Well he is played as a ruck/fwd and he has been almost non existant in most games. The expectation is the odd goal and for gods sake a few contested marks or at this stage just be competetive in the marking contest. We all know atm when the ball hits the ground he is a passenger.
Those few mythical games you constantly go on about from last year which was four games where Nankervis did not play from round six to nine ? They were okay but he was beaten in all of them. If you think he was a better option than Nankervis then you are being no disrespect delusional. I think Miller did better in two of those games.
At no stage has he shown himself to be a better option than Nankervis or Niasmith or even Soldo for that matter purely as a ruckman.
Hence he has struggled to get games in front of all of them none are world beaters.
One can only hope he gets their and i really do hope he can take his game up a few levels but im not gunna sugar coat where i think he is at atm. The solution has been to play him as a ruck forward to get games into him but well you said it thats been a fail and i think most would agree he needs to be played purely as a ruckman
Forget about the forward part of it, he is not a forward i think you agree.
Apart from some glimpses, he has shown bugger all at the level as a ruckman in the vast majority of games he has played.
FMD every man and his dog criticised Soldo, not for his ruckwork, because of all the other areas he was deficient in. same can be said for Samson atm.
Those so called fantastic four games that has you insisting he is a future champion ruckman is nothing special either.
He was beaten in all of them and while he showed good signs was mostly well below what others actually offer.
He played against Gawn and Grundy and not surprising was well beaten and next up he played against Witts and Witts was dominant again not surprising.
The two games he did real well in was against williams from wce a kpf playing ruck because of injuries i thought Williams better over all. The other one was against Ceglar from Geelong an aging third string ruckman att and again while he did well lost that battle imo.
That gap and performance between average and Quality opposition says it all in a way.
You go on about Nankervis but the difference in output competetiveness, toughness, ability is literally the length of the flemington straight.
He doesnt play first ruck simply because he is nowhere near the level of Nankervis or for that matter Naismith as a ruckman.
We are all hoping he can CONSISTENTLY get somewhere close to it and soon..
So far to date he would have to be one of the worst rated ruckmen in the entire comp thats okay to a point they take time to develop we all understand that.
He turns 24 this year he consistently fails to take marks that he should, he is still constantly pushed around by smaller opponents, his output is way too often very limited and most games he is a total liability once the ball is on the ground.
Thats not a criticism its just what has happened so far, its a pretty obvious observation based on what has happened so far.
Im all for playing him as a ruckman even for the rest of the year, but i really am hoping the club in particular are not thinking he is going to be a great ruckman., At this stage imo it would be very prudent to get a another genuine young ruckman with potential on the list rather just hoping Ryan will turn it all around and become something that doesnt look likely atm, or the two basketballers will be something special.
Simple fact is i just dont see it with him i really hope im missing something for me he needs to show some real improvement in areas he has been poor in and shown little improvement in.
