claw we have vickery,griff,and hampson as back up...who did you want to get to really secure that spot in the event Maric goes down..maybe Sandilands
they arent back up if they cant do the role well.besides im not talking about back up im talking about being capable of taking over and holding down the #1 ruck role. ffs griffiths and vickery are basically tall fwds and to date shizen ones at that.
hampson isnt the answer either he rucks well but hes totally deficient in just about every other area. unfortunately for us hes the next best option.
do you think liam mcbean could ever play ruck yet alone first ruck. have you looked at him lately. will he make it as a kpf gotta wonder eh.
i will say it for the millionth time we have players in griffiths vickery and mcbean who do two roles ruck and fwd, unfortunately they cant perform one of those roles really well. being ordinary at both. a bit like being a jack of two trades but master of neither. it kills us as far as list management goes because not only dont we have adequate rucks we dont have adequate fwds.
whats left oh yeah the cousin who is new to footy are we going to put all our eggs in that basket.
mate plenty of us have been going on about this not jsut this yr but for yrs. maric aside and to a lesser degree hamspud, we have ruckmen in name only. a good club would quickly recognise this and do something about it. us well we continually sit on our hands in hope that one can miraculously turn it around.
rucks should go like this imo and i do this with replacing hampson in mind,
maric 29yo vet.at 29 surely we are looking for his replacement and are currently grooming him. that must be hamspud eh.
24 - 27yo mature. to replace hampson who is not up to standard imo. this bloke should take over from ivan in a few yrs time.
22 - 24 yo a development player who could come in if there is a need. sinclair at the eagles is one ive advocated i also wanted longer but hes still a junior who is capable of playing right now.
21 and under junior or project player we have that in soldo given his background id rookie another as well.
tall fwds
riewoldt 195cm mature kpf, mckenzie 197cm junior kpf. as a club we need three more talls.preferably two around 190 - 194 who are quick and agile with good hands.and another genuine kpf.
ruck/fwds
griffiths 200 cm development, vickery 200cm mature, mcbean 200cm junior.imo they cant consistently play well as permanent kpfs. im happy to concede they may become decent kpfs but its been highly unlikely for a fair while.what exacerbates the problem with them is none are #1 ruckmen or very good in the role.
they arent #1 ruckmen and imo this is the role they need to be good in. ive long argued we only need one of them on the list.
if one of them was good in one of the roles they play, id be more than happy to place em either as a ruckman or a fwd but unfortunately they arent.
like i have said we have numbers but we dont actually have players.we fail to recognise this or worse acknowledge it and it sure frustrates the hell out of me.
can you see vickery griffiths or mcbean ever taking over from maric, i sure as hell cant and i would not be planning for it to happen and manage the list accordingly.