Opinion The Ruck. We need to talk.

[Its a Process]

i got it wrong and couldn't see it, in fact i started CCJ in my 2024 round 1 predicated team ahead of him!

I thought he would be a placeholder who would be a big body who would help protect the kids until we drafted in a more accomplished ruckman.

If he keeps his body right and his style doesn't impact his longevity he will be an important cog over the next 3-5 years.

 

[roospur]

More shocked at how many morons there are that post and don't actually watch the lower levels. All power to you, just be prepared to look the fools you are.

People getting offended because they got it so horribly horribly wrong. It's hilarious.

 

[ferball]

There were a dogged few of us defending him, Ferbs. 2022 is bloody impressive. I don't think I developed a strong opinion either way until early 2023, when I saw him at training. Very happy to admit that I didn't expect him to elevate himself to top 2 status, but top 5 or 6 was easily achievable from what I saw of his traits.

There are some on here who literally think football is played in a vacuum and that a guy can't improve himself with the right mix of resources from his club, a bit of good fortune, and a physical foundation. His thread upon his comeback last year makes for ridiculous reading

There were a few times early in 2022 when Horne-Francis still looked like he gave a **** where our midfield with X rucking looked really good. I remember a couple of times where X to Jy to No chase Jase were some of the best clearances we'd done in years. His tap work was really good. Admittedly in the years since it hasn't always been that good but someone who works that hard at other aspects of their game ... you'd assume they'll work that hard at everything and eventually that hard work will pay off.

 

[ferball]

A winners ribbon to all the posters who thought he would be a AA calibre player this year

I doff my hat to you

I doubt any of us thought he'd be AA this year. Thats basically saying he's the best ruck in the game.

I thought he'd easily be in the top five in the comp tho.

People have laughed at me cos I said he could mark and kick goals. We're too quick to write players off if they don't start like Sheeze did or have a bad year.

 

[tazaa]

Not really. He always showed small signs as he was developing. People just put a line through developing kids just like they're doing with Goad right now.

Nah.
Let’s not rewrite history.

He wasn’t taking marks or hitting the scoreboard or impacting games as he is right now.
Goldi being around and confidence plays a part.
His first 5-6 weeks this year were still with plenty of improvement.
And then saints game onwards he’s gone bang.

End of the day his form is a welcome surprise. Hes not a whipping boy or at Luke McDonald levels of being guaranteed a game and being shit.
He’s right now close to the best ruck in the league.

As I said. Kissed on the dick we are.

 

[DrZaius]

I wasn't the only one but I'm going to suck myself off here for defending the big fella. Those that claim they were "watching him closely and he'd shown nothing so I wasn't wrong blah blah blah" can EAD for writing off a player so early.

 

[Chadwiko]

View attachment 2078182

Ewwww why is your BigFooty in Essendon colours?

 

[Samsquanch]

Great bump!!! I love these threads. Lots and lots of egg on faces. Been an absolute behemoth has big X. Should be a lock for AA squad. Shinboner personified, love him!

Who created this thread.

 

[CURVE]

Seriously, this guy couldn't catch Covid if he went to Wuhan and licked the bat. I think he dropped more marks than the team took in total.

I hope the club rethinks the three year deal, because he isn't an AFL player.

How many preseasons does he get? He has been on our list for six seasons and if you measure his improvement over that time you would be measuring it in millimetres, because it is so negligible.

He is not AFL standard, never will be of AFL standard and we need to trade him, delist him, bury him somewhere in the desert, just get him off our list at the end of the season.

Happy to admit I got it wrong. Very wrong.

The last quote was from 12 months ago, yesterday, and I thought he needed to be delisted, but 367 days later and he is one of the best ruckmen in the game, it's really hard to predict that kind of improvement.

 

[Gasometer]

I don't think this is a case of any apologies needed.

Xerri was undeniably bang average at best prior to this year.

His development leap in 2024 has been fantastic but I genuinely don't think anyone saw it coming like this.

We should all be thrilled!

I doubt any of us thought he'd be AA this year. Thats basically saying he's the best ruck in the game.

I thought he'd easily be in the top five in the comp tho.

People have laughed at me cos I said he could mark and kick goals. We're too quick to write players off if they don't start like Sheeze did or have a bad year.

travelli went very close

 

[JGreezy]

Xerri seems to win the tap a fair bit but hits it to the wrong spots. I don't know if he's unaware of what we're doing, hasn't built chemistry with the mids, has bad footy smarts or what. But he needs to be better if he's also not going to add much around the ground.

I stand by this for what he was at the time but it absolutely doesn't apply to him today.

I've never seen an improvement like it. He's not just better. He's a completely different player.

He was like the best ruckman for the opposition, at the time. Hitting it to their mids. And he couldn't mark and didn't provide anything outside of the stoppage work.

Now he's everywhere.

 

[Disco Dew]

hilarious thread.
“I’m glad he proved me wrong” vibes everywhere

 

[hilly]

Can people please post their apologies below ?

Turn it up.

On SM-S901E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Junk yard]

hilarious thread.
“I’m glad he proved me wrong” vibes everywhere

I don't mind the "glad to be proven wrong", we are all mad North supporters if you're posting on here. It's the attempts to justify why they were wrong that is rubbish.

 

[Uncle_Leo]

I don't mind the "glad to be proven wrong", we are all mad North supporters if you're posting on here. It's the attempts to justify why they were wrong that is rubbish.

I wasn’t wrong. At AFL level to the end of last year he had been very average at best

 

[Disco Dew]

I wasn’t wrong. At AFL level to the end of last year he had been very average at best

He showed nothing at AFL level last year. Zero.

Showed nothing or average?
I don’t know anymore man.


Anyway I don’t care, X is awesome now. Some didn’t think he would be, some thought he might be.

The good thing is, he is

 

[Junk yard]

I wasn’t wrong. At AFL level to the end of last year he had been very average at best

Here we go again. Did you watch him play in the two's? I'm guessing not. His style and attributes were always going to translate to AFL if he stayed fit and got a good run at it, plenty of people with no patience and judging players without watching them.

 

[Junk yard]

I wasn’t wrong. At AFL level to the end of last year he had been very average at best

You most certainly were.

 

[Shack18]

I stand by this for what he was at the time but it absolutely doesn't apply to him today.

I've never seen an improvement like it. He's not just better. He's a completely different player.

He was like the best ruckman for the opposition, at the time. Hitting it to their mids. And he couldn't mark and didn't provide anything outside of the stoppage work.

Now he's everywhere.

Agreed, reckon big Monky must have been great for him, his development and confidence

 

[muttley45]

The big X has obviously done a mountain of work on his body since we drafted him :

 

[Only Forwards]

Anyone have a running tally on how many internet points have been won and lost in this thread?

 

[Tas]

I never posted in this gem of a thread but I don't blame people for having doubts on X, not because they are astute judges of talent, but because X hadn't finished a year without requiring major surgery, imo there was still a bit of an unknown if he could hold down the rucks role basically on his own. We had to bring in someone like Free. My main criticism was at the club for leaving the ruck stock in a bit of a pickle when for a number of years there were really good rucks on the move that weren't really going for a king's ransom.

I am pretty sure I said last year we did better when X was rucking insead of Goldy, G was always shit against physical ruckmen and Gawn used to just ragdoll him around. X is far more physical and I like that has come out this year with really good tackling numbers and strong clearance work.

We just didn't have a body of evidence if he would physically go the route of Garner or bounce back after a bad run of injury interrupted years to have a solid run at it. My main concern was that if X went down then things would have looked grim and that is a list management issue.

 

[susurrar]

hilarious thread.
“I’m glad he proved me wrong” vibes everywhere

most of them wont even roll that chestnut out.

not surprising considering how twisted and toxic the xerri criticism was. you could make a really ugly compilation of posts.

now they have to act like its been some kind of miracle turnaround that nobody could have possibly predicted. there were a few posters confidently and accurately predicting exactly what kind of player xerri was going to be and getting ridiculed for it.

its great that theres so much love for him now, but its a bit hard to stomach some of this because of how ugly the criticism was. it was not the ordinary brand. i guess we are just supposed to forget about that.

 

[Tas]

The big X has obviously done a mountain of work on his body since we drafted him :

View attachment 2078497

Who would have thought that he would go from being a morbidly obese midget to an AFL ruckman in a matter of years?

 

[tazaa]

Anyone have a running tally on how many internet points have been won and lost in this thread?

Milhouses everywhere