Player Watch #38: Tristan Xerri - signed thru '29 - 2024 All Australian squad member - runner up '24 SBM

[LB2Snake]

Do not rate the big X. He’s an honest tryer, but should work at Crown as the ultimate cooler on the blackjack tables.

 

[DrZaius]

Maybe if you look past having Xerri in your fantasy team/s then you will realise how he is hurting us. Just have a look at the posts above and you might figure it out. Or maybe watch the games instead of sitting on BigFooty the whole time while it's in action and once again, you might figure it out. With him grabbing the ball out of the ruck, does that count as a hitout to adv?

No it doesn't count as a hitout actually (credit to Engimal v3).



So yes he does grab it out of the ruck and also hits the ball to our mids advantage - crazy how he can do both good and bad things and the situation isn't simply black & white!

In any case I don't think stubborn bigfooty nuffie posts that are bitter we aren't still playing a geriatric Goldstein (who was my favourite player at one point before you start inventing things in your head) are a reliable metric to judge how a player is going but hey if that's your thing then go for it.

 

[DrZaius]

Touche but yes I have and he can be devastating. Statistically unimpressive though.

I'm actually intrigued where the Xerri train goes. Clarkson pumps him up, we sign him long term but Clarkson also concedes Tristan's numbers aren't translating into output properly.

Of course he can be devastating but they aren't really like for like comparisons other than their height.

Jackson is honestly a super athletic midfielder who happens to be really tall and Xerri is a traditional ruck. I would take Jackson around the ground every day of the week, but not necessarily as a full time number 1 ruckman.

 

[LuvtheKangas]

So yes he does grab it out of the ruck and also hits the ball to our mids advantage - crazy how he can do both good and bad things and the situation isn't simply black & white!

Sorry, you're wrong on this. A player can only do good or bad things. It's absolutely black and white.

 

[swaeney]

Jackson is honestly a super athletic midfielder who happens to be really tall and Xerri is a traditional ruck. I would take Jackson around the ground every day of the week, but not necessarily as a full time number 1 ruckman.

Xerri is a traditional ruck who can’t hit to advantage?

I’m stopping replying to you and this thread. You’re not even making a valid argument anymore. Jackson is a premiership winning ruckman who has the potential to be one of the best to ever play the position.

 

[tazaa]

Of course he can be devastating but they aren't really like for like comparisons other than their height.

Jackson is honestly a super athletic midfielder who happens to be really tall and Xerri is a traditional ruck. I would take Jackson around the ground every day of the week, but not necessarily as a full time number 1 ruckman.

Brother I would stick pins in my eyes if we had the chance to land Jackson ahead of Xerri as our number 1 ruckman.

 

[cybercrab]

The only problem I have with x is that he takes it out of the ruck way too often. He really needs to stop doing that

 

[Engimal v3]

No it doesn't count as a hitout actually (credit to Engimal v3).

View attachment 1982388

So yes he does grab it out of the ruck and also hits the ball to our mids advantage - crazy how he can do both good and bad things and the situation isn't simply black & white!

In any case I don't think stubborn bigfooty nuffie posts that are bitter we aren't still playing a geriatric Goldstein (who was my favourite player at one point before you start inventing things in your head) are a reliable metric to judge how a player is going but hey if that's your thing then go for it.

Just as a curiosity, I went and looked at what happened next after the Ruck Hard Ball Gets as a percentage for all ruckmen with 10+ Ruck Hard Ball Gets:

• Scored: Team scored from this Ruck Hard Ball Get
  • Either from the ruckman, or a teammate down the chain
• Retained: Team retained the ball directly after the Ruck Hard Ball Get
• Stoppage: The Ruck Hard Ball Get resulted in an immediate stoppage
• Turnover: The ball was turned over from the Ruck Hard Ball Get

This had been put together at midnight lol, so I wouldn't draw any hard conclusions on the above. It is an interesting exercise though - I'll have another look into this during the week.

 

[perplexed]

Just as a curiosity, I went and looked at what happened next after the Ruck Hard Ball Gets as a percentage for all ruckmen with 10+ Ruck Hard Ball Gets:

• Scored: Team scored from this Ruck Hard Ball Get
  • Either from the ruckman, or a teammate down the chain
• Retained: Team retained the ball directly after the Ruck Hard Ball Get
• Stoppage: The Ruck Hard Ball Get resulted in an immediate stoppage
• Turnover: The ball was turned over from the Ruck Hard Ball Get

View attachment 1982500

This had been put together at midnight lol, so I wouldn't draw and hard conclusions on the above. It is an interesting exercise though - I'll have another look into this during the week.

Great stats. It gives us a hint of how different teams and rucks are using this tactic. Obviously doesn't take into account where on the field and when but contrasting Witts and Cameron is really interesting. Witts is doing it as a defensive tactic to create a secondary stoppage, whereas Cameron is presumably mostly doing it in the forward half.

Surprising, when X grabs it out, it leads to fewer secondary stoppages than other rucks. We also retain possession or score more than twice as often as we turn it over.

For all those complaining about X grabbing the ball out of the ruck, it should be noted that this is an instructed tactic. He is doing it because he is told to. And it seems to be to our advantage more often than not.

 

[big_e]

For all those complaining about X grabbing the ball out of the ruck, it should be noted that this is an instructed tactic. He is doing it because he is told to.

Amazing that so few people had figured this out.

 

[DocSholl]

Clearances count for s**t if it’s a grab and hack kick.

As has been mentioned several times, it's one of the most overrated stats in football at face value.

 

[lockheed]

Barry Goodingham too

Gary Dempsey as well

 

[Gumble Frankieton]

Just as a curiosity, I went and looked at what happened next after the Ruck Hard Ball Gets as a percentage for all ruckmen with 10+ Ruck Hard Ball Gets:

• Scored: Team scored from this Ruck Hard Ball Get
  • Either from the ruckman, or a teammate down the chain
• Retained: Team retained the ball directly after the Ruck Hard Ball Get
• Stoppage: The Ruck Hard Ball Get resulted in an immediate stoppage
• Turnover: The ball was turned over from the Ruck Hard Ball Get

View attachment 1982500

This had been put together at midnight lol, so I wouldn't draw and hard conclusions on the above. It is an interesting exercise though - I'll have another look into this during the week.

Do they keep stats for grabbing the ball out of the ruck? To me it seems that X is doing this a bit less often in recent games.

 

[perplexed]

Do they keep stats for grabbing the ball out of the ruck? To me it seems that X is doing this a bit less often in recent games.

That is what a 'ruck hard ball get' is. The graph is showing what happens after different ruckmen grab it out of the ruck. Enigmal might have stats for individual games to see if X is doing it less often recently or not, but if you scroll up you will see a graph that shows X has done it more than anyone else this year.

 

[King Corey]

Fwiw Tristan is the only north player getting repeated coaches votes this year. Not many but better than any other team mate.

 

[hellas_johnny]

Still feel although his ruck work needs some fine tuning it is also on the midfielders. How many of them are standing flat-footed or trailing on the defensive side of their man. They need to be more proactive also

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

I don't mind him grabbing the ball which is a trait that more north players should emulate!

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

A ‘dominant’ ruckman? Wtf.

We’ve had better rucks for the past 30 years. Only time we arguably haven’t was when Porter was our number one.

This is laughable. But as a statement, it can be justified based on what you think the role of a ruck is, or isn’t.

As I’ve said, Goldie had 15 years of some people complaining about his play style despite records for hit outs, hit outs to advantage and him effectively being an extra midfielder.

You can kind of break it down into different categories, but realise unless you get a unicorn (once in a generation player) that 1 player won’t be able to do everything:

Skillfull 4th mids that run all day and provide good taps but lack in the contested and defensive side: think Goldstein and English. There are probably 2-3 playing in each 15 year generation of footy.

Contested beast journeymen who bring the physicality and contest each and every time. They will generally be capable and even roll back or forward to take an important grab 2-3 times a match. Might average 15-25 hit outs, 10-15 possessions, a couple of clearances. Most teams will have one of these playing as first ruck.

Shit-truck 2m golems: not particularly good at anything. Just there to halve contests. Most teams have 2-3 of these on the list.

Ruck unicorns: contested, marking, high hit out and aerobic man-mountains like Gawn and Cox and probably emerging now: Jackson. These are probably once in a generation players and can do pretty much everything.

Outlier rucks: rucks that do certain things very very well, and have clear weaknesses in their game: think (but make no comparisons) Xerri and Naitanui. These players are rare too but have obvious flaws that need to be picked up by coaches and the midfield.

 

[Harris 10]

How good was it when Xerri took a bounce on the weekend after running 2.5 metres.

 

[muttley45]

At least i don't think Witts will be ragdolling X like he used to do with Goldy on a regular basis.

 

[The acurate one]

At least i don't think Witts will be ragdolling X like he used to do with Goldy on a regular basis.

Witts = the

Actually cannot think of something to slot in there, not sure why I started posting

 

[The Anvil]

The only problem I have with x is that he takes it out of the ruck way too often. He really needs to stop doing that

I don't want to be critical of X because he has been really good but if I'm a mid it would annoy me to no end how often he takes it out of the ruck rather than hitting it to the advantage of the mids.

 

[swaeney]

Fwiw Tristan is the only north player getting repeated coaches votes this year. Not many but better than any other team mate.

Astonishing that Wardlaw didn’t even get one last week.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Witts = the

Actually cannot think of something to slot in there, not sure why I started posting

Jarrod Witts = The Tock.

 

[shinboner magic]

How many times does this guy grab the ball out of the ruck or in open play - look at teammate, then think to himself nah I’ll just boot it into orbit.

How fast can goad come on.