Mike Pyke Status Update

[ScottH]

Back O/T.

Pyke had 13 HO @ 23% Adv
White had 12 @ 17%

Hudson had 16 @19%
Minson had 15 @7%

Not sure if we were killed in the ruck area.
Where they did kill us was around the ground.
husdon 16 touches and minson 13
White had 7 and Pyke 4.

[SwansFan1972]

I'm ready to get howled down here, but I thought Pyke did a more then fair job on Saturday all things considered. I'm sure no-one, let alone he himself, would have thought he would be leading our ruck team 18 months after first touching a sherrin and considering the talent he was up against on Saturday, he did better then I expected.
All I can say is God help us this Saturday!

The footy gods will smile on us this week - Bradshaw back and on song, and against Freo who have already had their history making moment this season (beating Lions at the Gabba). Seeing them have two (i.e. beating us at SCG for first time since 1996) is just impossible to accept!

And the gods have moved on to a new plaything - St Kilda. Consider it took the loss of four/five frontline key position players to bring us back to earth a bit. For the Saints, it took only one to fall - Kleenex - to expose their depth. For a team with such high expectations, it is a brutal expose (far more brutal than ours of the past fortnight) of where they really sit this season ...

And on topic (sorry guys) - Pykey doing really well all things considered - absolutely worth the time and effort both from him and the club in bringing him along. In all likelihood will learn a lot from Sandilands this week - but if he can win a few hitouts and stand rock solid against the somewhat longer and less robustly cored giant, we should be more than happy!

[ugg]

Back O/T.

Pyke had 13 HO @ 23% Adv
White had 12 @ 17%

Hudson had 16 @19%
Minson had 15 @7%

Not sure if we were killed in the ruck area.
Where they did kill us was around the ground.
husdon 16 touches and minson 13
White had 7 and Pyke 4.

Good stats and good point Scott. It is clear that Pyke's strength are his taps, he has palmed down some clean beauties across his short AFL career. His main weakness is his around the ground contributions. With Bradshaw out, I was surprised that both he and Jesse were never rested up forward, they would have at least provided Lake with a tall opponent. Perhaps the coaches were worried about asking the ruck duo to do too much.

[Melbournehammer]

Good stats and good point Scott. It is clear that Pyke's strength are his taps, he has palmed down some clean beauties across his short AFL career. His main weakness is his around the ground contributions. With Bradshaw out, I was surprised that both he and Jesse were never rested up forward, they would have at least provided Lake with a tall opponent. Perhaps the coaches were worried about asking the ruck duo to do too much.

I remember Pyke being up there once and lake taking a very easy mark from behind pyke. whether that experiment was retried after that i don't know.

[ScottH]

I remember Pyke being up there once and lake taking a very easy mark from behind pyke. whether that experiment was retried after that i don't know.

As I read Ugg's reply I thought of the same instance.
But he is still only a rookie, and Lake wasn't going to be beaten on Saturday.

Still 2 Rookie/fillin ruckmen, against a much more expereinced pair, They held their own in the ruck contests.

[Brettb]

Good stats and good point Scott. It is clear that Pyke's strength are his taps, he has palmed down some clean beauties across his short AFL career. His main weakness is his around the ground contributions. With Bradshaw out, I was surprised that both he and Jesse were never rested up forward, they would have at least provided Lake with a tall opponent. Perhaps the coaches were worried about asking the ruck duo to do too much.

His strengths may well be his tap ruckwork, however he is a dead set liability around the ground.

Four possesions, all coming in the latter part of the game when the bulldogs had taken the foot off the pedal just doesn't cut it. He will get exposed around the ground in a big way by Sandilands this week, particulary when he rests forward as Sandilands spends very little time off the ground.

Pyke was woeful on Saturday, anyone suggesting otherwise is kidding themselves.

[jono2707]

I think Pyke is our best option against Sandilands this week. He may at least limit the damage in the ruck duels and has the body, if not the sheer height, to be an ok matchup.

As for around the ground, can you put a tag on a ruckman? Roosy should just tell him to run with Sandilands all day - he should have a decent motor and it would be a great learning experience for him.

[Jesse Richards]

From memory (forgot to tape the game) Pyke was still running strongly at the end against the Dogs. I think he'll improve each time he plays. One encouraging thing is that he seems to me to play about the same in the Reseves as in the 1sts, which is consistent with still getting to know the game (and the weird umpiring) rather than not having the speed, skills, fitness etc.