The NEAFL standard has improved remarkably. It is just that we have a super reserves side. Not only that Rhyce Shaw has been a revelation as coach. He is always able to come up with tactics to not only match the opposition during a game but to demolish their game plan. GWS are bottom, Suns 5th and Lions are fighting tooth and nail to keep Sydney Uni out of second spot. Last week NT Thunder had 8 players missing and Uni 5. So this made their task very difficult playing the two top Reserves teams. Uni were down in numbers when we met them the last time too. We have been very good at training our Academy Top Ups with our main group so they know what is expected of them. We are also lucky the Academy year has so many talented players who have been taught the benefit of teamwork and team coordination. The non reserves sides are improving all the time as they recruit players from the other states, get Academy boys who haven't been drafted and manage to get better and bigger sponsorship.
There is still a long way to go but the NEAFL is heading in the right direction.
Tippett is a forward/ruckman not a ruckman. he averages 13.5 HO this year to Naismith's 27.9. they also play very different roles. Naismith does not rest forward very often, Tippett does. Yet Tippett has kicked the same amount of goals on average this year as Naismith, 0.6. Naismith sets up as a defensive ruckman between centre and CHB when they are bringing the ball out of defence. He closes the centre square gap and makes it hard for them to move the ball through the centre. He even got hold of Joey Montagna and a couple of others trying it last weekend. Not so slow for a big man. I don't know if Tippett can play that role as he is just a bit slower than Big Sam.
As much as I'd love to see Dawson get a run it all depends on how we are going to play the Hawks. Do we tag certain players, Hewett on Mitchell, Robbo on Smith etc? Or do we play head to head? I think that a pretty stupid thing to do. Who do we play on Gunston? He was sensational last week getting 29 disposals across HB. We need to put a defensive forward, or a forward who can more than match him and make them pay, on him. Gunston is a very good mark so the other thing we could do is bring Dawson in and make Gunston accountable. Dawson is just as good or even better in the marking contest and more than matches Gunston at ground level. In fact at ground level I'd say Dawson is far more clever.
Their last five weeks has been very impressive. They have beaten Adelaide, Collingwood and Fremantle. They drew with GWS (in a game they lost by one second), and would have beaten Geelong had Smith kicked truly.
Six weeks ago I was very bullish about thumping Hawthorn at the 'G, but their recent form has made me doubt. Also, if they win their last five games they will make the finals (and I am sure they know this).
This might be a very tough encounter.
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You are simply defining what Naismith does and calling it a role. It is more a statement about his limitations. He can only play as a ruckman, otherwise he doesn't have a spot in the side. He's a good ruckman, but certainly not a dominant ruckman. He was outplayed in the ruck by Billy Longer. Neither did much around the ground. When we last played Hawthorn Tippett and Sinclair shared the ruck duties and dominated McEvoy. We clearly won the hitouts and the clearances, despite losing the game.
Tippett has only played 5 games this year, one of which he injured his ankle in the first quarter and was clearly not fit when he next played against GWS, so the stats are not a good indication of what he is capable of. I don't know if he can get back to his best, which most would say was the first half of last year before his hamstring injury. At that time he was our number 1 ruckman and also kicked plenty of goals.
Tippett, Sinclair and Cameron can all play as ruckmen, but can also hold down a role as a forward. I think that flexibility is a positive.
Looking at the current situation, we have 2 spots to fill with 4 possible candidates: Naismith, Sinclair, Reid and Tippett. We are not going back to playing 2 ruckmen + another forward. If Reid is fit, he plays the forward role, so it's down to who should play in the ruck. Sinclair is undroppable this round based on his career best performance, which would mean that Naismith would go out anyway if Reid plays. I'm assuming that Reid will be given another week off, so this may be the last chance to give Tippett a go in the senior side. When Reid is back Tippett will have to get past both Sinclair and Naismith to get into the side.
Tippett, at his best, is our fist choice ruckman. I would like to see how he goes before we put a line through him for the rest of year.
Sinclair is undroppable this round based on his performance as a key forward, not as a ruckman. He spent barely any (if any) time in the ruck last week. His contribution was clunking marks and kicking goals. You wouldn't elevate him into the number one ruck role based on that performance any more than you'd move Melican to full forward based on his excellent game in defence.
If Reid comes back into the side it will be
a) as a third tall forward (alongside Buddy and Sinclair)
b) because either Buddy or Sinclair is injured
c) at the expense of Sinclair.
c) won't happen this week (unless b also applies) but it could the following week if Sinclair has little impact against the Hawks.
It is possible, somewhere down the track, that the coaches decide that Tippett and Sinclair can share rucking and forward duties and that Naismith makes way. But I see close to zero chance of Sinclair playing as the sole ruckman while Naismith is fit and available, not even as a means to squeeze Reid into the side.
That was then. Tippett also managed to only 8 HO at his last outing before being injured. We didn't ruck Sinclair last week and that was good. That let him concentrate on being a focus up forward. Tippett absolutely dominated in the reserves before coming back to the seniors and playing like a spud. The other thing is Tippett does not HO to advantage nearly as often as Naismith. He doesn't give too many second efforts either. He is not as mobile and won't even think about chasing faster players. Naismith is and does all these. Tippett is nowhere near our first choice ruckman.
I agree. Naismith is our best ruckman and Reid our best tall forward, which means right now Tippett is only a depth player, for now second in line behind Clunkers. The game has moved on and he's not mobile enough. I don't know if he can change his body shape to be less of a monster.
It also means he's the most overpaid player in the comp - worse than Prestia ($700k tagger), Vickery or Mayne. Perhaps we could bundle him up with some draft picks and get Dusty in return in a Dangerfield type deal?
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