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... and now he's injured.
Oh dear, dear me.
Oh dear, dear me.
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Wild speculation, unsubstantiated rumours, silly jokes and opposition delight in another's failures is what makes an internet forum fun.
Blessed are the cracked for they are the ones who let in the light. -
Whether you agree or not, this is an interesting defence of Tippett's role as a ruck-forward.
Hurling People Now — Kurt Tippett is the best ruck-forward in the AFL...Comment
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I was about to come post that myself (I'm the author) but got beaten to it!
I was genuinely surprised by these numbers when I was looking at them. I thought he was going to turn out to have been competitive, not clearly the best since 2012.
The neat thing is, if we don't want him to keep rucking, he can easily go back to being a forward. And if we don't want him forward he can take on primary ruck duties. It's a handy bit of flexibility and space-saving in the 22.Comment
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I think the key is on the ruck component.
As a number one ruck who drifts forward at times to pinch hit as a forward I think KT is a real weapon. As a key forward who does a little rucking he just gets in the way.
There's an added advantage that Pyke can be deployed as a second ruckman and occassional forward and I still think he can offer us a bit in that role.Comment
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I've been generally pleased about Tippett's role this year. I've been advocating this switch for some time. There's not much of a role for big lumbering forwards these days. Even Tom Hawkins, who is just about the best in that role, hardly rucks at all and can go long periods of time without doing much of anything. Sometimes he just gets that physical mismatch and he can kick a bag of goals. I much prefer if we moved to a quicker more dynamic forward structure, like Hawthorn (doesn't everyone).
Overall, it's been a bit of flop with Tippett, mainly because of the salary and how it hurt us in other areas. But it seemed a good move under the circumstances at the time. It's easy to be critical with the benefit of hindsight.
Given that Pyke has fallen away and Naismith and Nanka not quite ready for seniors footy, Kurt could be a valuable player next year as our main ruckman, perhaps sharing time with 2 youngsters. After that, when his contract is due, we will see what we can get for him, or if he's worth keeping a a more reasonable rate.Comment
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Thanks R-1, and congratulations on an outstanding and quite illuminating article. Do let us know any time the inspiration to write strikes you!
I confess to rating Tippett by the wrong measures, but after Saturday's game I thought he was among our better players because he played his role, and with a broken hand - genuinely Bloodslike behaviour. And how would we look with a fit Pyke in place of Toby N? Not that I'm unhappy with Nanka, for a raw beginner at this level he's going OK and I hope he keeps developing. It's just that the Pyke/Tippett combination is a good one and still has a lot to offer.He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)Comment
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A crystal ball would have been handy. Had that been the case, we'd now have no Tippett, but would have had Buddy and Mummy, and probably another flag or two......yes, hindsight IS a wonderful thing. Let's hope the much vaunted Bloods spirit can carry us through the testing times ahead.....Comment
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And possibly no trade ban. While everyone would still be mad at us for taking Buddy, it was the Tippett/Franklin double that seems to have led to the AFL retribution. We were always going to lose COLA but it was adding the trade ban that has been so unfair.
But when the decision was made to recruit Tippett it seemed a good answer to a positional gap for the Swans. As said above, many decisions in life and can be questioned with hindsight.Comment
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Agree. The trade ban was always a harsh and unnecessary 'extra' penalty for us. The AFL should have realised our self imposed salary squeeze due to obtaining two top priced recruits was always going to lead to a salary cap driven 'natural attrition' of players, and let it take it's natural course. But egged on by certain Melbourne based neanderthals and the wailings of easily fooled fans, the AFL couldn't resist giving us another slap in the face for recruiting Buddy, with this illogical and, frankly inexcusable trade ban. It does suck!Comment
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Mummy as great as he is, tends to miss a month or two of footy each year.
It nearly cost us in 2012 GF.
I wish we'd have kept him, but there's plenty of if's and buts.Comment
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For what we've paid, Tippet has missed too many games and hasn't produced enough. It has been a poor investment.Comment
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It's funny how things turn out (with the benefit of hindsight). It looked as if Adelaide screwed up everything by cheating on the salary cap and losing Tippett for nothing. We offered them pick 22, which we used on Towers, as well as Jesse White, but they thought it wasn't enough. And they were right. So they avoided having 2 list cloggers at the club and now have a Tippett-like replacement in Josh Jenkins at a much lower salary. The Swans ended up losing the COLA, had trade bans imposed and academy benefits sharply cut.
Moral of the story: Cheating Pays.Comment
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