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AFLW 2024 - Round 4 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Why wouldnt u take Kreuzer????
- Thread starter snowballs
- Start date
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You absolutely CANNOT make the argument that we need to take Kreuzer over Cotchin simply because we need a ruckman. Whoever we take is likely to be 6 years away from their peak, and 3 years away from making an impact.
By that time, anything could happen. We could collapse next year, and watch Dean Cox fall into the PSD, while we simultaneously uncover Hampson and Aisake to be the best ruckmen in the world. The rules could change drastically altering the ruck position in favour of immobile tap ruckmen rather than around-the-ground tall midfielders. The ruck position could be completely abolished in favour of kick-ins to speed up play. Anything could happen. Judd, Murphy, Gibbs and Stevens could simultaneously collide during a game next year and suffer career-ending injuries, leaving us desperately short on midfielders and with 4 AFL-calibre ruckmen on our list...
The only justifications for taking Kreuzer, IMO are:
- if he is clearly a better prospect than Cotchin; AND
- his position in AFL football can be clearly defined. Either he's tall enough and has enough technique to be a ruckman, or he's specialised enough to be a key position forward.
If there is any doubt about the above, we should take Cotchin. As previously discussed, you can make a case that he is a better prospect anyway. He plays a position and a style of game that is more easily predictable from juniors to seniors. The depth of mids in juniors is greater, so he has played against more consistent opposition. Plus physical development is less important for midfielders, as ball-winning ability and disposal are more important to that position, so we have a better idea of how his skills translate. Kreuzer may be dominant in juniors because he is a dominant athlete. At AFL level, all the ruckmen are dominant athletes. Kreuzer may not have been tested against consisted quality competition on a regular basis.
Of course, Kreuzer may be a once-in-a-lifetime freak. That's up for the recrutiing department to decide. But the position he plays should not come into it at all, because there is no way to predict what position we will need to fill in 3 years time, when he actually starts to contribute.
By that time, anything could happen. We could collapse next year, and watch Dean Cox fall into the PSD, while we simultaneously uncover Hampson and Aisake to be the best ruckmen in the world. The rules could change drastically altering the ruck position in favour of immobile tap ruckmen rather than around-the-ground tall midfielders. The ruck position could be completely abolished in favour of kick-ins to speed up play. Anything could happen. Judd, Murphy, Gibbs and Stevens could simultaneously collide during a game next year and suffer career-ending injuries, leaving us desperately short on midfielders and with 4 AFL-calibre ruckmen on our list...
The only justifications for taking Kreuzer, IMO are:
- if he is clearly a better prospect than Cotchin; AND
- his position in AFL football can be clearly defined. Either he's tall enough and has enough technique to be a ruckman, or he's specialised enough to be a key position forward.
If there is any doubt about the above, we should take Cotchin. As previously discussed, you can make a case that he is a better prospect anyway. He plays a position and a style of game that is more easily predictable from juniors to seniors. The depth of mids in juniors is greater, so he has played against more consistent opposition. Plus physical development is less important for midfielders, as ball-winning ability and disposal are more important to that position, so we have a better idea of how his skills translate. Kreuzer may be dominant in juniors because he is a dominant athlete. At AFL level, all the ruckmen are dominant athletes. Kreuzer may not have been tested against consisted quality competition on a regular basis.
Of course, Kreuzer may be a once-in-a-lifetime freak. That's up for the recrutiing department to decide. But the position he plays should not come into it at all, because there is no way to predict what position we will need to fill in 3 years time, when he actually starts to contribute.
Why clearly? If he is decided to be better by a very narrow margin then do we still take Cotchin?
Read what he said again.
Bluebear
Brownlow Medallist
Good post.
I guess I looked at it a couple of years ago (recruiting that is) and thought.......if you were going to build a team from the ground up how would you do it so everyone peaked at the same time.
You wuodl start with a ruck or two, take some key talls, then some utility types - flankers and wingers, then you would take some mids.
By the time you get around to taking the mids your rucks and KPP's have had time to develop.
We have been so scared of getting it wrong that each year we still keep taking a mid, just because, as you quite rightly point out, there is more certainty in how they will translate to the seniors........have taken a couple of early KPP's (Harts and JK
) and last year finally taking a ruck with a reasonably early pick (Hammer).......and now we are talking about taking a ruck with the number 1 pick.Anyone else think we are recruiting backwards?
While Cotchin seems fantastic, there are gun mids available every year. Maybe not quite in Trents class, but not far behind.
If we need more midfield grunt, I'm sure we could add someone reasonably classy next year at pick 5-8.
When are we going to pick a ruck that seems to have elite capabilities?
When will we take the chance?
When will we take another KPP?
It seems to me that without Cotchin our midfield is still pretty good and right up their........but without JK and Lance, our key talls are all hopefuls to say the least.
I vote Kreuzer, because I think its time we took a chacne on an elite ruck talent, and start recruiting for a flag in 5 years time, the right way, not backwards.
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