Which Rucks?

[Ringo]

A lot will depend on how your other lines stack up RD - So basically it would mean dropping your R/F to a rookie priced player and spending the extra on R3.  You would say be spending an extra $150k to get Vardy and $100k to get Witts.

So your decision is do I keep I reasonable R/F who would be effectively d5/d6 in complete team or downgrade to a rookie requiring another upgrade.

Personally can not see the Suns playing 2 Rucks with Peter Wright available in forward line.  Expect them to rotate Nicholls, Currie and Witts. 

Hard decision but as I said will be based on needs and final team structures.

[_wato]

I personally think Grundy will be the number one ruck come seasons end and Sandi should go up in price early and be able to be traded to a cheaper Gawn/Goldy.

Ryder in the forward line for help as well as I think he can become a keeper.

wouldnt bank on a cheaper goldy.

Or Grundy being number one ruck.

[LordSneeze]

Ive looked into Grundy a bit and has been crossed off my potential ruck option list.

[enzedder]

Set and forget for me.
Goldy and Gawn.
Goldy has the runs on the board. Is a hitout to advantage beast. Gawn was unreal in 2016. Clear AA. Showed his potential in 2015 with 102 ave in 13 games and delivered in 2016. I'm happy to say I started both last year and didn't spend a trade in rucks as a result. Melbourne is on the up which only makes me more confident in Gawn going massive again. NM will probably struggle (9th-13th IMO) but can't see that as something that will hurt Goldy too much. Both have huge ceilings.
Next best is Grundy. 127 was his best in 2016. He isn't 23 yet. He finished the year off really well, though we are yet to see him dominate Gawn/ Goldy style. 100-115 is where his good scores have been at. He'll improve but by how much? I'm not that confident that it will be by an amount that will see him catch Goldy and Gawn. He'll be a good pick but not the best one IMO. Collingwood are coached by Buckley let's not forget. Pendles could get hidden in the forward line as a key forward post Cloke... who knows? With Pendles, Treloar, Sidey to dish it too there's quality to win his hitouts but a part of me worries about him being clumsy, given frees away and not being too clean below his knees. Collingwood will be hoping Moore can come on quickly and he'll need to for Collingwood to score well enough often enough.... there's doubt in my mind about Collingwood helping Grundy's cause and as I said earlier no worries about Melbourne helping Gawn's.
As an added factor I'll point out that Goldy and Gawn both kicked more goals than Grundy in 2016 too.
Sandi was a force. He'll still shine on occasions as 211 must help a bit but he's a bit of a relic now. Will he get through the year okay? How will Freo go? Pass for me. Give me the best two. I'll pay the piper initially but I think I'll do better for it.
As for R3... haven't looked into it. What I would like is a 102k Ruck/ Fwd with a nice draw for loophole possibilities.
Not sold on Ryder as fwd cover... still need to consider what's best in fwds... but open to the idea at this stage.

[Peter]

Thoughts on Giles as a cash cow?

[Ringo]

Thoughts on Giles as a cash cow?

has not much of a ceiling starting at $280k though.

[Jukes]

Thoughts on Giles as a cash cow?

has not much of a ceiling starting at $280k though.

And we gotta remember that this guy was rejected by both GWS and the dons...and he had a 123 in 2016 but still averaged under 75 from 3 games. Maybe if we had a massive scarcity of ruckmen, but we have a few good premo options and then better cheap options like Sandi, Ryder, and Bellcho.

[Big Mac]

In all the years of playing SC I have never nailed the rucks last year I had Goldy and Stef  :'( as for next year Gawn seems a must I think Goldy will lose points to Daw and I don't care how cheap Sandi is I am not getting him he is 34 and a massive unit with a injury plagued past I'm surprised he is still playing , so it's looking like Gawn and Grundy at this stage for me but Grundy is not set in stone

Daw wont be rucking he is being developed as a fwd.

Goldy dropped last year due to injury not daw.

The risk of goldy is the loss of boomer NDS in getting HTA and also i guess losing more games.

remember though he was averaging 128 from the first 5 rounds then got injured round 6 and went 52,

then he went 103 105 172 and then got injured the game after scoring 112 and leaving the ground.

Then he pretty much struggled the rest of the year.

as for rucks Goldy is locked then im going Grundy Gawn or Sandi.

if Sandi is sole ruck and Ryder is sole ruck ill got Goldy Sandi Ryder.

or even thinking Goldy Ryder then go Rookie Fwd to Gawn at some point.

Have a look at goldy's scores when Daw played this year half of them were sub 100 I don't believe for a second that Daw will not be used in the ruck as well as forward

105 100 87 127 92 82 99 124 so a 102 average

so this is his games after round 10 without Daw

83 99 110 93 118 so a 101 average,

basically what that tells you is Daw is a non factor he was just injured and north where playing badly. The second bit is a worry.

however look at Daw's HO in his last 5 games 6,5,3,8,4 that is a fwd who is pinch hitting. As a comparison thats not much more then Jack Watts gets at melbourne.

Daw is being developed as a FWD as we clearly do not want him in the ruck, the guy who is being developed as a ruck is Preuss which makes sense as when goldy retires Daw will be way too old to take over Preuss will just be hitting ruck age. Petrie is gone and Daw will take his spot, Waite is almost gone too.

long term the fwd line is Wood, Daw, Brown with Preuss probably in the ruck.

the only concern for Goldy is the weak team and the fact the midfield wont win that much ball. Goldy is better then Gawn but dees midfield is far better then north (and most teams). So thats whyu gawn will score. Likewise i like Grundy as pendles Treloar are superstars.

Just saying, Champion Data actually rate the dees midfield as the worst in the comp. And that's after you add Jordan Lewis to it. Gawn > Goldy confirmed  ;)

[jfitty]

Interesting article up on the AFL website this morning about Stef's 2016 season:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-12-16/what-ruined-martins-season-it-wasnt-the-ko-bump

Seems as though his knee was giving him some issues, wasn't just the concussion that caused his bad year.

Definitely in the mix, with Rocky and Beams both 100% fit he could get back to a 110 average.

[Holz]

Just saying, Champion Data actually rate the dees midfield as the worst in the comp. And that's after you add Jordan Lewis to it. Gawn > Goldy confirmed  ;)

Ill happily trade all north mids for dees :P

Well if we are going down this route champion data rates Gawn the 3rd best ruck after NN at 2 and Goldy at 1.

so Goldy #1 confirmed

[Big Mac]

Just saying, Champion Data actually rate the dees midfield as the worst in the comp. And that's after you add Jordan Lewis to it. Gawn > Goldy confirmed  ;)

Ill happily trade all north mids for dees :P

Well if we are going down this route champion data rates Gawn the 3rd best ruck after NN at 2 and Goldy at 1.

so Goldy #1 confirmed

Flower, you got me then

[Jukes]

Gawn is overrated

Goldy is overrated

Go with Ryder/Sandi/Bellcho tbh

[Bill Manspeaker]

get a Hickey up ya

[meow meow]

[RaisyDaisy]

Anyone rolling with Stef and Sandi?