2nds How low is the ROB / Strachan Replacement Bar?

[Rory Walkerfield]

Here’s an interesting thought, who is the worst player getting a game rucking in some capacity for another team that you would take in a heart beat over ROB / Strachan?

I reckon Mason Cox

46

Mason Cox

Age

33

Ht

211cm

Wt

110kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.7

2star

K

5.2

2star

HB

3.5

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

1.6

4star

G

1.2

4star

D

6.0

1star

K

3.0

1star

HB

3.0

2star

M

2.3

2star

T

0.3

1star

G

1.0

4star

D

9.0

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.8

5star

. I would legit prefer to see him ruck for us.

 

[fuic08]

Here’s an interesting thought, who is the worst player getting a game rucking in some capacity for another team that you would take in a heart beat over ROB / Strachan?

I reckon Mason Cox. I would legit prefer to see him ruck for us.

I watched Tom Campbell on Friday night and he would be better too.

 

[Interloperer]

I reckon Mason Cox. I would legit prefer to see him ruck for us.

Hate to say I told you so.

(I genuinely don't remember who the 'certain underperforming forwards' were that I was talking about at the time. Probably Frampton?)

 

[GreyCrow]

 

[Bay62]

Rory Lobb

7

Rory Lobb

Age

31

Ht

207cm

Wt

106kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.0

3star

K

6.7

3star

HB

4.4

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.4

4star

G

0.9

4star

D

11.3

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

3.3

2star

M

4.6

4star

T

1.4

2star

G

1.0

4star

D

7.0

2star

K

4.0

2star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.6

3star

will be available soon

 

[huludicidal]

Exhuming the corpse of Trent Ormond-Allen would offer more than these lumps.

Play Himmelberg in there against GWS. It absolutely won’t be worse than what ROB has been dishing up with his dropped sitters and under 9s stuff with ball in hand, and it also won’t be worse than Strachan’s actual ruck contest stuff.

Get Moyle this offseason. Give him the keys. Problem solved.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Exhuming the corpse of Trent Ormond-Allen would offer more than these lumps.

Play Himmelberg in there against GWS. It absolutely won’t be worse than what ROB has been dishing up with his dropped sitters and under 9s stuff with ball in hand, and it also won’t be worse than Strachan’s actual ruck contest stuff.

Get Moyle this offseason. Give him the keys. Problem solved.

Bit rough on Trent. His still alive. lol

 

[Scorpus]

Summary of our ruck options

O'Brien - very fit and acceptable at gaining hitouts, though predictable and rarely to clear advantage. Never learned to kick properly, horrendous action and laughable results. Struggles to handball. Very low mobility. Zero presence on the field. Struggles to mark even under no pressure. Terrible at ground level

Strachan - reasonable skills, including proper kicking action, nice handballs, acceptable at ground level, can mark and kick goals. Awful in ruck contests, zero strength, no leap. Minimal presence on the field. Mobile but slow. Unfit

T. Murray - not much exposed form to go on, tall and can mark and kick goals sometimes

Burgess - short with limited athleticism. Very bad in the ruck, loses contests around the ground, struggles to mark. Reasonable skills and learned how to kick. Invisible on the field. Below average in the forward line.

Himmelberg - tall with high athleticism that is never used in any situation. Atrocious in the ruck, backup only status. Terrible mark even under no pressure. Very good skills including neat kick, except shots for goal, which are below average. No presence on the field, never uses height or size to his advantage, loses contests. Plays well as a forward once or twice a season

Borlase - short with very very bad athleticism, very slow and no agility. Ruckwork basically consists of pushing the other guy out the way. Not especially good in other positions. Below average kick, but okay in other areas. Can mark the ball and hits contests hard

Thilthorpe - far too highly skilled to play first ruck, playing him there instead of the forward line is criminal negligence

Walker - old, short, no mobility and only effective as a ruck in the forward line sometimes. Doesn't even attempt taps, his go to is the push out, grab and snap for goal

Winner: Toby Murray

As for other teams I'd take Sam Naismith

24

Sam Naismith

Age

32

Ht

205cm

Wt

108kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.9

2star

K

3.6

1star

HB

5.3

4star

CL

2.0

4star

HO

25.5

5star

D

9.5

2star

K

7.5

3star

HB

2.0

1star

CL

3.0

4star

HO

26.5

5star

D

9.2

3star

K

3.2

2star

HB

6.0

4star

CL

1.4

4star

HO

25.4

5star

with no ACLs in a leg brace over any of our players

 

[adelaidecrows]

The list management team have failed us badly here. Clearly somewhere someone brainfarted that Thilthorpe and even Himmelberg could be our main ruckman if ROB went down. It would explain our failure to draft even a project ruckman over the last 4 years to build into a future role. Strachan sadly for him was always kept on as a break glass emergency player but never really going to get the opportunity he craves. Likely to be dropped this week and never seen again.

Our list is as unbalanced as it gets.

 

[huludicidal]

Summary of our ruck options

O'Brien - very fit and acceptable at gaining hitouts, though predictable and rarely to clear advantage. Never learned to kick properly, horrendous action and laughable results. Struggles to handball. Very low mobility. Zero presence on the field. Struggles to mark even under no pressure. Terrible at ground level

Strachan - reasonable skills, including proper kicking action, nice handballs, acceptable at ground level, can mark and kick goals. Awful in ruck contests, zero strength, no leap. Minimal presence on the field. Mobile but slow. Unfit

T. Murray - not much exposed form to go on, tall and can mark and kick goals sometimes

Burgess - short with limited athleticism. Very bad in the ruck, loses contests around the ground, struggles to mark. Reasonable skills and learned how to kick. Invisible on the field. Below average in the forward line.

Himmelberg - tall with high athleticism that is never used in any situation. Atrocious in the ruck, backup only status. Terrible mark even under no pressure. Very good skills including neat kick, except shots for goal, which are below average. No presence on the field, never uses height or size to his advantage, loses contests. Plays well as a forward once or twice a season

Borlase - short with very very bad athleticism, very slow and no agility. Ruckwork basically consists of pushing the other guy out the way. Not especially good in other positions. Below average kick, but okay in other areas. Can mark the ball and hits contests hard

Thilthorpe - far too highly skilled to play first ruck, playing him there instead of the forward line is criminal negligence

Walker - old, short, no mobility and only effective as a ruck in the forward line sometimes. Doesn't even attempt taps, his go to is the push out, grab and snap for goal

Winner: Toby Murray

As for other teams I'd take Sam Naismith with no ACLs in a leg brace over any of our players

I didn’t rate Himmelberg’s ruck work highly at all prior to this year, but I think you’re being very harsh based on what we’ve seen this year. Has not looked out of his depth at all in 2024 ruck contests, and has been surprisingly good once the ball hits the deck after the actual ruck contest itself too.

Can he do it for a full game? I doubt it. But based on what Strachan and ROB have collectively provided over the last 5-6 games, I’m willing to find out.

 

[GreyCrow]

Rory Lobb will be available soon

Cornering the Rory market - I like it

 

[Scorpus]

I didn’t rate Himmelberg’s ruck work highly at all prior to this year, but I think you’re being very harsh based on what we’ve seen this year. Has not looked out of his depth at all in 2024 ruck contests, and has been surprisingly good once the ball hits the deck after the actual ruck contest itself too.

Can he do it for a full game? I doubt it. But based on what Strachan and ROB have collectively provided over the last 5-6 games, I’m willing to find out.

There is no way Himmelberg would perform well against the strong first rucks on most teams. He's far too weak in contests. His typical ruckwork is beating up on a team's second ruck and not even doing that well

 

[huludicidal]

There is no way Himmelberg would perform well against the strong first rucks on most teams. He's far too weak in contests. His typical ruckwork is beating up on a team's second ruck and not even doing that well

And yet, we can’t be 100% sure that this is worse than either of ROB or Strachan until we try it, and based on the last month, it’s probably not as bad as either.

I just don’t think debuting T Murray completely out of position is what we wanna do for his development.

We don’t care about Himmelberg’s development. He’s a GWS player in 2025.

Try stuff, move on, get Moyle, don’t look back.

 

[GrommoT]