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

[Midas]

Lol the Cats won the first 9 center clearances. What promising?
Goldi may be finished but this bloke will never be AFL standard. He’s not the answer.
Stanley actually destroyed him early on when it mattered.
CCJ is just as s**t

Fukc our list is a mess man
Makes my head hurt

FFS there is obviously going to be an adjustment to a new ruckman. What did you expect? No Wardlaw & the decision not to play Phillips had as much impact on that as anything. Not to mention Dangerfield taking the piss unchecked with no Shiels to cover the oppo most dangerous clearance player.

 

[shintemaster]

This is another piece of negative idiocy. The bloke has played less than 30 games. Ruckmen take time to mature. He is a serious competitor with capacity for significant improvement. He replaced Goldy 2023 not Goldy 2015. He’s shown as much or more than Nankervis, Witt and the like did early in their careers. It’s just a pile on in here, a race to the Doomsday scenario on everyone. He was more than serviceable today, and if he rucks for the next 3 years this will be the least of the issues we need to solve to be competitive again. Review his output on that body of work.

This is my take as well.

I'm not saying he is the answer to all our prayers but he didn't stand there whilst his midfielders let their opponents stand one contest off the ball and pick us off for the entire first quarter. Personally outside of the odd clear tap in the forward line I'm largely of the view that it is what players do when it hits the ground that matters most. I thought he went ok for his first game back after missing a lot of footy and wasn't even established before that.

 

[susurrar]

He is more an old school ruck type of player i just worry they are becoming like Dinosaurs. If you are old school you need to give the midfielders an edge with your tap work otherwise value is limited. Note i didnt see the game so not commenting on his perfoormance in this game just what ive seen so far.

hes not really a dinosaur type, mate.

he is an extra inside mid. his follow up work is excellent. hes a tackling, contested possession, and clearance machine. he is a good contested mark, too, although we havent seen that much at afl level yet. we will soon.

imputing our midfield woes yesterday to him is absolutely insane. bear in mind he is coming back from a major injury, too.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Follow up work is good….It would want to be though, because his tap work is below average.

I don’t mind X, he is competitive and physical but when I watch his games I just don’t see a top 10 in the comp ruckman.

 

[Chadwiko]

For me, it's simple.

Do we want to win games this year? If so; play Goldstein.
Do we want to use the remaining games to analyse players on our list as our main priority? If so; play him to see if Xerri has a future.

 

[The Nostradamus]

FFS there is obviously going to be an adjustment to a new ruckman. What did you expect? No Wardlaw & the decision not to play Phillips had as much impact on that as anything. Not to mention Dangerfield taking the piss unchecked with no Shiels to cover the oppo most dangerous clearance player.

this waiting till phillips and wardlaw in and have played a few games with X before we make judgement

and overall i was happy with his game first up, obviously areas that can improve but its not the finished product after 1 game back

 

[harper2bastinac]

I’ve never really rated him but yesterdays effort in the middle can’t be blamed on him when his midfielders where next to useless

 

[tazaa]

FFS there is obviously going to be an adjustment to a new ruckman. What did you expect? No Wardlaw & the decision not to play Phillips had as much impact on that as anything. Not to mention Dangerfield taking the piss unchecked with no Shiels to cover the oppo most dangerous clearance player.

45 hitouts and only 11 to advantage makes for poor viewing. I personally dont see it with X.
Its not just the ruckwork its the around the ground stuff that is lacking. He got it 26 times last week by hand and foot and made his way to 19 touches yesterday which included 15 handballs but had zero influence on the game overall.

He plays out the year as Goldi is cooked but I would be actively searching for a ruckman if I was the recruiters.

 

[Del191229]

For me, it's simple.

Do we want to win games this year? If so; play Goldstein.
Do we want to use the remaining games to analyse players on our list as our main priority? If so; play him to see if Xerri has a future.

We've won two games and Goldy only played in one of those.

The man is a Shinboner to his core, but he's done.

His days of being central to wins are long gone.

We're a better chance of winning with X than Goldy.

 

[Del191229]

45 hitouts and only 11 to advantage makes for poor viewing. I personally dont see it with X.
Its not just the ruckwork its the around the ground stuff that is lacking. He got it 26 times last week by hand and foot and made his way to 19 touches yesterday which included 15 handballs but had zero influence on the game overall.

He plays out the year as Goldi is cooked but I would be actively searching for a ruckman if I was the recruiters.

A ready made one a la Farcy Dort ... and draft one.

 

[Chadwiko]

We're a better chance of winning with X than Goldy.

I disagree.

As I said above, I would dearly love to be wrong about this. Truly, I genuinely would.

But I just haven't seen Xerri demonstrate the kind of tap-work that a modern ruck needs, especially when we've invested so heavily in our midfield.

Xerri is nearly 25 years old and has played 26 games at the AFL level. I know BMTT, but by now we should have seen clear signs that there's a future here and for my money, we haven't seen it yet.

Again though, I want to stress: I sincerely hope to be proven wrong about this!

 

[King Corey]

I disagree.

As I said above, I would dearly love to be wrong about this. Truly, I genuinely would.

But I just haven't seen Xerri demonstrate the kind of tap-work that a modern ruck needs, especially when we've invested so heavily in our midfield.

Xerri is nearly 25 years old and has played 26 games at the AFL level. I know BMTT, but by now we should have seen clear signs that there's a future here and for my money, we haven't seen it yet.

Again though, I want to stress: I sincerely hope to be proven wrong about this!

I'm clearly a Goldstein fan and would play him as #1 ruck until someone takes it off him on merit.

What I will concede is that Xerri's ability to find the ball at VFL level is encouraging. If he can work that into being somewhat productive with it + build on his physicality + improve his skill levels (ruck and general) THEN... he might be a good ruckman to complement a (hopefully) elite midfield group.

 

[susurrar]

hilarious that there is such a focus on hitout stats of all things. the most useless stat in the game which has at least as much to do with the midfield as the ruckman. of course, after a game where our midfield put in their worst performance.

lets keep an eye on these all important hitout stats for the rest of the year.

in 2023 so far, goldy is at 34.9% hitouts to advantage and xerri is at 27.8% (1.8% below goldys career average)
goldy is at 44.5% hitout wins and xerri is at 51.4%

massive difference there...

 

[Del191229]

I disagree.

As I said above, I would dearly love to be wrong about this. Truly, I genuinely would.

But I just haven't seen Xerri demonstrate the kind of tap-work that a modern ruck needs, especially when we've invested so heavily in our midfield.

Xerri is nearly 25 years old and has played 26 games at the AFL level. I know BMTT, but by now we should have seen clear signs that there's a future here and for my money, we haven't seen it yet.

Again though, I want to stress: I sincerely hope to be proven wrong about this!

Its interesting - we sHoUld have won two more games with Goldy playing.

Essendon and Sydney.

Essendon we would have won despite Goldy imo, he got monstered by Draper and Philips.

Goldy was very good against the Swans albeit they didn't have a real ruckman.

As for clear signs he's the future - Clarko made a huge statement by naming him number 1 ruck and not selecting Goldy in Round 1.

They've also brought X back asap post injury and dropped Goldy.

If our coaching staff, which has been around the block a few times, are that adamant there's something there, I'll go with that.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Got absolutely pasted once the ball left his immediate vicinity.

 

[tazaa]

The issue with Xerri is how we go with him in the team as opposed to out. We always compare that to Goldi and his influence.

Few disclaimers. He did debut in 2020 so the team has gone incredibly poorly since then. We have won 11 games in the last 4 years.
He also did share ruck duties in a small number of those games.

In 2020 he played 4 games and we lost all 4.
In 2021 he played 8 games. We won 3, drew 1 and lost 4. He averaged 6 hitouts and 9 disposals in the wins.
In 2022 he played 12 games. We we won 1 and lost 11. The game we won was against West Coast and he had 24 hitouts and 20 disposals.

Judging him on influence in games and contributing to wins, granted there have been so few - has been overwhelmingly poor and negative. Him being in the team doesn't translate to the side doing better.

So we let him play the year out and see if there's any change in results. But for now it just seems like we suck anytime he plays and when we win he does nothing to add to it.

 

[Chadwiko]

If our coaching staff, which has been around the block a few times, are that adamant there's something there, I'll go with that.

The same coaching staff have been gifting games to the likes of Luke McDonald all season, so I'm not certain that selection is an indicator we can lean too heavily on.

I don't profess to be anywhere near the type of footy expert that professional AFL coaches and list managers are. But I suspect that they're desperately trying to get games in to Xerri in the hopes that he shows enough to go into the 2024 season as our starting ruck. We have a lot of needs, and if we can draw a line through at least one position that makes their job so much easier.

The problem is (and the crux of my entire argument)... he's not showing that yet.

 

[Del191229]

The same coaching staff have been gifting games to the likes of Luke McDonald all season, so I'm not certain that selection is an indicator we can lean too heavily on.

I don't profess to be anywhere near the type of footy expert that professional AFL coaches and list managers are. But I suspect that they're desperately trying to get games in to Xerri in the hopes that he shows enough to go into the 2024 season as our starting ruck. We have a lot of needs, and if we can draw a line through at least one position that makes their job so much easier.

The problem is (and the crux of my entire argument)... he's not showing that yet.

This isn't the thread for it, but Luke's a captain of the club and his poor form hasn't been all season.

Reality is Alistair Clarkson very clearly selected Xerri ahead of Goldy in Rd1, made a point of it.

Its worth recalling we fought off interest from St Kilda to keep him a year before that too.

But I suspect that they're desperately trying to get games in to Xerri in the hopes that he shows enough to go into the 2024 season as our starting ruck.

???

He went into 2023 as a our starting ruck, I don't think there's any desperation involved in what they're doing re getting games into him.

The element we haven't mentioned so far is CCJ.

From what I understand, the Xerri/CCJ combo is seen as the future, rather than simply Xerri being a like for like replacement of Goldy.

 

[amaz199]

If we persist with Goldy and don't expose Xerri to AFL level when it's warranted then we may as well ask Bard to come back, coach us to 9th every year again and hate ourselves.

The biggest criticism of the past was not giving our young players a fair go and now thats happening we're not liking it?

Xerri may have been not as impactful as we would've liked (admittedly I was upset too) but if he gets continuity, let's see how he goes.

We can't keep switching and changing. It's shortsighted.

 

[amaz199]

I would also give Goldy another year not because Xerri isn't good enough but because of injury depth.

Our ruck stocks aren't great beyond Goldy and X. CCJ isn't a pure ruck.

 

[Colby Cheer Squad]

45 hitouts and only 11 to advantage makes for poor viewing. I personally dont see it with X.
Its not just the ruckwork its the around the ground stuff that is lacking. He got it 26 times last week by hand and foot and made his way to 19 touches yesterday which included 15 handballs but had zero influence on the game overall.

He plays out the year as Goldi is cooked but I would be actively searching for a ruckman if I was the recruiters.

I don't like to make assumptions but perhaps you've not watched Geelong play much in recent times. For the past 10 years or so, they've had a top-quality midfield which, due to the fact that they've lacked a decent ruck, have become adept at sharking the opposition ruck's dominance. When our own midfield lacks coherence with a new ruck, that simply exacerbates the situation. It was a perfect storm.

 

[DunderHead]

Needs a solid block as the number 1 ruck before you can make any conclusions. He appears to have improved in different aspects every year. He came from a long time at back if I remember correctly. Needs to add some touch and feel to his taps. Also needs to clunk a couple more marks.

 

[Samsquanch]

needs to clunk a couple more marks.

Must take marks. Must kick goals. Must tackle. Must not be pushed aside by smaller players.

 

[ferball]

I don't like to make assumptions but perhaps you've not watched Geelong play much in recent times. For the past 10 years or so, they've had a top-quality midfield which, due to the fact that they've lacked a decent ruck, have become adept at sharking the opposition ruck's dominance. When our own midfield lacks coherence with a new ruck, that simply exacerbates the situation. It was a perfect storm.

This is a pretty important point when considering the game on the weekend.

I got the impression their mids basically blocked our mids so someone on their side had easy access to the clearance.

 

[Marstermind]

Sorry. I just don't see it.

Would rather play Goldy until he's 40.