The Great Ruck Debate.

[madbluboy]

Which is consistent with what i said all along.
With Harry AND Charlie in the side, you can't play 2 rucks.

Go back to the lead up to the prelim. I actually said we should NOT play Harry and stick with Pitto+TDK.
But no, played all of the above.

I remember.

[ElwoodBlues1]

Just as an aside....
When Melbourne traded for Grundy i said it was silly and the only benefit to them was that the Dees wouldn't have to play against Grundy anymore.
They were the 2 best rucks in the game.
They played best as #1 rucks and did little else around the ground - granted Gawn had/has improved his efforts up forward.
Dees worked out pretty quickly that they made the wrong call and 12 months later the 2nd best ruck in the game was sent packing for all the same reasons i'm listed here.
You can't have 2 #1 rucks in the same side. If they can't play a different position, it doesn't benefit the side.

Agree...everyone got carried away when Gawn and Jackson were front and centre of Melbournes premiership win but that was a one off season and playing two very good No1 rucks in the same team rarely works and has a knock on effect of limiting rotations, positional changes etc when most of your interchanges will be mids/wingers resting.
For us its even more critical to not sacrifice, pace and mobility given we are not a quick team and have a slower group of mids than most.
If we had two TDK's then I would be more inclined to play two ruckman in games where I thought we may get an advantage but I wouldnt do it every game either given the composition of our team.

[kruddler]

Another example of how unimportant the need for 2 rucks is, when you get by with half of one for the almost the whole game.

Helped doubley so when we copped so many other injuries, Acres, Kennedy, Saad, Walsh all hobbled at stages, the extra small by comparison being much more important.

Pressure got us back into the game, not ruck dominance or clearance work.
Good old fashioned pressure pressure pressure.

[Lods]

Pressure may have gotten us back into the game...against the 17th placed side. :  :
But very little about that game was a big positive.

Yep, Tom is banged up.
Wonder if he'd be as banged up had he been sharing the duties all year.
Pitto isn't that durable either.
Wear and tear is a factor.

Having said that, when he came back on Tom was probably amongst our best.
Even on one leg he gave us a bit.

But what if he hadn't come back, and...
What if we weren't playing North.... but Sydney or Brisbane in a finals game.

That game may not represent a win for the two ruck idea.
But its not a great victory for the solo ruck either.

[ElwoodBlues1]

Tom needs a rest, as I said on the post game thread it's time to play Pittonet vs Port and let TDK get a spa and massage.
TDK on one taped leg was important after half time today and needs managing rather than a second ruck in the team.

[Lods]

Tom needs a rest, as I said on the post game thread it's time to play Pittonet vs Port and let TDK get a spa and massage.
TDK on one taped leg was important after half time today and needs managing rather than a second ruck in the team.

I think the general consensus from all is that he needs a rest.
But this will be the second one in a couple of weeks.
Are we dealing with a chronic injury, one that he will carry for the rest of the year.
Or would a couple of weeks off now be sufficient to heal him and freshen him up.

[madbluboy]

He rolled the ankle in the first quarter of the Giants game. He hasn't had a rest.

[ElwoodBlues1]

I think the general consensus from all is that he needs a rest.
But this will be the second one in a couple of weeks.
Are we dealing with a chronic injury, one that he will carry for the rest of the year.
Or would a couple of weeks off now be sufficient to heal him and freshen him up.

Can't win a premiership without him and playing well so I'd be hoping for him to heal a bit. If it's a chronic injury or needing surgery etc then I'd be playing Pittonet and getting TDK repaired and hoping we can still get it done this season but looking to take care of a vital asset in TDK for next season.

[Professer E]

Then why pick him injured ?  Are Voss and the MC f****ed in the head or something?
Christ, we've got a perfectly capable second ruck killing it in the twos to give him a break.  Who's running the show, Bozo the clown!?!

[ElwoodBlues1]

Then why pick him injured ?  Are Voss and the MC f****ed in the head or something?
Christ, we've got a perfectly capable second ruck killing it in the twos to give him a break.  Who's running the show, Bozo the clown!?!

Selections this week showed a bit of desperation Prof and we have been fiddling with the team for weeks now in a sign of over confidence IMHO.
Just got a bit ahead of ourselves and need to get some hunger back and settle the team. The backline has become a experimental laboratory rather than a settled well oiled well drilled unit being held together by Weitering who we stress about every time he looks injured.