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What is happening with Dawson and Ling? No info from club at all!!!!!!
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and McVeigh. Maybe they think supporters aren't interested in injuries during the preseason? We know we are! -
Terrible news with Naismith doing his ACL this morning during training. This is going to test our ruck depth.
Huge blow for Swans with ruckman to miss 2018 - AFL.com.auComment
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Dang.
Bring back tipoff.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.Comment
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Awful for Naismith, but huge opportunity for CameronComment
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Yikes.
On a team note, this is worrying, having already lost Tippett. And with it emerging last weekend that Sinclair has had ongoing, albeit minor, issues with his ankles.
On the other hand, the ruck is probably the area where we were already at our weakest, so it's not as if we rely on an excellent ruckman to execute the game plan.
On the third hand, it presented an opportunity for improvement if we could get Naismith up and running. Our centre clearance work improved immensely during the back end of 2016 when Naismith came into the team. His tap out to advantage rate was much higher than any other recent ruckman we've had (including Mumford, though he was great when the ball hit the deck).
It's very sad for Naismith. I think he has the potential to be a very decent ruckman but it's just been one injury after another for him. I am starting to think he'll never be able to string enough training or enough games together to reach his potential.
I think the biggest opportunity arises for Aliir. Even without the foot issues that plagued him last year, I think it was going to be challenging for him to break into the senior team unless there were injuries to our other key defenders. Early signs of Melican this year is that he looks bigger, stronger and more confident, and ready to build on his excellent debut season. Although some on here think we can play Reg, Rampe, Melican and Aliir all in defence in the same team, I don't believe the coaches will see it that way. But I've seen a bit of Aliir rucking during training sessions and he's looked very competitive in the air. He has a lot to learn about the craft but I think he may well get the chance to learn on the job this season.
I'm not convinced by Cameron as anything but a part time ruck chop out. I think he has talent but his forward line work was more impressive in the NEAFL last year than his ruck work, and I didn't think he showed much in the ruck last weekend.Comment
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Looks like a premediated plan; all our ruckmen getting injured or retiring??
Is someone trying to put the playing style of Bulldog and Richmond in to play on the sly?
Maybe they are trying to get AA as our mobile ruckmen.
Can't think who would do this; maybe someone else can suggest a name????doof-doof
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Bummer, very sad for Sam who is without doubt our best ruckman.
We're going to have to be inventive now, learn to rove to losing rucks is a tactic employed by teams in the past, like when facing Sandilands.
Some fast tracking of someone coming up in the next three weeks!Comment
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I think we have to fast track young Amarty. We can't play a whole season with two recognised rucks. Aliir after all is not a recognised ruckman. Amarty on the other hand has played all his junior footy in the ruck. Aliir only played there in Qld. When he went to WA they played him back. Sure use Allir and towers as the second ruck option but we need to make sure we have three first ruck options up our sleeve with our injury prone rucks.Comment
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Really sad for Sam. But it does open up opportunities for others and will force us to be creative.Comment
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Mark creative we might be but unless Joel Amarty ends up being the Messiah then i doubt we have the rucks to compete at the highest level. Sinclair and Cameron are good second rucks but definitely not first ruck material. We are in trouble unless we can come up with something really different. out mids are going to have to get used to roving to losing rucks each week and that is effing hard to do. In fact I'd say they will start to show the strain about mid season.Comment
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I think the prospect of Amarty playing any senior footy this year is very slim. As far I as I have seen (admittedly not that many sessions) he's not been training at all with the main group. I'm not sure I've even seen him doing much running.
He's very much undersized to be a full time ruckman at AFL level too. He's listed at just 196 cm. So he'll need to be strong, fit and athletic to compete against the other competition ruckmen. He's going to need a fair bit of time in the NEAFL to develop.Comment
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It's terrible for Sam that he's always been plagued with injuries. He had a lot of potential. Now it looks to be career over.
I agree with Liz that it probably opens the biggest opportunity for Aliir. I don't think Sinclair offers much as a ruckman and it's too early to say if Cameron will be good enough. Amartey could be an option in the future.
We should be a more successful team with Aliir and Towers as our ruck combo. It's the way of the future and it really suits the style of play we are heading towards. Injury and a generally poor quality ruck division have forced our hand, but it could all be for the best.Comment
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