or dying before it got to Murphy or Cripps, or hitting them so hard that they couldn't control the ball.
I am not sure what he can do about that.
Last year against Melbourne, Kreuzer got his hand to the ball very cleanly in the first half. He got his confidence up and he ran Gawn around and into the ground. He managed goals through his work rate and managed to get to contests to make a difference.
After half time he tired a bit and Gawn started to interfere with his taps. All of a sudden our mids didn't get clean position. We also had a run of bad luck, a few terrible decisions and a few really bad disposal mistakes that Melbourne used to get back into the game.
We tightened up in the clearances and Kreuzer managed to get his hand to the ball again and we hung on to win.
He needs to start getting cleaner taps again to make our centre structure work better.

That said, it is not all his fault. Our primary mids are not seeming to work as well at the clearances at the moment. A few times each game we really get a distinct advantage and a mid charging down the middle of the ground. Cripps did a couple against Sydney in the last NAB Cup game, the blocking or whatever worked and Cripps was left with an open field and he made Sydney pay.
At times I think I can see what we are trying to do, but it isn't working very well at the moment. Small fumbles or ordinary disposal and the ball doesn't come cleanly and the mid doesn't get the clean break. Can't execute under pressure yet?
I can't remember the last time I saw Murphy or Gibbs get their handballs intercepted when they were not being tackled like they did last week. They looked like they were aiming for a particular spot and the opposing mid read it better than our mid did. Ablett and Hall had a number of those, especially as we didn't tag them.
Whatever it is, we haven't been getting the ball out.

West Coast is leading with 54, Freo and Melbourne have 44 and then it's Adelaide, Hawthorn, Port, Sydney, St Kilda, North, Carlton and Collingwood.  The teams with the poorest performing rucks are Richmond, GWS, Essendon, Brisbane, Bulldogs, Gold Coast and Geelong.

Richmond hasn't broke even in the ruck since Round 1 and it isn't all Hampson's fault. Other than him, Richmond haven't had anything yet and their mids have been down.
Essendon's ruck division is a distinct weakness. Leuenberger is better than anything they had last year, but he isn't killing teams. In many ways he is like Kreuzer: he often gets a tap with interference from his opposition ruckman. When they get a tap, however, Leuenberger hasn't been able to interfere with their taps. And other than him, they have nothing of significance.
Brisbane I am not sure about. I haven't seen them so far this year.
Other than Round 1, Geelong's rucks have not impressed. They were awful when they lost and not overly impressive against Brisbane from what I heard on the radio. It was Geelong's mids who slaughtered Brisbane, not their rucks.
West Coast don't only have the most taps, but NicNat gives the probably the best quality taps in the competition.
Fremantle still have big numbers even with Sandilands well below his best. The question is how will they do now that he is hurt.
In many ways the Dogs don't need a huge number of taps. Roughead plays like the Hawthorn ruckman and nullifies his opponent, while the Dogs mids read the ball and have a system to get it out. They have the sure ball handling we lack yet.
Gold Coast are similar. Nicholls doesn't get huge numbers, but he negates the usefulness of his opponents. Then GC gave quality mids who read the resultant open ball and get the break. They certainly did that against us.
Adelaide have a class act in Jacobs and he has some decent back-up when he needs it. Their mids are also mature and playing well, even without Dangerfield.
GWS have Mumford, who is the prototype Bull Ruckman. He has real presence even when he doesn't get the tap and he take marks around the ground.
North have one of the best ruckmen in Goldstein, but he does his best work around the ground. I don't think he has been in great form as yet either.