Scythe94
Moderator
- Moderator
- #1
Moore, Stynes, White, Jolly, Jamar, Gawn, Jackson, Grundy...Petty.
The Dees have a rich history of ruckmen over the past 40 years. Despite being in the depths of he competition for many of those years, it was always a position where they could hold their own.
The importance of having a good ruck is heavily debated to this day, and to be honest, we've been absolutely spoiled by Gawn in particular, whose value certainly extends beyond the modern ruckman's role of tapping the ball towards one of their teammates once in every five tries.
For the true ruck non-believers, Simon Goodwin in his infinite wisdom has decided to abandon the position altogether this week, despite the Dees having two back-up rucks on the list. We can only hope this is his way of hiding Petty, as for some reason, he remains an automatic selection despite being out of form, out of position and clearly hampered by injury.
Anyway, onto the rest of the game. Both the Dees and Bombers come into this one with only two wins in their past five games, though the Bombers remain level with the top-four, which emphasises how open this season is.
You'd think the best cause for optimism for the Dees—who are playing without Petracca and Gawn for the first time in more than nine years—is that Essendon and Melbourne matchups seldom go the way you think they're going to go.
Nevertheless, Essendon by 23 points.
