Josh Fraser?

[Pariah]

If Griff goes we could do worse than recruit Jonathon Giles from the SANFL. Has been in the syten before and has developed this year. Big wraps from many who have seen him this year. A dark horse could be Adam Cockshell from South. He is a man mountain and dominates the hitouts in SANFL. Had baggage from the Power but I like what I see on the field.

I wouldn't be surprised if we draft one of them and place the other on the rookie list.

 

[WALL-e]

Having watched Josh play VFL at least 4 times this year.

NO.

 

[Mismatched]

Not sure if it has been discussed and this isnt a rumor so thought I would put it up as a new thread, but what do people think of Josh Fraser? He cant get a game at Collingwood. Fraser will be 29 next year, so could be a decent gap filler for 2 years while Maric, Moran and Sellar develop as everyone knows rucks generally dont dominate until they are 26 or older. I doubt he would cost a lot as he isnt being used and seems to be 4th or 5th preferred ruck behind Jolly, Wood, Cloke and L Brown. Jolly is basically the same age so Frasers career at Collingwood as their number one ruck seems to be all but over.

Geez, every post I read the "ruckman don't mature till..." bar just gets higher and higher. I agree that they generally take longer to develop, but 26? I think if they're not really showing too many signs around 23-24, then you're probably not going to get anything particularly special.

yep, I wouldn't consider Fraser any more useful in Ruck then Maric, maybe a better forward and more mobile, but that's not what we are looking for!

Not sure how locked in Mark Jamar is at the demons but that is one we should definitely enquire about. SA boy so the lure of home would be there. And he is an absolute man mountain!

Cox leaving the Eagles has pretty much been shut down this week by Worsfold already!

Thing is, 1-2 years ago, Jamar was where Maric is currently at, or perhaps not even that. Maric is at that age where everything should start to click. He is not, as everyone seems to think a #2 ruckman, as was evident when Griff was in the side, Maric does his best work when he's allowed to ruck for a good 70-75% of the game, not 50% as he was doing with Griff. I think you'll find he works much better with a second ruckman who can play a KPP for a good portion of the match and then just relieve him for about 5-10 minutes a quarter.

Highly questionable. Maric is a passable no.2 ruckman, and the rest are horrendous garbage.

If you're talking about the 2nd ruckman of the 90's when it was quite okay to have a 2nd ruckman sit on the bench for 60-70% of the game and just relieve the #1 ruckman when he needs a rest.

A good #1 ruckman will ruck quite comfortably for greater than 75% gametime. In this current day of extreme rotations, you just can't afford to sit your #2 ruck on the pine for 70+% of the game, they've got to be able to play as a key forward or defender. Maric(and Griffin) really can't do this, he can take the odd grab, but beyond this he's useless when the ball hits the ground, he's fine to throw up there as a bit of a mixup for a couple of minutes, but beyond that he really doesn't offer too much.

The 2nd ruck position is almost becoming a specialised position of its own, think of what guys like Leigh Brown at Collingwood and Patty Ryder at Essendon can do, working as a 2nd ruck to Jolly and Hille, Lynch was the same at West Coast before Naitanui came along, I believe Port are currently using Trengove in such a role, Geelong have used Hawkins, Fremantle use Bradley in such a way. They play their role around the ground for a good portion of the game and then move into the ruck for short stints to give the #1 a short break when/if he needs it.

Hence why I'd like to see us develop Sellar, McKernan and perhaps Craig in such roles, see if we can't get a Patty Ryder type 2nd ruck, as opposed to just an oaf who either sits on the bench or clogs up space in a forward pocket.

As much as I'd like to have a dominant #1 ruckman, I don't think there's as big a issue here as many like to make out. Maric is a passable lead ruckman, he works really well at nullifying the opposition ruckmans influence, generally has a good tap to advantage ratio and generally matches his opponents in the hitout count. He has also of late started to find a bit more of the ball around the ground. I highly doubt he'll be the difference between us winning the Grand Final or not. If we're going to trade for a ruckman he has to be in the elite class, not just another bloke who's played a few games in the past. Everyone seems to take a grass is greener approach to our ruck situation, when in reality, I don't think it really is.

If Griff goes we could do worse than recruit Jonathon Giles from the SANFL. Has been in the syten before and has developed this year. Big wraps from many who have seen him this year. A dark horse could be Adam Cockshell from South. He is a man mountain and dominates the hitouts in SANFL. Had baggage from the Power but I like what I see on the field.

Chatting to a mate from Sturt the other day, he said that Sturt have pretty much resigned themselves to losing Giles to the AFL and reckons Port may regret letting him go at the end of last year. Certainly a possibility, especially if we do end up losing Griffin to Freo and Moran to his injuries as has been postulated in other threads.

Cockshell is another I wouldn't mind having a look at, is pretty versatile, tough and competes really well, I think we could do worse.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Despite being 200cm Fraser is not a ruckman. If we are in the business of recruiting 29 year old ruckman I would MUCH rather go after someone like Dean Cox. A genuine ruckman who has been a bit down and is in a shadow of Nick Natanui mania.

We really need to look at getting a ready made ruckman. We are in desperate need of one and 29 for a ruckman is not old.

I would pass on Fraser!

 

[macca23]

Despite being 200cm Fraser is not a ruckman. If we are in the business of recruiting 29 year old ruckman I would MUCH rather go after someone like Dean Cox. A genuine ruckman who has been a bit down and is in a shadow of Nick Natanui mania.

We really need to look at getting a ready made ruckman. We are in desperate need of one and 29 for a ruckman is not old.

I would pass on Fraser!

Agreed.

Fraser is a tall forward - and a very ordinary one at that - not a genuine ruckman.

No thanks!!