Rd 22: Pre Game asking for a PP: Carlton vs Melbourne

[LP]

At worst, the Kreuzer-Phillips combination has broken even with opposition ruck combinations with the exception of hitting the scoreboard when resting forward.  There's no reason to change our ruck combination but we do need to find a way to get more value from them when resting.

I think the apparent free scoring of opposition ruckmen gives some supporters an impression that it is normal and expected from ruckmen. But we are the exception, most of those opposition ruckmen do not kick goals on a regular basis. Excluding Tippett who is clearly a better than average KPF most rucks kick very few goals, and this season even Tippett scored 25% of his goals in one game against us!

Our problem isn't the ruck division, our problem is the KPFs and KPDs. We are generating more I50s than most teams but scoring less, we've had several games where despite losing we held a large positive I50 bias. But we don't score, and then teams take the ball to the other end and score relatively easily. Even last weekend, Brisbane stated the game scoring at 50% of I50s for their first six goals. You can't even blame the midfield for that, but certainly ball use from mids and HBFs is a problem.

As for blokes slamming the ball on their boot, it's usually a symptom of nobody running past to receive or nobody placing an effective shepherd or block.