The Mounting Ruck Problem

[Freoforever86]

Yes they do. And they also look at the ball after working out what their opponent is doing.

Pretty hard to tap the ball if you dont look at it.

Darcy looked at the ball, won the tap, and put it to Brayshaws advantage… so…..

 

[faible]

A equal contest is fair.

Being gifted a possession is not.

If each time is equally gifted a possession then that's very fair...

 

[nineteen eighty]

I understand your feelings but this attitude is about 40 years dead in 2022. It would be like a cricketer trying to bat without a helmet because they have pride and they understand the risks. At some level an administrator would step in say.. yeah nah. Something similar should happen with kneepads for rucks in AFL

Have kneepads been proven to eliminate knee injuries incurred as part of ruckwork? I'll shut my mouth and accept the dinosaur tag if they have. Until then...not for me.

 

[nineteen eighty]

Not at all, would be defending Pittonet if it was reversed.

Take rucking against Nic Nat for example.
If you don’t watch him before the ball, he could step you and grab it out the air. You need opponent awareness to ruck.

All rucks watch their opponent.

Point of clarification...all good rucks watch their opponent. Intrinsic part of rucking (good rucking). Gawn does it all the time and he's the best going around.

 

[nineteen eighty]

Go ask little billy a 5 footy 6 player if he wants to ruck against a 6 foot 5 player. His first reaction will be fu** no I'll get injured.

See when a player is too scared to ruck because of high risk of injury you know you got an issue.

Maybe we should ask people who have rucked before at a local level or afl level. Because to little billy it seems pretty barbaric the idea of two people jumping up and kneeing each other. Lets not kid ourselves ruckman's mindset is lets go out there and smash into them with our knees and win the centre bounce.

Well little Billy's coach should be given an uppercut in this instance.

And contests are not made to be fair. They are exactly that...a contest.

And it is common in lower leagues for smaller ruckmen to come up against significantly taller rucks. In this instance, the team should be adapting to the situation and the much smaller ruck would have rocks in his head to get into a physical combat with a much taller opponent.

 

[Purple Suit]

The more important question here should be who gave the idea to little Billy here that he could/should be a ruck man?

Auskick rules, they let every kid have a go in the ruck. To be fair, they always match up the short people with each other.

 

[Bluelegs]

There's really only one logical and simple solution, but the purists won't like it.
Get rid of the bounce and get rid of the run up. That's it.
Ball gets thrown up at every ruck contest and the rucks start closer together and come off only 1-2 steps.

Or just let the bounce fly wherever it will, let the ruckmen use their arms to protect themselves and accept that sometimes in a contact sport injuries happen.

People want to make another part of the game more boring because of an outlier of injuries in one weekend when it hasn't really been an issue for years.

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

Or just let the bounce fly wherever it will, let the ruckmen use their arms to protect themselves and accept that sometimes in a contact sport injuries happen.

People want to make another part of the game more boring because of an outlier of injuries in one weekend when it hasn't really been an issue for years.

Injuries aside, the ball bouncing wherever it will is one of the great eyesores of the game. A ruck contest is supposed to be a neutral part of the game where both teams have equal chance to win the ball, not a lottery.
I couldn't give two hoots about the purists or history of the game when it comes to the bounce. Just get rid of it. It doesn't fit in an elite, professional sport.

As for the ruckmen? There's also no need for two 100-110kg blokes to get 5m run ups (more for one of them if the bounce goes wrong), then jump into each other at full tilt. They can still have a quality contest off a couple of steps.

I'm also happy to be in the minority with this opinion, but I think players and fans would very quickly adapt and accept it and forget about the old, random bounce and rucks throwing knees at each other from 10m apart.

 

[Pusswah]

This isn't a problem that need a resolution.

****.

Thanks for describing the exact sort of thing that the AFL absolutely love wading into and ****ing up.

welp.

 

[Del28562]

I understand your feelings but this attitude is about 40 years dead in 2022. It would be like a cricketer trying to bat without a helmet because they have pride and they understand the risks. At some level an administrator would step in say.. yeah nah. Something similar should happen with kneepads for rucks in AFL

That's garbage, if that's the case let's put all players in bubbles so they dont get injured, footy is a brutal physical game

 

[Del28562]

Injuries aside, the ball bouncing wherever it will is one of the great eyesores of the game. A ruck contest is supposed to be a neutral part of the game where both teams have equal chance to win the ball, not a lottery.
I couldn't give two hoots about the purists or history of the game when it comes to the bounce. Just get rid of it. It doesn't fit in an elite, professional sport.

As for the ruckmen? There's also no need for two 100-110kg blokes to get 5m run ups (more for one of them if the bounce goes wrong), then jump into each other at full tilt. They can still have a quality contest off a couple of steps.

I'm also happy to be in the minority with this opinion, but I think players and fans would very quickly adapt and accept it and forget about the old, random bounce and rucks throwing knees at each other from 10m apart.

You know what else we could do, we could remove goalposts, and put up a ring and backboard, make the ground smaller and have 5 people on the field or court.

The great thing about footy is it requires all shapes and sizes and unique positions. If we do your theory, we just end up with a team of midfielders and we end up like a game of international rules not AFL

Have you ever played senior footy, or did you give up after Auskick because it's too rough

 

[WillHayward]

I currently count 17 injured ruckman across the AFL

 

[random260]

Well little Billy's coach should be given an uppercut in this instance.

And contests are not made to be fair. They are exactly that...a contest.

And it is common in lower leagues for smaller ruckmen to come up against significantly taller rucks. In this instance, the team should be adapting to the situation and the much smaller ruck would have rocks in his head to get into a physical combat with a much taller opponent.

How does a team exactly adapt. The two viable methods is to side step a ruckman or let the opponent ruck get a free hit. That goes against competitive human nature and is extremely unrealistic. I doubt a local coach or any coach will tell their ruckman just side step and play scared.


Look this has always been an issue. Nobody has spoke about it because there is only 1 ruckman per team. And people turn a blind eye since they aren't the one in the situation. But it all comes down to little billy.

And it's not height disparity either. Imagine athletic 6 foot 5 ruckman 120kg going up against a skinny 6 foot 3 90kg ruckman. But again we need input from ruckman at local level or afl level since I'm not a ruckman.

But the big question is how can a front on flying knee to the opponents chest (mark) be a bannable offence but if it happens in the ruck it's perfectly okay?

 

[Purple Suit]

How does a team exactly adapt. The two viable methods is to side step a ruckman or let the opponent ruck get a free hit. That goes against competitive human nature and is extremely unrealistic. I doubt a local coach or any coach will tell their ruckman just side step and play scared.


Look this has always been an issue. Nobody has spoke about it because there is only 1 ruckman per team. And people turn a blind eye since they aren't the one in the situation. But it all comes down to little billy.

And it's not height disparity either. Imagine athletic 6 foot 5 ruckman 120kg going up against a skinny 6 foot 3 90kg ruckman. But again we need input from ruckman at local level or afl level since I'm not a ruckman.

But the big question is how can a front on flying knee to the opponents chest (mark) be a bannable offence but if it happens in the ruck it's perfectly okay?

Since when is a front on mark a bannable offence? If you have eyes on the ball it’s fine as you are flying for a mark? If you get the ball, generally you are in the right.

A ruck contest is not the same thing, it is a duel between 2 people coming from different directions. There is no law about having to only look at the ball or when they need to look at the ball, nor should there be otherwise it will decrease some rucks ability to compete and not change any injury outcomes at all.

 

[loki04]

Protective gear is an American thing and is not part of our game.
Just ban using the knee and make it about jumping rather than collision.

Or put the knee into the other rucks body rather then use your knee as guardrail...

Injuries will always happen can't protect against everything, it's become a bit of a joke our sport as it is let alone further watering down physical contact.

 

[TwiggleyFanClub]

Instead of mid season draft combine testing we could have a mid season sausage snorting comp for rucks.

Mumford makes another comeback.

 

[Bluelegs]

Injuries aside, the ball bouncing wherever it will is one of the great eyesores of the game. A ruck contest is supposed to be a neutral part of the game where both teams have equal chance to win the ball, not a lottery.
I couldn't give two hoots about the purists or history of the game when it comes to the bounce. Just get rid of it. It doesn't fit in an elite, professional sport.

As for the ruckmen? There's also no need for two 100-110kg blokes to get 5m run ups (more for one of them if the bounce goes wrong), then jump into each other at full tilt. They can still have a quality contest off a couple of steps.

I'm also happy to be in the minority with this opinion, but I think players and fans would very quickly adapt and accept it and forget about the old, random bounce and rucks throwing knees at each other from 10m apart.

It's got nothing to do with purity or history of the game, it's got to do with what makes for a more entertaining spectacle. Ruckmen competing in an over-officiated contest where they are barely allowed to touch each other lest they give away a free is boring and confusing. Having the ruckmen actually have to be ready to adapt their technique and think in the moment when there is a ball up makes for a better spectacle.

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

It's got nothing to do with purity or history of the game, it's got to do with what makes for a more entertaining spectacle. Ruckmen competing in an over-officiated contest where they are barely allowed to touch each other lest they give away a free is boring and confusing. Having the ruckmen actually have to be ready to adapt their technique and think in the moment when there is a ball up makes for a better spectacle.

...for some (possibly for most).

The idea that taking out an unnecessary run up, or largely uncontrollable bounce, will somehow lessen the skill, effectiveness or spectacle of the ruck contest, is purely speculation.
Personally, I think it will change nothing, other than reduce the risk of these types of contact injuries for ruckmen.
Odds are that the AFL will never make these changes and we'll never know though.

 

[loki04]

Since when is a front on mark a bannable offence? If you have eyes on the ball it’s fine as you are flying for a mark? If you get the ball, generally you are in the right.

A ruck contest is not the same thing, it is a duel between 2 people coming from different directions. There is no law about having to only look at the ball or when they need to look at the ball, nor should there be otherwise it will decrease some rucks ability to compete and not change any injury outcomes at all.

If you don't have eyes on the ball it's a free kick.