This season is shaping as a fair dinkum lottery . No team is a thoroughly convincing contender for the flag .
C'mon Swans , string a few together, you just never know .
For those who think that some of my yakety yak about ruckmen is just a lot of nonsense, take a look at the Adelaide Melbourne game. Melbourne went with journeyman forward Cam Pedersen (a Reg Grundy almost look a like) against one of the best ruckmen in the league in Sam Jacobs. Adelaide won the hitouts 76-29 as you might expect, but Melbourne won the clearances 49-38 and the game as well. Obviously Melbourne went into the game expecting not to get first touch on the ball at stoppages. If you plan for that, you can find effective ways to turn what might seem to be a disadvantage to an advantage.
Winning premierships is about staying ahead of the pack, not doing what everyone else is doing.
You may yet be proven right but this is not an original idea and, despute this, coaches are aware of it but still prefer to use ruckmen. Without exception all the AFL coaches (including Melbourne/Goodwin) prefer not to use a Cam Pederson type in this role. Somehow I trust that their collective footy wisdom surpasses our own.
Taps are not the only thing a ruck is used for. They also provide that extra tall marking option when you're coming out of defence and other things.
Also I fear that if such a strategy did succeed, the AFL would change the rules to defeat it and protect the 'traditional role of rucks'. Since I first raised this argument I have actually seen it used in the context of whether the AFL should change to a last possession of the ball rule instead of the current deliberate out of bounds interpretation.
P.s. I'm impressed that the Dees won that many hit outs. And that many clearances.
Last edited by bloodspirit; 14th May 2017 at 09:29 AM.
Certainly mathematically possible but our form hasn't warranted optimism.
However the change of personnel is a cause for optimism as our first string players return. So you never know.
I'm content to forget about finals for now. Let's see if we win against the 16th placed team today.
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