i dont think its rocket science.
vickery is stuggling but i ask what does he bring structurally. well that is simple he relieves maric in the ruck and does it poorly atm and he plays kp forward and gives little apart from the odd glimpse.
if i recall ivan showed at adelaide that he is more than capable of resting forward so bring in a ruckman to do one of vickerys roles.
bring in a genuine tall forward to do the other role.
two options with the rucks bring in a pure ruck in stephenson or bring in a bloke whos been groomed as a ruck/for in derickx and see what he can offer.
the obvious option up forward is griffiths plonk him at ff play riewoldt at chf and leave mcguane as a third tall target.
we really need foley fit and vlastuin and helbig into the team and playing well. once again the lack of polish from regulars was the down fall of us.
if we want to be a finals side we indeed need to be able to change it around when things fail or players are out of form. it is time to change it around surely we have seen enough of the same blokes fail as soon as the real pressure is applied. leopards do not change their spots and older footballers do not magically fix very obvious weaknesses in their games.
on vickery i agree with wp send him back to coburg for 3 to 5 weeks and give him the first ruck role. get him playing hard at it aggressive footy, get him hitting into opponents hard, get him putting his body on the line ffs, and get him clunking overhead marks regularly. only then get him back into the side and see what he can give.
in the mean time lets try other options lets even as a last resort get some games into younger blokes just for the experience. we have options stephenson as a ruck, derickx as a ruck/for, elton astbury and griffiths as key forwards. if we cant make a change to personell when its badly needed just how far do people realistically think we can go this yr.
on ellis.
he was always going to get out marked by swan and look silly. its what happens in a marking contest when a 180cm 81kg player goes up against a 185cm/93kg player completely out gunned in all departments and it showed. im more inclined to ask how did that mismatch happen. yes theres a few areas ellis can be better at but for a second yr player im pretty happy with his progress.
finally the tackling and intensity across the board combined with the lack of polish continues to dog us. it may suffice against the lesser sides or sides off their game but it goes to pieces against the better sides.
