Darren Jolly

[Bluke]

Is a Spud and so is anyone that selects him in his team.

86 avg is his highest ppg. 80 in a premiership team last year.

To many other good choices IMO.

[Ziplock]

Ok, that's a little harsh, jolly came what, 7th in rucks last year? and was only a fraction off 5th. But, unlike most ruckmen, he's incredibly consistent... how many other rucks have played 22 games for the past 5 seasons? barring freak injury, should be good except for byes :)

personally, not for me. But I wouldn't just go full out on him being a spud.

[Cam DM]

An OK option, but not worth it with a fully fit and firing Coxy only 20K more!

[deekay]

An OK option, but not worth it with a fully fit and firing Coxy only 20K more!

+1 i agree..... but is the consistency of Jolly better than an injury prone Cox??

(i dont think so,but others might... im a coxy man through and through)

[oldshepp]

Biggest problem is he gives away a lot of frees (whether they are deserved or not)

I think he'll start off slow again this season but may come home with a wet sail

[Chopps]

Is a Spud and so is anyone that selects him in his team.

86 avg is his highest ppg. 80 in a premiership team last year.

To many other good choices IMO.

out of interest sake who you suggest i select for 331k or less? that is better?

looking for someone that avg's 80+ and will play 22 games hell doesnt even have to be less then 331 k

[Bluke]

PLAYERS UNDER 300k

Option 1) The Berger $321,300 is sure to get a lot of the ball this season. Clark is going to played primarily forward meaning Burger will take the taps. He is coming into his 5th season now, he played all 22 last season so has his body right and looks good to increase his average well over 80. 2 scores over 100 but had a great finish to the season not scoring under 70 in the last 9 rounds and going over 80 5 times.

Option 2) The Jamar $303,000 hit his straps last season, second most hit outs after Sandilands proved he could rack up big scores with 3 over 100 (Jolly only got two). Potentially could hit 80 this season, and this would be the year to do it, he is 27 now so there isn’t a whole lot of time left.

Option 3) The McEvoy $243,700 Into his 4th season now, and is possibly the saints most important player this year because Gardner has definitely had it. He got better as the year went on last year and scored over 80 4 times in the last 9 rounds. Expecting big things from this guy and the only real young prospect at the Saints right now.

Option 4) The Warnock $240,900 another speculative player, however he too should improve with Kruezer coming back from injury and Ratten stating that he has been the standout player of the preseason. Coming into his 4th year and definitely worth a look.

Option 5) The Mummy/The Seaby - I would be less inclined to pick either of these guys because that number one spot is still up for grabs. If I had to choose out of the two I would pick Mummy, but then again he has had an injury interrupted preseason.

Goldstein also deserves a mention, at 300k odd (im tired of researching this shower now) he scored over 100 a few times last year. Mackintosh is injured and he is coming into his 4th season. Could be another big improver.

Players over 330k



COX. Played all 22 games in 4 seasons including last. The year before he had a bad year but other than that he only had one iffy year where he played 17. Easily the best ruckman of the 2000s. Only 20k more.



My point is this.

Why would you pick a 30 year old ruck man whose best year was 2009 with Sydney where he avg only 86.

Last year he played in a premiership team and only avg 80 ppg, there are so many other gun midfielders in that Collingwood team that will be taking the possessions off him. He really is only there to tap the ball down to Swan, Pendles, Thomas whoever so they can run off and kick goals.

Jolly may score 80 - 85 this season, but that is mediocre. Why settle for mediocrity? Why not take a punt on a young player around the same price, coming into their prime? Playing in a team where their role is much more vital to the overall success of the team.

And if you really want to pick someone old. Pick Fraser. Fraser is a year younger than Jolly, best ppg avg was 96 back in 2006 and is only 220k or so.


In the interest of Transperency
My rucks are Sandilands and Cox. The only other option I even considered was Ryder, but ruled him out because of Essendons bye in rd 22.

It should be said that I dont believe in recruiting speculative rucks because it can be risky. I am a fan of set and forget. Saves trades and it is hard to maneouver money into the ruck position should a cheap ruck go down with injury. aka Seaby last year. He goes down in round 4 or 5 and people have only got 220k to replace him with... who do get for 220k? So you burn a rookie already to stick someone decent in. At least with Cox or Sandi you can replace them with any ruck in the league.

excuse my shower spelling and grammer, had a couple

[Chopps]

nice reply.

what are you expecting cox to score realistically? and sandilands do you think he will keep his average,

atm Cox is locked as 1 ruck still deciding the other.

age isnt really a factor considering  cox. sandi and jolly are all in the same bracket (sandi slightly youner)

[Hawka]

a spud hmm
these are jollys scores from the first 9 rnds
34   39   68   87   69   61   86   68   67
these are the last 12
103   69   72   123   136   94   64   90   73   81   98   85   93

He just needed time to fit into there plan jolly will b in the top 4 ruckmen for points this year easily imo

[Windigo]

Dude, this is really left field.

At least his has 2 premiership medallions....Unlike any of us.

Good ruck man, but probably not the best option.

But up there in the top 5 IMO.

[burner11]

Jolly hasnt missed a game for 5 years ;-)
But myself The Mummy will kill it this year and be the highest scoring ruck seeing as though Sandi supposedly gonna spend more time up Forward

[SIXX66]

I wouldnt read too much into Sandi up forward... once the season gets going and the games are there to be won do ya think Sandi is gonna be in a goal square while marshmallow Griffin decides the game in the square. Sandi is paid 800k a year to be the competitions premier ruckman which he will be again.

Is a tad expensive tho so I wouldnt blame ppl using him as an upgrade target but he will ave over 105 (if not match last year) and I am going for a league win so I will prob start with him

[SIXX66]

I wouldnt read too much into Sandi up forward... once the season gets going and the games are there to be won do ya think Sandi is gonna be in a goal square while marshmallow Griffin decides the game in the square. Sandi is paid 800k a year to be the competitions premier ruckman which he will be again.

Is a tad expensive tho so I wouldnt blame ppl using him as an upgrade target but he will ave over 105 (if not match last year) and I am going for a league win so I will prob start with him

apologies, thought I was on the SC board...... No excuse not to go with Sandi in dream team esp if your goin for league win

[Bluke]

a spud hmm
these are jollys scores from the first 9 rnds
34   39   68   87   69   61   86   68   67
these are the last 12
103   69   72   123   136   94   64   90   73   81   98   85   93

He just needed time to fit into there plan jolly will b in the top 4 ruckmen for points this year easily imo

Dude, this is really left field.

At least his has 2 premiership medallions....Unlike any of us.

Good ruck man, but probably not the best option.

But up there in the top 5 IMO.

Maybe Spud is a tad extreme, obviously he is a far greater athlete than I ever could be and I'm not taking his medalions away from him. But in DT terms, which is what we are talking here (lets not forget that). He is mediocre. Which isnt good enough for my team and shouldnt be good enough for yours.

Top 4 ruckman??? Possibly but unlikely.

Lets think about this.

1) Cox (imo) avg ppg ~95
2) Sandilands avg ppg 95
3) Ryder (these three are interchangeable, either one of them could take out number 1) Avg ppg 93
4) Mummy/Hille (If Mummy holds #1 ruck which is likely) Avg ppg 86
5) Goldstein/Mummy/Jolly/Jamar  Avg ppg 80 - 85

Fifth spot is really out of those 4. The point is though, top five isnt that great. The best teams will have the best rucks and be outscoring you by at least 10 points each week. Doesnt seem like alot but thats 220 points over the season in one position. If you have another mid pricer like Jolly/Mummy combo thats 440 points per season, and the difference between owning a toyota and not owning a toyota frankly.

Ontop of that, Jolly is the oldest of that bunch, yet the others all have reached higher potential/have more potential to achieve.

@ Chopps - I would be surprised if Cox avg ppg is less than 90. Could go as high as 105 ppg (I dont want to be the one that misses that boat). Injury isnt a concern for me with him, he was a very durable ruckman before 2009.

In terms of Sandilands, I think he has hit his ceiling. He was played too much last season, and they lost him for a key part of the season as a result. He will be managed more this year, why else would they trade for Griffen. That and Clarke looks like he could play, so they will definitely be putting time into those guys at the detriment of Sandis scoring, unless he spends most of his time up forward and he finds the ball, that could mean he pulls some big scores 120+ if he kicks a bag of goals.

In terms of Ryder, MASSIVE potential, but how does having another dominant ruckman in the lineup affect his scoring potential? He will still score big scores with Hille in, but I feel his output could go 100+ ppg if Hille wernt around. Plus Bellchambers is looking like a much more complete player, coupled with the fact that Ryder looks like he may play more down forward.

What this all means.   

It means you would be crazy not to have at least one of the above in your ruck. flower it. You would be crazy not to have 2 of the above 3 and for me the answer is plain and simple.

Coxilands

[thornz23]

nice posts bluke. puts a really solid perspective on the rucks. i am staying away from jolly.. he has bin pretti poor reli in the pre season. i normally go for the set n forget in the rucks but i just can't do it this year. sandi i think is set to come down in price a fair bit. ryder has the bye so not goin for him. hille won't increase his average enough. dnt reli like Mummy so that pretti much brings u down to the burger. i reckon he will have a pretti good year. probably average about 85 imo but im going with Mcevoy atm. first ruck, has a lot of upside, should average 70-75 at least and if he is struggling at rd 4 u could always sideways to petrie before he goes up in price. it just frees up enough cash for me to upgrade mzungu to knights which is handy with it looking like Mzungu will be out now.